IMPORTANT: The Surveys module has been moved to the Maintenance stage of the product lifecycle. As such, it is not available to new customers.
Current users can continue to use it, and Higher Logic commits to the conditions of the lifecycle stage as detailed in Higher Logic's Product Life Cycle and Support Assurance Plan.
To access the Surveys list page, where you can create and manage your surveys:
- Access the Admin interface.
- Navigate to Surveys > List.
Create a survey
Creating a survey is a multi-step process; let's walk through each step.
Step 1 - Specify a name & select a folder
Specify a name in the Create New Survey field and click Go. If there are multiple folders, select which folder to add the survey to, and then click Go.
Step 2 - Select a template
On the next page, you're prompted to select a survey template. Here, you can choose an existing template or create a new one. Click Select to use a template or Preview to view it in a pop-up without navigating away from the page.
NOTE: To create a template, hover over the More menu at the upper right and select Create/Edit Survey Template. See Survey Templates to learn more.
Step 3 - Create questions & content
After selecting your template, you’re taken to the main page for creating survey content. Here, two buttons are available:
- Click New to create a question
- Click Text to add a survey description/instructions or other content (e.g., images, links)
Add questions
Click New to add a question to your survey in the Add Question dialog. In the editor, type your question in the Input Question text box; you can perform typical tasks like formatting your font and text size, adding images, inserting links, and attaching documents; you can even click the Source button to edit the HTML for the question text.
Once your question creation and configuration is complete, select whether it's a required field, and choose a field type (e.g., drop-down list, checkbox, radio button, text field).
Based on the selected field type, additional options become available, such as the number of answers you want to provide. When finished, click Add. If a multiple choice field type, you'll define the answers on the next page.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Dropdown list (multiple choice – single answer) | Respondents open a dropdown menu and select one answer. |
| Check boxes (multiple choice – multiple answers) | Respondents check one or more answers in a list. |
| Radio buttons (multiple choice – single answer) | Respondents see all answers and select one. |
| 1 Line text box | Respondents enter a brief text answer. |
| Multi-Line text box | Respondents enter a longer text answer. |
| Multiple select box (multiple choice – multiple answers) | Respondents select one or more answers from a list of options. |
| Date field | Respondents enter a date. |
| Matrix (multiple choice – single answer) | Respondents select an answer from each row of a table. (This is good for satisfaction surveys: e.g., rating services on a 1-5 scale.) |
| Ranking question using text boxes | Respondents rank options by entering a number next to each one. |
| Constant sum | Respondents rank options by giving each one a score. The scores must add up to a constant value. (This option is good for weighing preferences with a percentage: e.g., 50% for option 1, 25% for option 2, 15% for option 3, 10% for option 4.) |
| Matrix (multiple choice – multiple answers) | Respondents can select more than one option for each row of a table. |
Add answers
If you chose a multiple-choice field type such as a dropdown list or check boxes, you'll have to define the answers you want your respondents to select from. Add them in the available fields, select whether one answer is the default option, and then click Add.
Add pages
If you want to organize your survey questions onto multiple pages, click the New Page button at the button right. A new area becomes available on the page where you can create unique text and questions for the page. Repeat this to add additional pages.
Conditional branching
For the drop-down list and radio button field types, you can define conditional branching so specific answers "branch" off to additional survey questions.
Start this process via the Branch button. In the dialog, select the answers to branch, and then select one of four branching types:
- Branch to a new question
- Branch to an existing question
- End the survey
- Ignore branching, instead directly go to the next question
NOTE: You must apply branching to each answer before you'll be able to save and close the dialog. Click Add after each application. Also note you can only branch to questions on subsequent survey pages. For example, if branching a question on page 1, you can only branch to existing questions on page 2 or 3.
See Conditional Branching and Skip Logic to learn more.
Arrange questions & text fields
You can drag and drop questions and text fields directly on the survey form to arrange them in any order you'd like. You can even move fields from one page to another. When you hover your cursor over a question or text field, you'll notice it turns into a cross-directional arrow; click and drag the field to the desired location.
NOTE: The only exception to this is fields with branching applied: Branched fields can only be moved within their current page.
Content management
Beneath each question on your survey is a row of action buttons:
- Click New to add a new question to the form.
- Click Edit to make updates to the question text, its answers (if applicable), and its settings (e.g., whether its required).
- Click Delete, followed by OK in the a confirmation pop-up to permanently remove the field.
WARNING: Deleted questions cannot be recovered. All related answers and data will also be deleted.
- Click Copy to insert an exact replica of a question and insert it directly below the original. The copied question includes all the original question’s attributes: question type, response choices, field sizes, mandatory status, etc.
- Click Text to add a survey description/instructions or other content (e.g., images, links). You can add as many text fields as you need, which is a great way to provide overall survey instructions and to give specific direction for a specific question or survey page.
Make a question required
When creating or editing a question, set the Is this field mandatory? option to Yes. If a respondent doesn't answer a mandatory question and submits the page, he/she will be prompted to answer before proceeding to the next question.
Set an answer as a default
Adjacent to each answer you enter there is a radio button labeled Default. Select this to make one of your answers the default answer for respondents. He/she can of course select any answer when answering the survey.