WUSS Virtual Class: Asking Better Questions: The Art and Science of Survey Design

Surveys are one of the most powerful tools for understanding customers, clients, and stakeholders, but only when they re designed well. In this class we'll take a break from coding and lean into the softer sciences, focusing on the human side of data: how people think, interpret, and respond to questions.

Drawing on human-centered design, behavioral insights, and proven survey methodology, you ll learn how to write clear, engaging questionnaires that produce reliable, meaningful insights. The concepts learned will apply in any context where your data comes directly from people, whether you re running a customer survey, gathering user stories, or facilitating lessons learned at the end of a project.

You'll explore how small wording and design choices can dramatically affect response rates, data quality, and trust in your results. By the end of the class, you ll be able to design surveys and other data-collection tools that produce insight-driven, decision-ready data.

This class is designed for anyone who uses data to gather feedback, measure perceptions, or inform decisions, including analysts and researchers, business and program staff, and product, policy, or customer experience teams.