Below is blog post number 6 in our 12-part blog series: Find the Best Survey Software Solution. In this series, we discuss the 12 most important questions you should ask yourself when assessing your company’s needs for a survey software solution.
Question 6: What is the complexity level of your surveys?
All survey software solutions provide a range of text-only questions. If every participant in your survey is going to be asked exactly the same set of questions, then your survey solution requirements may be general and it may not be considered a complex survey. A complex survey solution may not be needed.. However, if you need to present different questions in multiple question formats for different groups of participants, then your requirements develop into more complex survey needs. Many terms are used in more complex survey design functionality, including: logic branching, routing, or skip patterns to name a few. By using these advanced functionality features, you can essentially design a survey that is tailored to the individual participating in the survey, both in terms of their demographics and according to the responses they give during various points in the survey.
When choosing a survey software solution, it is important to have the capability of logic branching; however, the survey software must never be so complex to use that you abandon it all together and continue on by asking every respondent the same questions.
If you are considering designing paper surveys, note that they are more rigid in their format, with all the survey navigational instructions appearing on the survey form itself. Typically, paper surveys are too complex to include images are entirely incapable of including videos (unless you include a DVD or a download link with the questionnaire). If you are considering designing a scannable survey, using large or complex images are not recommended. Mobile and online surveys can accommodate all types of images, videos, and sound, though don’t assume that they are easy features to set-up – they can often be quite complicated. More advanced survey software solutions are your best option for more complex surveys in any mode: online surveys, paper surveys & kiosk and mobile surveys.
Next blog post: Stay tuned for part 7 of this 12 part blog series. Finding the Best Survey Software Solution, Question 7: What is your expected response rate? (How many replies do you expect to receive?
Did you miss the first five blog posts in the series?
Find the Best Survey Software Solution
Blog 1 of 12, Question 1: How many surveys do you intend to develop?
Blog 2 of 12, Question 2: How many questions will appear in your survey?
Blog 3 of 12, Question 3: What is your experience level with survey software?
Blog 4 of 12, Question 4: Do you already have the internal resources to design & administer surveys?
Blog 5 of 12, Question 5:Are you looking for a survey software solution for online surveys only?