What to Look for in Web Survey Software

Not all web survey software used to create online questionnaires has the same features, but there are some minimum functions that one should expect to be offered. Some of these features include:

• The ability to create an introduction and conclusion message that will be presented to respondents of the survey.

• The software should support a variety of types of questions, including categorical, multiple choice, ordinal, matrix and text.

• The survey questions should offer the options of mandatory questions, conditional questions, short answer identifiers and the ability to offer comments.

• The web survey software should allow the creator to specify access, either public, private or by web site interception.

• A question randomizer should also be included in the software.

• A progress bar should also be an option.

There is much more that should be offered by any software used to create a web survey, but the above should be available at a minimum.

Types of Questions for an Online Survey

When creating an online survey there are certain types of questions you should consider using to obtain the information you desire. The choice of questions in a survey is crucial for the analysis of results.

These are:

Categorical: respondents make one choice from a group of choices.

Multiple choice: respondents are allowed to make more than one choice from a group.

Ordinal: respondents are asked to rank a series of choices in order of preference;

Matrix: respondents are required to complete a data table. The values entered may be either numbers or text, or they could be asked to select from a list.

Text: respondents are asked to enter text in their own words.

An online survey may be composed of one type of question, or a combination of some or all of these types. Furthermore, a web survey can use conditional questions to create a sophisticated questionnaire that will be easy for participants to complete. The participants will not need to read complicated instructions on how to respond, since the question skip logic that determines which questions must be answered will be automatic and hidden from participants.