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Best practice for survey creation
This flow will help you get into the mindset of best practice for survey creation. Follow the below sequence of steps for tips on how to approach survey creation, as well as other advice.
1. Develop the questions
We advise to, first of all, create the textual input and overall structure for all of the questions that are planned in the survey. Browse, pick and choose from the toolbox of various question types, brainstorm which question type would be the most logical choice for the particular question.
Utilize the option to add new pages and group your questions thematically. Such a thematically coherent setup will also support the participant experience.
Having this structure in place will serve as a solid foundation to further build an intricate pattern of logic and add other settings to make the participant experience smooth.
Utilize the option to add new pages and group your questions thematically. Such a thematically coherent setup will also support the participant experience.
Having this structure in place will serve as a solid foundation to further build an intricate pattern of logic and add other settings to make the participant experience smooth.
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2. Set up the underlying technical elements for your questions
Once the questions have been developed, several technical elements have to be added to ensure the underlying structure that is the foundation of implementing the logic setup and other further steps of creating a well-designed and thought-out survey.
Visit the Settings of each question and in the section General set up such elements as question Name and Description. Where applicable, don't forget to visit the sections Choices and Columns to set up such elements of your answers as Value.
These elements will be essential later on when setting up the Logic for your survey.
Visit the Settings of each question and in the section General set up such elements as question Name and Description. Where applicable, don't forget to visit the sections Choices and Columns to set up such elements of your answers as Value.
These elements will be essential later on when setting up the Logic for your survey.
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3. Form the Validation setup
Next step to consider, in our opinion, is the validation setup.
Go through all of the questions of your survey and in the section Validation found in the Settings set up expression, numeric, text, regex and e-mail validators that will regulate the formatting and possibilities of responses to your questions.
This way you will be able to better regulate the quality of responses submitted. For example, if you have Single Input question to find out the participants' e-mail addresses, the e-mail validator set to the question will help ensure participants use the correct format to put in their e-mail address.
Go through all of the questions of your survey and in the section Validation found in the Settings set up expression, numeric, text, regex and e-mail validators that will regulate the formatting and possibilities of responses to your questions.
This way you will be able to better regulate the quality of responses submitted. For example, if you have Single Input question to find out the participants' e-mail addresses, the e-mail validator set to the question will help ensure participants use the correct format to put in their e-mail address.
| Read more |
4. [optional] Develop a point system
Now that the structure of your questions has taken shape, it is a good time to consider also developing a point system for the whole survey.
This option later on could give you the possibility to create personalized participant reports with help of the Calculations functionality based on the number of points gathered when providing responses to the survey questions. This way it will be possible to develop more personalized conditional report texts to the participants and also provide them with useful feedback and informative materials.
Visit the sections Choices, Columns and Rows in the survey element Settings and allocate points to different answer choices. Keep in mind that the visibility of the sections in the survey element settings depends on the specific question type.
This option later on could give you the possibility to create personalized participant reports with help of the Calculations functionality based on the number of points gathered when providing responses to the survey questions. This way it will be possible to develop more personalized conditional report texts to the participants and also provide them with useful feedback and informative materials.
Visit the sections Choices, Columns and Rows in the survey element Settings and allocate points to different answer choices. Keep in mind that the visibility of the sections in the survey element settings depends on the specific question type.
| Read more |
5. Implement a Logic setup
Now, let's take a little step back and reflect on the overall logic between all of the questions. Visit the section Logic in Settings of each question and decide how the questions will be inter-linked.
In this section it is possible to create three types of expressions - Visible if, Enable if, Required if - that will determine the rules governing the specific question in relation to answer choices made in previous questions. This way it is possible to create several parallel strings of questions for different response scenarios.
For example, you can tailor your survey to specific demographic groups of your audience, or you can make some questions visible only if specific answers have been selected previously. This way you can gain deeper understanding of your participants.
In this section it is possible to create three types of expressions - Visible if, Enable if, Required if - that will determine the rules governing the specific question in relation to answer choices made in previous questions. This way it is possible to create several parallel strings of questions for different response scenarios.
For example, you can tailor your survey to specific demographic groups of your audience, or you can make some questions visible only if specific answers have been selected previously. This way you can gain deeper understanding of your participants.
| Read more |
6. Produce the necessary translations
Now that the contents and logic setup have been polished, it is the right time to make your survey accessible to audiences of different language backgrounds.
Visit the tab Translation and translate your survey manually or apply the Export to CSV / Import form CSV functionality.
Our suggestion to leave translating your survey for the later stages is well-founded, as it is the best approach in order to save time and avoid countless edits of other language versions in case any changes are made in the default language variant due to corrections and adjustments. However, once the survey has taken the shape you have envisioned, as well as it has been finished contents-wise, it can finally be translated to other languages.
Visit the tab Translation and translate your survey manually or apply the Export to CSV / Import form CSV functionality.
Our suggestion to leave translating your survey for the later stages is well-founded, as it is the best approach in order to save time and avoid countless edits of other language versions in case any changes are made in the default language variant due to corrections and adjustments. However, once the survey has taken the shape you have envisioned, as well as it has been finished contents-wise, it can finally be translated to other languages.
| Read more |
7. Create personalized reports for participants
It is finally time for the last major part of developing a survey - setting up the participant report. Furthermore, this is the moment when step 4 comes into play. Namely, if a point system was worked out and scores were assigned to specific answers of the survey, it will now be possible to create personalized conditional reports for the participants of the survey with help of the Calculations functionality or by simply creating conditional rules for specific messages to be displayed to participants in different response scenarios. Simply choose to Add new section in the Report for participant stage of survey building and add as many and as intricate Conditions for displaying different messages to the participants as necessary.
This is a valuable tool for providing feedback to the participants, moreover, the feedback can be tailored for the unique experience of each participant.
This is a valuable tool for providing feedback to the participants, moreover, the feedback can be tailored for the unique experience of each participant.
| Read more |
8. Test your survey and make the necessary adjustments
Now that all of the main survey creation steps have been completed, it is high time to see how the work you have done translates to the participant experience.
Visit the section Preview and carry out an in-depth, thorough test for all possible response scenarios you can think of. Test if the Validation and Logic rules you have implemented work in reality. Regarding validation rules - try to give answers that you have defined as invalid and check if error messages are displayed as you intended, regarding Logic rules - select the answers that you have programmed to trigger certain other questions and see if the triggers work, etc.
Don't hesitate to involve other people in the testing phase as they will be able to provide an outside perspective on details that might evade you due to your proximity to production process. This way you will be able to hunt down any slips made and areas of improvement. Make all the necessary adjustments until you are satisfied with the experience your participants will have taking your survey.
NB! The Preview section does not produce the personalized participant report messages, however, all of the other details set up for the survey can be tested.
Visit the section Preview and carry out an in-depth, thorough test for all possible response scenarios you can think of. Test if the Validation and Logic rules you have implemented work in reality. Regarding validation rules - try to give answers that you have defined as invalid and check if error messages are displayed as you intended, regarding Logic rules - select the answers that you have programmed to trigger certain other questions and see if the triggers work, etc.
Don't hesitate to involve other people in the testing phase as they will be able to provide an outside perspective on details that might evade you due to your proximity to production process. This way you will be able to hunt down any slips made and areas of improvement. Make all the necessary adjustments until you are satisfied with the experience your participants will have taking your survey.
NB! The Preview section does not produce the personalized participant report messages, however, all of the other details set up for the survey can be tested.
We will be happy to assist you in case of any questions or issues.
Please e-mail us at support@longenesis.com.
Please e-mail us at support@longenesis.com.