Pilot Surveys (Higher)
A pilot survey is a small-scale trial run of a questionnaire, carried out on a small group before the main data collection, to check that questions are clear, unambiguous and produce usable answers, and to spot practical problems such as poor timing or missing response options. Findings from the pilot are used to revise the questionnaire before it is used on the full sample in GCSE Statistics.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Design a draft version of the questionnaire, including all planned questions and response options.
- Select a small sample of people, ideally similar to those who will take part in the main survey, and give them the draft survey.
- Record how respondents interpret each question, how long the survey takes to complete, and any questions they leave blank, misunderstand or find confusing.
- Check the results can actually be analysed as planned, for example that response categories cover all likely answers without overlapping.
- Revise the questionnaire based on the pilot's findings: reword unclear questions, add missing response options, remove leading or biased questions, and adjust timing if needed.
- Only proceed to the full-scale survey once the pilot has shown the revised questionnaire works well in practice.
Worked example
A researcher is planning a survey about how students in a school travel to school. Before running the main survey of 300 students, they trial the questionnaire on 15 students. One question asks: how do you travel to school - walk, car, or bus? Three of the 15 pilot respondents wrote in bike as their answer, since it was not listed. Explain what this pilot survey reveals and how the researcher should respond.
- Identify the problem revealed by the pilot: the response options for the travel question are not exhaustive, since 3 out of 15 pilot respondents (20%) needed to write in bike as it was not listed.
- Consider the consequence of not fixing this: in the main survey of 300 students, these responses would be lost, forced into an inaccurate category, or left as unusable free text.
- Decide on the fix: add bike as a listed response option, and consider adding a general other, please state option to catch any remaining travel methods.
- Confirm the value of piloting: this problem was caught using a small trial of 15 students, before it could affect the responses of the full 300 students.
- Final answer: the pilot reveals the response options are incomplete; the researcher should add a bike option, plus an other catch-all option, before running the main survey.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1Give one reason why a researcher would run a pilot survey before the main survey.Show answer
Answer: To check that questions are clear and easy to understand, or to spot problems with the questionnaire before it is used on the full sample (any one valid reason)
Q2A pilot survey shows a question takes respondents an average of 4 minutes to answer, but the researcher only allowed 1 minute per question in their timing plan for a 20-question survey. What should the researcher do?Show answer
Answer: Revise the time allowed for the survey, or shorten/simplify the questionnaire, since the actual time needed is much longer than planned
Q3In a pilot of 20 people, 6 people left a question about income blank. What does this suggest, and what might the researcher change?Show answer
Answer: The question may be too sensitive or unclear; the researcher could reword it, offer income bands instead of an exact figure, or make it optional
Q4State the difference between a pilot survey and the main survey.Show answer
Answer: A pilot survey is a small-scale trial on a small sample to test and refine the questionnaire; the main survey is the full-scale data collection carried out afterwards, usually with a revised questionnaire, on a much larger sample
Q5A pilot survey question asks: do you agree that the new park is a great improvement? Every pilot respondent answered yes. Identify the flaw and rewrite the question so it would work better in the main survey.Show answer
Answer: The question is leading/biased, pushing respondents towards yes; an improved version could offer balanced options, e.g. what is your opinion of the new park: great improvement, some improvement, no improvement, or worse than before
Q6A researcher pilots a survey on 10 friends before sending it to 500 randomly selected customers. Explain one weakness of this choice of pilot sample, beyond its small size.Show answer
Answer: The 10 friends are not representative of the target population of customers, since they were not selected using the same method and may share similar views to the researcher, so problems that real customers would raise might not be revealed
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Statistics exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State two purposes of carrying out a pilot survey before the main data collection.
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A pilot survey of 30 people found that 12 people gave the same don't know response to a question about their spending habits. Explain what this might indicate about the question, and suggest one improvement.
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A company is designing a customer satisfaction survey to send to 4000 customers. Explain, using an example, how a pilot survey could be used to check for: (a) an ambiguous question, and (b) an unsuitable question order. (c) State one reason a pilot survey saves the company time and money overall.
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See real GCSE Statistics past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the pilot surveys (higher) worksheet pack - 15 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 4 of GCSE Statistics Higher Workbook 1, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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