Best Practices for Survey Use in Medical Education: How to Design, Refine, and Administer High-Quality Surveys

Surveys are a frequently used method to collect data in medical education research. As such, it behooves medical educators involved in scholarly work to understand the best practices in the selection, development, implementation, and reporting of surveys used when conducting research and curriculum development projects. This review article prepares the reader to name the steps of designing and administering high-quality surveys in medical education research, identify the characteristics of both well-written and poorly written survey questions, and apply the principles of survey design to write and revise surveys for use in their own research.