Creating and Managing Online Surveys
Accessing your online survey account:
1. Go to https://survey.unf.edu
2. Type “unfcsd\” before typing your N number.
Create a New Survey
1. Click on the SURVEYS tab.
2. Click on CREATE NEW SURVEY.
The CREATE NEW SURVEY dialog box will appear. Make your selection form the choices presented. Then click the NEXT
button.
These instructions will use the “Start with a blank survey” choice.
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Next, you will need to make a choice on the type of respondent source. Click NEXT and choose
one of the following options as you respondent source.
Creating Questions:
From the Survey Home Pane, click on Design Questionnaire and the Step‐by‐Step survey design environment will open in a
new window. To start creating the survey click INSERT ITEM. This will open the following dialogue box.
The selections presented are:
• Choose One Question ‐ Multiple‐choice/single‐response question
• Choose Many Question ‐ Multiple‐choice/multiple‐response question
• Fill In The Blank Question ‐ Allows the collection of up to 90 short
responses (Of up to 255 characters in each line entry per respondent),
within one main question.
• Essay Question ‐ Captures significant input from a respondent, time‐
consuming to analyze since pages of text from different respondents are
not easily summed up in a chart
• Table Question ‐ Capture responses to multiple topics using a standard
scale, option list or text box. Called a matrix question in WebSurveyor.
• Library Question ‐ Any type of question that has been stored in the
Question Library,
• Borrowed Question ‐ Used to pull information from a Profile and when a
participant takes the survey and changes the information it will be updated
in the Profile.
• Text Block ‐ Text only block into a survey with no response field. Commonly used to welcome respondents or provide
information.
• Page Break ‐ Choosing this option will insert a page break into the survey. A next button will appear where a page Break
question has been inserted.
• Section ‐ Sections useful in providing a structure for long surveys. Sections are often used to isolate a Demographic
section for collecting information about a respondent's age, gender, education level, income, martial status etc.
• Comment ‐ are displayed during design mode, but they are not visible to the respondent after the questionnaire is
published. Comments are used to add personal notes about the survey or to other users working on the questionnaire.
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Enter the text for your questions.
Formatting the Survey
Click on the paper/pencil icon to the right of the question to edit the question. Use the up/down arrows to move the
question’s position up or down within the survey. Clicking on the ‘X’ will delete the question.
To format the survey, click on DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE, then the FORMAT
pane (bottom right)
.
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While formatting the survey, switch to the PREVIEW tab (bottom left hand side of screen) to view the survey and back to
QUESTIONNAIRE tab to continue to formatting.
Click REFRESH (top right below PROPERTIES tab) to see the changes.
Use the menu options on the top left hand to continue to fine tune your survey….
TOOLS Menu – Click here to spell check your survey
QUESTIONNAIRE Menu – View the descriptions below to see the options under the QUESTIONNAIRE menu
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Logical Branching
You can customize a survey so that respondents will only see the most relevant questions based on their responses. To
access the logical branching of a survey, go to the PROPERTIES pane and select the question you wish to have branch.
To Remove the Question Numbers or Make a Question Required:
In DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE, Click on ACTIONS. Then Select APPLY ALL. Check the appropriate box to hide the question or
make the answer required. Use the drop down menu to select which type of questions will be affected.
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Publishing and Testing a Survey
The process works like this: Publish the survey then test it. After a survey is first published it enters TEST mode. Test
Mode allows the greatest range of features to be accessed during the survey design process. This allows the survey to be
tested in almost every way possible, modified if need be and tested again, until everyone working on the survey is
satisfied with it.
Click PUBLISH in the menu bar above the
Information box.
Once the survey has been published these changes
will happen:
The Publish button changes to read
"Republish."
The Information box displays the
survey URL in the Survey field.
The Survey Status changes to Test
Mode.
The Option list now contains
Manage Responses and Manage
Reports as accessible selections.
The survey should be fully tested before it is “Activated” or “Opened”.
It is always import to test the survey to ensure that it functions as expected, looks as expected and collects data as
expected. A masterfully designed survey is not helpful if the data collected does not provide the data needed. The point of a
good survey is to collect useful data to answer some need.
You should REPUBLISH” after making any changes to the survey. NOTE: If you republish a survey while it is in TEST mode,
all the data collected will be lost. After Activating the survey, republishing does not delete the collected the data.
The Distribution Link ‐ The survey can be accessed by the link listed in the INFORMATION box.
Ready to Launch the Survey?
You have created, published, and tested the survey – now you are ready to send it out. First you need to open or activate
the survey. You can do that by clicking on the ACTIVATE button or by clicking on SCHEDULE EVENTS, then select OPEN
SURVEY from the drop down menu at the top.
