Surveys

Create simple or complex surveys, embed media, and add form-step validation and question-based logic.

A survey can only be created in an existing project.

Click here for more information about creating and managing projects. 

Create a new survey

This section describes how to add a basic survey to your project.

The District Engage interface is designed to be as intuitive as possible; start at the top of the screen and fill in fields as you work your way down. Remember to click Save to save your work as you go.

To create a new survey in a project:

1. Using the top-level menu, navigate to the Projects tab.

2. Select the relevant project; this opens your project overview page.

3. In the left-hand menu, under Participation, click Surveys. This shows all the surveys created for this project.

4. To create a new survey, click +Add survey.

5. Add a Title. This will be visible on the public-facing page.

6. Click +Add input to add a new input type. For a full list of each input type and their functions, see further down this page.

7. Fill out the fields to build your question. Tick Required if you want this question to be mandatory.

8. Click Add input to save.

9. You can sort your inputs into groups (Add group), to visually differentiate complex surveys for participants. You can also use groups to add conditional formatting for your survey. For more information about conditional formatting, see further down this page.

10. In the right-hand side fields, add a Description of your survey.

11. Tick Require account if you want participants to sign in before providing their responses.

12. Set an End date for your survey, either by typing the date into the field, or clicking the calendar icon and choosing the date from the calendar.

13. In Advanced settings, you can add a customised submission response message to survey respondents.

14. Once you're finished building your survey, click Save at the top of the screen. Add a revision message to describe what you've done.

15. You can preview your question formats in the Preview tab of your survey overview page.

Change the question input type

Once you create a question, you can still change it to any of the survey input types:

1. Navigate to the Survey Edit tab.

2. Select the question you want to change.

3. In the Type dropdown, select the input type you would like the question changed to.

4. Where applicable, the question input fields will remain the same when the input type is changed.

5. Fill in the required fields for the new input type.

6. Click Done.

Note: Once the survey has received a submission, the question type will not be able to be changed. This ensures the survey results remain consistent.   

Change the order of survey questions

To change the order or your survey questions:

1. Navigate to an existing survey and click Edit.

2. Hover the cursor over the three line icon in front of the question. Your cursor will change into a hand icon.

3. Drag and drop the question into the preferred order.

4. Once you're finished, click Save at the top of the screen.

Survey pages

You can create a survey with multiple pages to keep it organised and avoiding a long list of questions on a single page.

To add a survey page:

1. Navigate to an existing survey and click Edit.

2. Click the Add Page button. This will add a page break into your survey.

3. You can add as many page breaks as needed to create a structured, multi-page survey.

4. Once the page break is added, you can drag and drop it to rearrange its position within the survey.

5. To remove a survey page, click on the delete icon next to the page break you wish to remove.

Add conditional survey logic

If you have a more complex survey, you may want to add conditional logic to some questions. For example, you may want to show a different follow-up question depending on whether the respondent selected “happy with this service“ or “unhappy with this service“ in a previous question.

To add conditional logic to your survey:

1. Navigate to an existing survey and click Edit, or start creating a new survey.

2. Add a new question by selecting Add input, or select the exisiting question you would like to add conditional logic to. Note: You will need at least two questions for survey logic to work.

3. Once the survey question box is open, scroll down and click +Add condition to add conditional logic.

   1. If more than one condition is added, you can set the Condition relationship.

      1. If the option All conditions must be met (and) is chosen, then the visibility of the selected survey question depends on whether all listed conditions are met.

      2. If the option At least one condition must be met (or) is chosen, then the visibility of the selected survey question depends on whether at least one of the listed condition is met.

4. In the If field name field, select from the dropdown of survey questions. In the Value field, manually enter the desired answer (or value) of the selected survey question. If the respondent selects this answer, the condition for this question has been met.

5. Click Done.

6. Once you're finished building your survey, click Save at the top of the screen.

Edit a survey

To edit an existing survey:

1. Use the top-level menu to navigate to the Projects tab.

2. Select the relevant project to open the project overview page.

3. In the left-hand menu, under Participation, select Surveys. This opens the survey overview page for this project.

4. From this list, scroll to search for the survey you want to edit. Click on the ellipsis at the end of the row to show more options. Select Edit.

5. Alternatively, click on the survey you want to edit, then click the Edit tab.

6. When you're finished editing, click Done.

Duplicate survey input

When you create a new survey or edit an existing one, you can duplicate existing survey input.

Note: You can only duplicate individual survey input, not input groups.

To duplicate survey input:

1. Use the top-level menu to navigate to the Projects tab.

2. Select the relevant project to open your project overview page.

3. In the left-hand menu, under Participation, click Surveys. This opens the survey overview page for this project.

4. From this list, scroll to search for the survey you want to edit. Click on the ellipsis at end of the row to show more options. Click Edit.

5. Click on an existing survey input (question).

6. Scroll down to the bottom of the field and click on the ellipsis next to the Remove button.

7. Select Duplicate.

8. A copy of the selected survey input (question) is now created and will appear down the bottom with the title “COPY [Question title]“.

Delete a survey

You can delete a survey from a project if it's no longer needed, or was created by mistake. This permanently removes the survey and all its content and cannot be undone. Proceed with caution!

Note: you may not have delete permissions as part of your role. If you have any questions about your permissions, contact your District Engage administrator.

To delete a survey:

1. Use the top-level menu to navigate to the Projects tab.

2. Select the relevant project to open your project overview page.

3. In the left-hand menu, under Participation, click Surveys. This opens the survey overview page for this project.

4. From this list, scroll to search for the survey you want to delete. Click on the ellipsis at end of the row to show more options. Click Delete.

5. Alternatively, click on the survey you want to edit, then click the Delete tab.

6. You'll be prompted with a warning to confirm the action. Click Yes, Delete this Survey.

7. Your survey is now deleted.

Survey length

The front-end display of a survey box indicates how long is needed to complete a survey. This survey length estimate uses the following formula: 30 seconds per question rounded up to the nearest minute.

Survey input types

When adding your survey questions, you have the option to select between different input types such as an email field, checkboxes, etc.

Here is a list of all the available input types: