Surveys: Creation and Management

Overview

Pulse Labs provides a powerful survey creation system built on SurveyJS, offering both AI-powered survey generation and comprehensive manual editing capabilities. The platform provides the tools you need to gather meaningful participant insights, whether you're creating quick feedback forms or complex research questionnaires with conditional logic.

The survey system combines the robust functionality of SurveyJS Creator with intelligent AI assistance, making it accessible for both novice researchers and experienced survey designers. You can start with natural language descriptions of what you want to ask and let the AI generate a structured survey, then refine it using the full power of the SurveyJS interface.

Getting Started with Surveys

Creating Your First Survey

When you're ready to create a survey within your project, you'll begin by selecting "Survey" from the capture methods available in your project dashboard. This launches the survey creation workflow, which starts with an intelligent text-to-survey conversion system.

The AI-powered creation process begins with a simple text input where you can describe your survey in natural language. You might paste in research questions, bullet points of topics you want to cover, or even a rough outline of what you're trying to learn. The system then processes this information and generates a structured survey using SurveyJS format.

For example, if you paste in questions like "Do you own a car? If yes, what make is your car? How satisfied are you with your vehicle?", the AI creates appropriate question types, sets up conditional logic so car make only appears for car owners, and structures the flow logically.

Understanding the Survey Interface

Once your survey is generated, you'll work within a comprehensive interface that provides multiple ways to view and edit your survey. The system is built around several key areas that each serve specific purposes in the survey creation process.

The main designer area shows your survey as it's being built, with questions displayed as cards that you can interact with directly. This visual approach makes it easy to see the flow of your survey and understand how participants will experience it.

The toolbox on the left side contains all available question types you can add to your survey. These range from simple text inputs and single-choice questions to complex matrix questions and file uploads. Each question type is optimized for different kinds of data collection needs.

The property panel on the right side becomes your control center for configuring the selected question or survey element. This is where you'll spend much of your time fine-tuning the behavior, appearance, and logic of your survey components.

Working with Questions

Question Types and Configuration

The survey system supports the full range of SurveyJS question types, each designed for specific data collection scenarios. Single-choice questions (radio buttons) work well when you need participants to select exactly one option from a list. Multiple-choice questions (checkboxes) allow participants to select multiple relevant options. Dropdown questions save space while still providing many options.

Text input questions can be configured for short responses or long-form feedback. Rating questions help you gather scaled responses, while matrix questions allow you to ask the same set of questions about multiple items efficiently.

When you select a question in the designer, the property panel reveals all the configuration options available for that question type. You can set whether the question is required, add a description or help text, configure validation rules, and control how the question appears to participants.

Advanced Question Settings

Beyond basic configuration, each question offers sophisticated options that can enhance the participant experience and improve your data quality. The visibility settings allow you to control exactly when a question should appear, making your surveys more relevant and engaging.

You can enable features like auto-completion, which helps participants by suggesting answers based on previous responses or predefined lists. Comment boxes can be added to any question to gather additional qualitative feedback alongside structured responses.

For choice-based questions, you have extensive control over how options are presented. You can randomize option order to reduce bias, allow participants to add their own custom choices, or include "Other" and "None" options as needed.

Setting Up Question Logic

The conditional logic system allows you to create dynamic surveys that adapt based on participant responses. When you set up logic rules, you're essentially creating "if-then" scenarios that control survey flow.

The logic builder provides an intuitive interface for creating these rules. You can specify that certain questions should only appear if previous answers meet specific criteria. For instance, you might only ask about car maintenance experiences if someone indicated they own a vehicle.

Logic rules can also be used to set answer values automatically, show informational content, or even complete sections of the survey based on certain conditions. This creates a more personalized experience for participants while ensuring you collect only relevant data.

Survey Customization and Branding

Appearance and Styling

The survey system allows you to customize the appearance to match your brand or research requirements. You can modify colors, fonts, spacing, and other visual elements to create a cohesive experience that aligns with your organization's style.

The theme system provides predefined styling options that ensure your surveys look professional and are accessible across different devices and screen sizes. You can also create custom themes if you need specific branding requirements.

Choice Management

For questions with multiple options, the choice editor provides powerful tools for managing how options are presented. You can easily reorder choices by dragging and dropping, copy choice lists between similar questions, and configure how long text in choices should be handled.

The system supports sophisticated choice randomization options, including ascending, descending, and random ordering. This helps reduce order bias in your responses. You can also enable choice wrapping for long option text, ensuring your survey remains readable on all device sizes.

