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Leading question

A question whose wording points at one answer, so the result partly measures the wording.

Leading happens in several ways: a loaded adjective (“our improved checkout”), an unbalanced scale (four positive options and two negative), a premise assumed in the stem, or agreement framing that invites a yes because agreeing is socially easier than disagreeing.

The writer may not notice the assumption. Ask someone outside the project to read the question and explain what they think it asks.

Balance the scale, strip the adjectives, and offer the negative option in the same words you offered the positive one.

Where it goes wrong

Response options that are not symmetric. If “Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair” is the whole scale, the question has already decided.

See also

Double-barrelled question
One question asking about two things, so a single answer has to cover both.
Social desirability bias
The tendency to answer the way that reflects well on you rather than the way that is true.
Likert scale
A set of ordered answer options, usually four to seven, running between two poles or up from none of something.

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