Reference table
Low-quality survey responses: causes and fixes
A reference table for researchers, founders and product teams cleaning up a survey or interview study. It lists six common causes of thin or low-effort answers, from recruiting the wrong people to a format that cannot ask follow-ups, with the sign of each in your data and the first fix to try. It also marks short but relevant answers as worth keeping. Koji can run the follow-up step for you in AI-moderated interviews.
Where this appears
What's in this reference table
| Cause | What you see | Fix first |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong people | A few people give thin or odd answers to everything | Recruit from real users, screen on recent behaviour |
| Wrong incentive | Fast, uniform answers from people paid per complete | Pay for time, review before you pay |
| Too long | Answers shrink the further people get | Put key questions first, cut the rest |
| Weak wording | Most people go short at the same questions | Ask about one recent event, split two-in-one questions |
| Wrong format | Thin and off topic everywhere, nothing to follow up | Use interviews or voice, ask what happened next |
| Nothing wrong | Short answers that address the question | Keep them, judge by relevance not length |
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/low-quality-survey-responses-causes-fixes-table"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/low-quality-survey-responses-causes-fixes-table/low-quality-survey-responses-causes-fixes-table.png" alt="Table of six causes of low-quality survey responses, what each looks like in your data and the first fix for each." width="1200" height="877" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/low-quality-survey-responses-causes-fixes-table">Low-quality survey responses: causes and fixes</a>, Koji</p>
