SmartSurvey

Vorteile: I've been using SmartSurvey for social science research for about 6 weeks now, and agreed to write a brief review and first impressions of the product and my experience using it in return for a not-for-profit discount on the product. I'm using the service to conduct open-ended social scientific questionnaires about how online communities help people care for those with chronic health conditions, and have so far found SmartSurvey to be quite a nice way for doing so. It allows me to post links to surveys within online communities and efficiently each a globally distributed population. I was originally attracted to the product because I needed a service provider that adhere to EU data privacy laws but offer a product that is in English (since this my native language and the common language of my respondents). A lot of the US providers could not meet the requirements, especially regarding data deletion. SmartSurvey quickly responded to a question I had on this account and told me they could guarantee that upon request, survey data would be deleted from active servers within a week and from backups within 30 days. Most US providers could not come close to guaranteeing this. While you can get a basic survey going quickly, there is a lot of customizability on the back end, and this can take some time to learn. My experience is that documentation is good and support tickets I have submitted have always been answered promptly and helpfully.

Nachteile: One example of the tool's behavior that takes some getting used to so this is not so much a con as a part of the tool that is a bit more complex and takes more time to learn is the anonymous response function. This function hides respondent IP and geographic information from responses when activated. However, if it is off, and then someone responds, and you then turn it on, the system seems to continue to log the information, although it hides. You can then turn the setting back off and reveal all this information. This means a survey is not a truly anonymous UNLESS you design it so from the get go. Similarly, it is possible to activate both the complete it later function, which lets respondents save incomplete surveys by entering a name and email (identifying information that allows them to receive a unique link). But this identifying information will only be permanently hidden if you set the anonymous response feature to on before your first response. Otherwise, the complete it later function undoes the anonymous response setting. So make sure you peruse the full set of privacy features before opening up your survey to respondents so that the settings are correct before you begin. (Also, if you are testing features, be sure to start with a fresh, unopened survey, rather than just changing features on a survey that for which you have already gathered test responses.)

Vorteile: The ease of use and simplicity of the programme. I am creating the surveys on behalf of Local Authority Building Standards Scotland. We are currently looking at our membership and require to see if we are currently meeting their needs and where we need to improve. Smart survey as a tool to be able to collate this information is fantastic and the fact that it produces the tables and diagrams for you and makes us as a group move on from the spreadsheet and having to interrogate the information provided saving on valuable man hours as the admin and management team are put together from staff from the 32 Local Authorities and this is not a job we are paid to do this is just for us to hopefully in Scotland improve the services we provide to the customer. We issued our 1st survey at the beginning of February and still have 2 weeks for it to run but it is brilliant seeing the information coming in and being able to see we are making progress and that we are not to far of the mark. The way it is presented is very easy to analysis with lots of tools available to assist. If stuck customer helpline is exactly what is says on the tin help...no question to small or silly.

Nachteile: There are some questions that need to be adapted but on discussion I was told there are ongoing developments (matrix questions in multiple answers currently all fields require to be completed even if the response is zero - a default of zero if not completed would be perfect)

Kommentare: Affordable, flexible questionnaire design, administration and management

Vorteile: It is very easy to set up a questionnaire, and there is a very good range of question types and answers. Images and video can be embedded in a question, broadening the design. The design-test-redesign cycle is well implemented. The whole questionnaire can be easily branded to give a unique look. Deployment is simple, and with multiple versions easily set up. Usefully for a forum, it is possible to produce a print copy of on-line survey with ease, so that the same questionnaire can be used on street stalls or visiting where online use is not possible or low. There is also support for publishing links to the survey via social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Analysis facilities are good, with basic summaries and a frequency count of answers immediately available. This aids continuous tracking of the survey. There are good export features, so data can be moved to Excel or R for more detailed review. I found this a very useful software suite and can wholeheartedly recommend it. The speed at which a survey can be prepared and sent out, and distributed via a variety of means such as email lists, social media or web sites makes it a very effective tool for carrying out a wide variety of consultations, such as in planning and community surveys. Local authorities would benefit from a slightly more expensive version that could allow them to get to know their community views in greater depth.

Vorteile: This is the only survey which verifies the demographic information of the attendee of a survey that is created thus making it more legitimate.

Nachteile: Because it is free it is also used by fraudsters creating scams, we advise them to make it more secured.

Kommentare: High quality surveys are straightforward to put together and send to a large number of people.

Vorteile: We are using SmartSurvey to gather views from both our employees and our customers. We have set up a few surveys now, collecting responses in the form of free text boxes, radio buttons and drop downs. The dashboard is easy to navigate. It is helpful to have the option to use pre-programmed questions and our own corporate template. The response formats are professional and the skip logic is easy to implement. There are comprehensive online guides for each stage of creating and using the survey. Where we needed additional help, the customer service was prompt.

Nachteile: It doesn't seem possible to customise the formatting of text within a question (italic, bold, paragraphs etc.); this would be a useful tool.