Anyone else think “don’t know” is being overused?

I have just completed another survey, where once again I was given the opportunity to respond with “don’t know” as my answer for almost every question.  Why?

Sure, there are times when this is a valid answer, but there are many more when this is simply giving respondents an easy ‘out’.  If you have experienced a product or service, you know how satisfied you are or if you would recommend it.  Sure, you might not immediately have an answer because you haven’t thought about it.  But that’s the point, if you think about it for a minute you will know.  How can you not know, or have an opinion, it was your experience after all.

It is either poor design, or an attempt to be too PC and allow respondents the opportunity to avoid having to think about questions too much in case they get upset.

So rather than adding “don’t know” as standard, think about it and add it when essential, which will be much less often then it is currently being used!  You will get better data and research for it!