Access
About survey access
Different surveys are aimed at different target groups, ranging from the broad public to a small circle of respondents. That's why the access rights to the survey need to be set accordingly. You do this in the "Access" tab.
Here you define whether the survey is publicly accessible, password-protected, or reachable by respondents by invitation only. You can also set whether respondents can take part in the survey more than once. The period during which the survey should be online can be defined here as well.
These settings are located in the "Access" tab of the "Survey Settings" view:
Making the survey available to the broad public By default, anyone who has received the link to the survey can take part. This corresponds to the "public survey" setting.
When this setting is enabled (1), respondents can access the survey both via the public link and via personalized links (when invited via mailer). Distributing the survey via public links has the advantage that these links can be published and shared anywhere without any restrictions – on websites, on social media, by email, and so on. A QR code can also be used for distribution. So with this kind of survey distribution you achieve maximum reach. In addition, you can enable a CAPTCHA prompt at the start of the survey (2) to prevent bots from completing it. This can make sense when publishing the survey on the internet. Bear in mind, however, that this presents an additional hurdle for your respondents, so it could reduce the response rate somewhat.
Setting the password for the survey
But public availability of a survey isn't always desirable. In some cases it's necessary to protect the survey from access by unknown and/or unwanted people. In this case you have the option of protecting access to the survey with a single password that's the same for everyone.
To do this, enable the "Password-protected" (1) setting and enter the password in the field provided (2). If needed, you can adjust the texts of the corresponding messages (3).
When this setting is enabled, respondents who access the survey via the public link or the QR code must additionally enter the password you have defined in order to take part in the survey.
Don't forget to also give the password to the respondents you invite to take part in the survey via the public link and/or QR code.
Respondents invited to take part via Mailings or personal links do not need to enter the password, because their identification information is already contained in their personalized link.
Allowing access to the survey only for invited people
If you want to target your survey at a closed circle of respondents – where each participant, or their contact details, is known – and no additional participants should be admitted to the survey, enable the "Invited only" (1) setting.
In this case only respondents who have been invited to take part in the survey either via mailer or via a personal link can participate.
Anyone who opens the public link to the survey is prompted to enter their password in order to take part.
In contrast to the "Password-protected" setting, with "invited only" surveys the password is individual for each respondent. You can find the individual password in the "PersonalizedID" field in the contact list used for sending invitations. People who are not included in the contact list have no individual password and therefore cannot take part in the survey, even when accessing it via the public link.
You can adjust the texts that appear at the password prompt (2).
Preventing multiple completions
In some situations, completing the questionnaire more than once is entirely desirable; in others it isn't.
For example, when an interviewer surveys several respondents using the questionnaire running on their tablet, when a sales representative captures customer data, or when the questionnaire serves as a "diary" for recording daily mood swings, it makes sense to let one person complete a questionnaire multiple times. Each new completion generates a new case that expands the data basis for the analysis.
But if respondents know that their answers can influence the survey result (e.g. in a vote), or if an attractive incentive is promised for taking part in the survey, the temptation to complete the same questionnaire multiple times is great. For the person running the survey, that means "junk" in the data, or reduced data quality. In such cases you should enable the "Prevent multiple completion" (1) setting.
Additional options when the setting is enabled:
- Show message: Shows the respondent a notice message when reopening the survey (e.g. "You have already taken part in this survey."). The message can be customized.
- Edit text: Using the "Edit text" button, you can adjust the message shown and, for example, point to an alternative way to get in touch.
- Show the respondent's answers: Shows the respondent their own answers on renewed access – helpful, for example, with feedback or registration forms.
- Show survey report: On renewed access, displays an aggregated survey report that was created beforehand – useful for open surveys with a publicly viewable result.
- Redirect to a specific URL: On renewed access, redirects the respondent to an external website or another form.
- Block repeated completions from the same IP: An additional protection mechanism that blocks all further participation from the same IP address. Caution: This can also exclude several genuine participants if they use the same internet connection (e.g. in schools, companies, or households).
Similar to "pause and resume," respondents are identified here via cookies and/or individualized links. In the case of cookies (when the survey is distributed via a public link), some respondents could take part in the survey multiple times despite the "Prevent multiple completion" setting being enabled – e.g. by switching browser or PC, or by clearing the browser cache. If, with your survey, there is a high motivation on the respondents' side to manipulate the results, we recommend using the mailer or personal links to invite respondents. More information in our help article "Detecting returning respondents".
Setting the period during which the survey is available
By default, respondents can take part in the survey as long as it's running. With the "Schedule" (1) setting you can restrict the time window (2) during which the running survey is available to respondents. This way you don't have to start or close the survey yourself at a particular moment – the automation does that for you.
Example: You want to use a survey to determine the winner of a competition. The votes may not be cast before the end of the competition and only within one week afterwards. You start the survey and set the start and end date in the schedule accordingly. Now you can turn to other tasks without having to worry about starting and closing the survey.
If you only want to set the start or only the end of the time window, leave the other field empty. An empty field means "no restriction."
People who access the survey outside the time window you have defined receive a message that the survey is not available. You can adjust the text of this message in the "Service Messages" area if needed.
Important:For the survey to be available online during the specified period, it must be running.
The schedule settings have no effect on closed surveys – because a closed survey is fundamentally not released for data collection and remains offline even when the schedule is enabled.
Limiting the completion time
With this setting you can define the maximum amount of time a person has to complete the questionnaire.
To do this, enable the "Limit completion time to … minutes" (1) option and enter the desired time in minutes (2) in the field next to it (e.g. 30 minutes).
Once this time has elapsed, the survey is closed automatically, and the answers entered up to that point are saved.
Note:
This feature is especially helpful with time-critical tests, exams, or application procedures in which all participants should work under the same time conditions.