Begin a survey
You can create a survey using either the Survey123 web designer (an online app) or Survey123 Connect (a desktop app). The Survey123 website compiles the responses and provides you with an analytics report.
You'll create Super Tech Now's customer survey using the web designer. Super Tech Now's first priority is to determine the typical age range of its customers. It also wants to learn which social media websites and search engines its customers use. This information will help marketing decide where to purchase advertisement space.
Create a blank survey
Before you create your survey, you'll sign in to the Survey123 website and access the web designer. You'll create a new blank survey and give it a title and description.
- Go to the Survey123 website.
Note:
If you are using an ArcGIS Enterprise account, please refer to the Use Survey123 with ArcGIS Enterprise document.
- Click Sign In. Sign in with your ArcGIS organizational account. (Your account must have publishing privileges.)
Note:
If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.
Once you sign in, the Survey123 website displays a gallery page with surveys created by you or other members of your organization. If this is your first time using Survey123, your gallery may be empty.
- Click New survey.
You have three options for creating a new survey. Using the web designer, you can start with a blank survey or a template with preconfigured questions. Alternatively, you can download Survey123 Connect and create the survey using a desktop application.
For this tutorial, you'll start with a blank survey in the web designer.
- Under Blank survey, click Get started.
The blank survey is created and the web designer appears.
Add a title and description
Before you continue, you'll choose a title for your survey. You'll also add a description that explains the survey's purpose to users.
- Click Untitled survey.
The survey title becomes editable.
- Type Super Tech Now Customer Survey and press Enter.
The title is changed. This title is what the survey is saved as. It's different from the title on the survey header, which users see when they take the survey. You'll set this title next.
- Click Survey title not set.
The Edit pane appears with options to edit the survey header. You can create a text header or use an image, such as the company's logo, as the header. You'll use a text header that matches the survey's title.
- For Text, delete Survey title not set and type Super Tech Now Customer Survey.
You'll also add a brief description that tells users the purpose of the survey.
- Click Description content for the survey.
The Edit pane changes to display the description.
- For Survey Description, delete the text and type (or copy and paste) This survey helps us to better understand the online preferences of our customer base.
Your changes are applied. Before you start adding questions, you'll save your changes.
- At the bottom of the Edit pane, click Save.
Create survey questions
Next, you'll start adding the questions that you'll ask in your survey. First, you'll ask for the date on which the survey is being taken.
There are many types of survey questions depending on what you want to ask. When creating a question, you choose the type before creating the question.
- Click the Add tab.
This tab lists the available question types.
- Under Text, number, date, and time, click the Date button.
A new question is added to the survey. The Edit pane appears with options to change the question's title and other parameters.
- For Label, delete the text and type What is the date?
After you finish typing, the words appear on the survey as the title of the question.
You can also add a hint that gives users more information about the question, in case the title is not self-explanatory. You're only asking for the date, so a hint isn't necessary. However, you'll add a default value for the question that is set to the date the survey is taken, which will be convenient for most users.
- For Default value, choose Submitting date.
The survey question updates to show the current date as the default value. (Your date will differ from the example image.)
The second question will ask for the user's age. For this question, you can choose a question type that allows users to type their exact age. However, your client has requested that the answers be stored in a series of age ranges. You'll choose a question type in which users choose one of several answer options.
- Click the Add tab. Under Choice, click the Single select button.
- For Label, delete the text and type What is your age?
For the choices, you'll use age ranges of 10 years.
- Under Choices, for Choice 1, delete the text and type Under 10. For Choice 2, type 11 to 20, and for Choice 3, type 21 to 30.
To cover the remaining age ranges, you'll add more choices.
- Next to the 21 to 30 choice, click the add button.
- For Choice 4, type 31 to 40.
- Add four more choices and change them as follows:
- For Choice 5, type 41 to 50.
- For Choice 6, type 51 to 60.
- For Choice 7, type 61 to 70.
- For Choice 8, type Over 70.
Tip:
You can delete a choice by clicking the delete (minus) button next to it. You can reorder a choice by pointing to the options button next to it and dragging it to a new position.
These choices cover all possible ages, so you don't need to add an Other choice. However, because there are a large number of choices, the question takes up a lot of space on the survey. To maximize screen space and reduce scrolling, you'll change the question's appearance to be more compact.
- For Appearance, choose Horizontal (compact).
The question's appearance changes. It no longer takes up a large amount of screen space.
In the Edit pane, under Validation, you can also choose to make this question required. While your client does want to know the ages of its customers, some users may not feel comfortable disclosing any kind of personal information. If the question is left optional, customers will still be able to answer subsequent questions even if they don't want to answer this one.
Tip:
If you want to change anything about an earlier question, click the question on the survey to access its editing options again.
- Save the survey.
You've started a survey, added a title and description, and created the first two questions. Next, you'll create questions with numeric responses and add the results of those questions with an equation.
