What are medical surveys?
Medical surveys are data collection tools that are used to collect information from patients, donors, and other stakeholders about the quality of work and other services provided by a hospital and its health care providers (HCPs).
Apart from the patient experience, medical surveys can also be conducted for deeper research, like an epidemiological study, or healthcare planning.
Online medical surveys are more advantageous than offline inquiries since they provide anonymity, a crucial factor that positively influences response rates and encourages candid responses.
How to design a medical research survey?
A well-designed medical research survey starts with a clear research question, the right participants, and a questionnaire that people can understand and answer accurately. Follow these steps to plan your survey, collect reliable data, and report your findings.
1. Define your research objective
Start by deciding exactly what you want to find out. Your objective will guide the survey questions, participant selection, sample size, and analysis.
Example:
- Aim to measure the prevalence of a health condition
- Assess healthcare workers' knowledge of a treatment
- Understand patients' experiences with a hospital service.
Keep the objective specific enough that you can answer it using the data you collect.
2. Review existing research and questionnaires
Search published studies, literature reviews, and existing questionnaires related to your topic. This helps you identify what researchers already know and which questions or measurement tools may suit your study.
If you aren’t already, consult subject experts to check whether your questionnaire covers the right topics. You may also use a structured expert-consensus method, such as the Delphi method, when the study requires input from multiple specialists.
Adapt an existing questionnaire when appropriate, rather than creating a new one without first checking what is already available.
3. Identify your target population and sampling method
Define who can participate in your study. Specify the relevant characteristics, setting, and inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Next, choose how you will recruit participants. Random sampling can help you obtain a representative sample when you want to estimate results for a wider population. Purposive sampling can help you reach a specific group, while convenience and snowball sampling may suit exploratory research when access to participants is limited.
Choose the method that fits your research objective.
4. Calculate your sample size
Before distributing your survey, work out how many completed responses you need for your results to be useful. The right sample size depends on what you want to measure, how you select participants, and how precise your results need to be.
For a survey that estimates how common a health condition is, you need three main inputs:
- Expected prevalence: This is the estimated percentage of people who have the condition you're studying. Use findings from previous research or a pilot study. If you don't have a reliable estimate, use 50% as a starting point. This gives a larger sample size than other prevalence estimates under the same assumptions.
- Confidence level: This indicates how confident you want to be in your estimate. Researchers commonly use 95% confidence.
- Margin of error: This tells you how much your estimate may differ from the actual figure in the target population. A margin of error of ±5 percentage points means that an estimated prevalence of 30% would have a range of about 25% to 35%.
You can enter these values into a sample size calculator.
For example, suppose you want to find out what percentage of people in a large population have a particular health condition.
You need about 385 completed responses to estimate this percentage with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of ±5 percentage points, assuming you randomly select participants. Since you may not know how common the condition is, you can use an estimated prevalence of 50% for this calculation. This gives you a conservative sample size under these assumptions.
But not everyone you invite will complete the survey. If you expect 20% of people to drop out or not respond, you need to invite more than 385 people. In this case, you would invite about 482 people to get 385 completed responses, assuming the remaining 80% respond.
These numbers apply when your goal is to estimate how common something is. If you want to compare two treatment groups or study relationships between variables, you will need a different sample size calculation. A statistician can help you choose the right method for those studies.
5. Write clear, relevant questions
Build the questionnaire around your research objective. Use clear language, ask one thing at a time, and avoid leading or ambiguous questions.
For example, don’t ask about diet and exercise in the same question.
Choose response options that fit the question. Depending on what you are measuring, these might include multiple-choice answers, rating scales, yes-or-no responses, or open-ended questions. Arrange questions in a logical order and avoid collecting personal or medical information that you do not need.
Start with an introduction that explains the study's purpose, who should participate, how long the survey takes, and where participants can get more information.
6. Address ethics and participant privacy
Check your institution's and jurisdiction's requirements for research ethics approval or exemption before recruiting participants. Requirements may differ depending on the study, the information collected, and the risks involved.
Explain how you will obtain informed consent and protect participants' information. Collect only the data you need, restrict access to authorized people, and explain whether responses will be anonymous or confidential. These safeguards are especially important when surveys cover sensitive health conditions or involve vulnerable populations.
7. Pretest and pilot the questionnaire
Ask subject experts to review the questions for accuracy, relevance, and coverage. Then test the questionnaire with people similar to your intended participants.
The survey-design paper recommends pilot testing with around 5–10 target respondents or a statistician. Use their feedback to identify confusing questions, missing response options, problems with question order, and issues with the survey's length or functionality.
Revise the questionnaire before the main study. A small pilot helps test clarity and feasibility, but it does not replace any formal validation or reliability testing your research instrument requires.
8. Distribute the survey and plan your analysis
Choose a distribution method that reaches your target population. Depending on the study, you might use online forms, email, telephone interviews, paper questionnaires, or in-person recruitment.
Like I said earlier, online forms are better as they allow for anonymity and can help you reach the right research participants.
Plan how you will manage reminders, incomplete responses, duplicate submissions, and missing data. Set these procedures before collecting responses so you handle the data consistently.
Once collection ends, analyze the responses according to your research objective. When reporting the study, describe the sampling method, participant eligibility, sample size calculation, questionnaire development, pilot testing, recruitment process, and relevant limitations. Report response rates when you can establish the number of people invited, and explain any issues that may affect the representativeness of the findings.
For reporting, consult the CHERRIES checklist for online surveys and the CROSS checklist for survey studies more broadly.
Tips for conducting a medical survey
Follow these tips to collect reliable data while making the survey easier for participants to complete.
Keep questions focused: Ask only what you need to answer your research question. Use simple language and avoid unnecessary medical jargon.