If you used OPEN PARTICIPATION as your Respondent Source you can send the link to the survey out in an email,
Campus Update, or by some other means. This type requires the least amount of work to set up. It can be used for
respondents not affiliated with UNF. It is possible to have multiple responses from one user.
If you used EXTERNAL ACCESS LIST, it restricts access to the survey by using up to three user‐defined keys. These keys
are stored in one fill in the blank question on the first page of the survey. Can be used for respondents not affiliated
with UNF. Keys can be items such as last name, first name, email address, etc. You will have to import a file whose
respondent fields match with the keys you defined on the survey. When the survey is sent out, the respondent must
answer the key identifier questions accurately before the survey will open. This type prevents multiple responses from
one user.
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If you used EXTERNAL EMAIL LIST as your respondent Source, understand that it is a special variant of Open
Participation while retaining some features of the External Access List type survey. Invitations can be sent out using
EFM Community based on a file of email addresses you upload. You can use this type of survey to have pre‐selected
answers for the participant which will pre‐populate questions in the survey. This type prevents multiple responses from
one user.
Manage and Export Responses
Click on Manage Responses to view the responses to your survey. You will see a list of the Reponses. You can navigate
through them by using the arrow buttons. You can use the Date filter to view responses by specific periods that you
choose. You can change the number of responses you see at one time by selecting Actions then Display Options. Change
the Rows per page from 10 to a number of your choice.
Export Reponses – In manage Responses, click on Actions and select Export. Choose the type of export you wish to
perform: comma delimited, tab delimited, Excel, or SPSS.
Manage Reports
When you click on Manage Reports you will see a list of the types of reports available. You can hover over each one to see a
definition and sample of the report.
Comprehensive Report ‐ Charts, summary statistics, and frequency distribution by selected question
Executive Summary Report – Overall summary for each question
Frequency Report ‐ Shows the frequency distributions with counts and percentages of each “close‐ended”
question.
Statistics Report – Summary statistics that shows the means, median, and standard deviation by question.
Verbatim Report ‐ Lists all the responses to text response questions
Banner Report ‐ Generates a cross tabulation of data based on selections for a specific question.
Summary of Means Report ‐ Provides a cross tab report of means for each question with options for additional
summary statistics
Trend Report ‐ Provide an analysis of the survey data over a specified period of time. By default it provides the
mean of each response, but this is customizable.
You can allow others to view the reports
If you memorize a report, you can then designate other UNF employees to see the report. To memorize a report, open the
report, Go the ACTIONS menu and select MEMORIZE. A window will open that allows you top select the users who will be
able to view the report. You can notify them by email through EFM Community if you leave the box checked next to “Notify
Users by Email”. Uncheck this box if you do not wish to that.
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You can share the share the survey with other UNF employees
To share a survey, click on the SURVEY tab, and then click on SHARE next to the Publish (Republish link). You will select the
user(s) who will access to the survey by giving them FULL access or VIEW access.
TIPS:
1. To edit a question or table (matrix grid), you need to be in the Design Questionnaire section, click on
Page # on the right hand side. You can edit the appearance or logic of the question.
2. To remove the Vovici tag line on your survey ‐ go to “Design Questionnaire”, then select the
“Questionnaire” menu at the top and choose “Survey Properties”. Under “Survey tag Line” check
“Custom Link” Leave the HTML field blank if you do not want any tag line. If you do, type the text in the
HTML field and click OK.
3. If you use conditional branching (logic), you must have a page break before and after each conditional
question for it to work correctly.
4. Once you OPEN (also called Activate) a survey, you cannot edit many areas of the survey. You will have to
close the survey, make your edits, then open the survey again.
5. When you Open, (also called Activate) a survey, all of your current responses (test) will be deleted. If you
wish to keep them, then you must export the responses before opening the survey. To export the
responses, go to “Manage Responses” and under the “Actions” menu, select “Export” (chose the type of
export you wish to make: Comma Delimited, Tab delimited, Excel, or SPSS.
Don’t Forget about the IRB Notice:
Users of online surveys must obtain the approval of the UNF Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human
Subjects (IRB) if the results of a survey given to UNF students, faculty, or staff will be published or presented publicly. Also,
if a survey affiliated with the University is administered to an outside population, especially to a vulnerable population such
as children or offenders, approval from the UNF IRB is required. For more information on the required procedures and
forms visit http://www.unf.edu/dept/research/IRB.html
For Additional Help:
Visit http://support.perseus.com/default.aspx?vers=2.20&lang=en‐US to review documentation, tutorials, Frequently
Asked Questions, and a User manual.
Visit http://www.unf.edu/dept/its/surveys/ for an overview of EFM Community, to learn how to get an account, and how to
get support for the product.
Have a Suggestion?
Please send your comments or suggestions for this handout to Alison Cruess, Information Technology Services, at
acruess@unf.edu.
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