How clear is the current decision-making process?
Check whether members understand who makes decisions and how input is considered. Clarify the actual process without treating questionnaire responses as a formal vote.
Communities and membership / Survey guide
Communities and membership · Practical field guide
Community decision-making survey
Understand how members want to hear about and contribute to decisions.
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EXAMPLE INVITATION BRIEF
Help us understand this experience.
Understand how members want to hear about and contribute to decisions.
- Who should respond
- community and membership organizers
- When to ask
- Ask after respondents have experienced the specific situation in the first prompt: “How clear is the current decision-making process?” Allow enough time after a proposed change for people to experience it before repeating the questionnaire.
Before sending, explain handling, optional participation, and contact details. This example is not sent by the preview.
A useful starting point
A questionnaire for community decision-making.
Understand how members want to hear about and contribute to decisions. Choose the questions that fit the experience you are investigating; avoid asking people to evaluate a step they did not encounter.
If nothing was unclear or difficult, say so. Skip questions about steps you did not experience; use not applicable where appropriate.
Where would you like a chance to contribute?
Identify a decision stage where members want an appropriate contribution route. Compare that request with the governing process before promising participation or decision authority.
What would make published decisions easier to understand?
Locate missing reasons or context in published decisions. Improve the explanation while distinguishing understandable communication from agreement with the decision's outcome itself.
Which decision needs more background information?
Find a decision whose rationale cannot be understood from the published background. Add accurate relevant context while preserving legitimate limits on confidential deliberations.
How should members hear what happened to their suggestions?
Choose a feedback route that explains whether suggestions were accepted, deferred or declined. Acknowledge considered input without promising adoption of every member's proposal.
If nothing was unclear or difficult, say so. Skip questions about steps you did not experience; use not applicable where appropriate. How clear is the current decision-making process? Where would you like a chance to contribute? What would make published decisions easier to understand? Which decision needs more background information? How should members hear what happened to their suggestions?
Download the questions as text ↓
Examples to adapt, rather than a validated research instrument.
Read the answers carefully
What the answers cannot tell you.
Survey participation is not a formal vote unless the governing process explicitly makes it one.
Example members contribute ideas but cannot see how those ideas affected a decision. This is an illustrative interpretation problem rather than a real customer result. Publish a short decision explanation that acknowledges the input considered.
Before you send it
Check what your wording assumes.
Would you agree that community decision-making was a completely positive experience?
How clear is the current decision-making process?
The initial wording assumes a positive evaluation. The revised question asks about the actual situation so a respondent can describe difficulty, uncertainty, or a different experience.
A worked interpretation example
From a comment to a practical next step.
Illustrative scenario. These are not customer results.
Keep the finding specific
Example members contribute ideas but cannot see how those ideas affected a decision.
Choose an action to test
Publish a short decision explanation that acknowledges the input considered.
Check the experience again
After testing the action, revisit this original observation: Example members contribute ideas but cannot see how those ideas affected a decision. Repeat the relevant experience prompts with people who encountered the change. Compare specific explanations and sample differences; do not claim causation from the before-and-after responses.
From question to next step
Make the feedback useful.
Set the decision
Write down the decision you want this questionnaire to support: understand how members want to hear about and contribute to decisions.
Invite relevant voices
Invite people who experienced the relevant situation. Explain response handling and include an optional skip or not-applicable route. Survey participation is not a formal vote unless the governing process explicitly makes it one.
Choose an action
Publish a short decision explanation that acknowledges the input considered.
Choose the response format
Make room for the explanation.
| Question | Suggested format | What to preserve |
|---|---|---|
| How clear is the current decision-making process? | Short open text | Let people explain the experience in their own words. Review this answer for: how clear is the current decision-making process. |
| Where would you like a chance to contribute? | Short open text | Let people explain the experience in their own words. Review this answer for: where would you like a chance to contribute. |
| What would make published decisions easier to understand? | Short open text | Let people explain the experience in their own words. Review this answer for: what would make published decisions easier to understand. |
| Which decision needs more background information? | Short open text | Let people explain the experience in their own words. Review this answer for: which decision needs more background information. |
| How should members hear what happened to their suggestions? | Short open text | Let people explain the experience in their own words. Review this answer for: how should members hear what happened to their suggestions. |
Make questions optional where appropriate. If you add a rating scale, label its endpoints, keep one idea per question, and retain a follow-up for reasons. These examples are not a validated measurement instrument.
Before you send it
Questions, answered.
What should I learn from this community decision-making questionnaire?
Understand how members want to hear about and contribute to decisions. Start with one decision you can act on rather than using the survey to confirm a preferred answer.
How should I interpret answers to “Where would you like a chance to contribute?”?
Read this answer for the concrete issue behind the response. Survey participation is not a formal vote unless the governing process explicitly makes it one. Compare specific explanations instead of reducing every response to one average.
What would a practical next action look like?
Publish a short decision explanation that acknowledges the input considered. This is an example action to investigate, not a guaranteed improvement.
When should I send this questionnaire?
Ask after respondents have experienced the specific situation in the first prompt: “How clear is the current decision-making process?” Allow enough time after a proposed change for people to experience it before repeating the questionnaire.
What should I check after changing the process?
After testing the action, revisit this original observation: Example members contribute ideas but cannot see how those ideas affected a decision. Repeat the relevant experience prompts with people who encountered the change. Compare specific explanations and sample differences; do not claim causation from the before-and-after responses.
Can I use these questions in SurveyTeams?
Copy the questions or download TXT, CSV, JSON, or a Markdown worksheet and adapt them in your own survey. The product CTA opens registration and does not import the example. Verify the features and terms available in your account.
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