Have you ever heard the expression if you don't ask just the right question? Imagine how pertinent this is to the issue of forms design.

Organisations use the information they gather on forms as the basis for business decisions. The decision to extend credit, offer membership to an industry body, or even provide insurance will be based on information gathered through forms of one type or another.

Poorly phrased questions on a form translate into vague answers. The end result is that organisations collect inadequate information and then use this as the basis for business decisions.

An unintended consequence of this is that customers are inadvertently led to providing inadequate or even incorrect information. This can have legal ramifications.