Start with easy non-threatening questions that can be easily recalled. Good options are demographics (age, gender, education level) for individual-level surveys and firmographics (employee count, annual revenues, industry) for firm-level surveys. • Never start with an open ended question. • If following an historical sequence of events, follow a chronological order from earliest to latest. • Ask about one topic at a time. When switching topics, use a transition, such as “The next section examines your opinions about …” • Use filter or contingency questions as needed, such as: “If you answered “yes”