Pilot Survey: How to Test Your Questionnaire Before the Main Study
How to run a pilot survey before the main study: purpose, size, a seven-point review, cognitive interviews and a decision table for fix, drop or go.
In shortA pilot survey is a small run of the real questionnaire, with the real audience, to find problems before the main study. Check the screener, incidence, wording, routing, length and the open answers. Fix what you find, then launch. A pilot of 100 responses costs ₹15,000 on our Plus plan, and the first 30 responses are free. A pilot is not a results sample: do not add its data to the main study if you changed the questions.
Contents
A Pilot Finds the Mistakes Before They Cost You Money
A questionnaire that looks fine to its author often fails with real respondents: a screener that lets everyone through, an option that is missing, a question people read differently. A pilot finds these while they are cheap to fix.
This guide covers what a pilot is, its size, a seven-point review and what to do with the result. The costs use our list prices.
What a Pilot Is and How Big It Should Be
A pilot is the real survey run on a small number of the real audience. It has two jobs: find problems, and estimate incidence and length. There is no standard size. Choose one large enough to see the problems and incidence you need. For a share near 50%, 100 responses give about ±9.8 points in a simple random sample, enough for a rough read and not for decisions.
| Step | Plan | Responses | Price per response | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test the questionnaire | Free | 30 | ₹0 | ₹0 |
| Pilot | Plus | 100 | ₹150 | ₹15,000 |
Seven Checks
| Check | Look for |
|---|---|
| Screener | Does the right share pass? Is anyone passing who should not? |
| Incidence | How many people did you screen to find one qualifier? |
| Wording | Which questions got "don't know" or odd answers? |
| Options | How many used "other", and what did they write? |
| Routing | Did anyone see a question that did not apply to them? |
| Length | Where did people drop out, and how long did it take on a phone? |
| Open answers | Do they show the question was understood? |
Read the open answers yourself. They are the quickest way to see misunderstanding.
Add a Few Interviews
For new or tricky questions, ask a handful of people to read each question aloud and say what it means to them. This is a cognitive interview. It finds wording problems that numbers do not show. See moderated interviews.
Fix, Drop or Go
| Finding | Action |
|---|---|
| A question is misread | Reword and pilot again |
| An option is missing | Add it, with other |
| The screener passes too few | Relax it or change the audience |
| Drop-out is high at one point | Shorten or move the question |
| All is clear | Launch; keep pilot data separate unless the questions are unchanged |
Running This Study on Hercules
If your job is to pilot a consumer questionnaire in India, this is the free test and the 100-response pilot at list price, then the main study.
| Step | Plan | Responses | Price per response | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test the questionnaire | Free | 30 | ₹0 | ₹0 |
| Small pilot | Plus | 100 | ₹150 | ₹15,000 |
| Main study | Pro | 400 | ₹120 | ₹48,000 |
Pro is sold in bundles of 400 to 1,000 responses and costs 20% less per response than Plus. Enterprise plans come with a dedicated research team and are priced on request.
The SuperJ network has a 25M+ consumer footprint. The survey-eligible panel is a subset, and availability depends on your targeting. Members complete Aadhaar-based KYC once, and each study receives a zero-knowledge proof of verification. Surveys run in as many Indian languages as the study needs. Quality checks flag speeders, straight-lining and inconsistent answers. Read /panel-methodology and pricing.
The limit: the app reaches smartphone users only, so offline households need face-to-face fieldwork.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pilot survey?
A small run of the real questionnaire with the real audience to find problems in wording, screening, routing and length before the main study.
How many people should be in a pilot?
There is no standard. Enough to see the problems and estimate incidence. We use 30 free responses to test the questionnaire and 100 for a pilot at list price.
Can I use pilot data in the final results?
Only if the questions did not change. If you changed any, keep the pilot separate.
What is a cognitive interview?
A short interview in which a person reads a question aloud and says what it means to them. It exposes wording problems.
Is a pilot the same as a soft launch?
They are similar. A soft launch runs the first part of the main fieldwork and then pauses to check, while a pilot is a separate small run.
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