Q01
Message
All templatesDeveloper & Engineering
Open Source Contributor Experience & Governance Survey
Measures contribution path clarity, governance transparency, maintainer responsiveness, and improvement priorities for open-source projects. Designed for project maintainers seeking to improve contributor satisfaction and retention.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
18 questions · ~9 min
Q02
Multiple Choice
Which of the following best describes your current relationship to this project?
- Maintainer
- Regular contributor
- Occasional contributor
- New contributor
- User only (no contributions yet)
Q03
Opinion Scale
How clear are the contribution entry points (e.g., documentation, labeled issues, getting-started guides) for this project?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Very unclearMax:Very clear
Q04
Multiple Choice
Which of the following governance elements are clear to you for this project? (Select all that apply.)
- Roadmap and project direction
- Decision-making process
- Release process and cadence
- Code of Conduct enforcement
- Maintainer roles and permissions
- Project ownership or legal entity
- None of the above
Q05
Multiple Choice
For your most recent contribution, how long did it take to receive an initial response from a maintainer?
- Within 24 hours
- 2–3 days
- 4–7 days
- 8–14 days
- More than 14 days
- No response yet
- Not applicable
Q06
Ranking
Please rank the following areas by how much they need improvement for this project, with the most important at the top.
- Contribution documentation
- Issue triage speed
- Code review throughput
- Decision-making transparency
- Roadmap visibility
- New contributor onboarding
Drag to rank
Q07
Long Text
Based on your responses in this survey, is there anything else you would like to share about your experience contributing to this project?
Q08
Multiple Choice
How long have you been involved with this project?
- Less than 3 months
- 3–12 months
- 1–2 years
- 3 or more years
Q09
Message
Thank you for your time and insights! Your feedback will be used to improve the contributor experience for everyone involved in this project.
Q10
Multiple Choice
In the past 12 months, how often have you contributed to this project?
- Weekly or more
- 2–3 times per month
- About once per month
- A few times this year
- Once in the last year
- Not in the last 12 months
Q11
Long Text
What, if anything, slows you down when contributing to this project?
Q12
Opinion Scale
How transparent has project decision-making been in the last 6 months?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all transparentMax:Extremely transparent
Q13
Opinion Scale
How would you rate the quality of code review feedback you received on pull requests in the last 6 months?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Very poorMax:Excellent
Q14
AI Interview
We'd like to learn a bit more about your contributor experience. An AI moderator will ask you a couple of brief follow-up questions.
Q15
Dropdown
In which region do you primarily reside?
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- Latin America
- North America
- Oceania
- Prefer not to say
Q16
Opinion Scale
In the last 6 months, how often were contributors invited to provide input on project decisions (e.g., roadmap priorities, release plans, policy changes)?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:NeverMax:Very frequently
Q17
Opinion Scale
How accessible have maintainers been on project communication channels (e.g., chat, forums, issue trackers) in the last 6 months?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all accessibleMax:Extremely accessible
Q18
Opinion Scale
Overall, how satisfied are you with maintainer responsiveness in the last 6 months?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Very dissatisfiedMax:Very satisfied
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Includes dedicated governance-transparency items (decision-making transparency, contributor input opportunities) rather than generic project-satisfaction questions.
- Pairs closed-ended opinion scales with an open-text question on what specifically slows down contributions, plus a final open-text catch-all for anything unaddressed.
- Includes a ranking question so maintainers get a prioritized list of improvement areas (e.g., documentation, review quality, responsiveness) instead of a flat satisfaction score.
- Adds an AI follow-up interview segment where an AI moderator can probe deeper into a contributor's experience, and every response is automatically quality-scored and rolled into an auto-generated report.
SurveySparrow
Project Satisfaction Survey TemplateThis is a general-purpose project satisfaction template aimed at client/stakeholder or team-project feedback, not open-source contributor or governance dynamics specifically. It's a fielding-ready static form that a maintainer could adapt, but none of its questions address contribution entry points, governance transparency, or maintainer responsiveness out of the box. Useful mainly as a generic satisfaction baseline rather than a purpose-built open-source community survey.
What it does well
- Ready-to-deploy template with SurveySparrow's conversational, mobile-friendly survey format
- Broad applicability across any 'project' context, so it's quick to launch with minimal customization
- Likely supports standard question types (rating scales, open text) for basic satisfaction tracking
Where it falls short
- Static question set with no adaptive AI follow-up probing into individual contributor answers
- No open-source-specific coverage of governance transparency, contribution entry-point clarity, or maintainer responsiveness
- No voice AI interview option or automated per-response quality scoring/report generation
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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