How to Create Accessible Online Survey Research

Although 20% of the population has a disability, adapting research to make it more accessible for disabled people is rarely covered in research skills training. This raises potential ethical and methodological issues with research, including the limitation that it restricts the available sample in terms of size and representativeness.

This guide explains the importance of accessibility to social researchers and outlines some of the ways in which face to face research presents barriers to access. It goes on to describe how online survey research can remove or reduce some of those barriers. It gives specific examples of features to check when choosing an online survey tool, and adaptions and edits to make when designing an online survey. Finally, it describes how to check whether the surveys produced by three popular online survey tools will be (more) accessible.