Double barreled questions
A double barreled question asks about two things in one sentence but gives room for only one answer. A person who feels differently about each part has no accurate option, so the answer cannot be interpreted. The fix is to split the question into one question per thing, each with its own answer.
Why the answer is lost
Qualtrics’ explainer on double-barrelled questions gives the simplest case: “How would you rate our products and level of service?” A respondent who rates the products highly and the service poorly has one answer to give, and the survey records one number. Qualtrics also notes that such questions can reduce the accuracy and reliability of a survey. You cannot tell which attribute the respondent was rating.
Examples and their splits
| Double barreled | Split into |
|---|---|
| How would you rate our products and level of service? | How would you rate our products? / How would you rate our level of service? |
| How would you rate your work environment and pay? | How would you rate your work environment? / How would you rate your pay? |
| How often and for how long do you visit the gym per week? | How many times a week do you visit the gym? / On a typical visit, how long do you stay? |
| Was our staff friendly and knowledgeable? | How friendly was our staff? / How knowledgeable was our staff? |
| How satisfied are you with the quality and speed of our service? | How satisfied are you with the quality of our service? / How satisfied are you with its speed? |
The first three rows follow Qualtrics’ examples. The last two are written for this guide, to show the same pattern in service wording.
How to spot one in your draft
Look for the joining words: and, or, as well as, and as well. They are not always a problem, but each one is a place to check whether the two parts could have different answers. A quick test: imagine a respondent who is strongly positive about the first part and strongly negative about the second. If you cannot say which answer they should choose, split the question.
Watch for the hidden second part
A worked repair
Suppose a customer survey asks: “Was your order delivered quickly and in good condition?” The answer “no” could mean late, damaged, or both, and the team cannot act on it. Split the question:
- How satisfied were you with the delivery time? (1 to 5)
- How satisfied were you with the condition of your order? (1 to 5)
- If something went wrong, what was it? (open text)
The first two answers now point at two different teams. The open question covers anything the split missed without making the closed questions carry two meanings.
Pilot the split
Splitting a question adds questions, so check the length. Pew Research Center describes pretesting new questions, through focus groups, cognitive interviews or a pilot sample, to see how people interpret them before they reach the real survey. Ask pilot readers to say, in their own words, what each question is asking.
A worked example: a three-part course question
A hypothetical course evaluation asks: “Was the course useful, well paced and taught by an instructor who knew the subject?” A student who found the content useful but the pace too fast, and who thought the instructor knew the subject well, has to pick one answer or skip the question. The score then reflects whichever part the student weighed most, and the team cannot tell which of the three to fix.
The split has three questions with three answers: usefulness of the content, pace, and the instructor’s command of the subject. Each one points at a different change: the syllabus, the timetable, or the teaching. Splitting adds two questions, which is a small cost for three answers that can each be acted on.
Check before you send
- Search for and, or and as well as in every question, and ask whether the parts can have different answers.
- Ask a colleague what a single answer would mean for a question with two parts.
- If two parts must be scored together, split them anyway and combine the scores in analysis.
Build it in Seagit Forms
Each split question is its own field. Seagit Forms’ rating field suits a satisfaction split, and the fields documentation lists the other options. Start from the customer satisfaction survey templateand replace each combined question with its split pair.
Sources
- Qualtrics, “The dreaded double-barrelled question & how to avoid it in research” (definition, examples, reduced accuracy, separate questions).
- Pew Research Center, “Writing Survey Questions” (pretesting).
Common questions
- What is a double barreled question?
- A double barreled question asks about two things at once but allows only one answer. Qualtrics calls it a compound question and gives the example of asking how often and how long someone visits the gym, which has no single answer that fits both parts.
- Is a question with and in it always double barreled?
- Not always. A joining word is a warning sign rather than proof. The test is whether the two parts can have different answers for the same respondent. If they can, and the question allows only one answer, split it.
- What if the two parts really belong together?
- Ask them separately anyway, then combine the answers in analysis if you need a joint score. A split question keeps the answers interpretable; a combined one never tells you which part drove the result.