- Choose the right distribution method: Use online surveys, email, paper forms, or in-person interviews based on your target participants and their access to technology.
- Protect participant privacy: Explain how you'll use and protect health information. Follow the relevant research ethics and data protection requirements.
- Get expert feedback: Ask medical professionals or researchers to review the questionnaire for clarity, accuracy, and relevance.
- Monitor responses: Check whether you're reaching the right participants and getting enough completed responses. Address gaps in recruitment or survey design when needed.
For more practical advice, read our guide to effective ways to plan and conduct a medical survey.
HIPAA compliant survey tools for medical research and patient experience
Healthcare organizations need survey software that can protect sensitive patient information while supporting data collection and analysis. The following five platforms offer HIPAA-enabled options, perfect for healthcare surveys and research.
1. SurveySparrow
SurveySparrow offers HIPAA-enabled accounts for organizations collecting protected health information (PHI). Its survey builder supports patient experience surveys, healthcare feedback collection, and research questionnaires. It also provides access controls and data encryption to help protect sensitive information. A signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is required to enable HIPAA features. Read more about SurveySparrow's HIPAA compliance.
Note: HIPAA compliance features are available on SurveySparrow's Enterprise plan. Contact our team to explore the Enterprise plan and find the right solution for your healthcare surveys.
2. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey offers HIPAA-enabled surveys and forms through its Enterprise plan. Its healthcare templates cover patient intake, medical history, hospital evaluations, and post-visit feedback. These templates make it a useful option for healthcare providers collecting patient feedback and evaluating care experiences.
3. Qualtrics
Qualtrics suits larger healthcare organizations that need to run complex research and patient experience programs. Its survey platform supports advanced question flows, participant screening, and detailed reporting. Healthcare organizations can request a BAA to support HIPAA-related obligations, making it an option for large-scale patient experience research and healthcare workforce surveys.
4. Jotform
Jotform provides HIPAA-enabled forms for patient intake, medical questionnaires, consent forms, and other healthcare workflows. Its conditional logic, electronic signatures, and document-generation features help healthcare teams collect information and manage patient paperwork. HIPAA features and a BAA are available on eligible plans.
5. Formstack
Formstack focuses on secure data collection and workflow automation. Healthcare organizations can use it for patient registration, satisfaction surveys, and other forms that collect sensitive information. It also supports electronic signatures, approval workflows, access controls, and audit logging, making it useful for organizations that need to connect data collection with administrative processes.
Examples of medical surveys (Medical surveys and form templates)
Medical surveys help researchers study health conditions, understand patient experiences, assess health risks, and evaluate healthcare services. The questions you ask will depend on your research objective and the people participating in your study.
SurveySparrow offers healthcare templates that you can customize for different data collection needs. Here are five useful starting points.
1. Patient information surveys
Collect details about a patient's medical history, allergies, medications, and current health concerns. These surveys help healthcare providers gather relevant information before consultations or treatment.
Try the Patient Information Form Template to create a customized patient questionnaire.
2. Patient satisfaction surveys
Understand how patients feel about their care, including waiting times, staff interactions, communication, and their overall hospital experience. The responses can help healthcare providers identify areas that need improvement.
Use the Hospital Feedback Form Template to collect patient feedback and identify recurring concerns.
3. Health-risk assessment surveys
Collect information about lifestyle habits, existing conditions, and other potential health risks. Researchers and healthcare providers can use these responses to identify risk factors for further assessment.
Start with SurveySparrow's Health Risk Assessment Questionnaire Template and adapt the questions to your study.
4. Doctor feedback surveys
Gather feedback about patients' experiences with doctors, including communication, consultation quality, and overall satisfaction. This can help healthcare providers understand where their services could improve.
Customize the Doctor Feedback Form Template to collect feedback from patients.
5. Patient consent forms
Explain the purpose of a study or procedure and document participants' consent where appropriate. Consent documents should clearly communicate relevant information, including risks, benefits, and participants' rights.
Use SurveySparrow's Patient Consent Form Template as a starting point. Adapt it to your study and have it reviewed against applicable ethics and consent requirements.
Other surveys such as disease-specific surveys, child and adolescent health surveys, women's health surveys, and telehealth surveys can be built around your specific study objectives. Use our AI survey generator to get things started quickly.
FAQs
1. How do you make a medical survey HIPAA compliant?
Use a survey platform that supports HIPAA requirements, sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with the provider when required, and protect patient information with appropriate access controls and security measures. Collect only the health information you need, restrict access to authorized users, and share survey responses securely.
SurveySparrow offers HIPAA-enabled accounts with security measures such as data encryption and role-based access controls. You must sign a BAA to enable a HIPAA account. Learn more on our HIPAA compliance page.
2. What is a Business Associate Agreement for surveys?
A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a contract between a HIPAA-covered organization and a business associate that handles protected health information (PHI) on its behalf. It defines the business associate's responsibilities for protecting that information and meeting applicable HIPAA requirements.
If you use SurveySparrow to collect PHI, you must sign a BAA with SurveySparrow to enable a HIPAA account. Contact your account manager for details.
3. Can I collect patient data in a survey without violating HIPAA?
Yes. Healthcare organizations can collect patient data through surveys when they meet applicable HIPAA requirements and follow the necessary privacy and security safeguards. These may include limiting data collection, restricting access, and using secure methods to distribute surveys and share results.
Anonymous surveys can reduce the amount of identifying information collected, but they don't guarantee HIPAA compliance by themselves. Review your survey settings and avoid collecting unnecessary identifiers or sensitive information.
SurveySparrow supports anonymous survey collection and offers HIPAA-enabled accounts for organizations that need to handle PHI. Explore our healthcare survey platform to learn more.
