Four dos:

(1) focused,(2) brief, (3) simple, and (4) crystal clear.

Four don'ts:

(1) leading, (2) loaded, (3) double-barreled, or(4) overstated

I think in Dos, being focused, simple and crystal clear is very important because when you are focus, you know what all details are material to the content of the message and the same shall not be missed out. Being simple and crystal clear shall help the receivers of our message decode the message in the same light as it was intended to because the language that is simple and clear avoids ambiguity and confusion in understanding the message.

In terms of Dont's, I think leading, loaded and overstated messages are not to be used because too much of information can either mislead a person as suggested in the content of the message and thus make a person victim of a biased approach, or may be too heavy for the receiver to comprehend the essence of the message. Overstate messages can also vouch for over-reactions from the receiver, which in actual, may not be necessary. Overstated messages also have the problem of misleading a person by unnecessarily emphasizing on certain part of information that do not deserve much worth otherwise.

1a. Overstate messages can also vouch for overreactions from the receiver that will not be needed. Do you have any examples for either or?

1b. Do you feel that overstated wording is an unintentional consequence of the development phase itself? In other words, what seems right to the developer, does not sync with the respondent.

1c. Do you think any dos or donts should come first, or more important than other dos or donts? why? Or are they all equally important?

2. Is it always desirable to include open-ended questions in a survey? Why or why not?