Teaching · For Teachers

Tell people how long it takes, and mean it.

Count the items of each kind and add a few pilot timings. The estimator shows where the minutes go, how the pilot compares and the time to put in the invitation.

Estimate a surveyWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The time estimate

One estimate per survey draft. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A planning estimate, where the time goes, the pilot median, the time to state in the invitation and the items to cut.
Who it is for
Teacher-researchers, school leaders, district evaluators and education graduate students writing surveys.
Format
Browser form. One saved estimate per draft; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
every item spends someone’s minute
Drawn for this page. People decide whether to start a survey from the time it says it takes, and stop when it runs longer.

How to use it

  1. Choose who will answer and how.
  2. Count each kind of item in the draft.
  3. Time three to five pilot respondents and note where they slowed.
  4. Cut what the summary flags, then copy the estimate to a new date and recount.
  5. Put the rounded-up time in the invitation.

Estimate a survey

How the estimate works

The per-item times

8 seconds for a single-choice item, 12 for check all that apply, 5 for each grid row, 30 for a short written answer, 90 for a long one and 20 for each intro screen, raised 10 to 50% for younger students. They are planning figures; your pilot replaces them.

Why it matters

Studies of web surveys find that a longer stated length means fewer people start, and longer surveys lose more people partway and get quicker, less careful answers near the end.

What this is not

A reading-level check. Younger students need items written for them, not only more time.

Sources

  1. Galesic, M., & Bosnjak, M. (2009). Effects of questionnaire length on participation and indicators of response quality in a web survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 73(2), 349–360.
  2. Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (4th ed.). Wiley.
  3. Revilla, M., & Höhne, J. K. (2020). How long do respondents think online surveys should be? International Journal of Market Research, 62(5), 538–545.
  4. Gehlbach, H., & Artino, A. R. (2018). The survey checklist (manifesto). Academic Medicine, 93(3), 360–366.

The example survey and timings are made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.