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      Writing Surveys

      This article describes how to create a Survey Form in Handrail.

      Introduction to Surveys in Handrail

      The Components of a Survey Form

      Questions and the Question Library

      Using Images in a Survey

      Distributing Your Completed Survey

       

      Introduction to Surveys in Handrail

      A survey is used to collect survey data from respondents via a simple URL. As you are writing a survey, you can preview it at any time to see what it will look like to your respondents. As responses come in, all data is automatically aggregated and displayed on the Results page for that study.

       

      View while EDITING a survey form:

       

      View while PREVIEWING the first page of a survey form:

       

      The Components of a Survey Form

      Surveys include the following components:

      • Welcome Message — Initial page the respondent sees when opening the survey link.
      • Participant Identification Method — Included under the welcome message on the initial page of the survey. Respondent is asked to enter identifying information (unless set to Anonymous).
        • Name — survey respondent must enter their name to begin the survey
        • Email address — survey respondent must enter their email address to begin the survey
        • Anonymous — no identifying information is requested from the survey respondent
      • Questions — Create new questions or pull existing questions from the Question Library. 
      • Thank You Message — Final page the respondent sees once all questions have been answered.

       

      View of a fresh survey form:

       

      The different options for participant identification method and what they look like when viewing the survey (name, email address, and anonymous, respectively):

       

      Questions and the Question Library

       

      When writing a survey, you have access to the Question Library. This allows you to create questions of various types, pull from example questions, and reuse previous questions.

       

      The Question Library has the following question types available:

      • Text Entry — Open-ended question for capturing qualitative data
      • Multiple Choice — Radio buttons for when the respondent must select one option
      • Multiple Select — Checkboxes allowing for multiple options to be selected
      • Rating — Standard rating scales (e.g. scale of 1–5) 
      • Task Success (observed) — 0, 1, 2 scale (Unsuccessful, With Difficulty, Success) 
      • SUS — Auto-generates questionnaire with ability to use a custom term

       

      The Question Library also provides:

      • Example questions — pre-built questions that can be used as templates
      • Previous questions — search for and reuse questions that have been used in other studies

       

      Using Images in a Survey

      You might want to include images in your survey to provide visual context for your respondents.

      To add an image to a survey in Handrail:

      1. Add a question to the survey.
      2. Turn the Description field ON for that question.
      3. Use the Add Image button in the text editor toolbar of the Description field.

      Distributing Your Completed Survey

      For details on using a completed survey form to collect data, view the article Collecting Survey Data.

       

       

      Need more information or have questions we didn't cover here? Get in touch!