Preview and Testing

Multi-Device Preview

Before launching your survey, the preview system lets you see exactly how participants will experience it across different devices. You can switch between desktop and mobile views to ensure your survey works well regardless of how participants access it.

The preview mode functions as a fully interactive version of your survey, allowing you to test all logic, validation, and flow scenarios. This is crucial for identifying potential issues before participants encounter them.

Validation and Logic Testing

During preview, you can test all the conditional logic you've set up by following different response paths. This helps ensure that your logic rules work as intended and that participants will see the right questions at the right times.

The system also validates your survey configuration and will alert you to any issues like missing required fields, broken logic rules, or accessibility concerns.

Survey Deployment and Management

Launch Configuration

When you're ready to deploy your survey, you'll configure how and when it reaches participants. The launch process involves several important decisions about timing, participant selection, and acceptance criteria.

You can choose to launch immediately, schedule for a specific date and time, or trigger the survey after participants complete other project activities. Each option serves different research scenarios and timeline requirements.

Participant Assignment

The participant selection system integrates with your project's participant pool, allowing you to target specific groups based on their characteristics or previous participation. You can manually select individual participants, upload lists of email addresses, or use advanced filtering to identify qualified respondents.

For complex studies, you can set up filtering logic that automatically selects participants based on responses to previous surveys or their profile characteristics. This ensures you're gathering data from the most relevant participants for your research goals.

Acceptance Criteria and Review

The survey system supports manual review workflows where responses can be evaluated before being marked as complete. This is particularly useful when surveys serve as screening tools or when you need to verify response quality.

You can configure acceptance criteria that require manual approval, automatic approval based on specific response patterns, or a combination of both approaches. This flexibility allows you to maintain data quality while supporting different research workflows.

Data Collection and Analysis

Real-Time Monitoring

Once your survey is live, you can monitor responses as they come in through the data dashboard. This real-time view helps you track participation rates, identify any technical issues, and make informed decisions about recruitment needs.

The monitoring interface shows key metrics like completion rates, time spent per question, and dropout points. This information helps you understand participant behavior and optimize future surveys.

Response Management

The response management system allows you to review individual submissions, flag problematic responses, and track completion status across your participant pool. You can export data in various formats for analysis in external tools or work with the built-in analysis features.

For ongoing studies, you can add new participants to active surveys, extending your data collection period as needed. The system maintains data integrity while providing flexibility in study management.

Advanced Features

Collaborative Editing

Multiple team members can work on surveys simultaneously, with the system managing edit conflicts and maintaining version control. When one person is editing a specific element, it's locked to prevent conflicts while still allowing others to work on different parts of the survey.

Integration Capabilities

The survey system integrates with other Pulse Labs features, allowing you to create comprehensive research workflows. Surveys can be used as screening tools for other research methods, with responses automatically feeding into participant qualification systems.

Custom Validation and Logic

Beyond the standard logic options, you can create custom validation rules and complex branching scenarios. The system supports JavaScript-based customizations for advanced users who need specific behaviors not covered by the standard interface.

Best Practices for Survey Design

Designing for Engagement

Effective surveys balance comprehensive data collection with participant experience. Start with essential questions and use logic to reveal additional relevant questions based on responses. This approach keeps surveys feeling shorter while still gathering comprehensive data.

Consider the cognitive load on participants by grouping related questions, using clear and simple language, and providing progress indicators. These elements help maintain engagement throughout the survey experience.

Optimizing for Data Quality

Use validation rules to ensure responses meet your data requirements, but avoid over-constraining participants unless absolutely necessary. Provide clear instructions and examples for complex questions, and consider offering help text for technical or unfamiliar terms.

Test your survey thoroughly across different response scenarios to ensure all logic paths work correctly and that the survey flows naturally for all participant types.

Accessibility and Inclusivity

The survey system is built with accessibility in mind, supporting screen readers and keyboard navigation. When designing questions, consider how they'll work for participants with different abilities and technical setups.

Use clear, inclusive language and avoid assumptions about participant circumstances or knowledge. Provide alternative response options when appropriate to ensure all participants can respond meaningfully.

This comprehensive survey system provides the foundation for gathering high-quality research data while maintaining a positive participant experience. Whether you're conducting quick feedback collection or complex multi-stage research, the tools and flexibility available support your research goals while maintaining professional standards.