v1.2.1 to v1.1.1

---

name: survey-architect

author: Personify Labs

description: >

Turns a research question into a validated, deploy-ready survey. Runs a

short intake to establish product context and learning goal, selects the

right instrument (SEQ, SUS, UMUX-Lite, SUPR-Q, NPS, CSAT, CES, PSSUQ, or a

custom item set) based on what's actually being measured, and outputs a

platform-native file ready to paste into Qualtrics, Typeform, or an in-app

survey component. Trigger when someone says "I need to survey users about

X," "what should I ask users after they do Y," "build me an NPS survey,"

"help me measure usability of Z," or pastes a vague research need and

wants it turned into an actual instrument. Entry point 1 of the research

evals/qualitative_cases.md after touching this file's prose.

tags:

- user-research

- ux-research

- surveys

- qualtrics

- nps

- sus

- supr-q

license: CC-BY 4.0

---

# Survey Architect

Turns "I need to know something about users" into a specific, validated,

deployable survey — not a generic questionnaire.

This skill does not open with a survey. It opens with an interview, because

the wrong instrument answers a question nobody asked.

-----

## Step 0: Intake — never skip this

Before picking an instrument, ask (as a short back-and-forth, not a form

dump):

2. **What decision will this survey inform?** Not "understand users" —

something a stakeholder will actually do differently based on the

answer (ship/hold a feature, fix a flow, report a trend, justify

spend).

3. **Where in the user's experience does this sit?** A single task, a

full session with the product, the ongoing relationship with the

product, or one specific transaction (support ticket, checkout,

onboarding).

4. **Has this been measured before for this product?** If yes, check

`/research/_benchmarks/<product>.md` — reuse the same instrument and

wording so the new wave is comparable. Don't introduce a new

instrument mid-series without a stated reason.

If the answers to 2 and 3 don't line up (e.g., "I want to know if the

onboarding flow is easy" but the answer to 3 is "relationship"), point that

out before proceeding. Don't silently pick one.

Do not proceed to instrument selection until 1–3 are answered.

-----

## Step 1: Instrument selection

Classify the intake answers into a decision_type first — this part is

judgment, not arithmetic — then **run `scripts/selection.py`'s

`select_instrument(decision_type)`** rather than eyeballing the table

below, so the same decision_type can never silently map to a different

instrument on a different run. The table is here for the judgment call

of classifying the situation, not for hand-picking the instrument once

it's classified:

| Decision type | `decision_type` value | Where it sits | Instrument |

|---|---|---|---|

| Is this task doable? | `task_completion` | Single task, mid-test | SEQ |

| Is the product/feature usable overall? | `product_usability_full` / `product_usability_lite` | Full session, post-study | SUS / UMUX-Lite |

| How does our UX compare to the market? | `website_relationship_benchmark` | Website/app relationship | SUPR-Q |

| Are users loyal / would they recommend us? | `relationship_loyalty` | Relationship, quarterly | NPS |

| Were they happy with this specific interaction? | `transactional_satisfaction` | Transactional | CSAT |

| Was this support/self-serve interaction low-friction? | `transactional_effort` | Transactional (support) | CES 2.0 |

| Need diagnostic subscales? | `diagnostic_subscales` | Post-study, deeper | PSSUQ |

| Will they actually adopt this before it ships? | `adoption_prediction` / `adoption_prediction_lite` | Pre-launch prediction | TAM / UMUX-Lite |

Don't let the requester's phrasing ("I want NPS") override what they're

actually asking — if someone asks for NPS but the real question is "is

this specific flow usable," say so and recommend SEQ instead, with the

trade-off named. If `select_instrument` raises (nothing fits), build a

short custom item set and say explicitly that it has no external

benchmark, so the report later doesn't imply false comparability.

**Never modify the wording of a validated instrument** (SUS, SUPR-Q, UMUX,

UMUX-Lite, PSSUQ). A single reworded item breaks the benchmark comparison.

If the wording genuinely doesn't fit (e.g., "system" feels wrong for a

consumer app), swap the bracketed placeholder only — never the item

structure.

-----

## Step 2: Sample size

**Run `scripts/selection.py`'s `required_sample_size(purpose)`** for the

floor, rather than reciting the numbers from memory:

- `rough_benchmark` → 20

- `compare_two_conditions_between` → 213

- `compare_two_conditions_within` → 93

- `ongoing_tracking` → 30

These are MeasuringU's published rule-of-thumb bands, not a computed

power analysis — a true power calculation needs an effect size and

alpha/power assumptions most requesters can't supply at intake. If a

requester needs an actual power calculation for a specific comparison,

say that's a separate, more involved ask rather than quietly

approximating one here.

If the requester's expected reach won't hit the floor for what they asked

for, say so now — this is what feeds the small-sample flag downstream in

feedback-synthesizer. Don't let a study launch that's structurally

under-powered without the requester knowing going in.

-----

## Step 3: Trigger and frequency logic

Specify, as part of the spec, not left to the deploying team to guess:

- **Trigger event:** the specific action/moment that fires the survey

(task completion, session end, ticket resolution, N days after

signup) — never "on page load" or a calendar date alone

- **Frequency cap:** global cooldown (default: one survey per person per

14 days) plus per-instrument cap (relationship metrics like NPS: no

more than every 90–180 days)

- **Suppression rule:** don't re-survey someone who scored as a recent

detractor/low scorer until the issue is addressed

-----

## Step 4: Output

Produce a **platform-native, deploy-ready** artifact — not a generic spec —

matched to how it'll actually be shipped:

- **Qualtrics** → QSF-importable question block (question text, response

scale, scoring formula as a note)

- **Typeform** → JSON matching Typeform's question schema

- **Unspecified platform** → ask which one before generating, don't

default silently

Along with the deployable file, always also write the structured handoff

-----

-----

## Quick reference

| Requester says | What to check | Likely instrument |

|---|---|---|

| "Is this new flow usable?" | Single task, mid-test | SEQ |

| "How's the product doing overall?" | Full session, post-study | SUS or UMUX-Lite |

| "Are people loyal to us?" | Relationship, quarterly | NPS |

| "Was support helpful?" | Transactional | CSAT or CES |

| "How do we compare to competitors' UX?" | Relationship, benchmarked | SUPR-Q |

| "Will people actually use this feature?" | Pre-launch | TAM / UMUX-Lite |

| Nothing above fits | Custom, one-off | Custom item set, no benchmark |