Oh, now I get it, and thanks for the email, I'll respond here so it's available to everyone, if anyone else is interested.
To answer your questions, no, we specifically did not ask questions in a survey style like you're suggesting. No "what are the last 10 places on the web", or anything of the sort.
I've taken a very conversational approach, so there is nothing specifically structured there. I knew I was trying to create a customer persona, and there are a few specific questions I knew I wanted answers to, but not a survey, a conversation.
I'll lead the conversation along the lines of "what have you tried to help you sleep", then based on that "how did you hear about that", "how did you decide what eye mask to buy", "I haven't heard of that solution before, where did you find it?", "who do you talk to about your sleep issues, why them, do they have sleep trouble as well?"
I was looking to understand the customer, not specifically looking for a channel, but in those discussions we found some very surprising consistencies which made us go...what?...that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! but then...yeah, it's a thing I guess :)
I see a few issues with the "What sleep related sites..." questions, which I think many people would likely ask.
1) If you're in the market, you should know those sites without them telling you. So you're kinda wasting your time and theirs. Specific to sleep, most people don't even speak to their doctors about sleep, so their isn't a "place they go", it's more a "what do you do", and then pulling on that string.
2) Competitors are likely at any site related to your community, so you're just adding to the noise (same as being the noise in a facebook advertisement, etc).
I don't know what you mean about a "gamified experience", your customers are people, treat them that way. I don't think you need 1000 answers. Speak to a few people a day, and in a few months you've got more than 100 people, and you should be able to spot the necessary threads.