Creating Surveys & Forms Online

24/06/2019

If you are doing research,  need to collect information, have forms to be completed by your clients, or want to set up a meeting, surveys are a very useful tool.

Before I look at the tools, it's important to know that the EU's laws about collecting data are very strict. Before you collect any personal data, you need to know about GDPR. In essence, GDPR is about: only collecting the data you actually need; and ensuring that data is stored safely, people have a right to know what data is stored, and they have to agree to it being stored.  There are significant fines for companies which breach these laws.

SurveyMonkey

One of the best known survey tools is Survey Monkey. It's free to use as long as you won't have more than 100 responses to your survey. You can create multiple choice questions, open questions, or have people choose options, and a different set of questions are presented to them, depending on their choices. Once you have created (and tested) your survey, you have a link to send out to your audience. It's easy to use, and there is a lot of explanation given.  There are great tools for collating and analysing responses, including spreadsheets and graphs. It used to be my go-to tool for any survey, but because of the restriction on the number of responses, I have been using Google Forms recently.

Google Forms

If you have a Gmail account, then you already have access to Google forms. They are free for personal use, and very easy to use. Again, you create your survey, and are given a link to send to your clients. Once completed, you have the option of downloading the data in a spreadsheet, or a report, which includes graphs. I've found the tools for analysis are not as good as those in Survey Monkey, but as long as I have the spreadsheet, it doesn't matter - I can do my own analysis.

Doodle Poll

This one is not a comprehensive survey tool, but is a very nifty tool for scheduling meetings with a range of people. Essentially you create a list of options, (Dates / times) then send the link to the potential attendees. Once everyone has indicated their availability, you can set a meeting date and time, knowing most people will be able to attend.

As ever, I focus on tools I know and use, but if you want to explore others, this blog gives you a range of options.

I hope you find these helpful.



© 2018 Denice Penrose
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