How long should the 360 feedback questionnaire be?
Usually somewhere around 25-35 minutes to complete a 360 assessment is about right. Some factors may push toward shorter or longer. ie If the 360 is required, not voluntary, stay shorter. If each rater is required to rate more than 4 or 5 participants, stay shorter. If raters see meaningful follow-up / noticeable impact post 360, you can go longer. If the survey is written to follow a predictable cadence — question items follow the same sentence structure — the process goes more smoothly, more quickly. Open ended questions typically take more time to answer thoughtfully. And, also take into account how many times a year you expect to do your 360.
Bonnie Williamson
Star 360 Feedback
In general, 360 feedback questionnaires should be targeted and contain relevant questions. They should be long enough to accurately measure the competencies they are attempting to assess (reliability) but not too long as to decrease motivation to complete them. It takes, on average, between 30 – 60 seconds to answer each question, and if a respondent is asked to complete questionnaires on a number of people, it’s important that respondent fatigue doesn’t set in. Typically, 360 feedback questionnaires contain between 40 – 70 items.
