Surveys

A survey is an excellent way to solicit feedback from users regarding any aspect of your course. For example, it can be used as a method of delivering general course evaluations, mid-semester reviews, or surveys associated with learning styles and preferences, etc.

For a detailed description of question types, see Quiz and Survey question types.

The Survey tool can be accessed from the Submit drop-down menu in the course navbar.

Creating a survey

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Surveys.

    Arrow pointing at Surveys from Submit drop-down menu. New Survey button highlighted.
  3. Click the New Survey button to create a new survey.

Survey properties

The properties tab displays by default when you create or edit a survey.

  1. Enter a Name for the survey.

    Name field highlighted. Feedback and Anonymous options highlighted.
  2. Give instant feedback option will remove the Submit option from a non-editable survey. Any feedback entered for a question is instantly available to a user taking the survey.

  3. Make results anonymous option to hide user data in survey results. The responses to survey questions will be available to course Instructors and users with TA Level 4 access but the system does not report who submitted each response. It is not possible to have anonymous surveys if there are any release conditions.

  4. Under Description/Submission Message you can add a Description which is shown at the top of the survey and/or a Submission Message which is shown a the bottom of a survey.

    • To add a Description select the on radio button and enter it in the text field.

    • To add a Submission Message enter it in the text field. The default submission message is “You have successfully submitted the survey.”

  5. Under Page footer, you can add a footer which is shown at the bottom of the survey. To add one select the on radio button and enter the footer in the text field.

Survey Availability

  1. Select the Restrictions tab of the survey.

  2. By default, Hide from Users is checked and needs to be unchecked for the availability dates to be honoured. It is recommended that Hide from Users is unchecked upon completion of the survey details (questions etc).

  3. Set Start and End Dates to make the survey available during the specified time period.

  4. Select Display in Calendar if you want the survey start and end date to appear in students' calendars.

  5. If you would like to add Release Conditions select Attach Existing or Create and Attach. Detailed information can be found in the Release Conditions documentation.

  6. Select how many times a user can take the survey using the Attempts Allowed drop-down list.

  7. Use the Special Access feature to override the availability settings of a survey for specific individuals, or to restrict a survey only to identified users. See the Special Access documentation for detailed information.

    1. Select either Allow selected users special access to this survey or, Allow only users with special access to see this survey.

    2. Click Add Users to Special Access.

    3. If you want to make the survey available to selected users during a special time period, enter a Start Date and/or End Date in the Availability section.

    4. Select the checkboxes beside the users you want to assign special access to.

    5. Click the Add Special Access button.

Creating Survey Questions

For a detailed description of question types, see Quiz and Survey question types.

There are two ways to enter questions into your survey.

  1. You can add or edit questions while creating/editing a survey by selecting the Properties tab and clicking Add/Edit Questions. 

     

  2. Click the New button and select your desired question type from the drop-down menu.

  3. Create your question and click Save, Save and New, or Save and Copy.

OR

  1. Select the Question Library icon on the Manage Surveys page. The Surveys tool shares the Question Library and its content with the Quizzes tool.  If you do not have any questions in the Question Library, you can create new questions by selecting the New button and selecting the question type from the drop-down menu.

  2. After your questions have been created in the Question Library, return to the desired survey and click the Add/Edit Questions button on the Properties tab.

  3. Click the Import button and select Browse Question Library.

     

  4. Select the sections and/or questions from the Question Library you want in the survey and click the Import button.

Import survey questions from a text file

Survey questions can be created offline using Learning Environment's Text Format File. Follow the steps below to import a csv file:

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, click the Question Library or open a survey and choose the Properties tab and Add/Edit Questions.

  3. Click Import and select Upload a File. Select Download template CSV to get a copy of the required formatting if necessary.

  4. To upload a question file you have completed, click Browse Files and select the file you want to upload to the question library or, drag and drop your file if your browser supports it.

  5. Click Open.

  6. Click Save.

Survey layout and questions

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the survey you want to edit.

  3. From the Properties, tab select Add/Edit Question.

     

    • Select Order to reorder survey questions. Click Save.

    • Select the checkbox beside a Question Name and click Delete to delete a question.

  4. Click Done Editing Questions.

Marking a question as mandatory

If you mark a question Mandatory, respondents cannot submit the survey until they have answered the question.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the survey you want to edit.

  3. From the Properties tab, select the checkboxes beside the questions you want to be mandatory.

  4. Select Edit Values.

  5. Select the Mandatory check box.

  6. Click Save.

Preventing moving backwards

You can prevent respondents from returning to previous pages as they complete a survey so that they can only move forward until they reach the end of the survey.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the survey you want to edit.

  3. From the Properties tab, select the checkbox beside Prevent moving backwards through pages.

  4. Click Save and Close or Save.

Reordering surveys

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select More Actions and select Reorder from the drop-down list.

  3. Select a new position for a survey using the Sort Order drop-down menu beside its name. The positions of other surveys will adjust accordingly.

  4. Click Save.

Previewing a survey

You will be shown the survey questions as a user would see them. It is always a good idea to preview a survey before releasing it to users. When previewing a survey, you are not shown any introduction message that you have set up. If you answer and save the questions you will not return any results.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the down arrow beside the desired survey and select Preview.

  3. Click Exit Preview to return to the Manage Surveys page.

Viewing Survey Results

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the down arrow beside the desired survey and select Statistics.

  3. Based on how you set up the survey properties, you may see a list of all users or just the overall survey results (if anonymous)

  4. Click on an individual attempt or the Overall Survey Results icon (at the bottom of the page).

  5. Click Survey List to return to the main survey page.

Creating Reports for surveys

You can create survey reports that can be customized and released to specific roles. You can create multiple survey reports.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the desired survey.

  3. Select the Reports Setup tab.

  4. Click the Add Report button.

  5. Enter a Report Name.

  6. Select one of the following report types:

    • Summary Report options:

      • Show aggregate data: displays the data collected for multiple-choice questions, true and false, Likert, multi-select, and matching question types.

      • Show text responses: displays the data collected for long answers, short answers and fill-in-the-blanks question types.

    • Individual Attempts options:

      • Hide user information: will not display the user's first and last name when the Individual Attempts report is viewed.

  7. Set your Release options. You can set up when and to whom this survey report is released.

    • Select Immediately or select a date from the drop-down lists or calendar icon.

    • Check the roles for your desired recipients, Instructor and any TA roles for who you may want to access the reports.

  8. Select the check box(es) beside the roles you want to Release the Reports To.

  9. Click Save.

Viewing Survey Reports

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, select the down arrow beside the desired survey and select Reports.

  3. To view a report, click on the report name (you must have already created one or more survey reports; see Creating Reports for Surveys for details). If you don't see the report, confirm that it was made available to your role.

  4. Check the From or To fields and enter the appropriate dates if you want to restrict your report to a certain time frame.

  5. Click Generate HTML to view the report in your browser, or Generate CSV, or Generate Excel to save the report as a file on your computer.

Deleting Surveys

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar and select Surveys from the drop-down menu.

  2. On the Manage Surveys page, click More Actions and select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  3. Select the checkbox beside the survey(s) to be deleted and click Delete.

  4. In the confirmation window, click Delete.

Need help?

Contact LEARNhelp at learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 ext. 41744 for assistance.