Perform a calculation
Your client, Super Tech Now, wants to know how much time its customers spend on their computers and mobile devices, also known as screen time. You'll ask two questions on this topic, the first for computer screen time and the second for mobile device screen time. Then, you'll make the survey automatically calculate the total screen time by adding the answers to both questions.
Create the screen time questions
First, you'll create the screen time questions. You'll create one question for time spent on a computer and another for time spent on mobile devices.
The answers to these questions need to be numbers so you can later calculate the total screen time. You'll use the Number question type, which requires a numeric answer.
- Click the Add tab. Under Text, number, date, and time, click the Number button.
- For Label, delete the text and type How many hours a day do you spend on your computer?
You'll set options to make this question required and ensure the answer is an integer (meaning there are no decimal places).
- Under Validation, check This is a required question and Must be an integer.
You'll also set a minimum and maximum value to make sure the answer is between 0 and 24, the number of hours in a day.
- Check Set minimum and maximum value. For Minimum, type 0, and for Maximum, type 24.
The changes are automatically applied to the survey question.
The red asterisk next to the question indicates the question is required. Users won't be able to submit the survey unless they answer the question.
You'll create a similar question to ask for mobile device screen time.
- Click the Add tab and click the Number button. For Label, type How many hours a day do you spend on your mobile device?
- Under Validation, check This is a required question and Must be an integer.
- Check Set minimum and maximum value. For Minimum, type 0, and for Maximum, type 24.
The changes are automatically added to the survey. The question looks similar to the previous one.
Calculate total screen time
To find out the user's total screen time, you'll add the answers to the two screen time questions. The Number question type you used for the previous questions has an option to create an expression to calculate an answer, so you'll use this question type for your calculation.
- Click the Add tab and click the Number button.
- For Label, delete the text and type Total screen time.
Some users may not be familiar with the term screen time. You'll use the hint to explain what this question means.
- For Hint, copy and paste the following text:
This value is the total number of hours you spend on your computer and mobile device on a typical day.
Next, you'll create an expression to automatically calculate the answer for this question.
- For Calculation, click Edit.
The Edit calculation pane appears. Your calculation can extract data from the survey, determine a number, or determine a date and time. You want to calculate a number.
- Click the Number tab.
A calculation box appears with options to add common mathematical operators, such as addition or subtraction signs. You can also choose previous survey questions to use in the calculation.
Your calculation will add the results of the previous two survey questions.
- For Select a question, choose How many hours a day do you spend on your computer? (the first option).
Tip:
To see the full name of the questions in the menu, point to them.
The question is added to the calculation box.
- Click the Addition button.
An addition sign is added to the calculation box after the first question.
- Click Select a question and choose How many hours a day do you spend on your mobile device? (the second option).
The question is added. The calculation you've created will add the results of both questions.
- Click OK.
You don't want users changing the results of the calculation, so you'll make the question read-only.
- In the Edit pane, under Other, check Read-only.
The survey question is updated. The question contains two icons, the first indicating the question uses the calculation and the second indicating the question cannot be edited by users.
- Save the survey.
You've created questions about screen time and created a calculation to add the results of those questions together. Next, you'll create survey questions that have dynamic responses depending on how users answer the question.
Add dynamic responses
For the final survey question, your client wants to know if its customers use social media and, if so, which popular social media platforms they use. To find this information, you'll create a dynamic response, where the survey changes depending on what answer users choose.
Create a yes or no question
First, you'll create a yes or no question that asks whether the customer uses social media. This question will become the basis of your dynamic response. Later, you'll create a follow-up question that only appears if yes is chosen as the answer.
- Click the Add tab and click the Single select button.
- For Label, delete the text and type Do you currently maintain an account on a social media site or app?
You'll add two answer choices, yes and no.
- Under Choices, for Choice 1, type Yes. For Choice 2, type No.
By default, there are three choices. You'll remove the third.
- Next to Choice 3, click the remove button.
The choice is removed, leaving only two choices. You'll also change the question's appearance to use less space and make the question required.
- For Appearance, choose Horizontal. For Validation, check This is a required question.
The question is complete.
Create multiple choice questions
Next, you'll create the question that will appear when customers answer yes to the previous question. This question will ask which social media platforms customers use in particular. Because people can have accounts on multiple social media platforms, you'll create a question that can have multiple answers, instead of a single answer.
- Click the Add tab. Under Choice, click the Multiple select button.
- For Label, type Which of the following social media websites or apps do you use?
You'll also include a hint that tells users they can choose more than one answer.
- For Hint, type Choose all that apply.
Next, you'll add the choices. While there are many social media sites and apps, you'll limit the list to five options that Super Tech Now is considering advertising on.
- For Choices, create the following choices:
- For Choice 1, type Facebook.
- For Choice 2, type YouTube.
- For Choice 3, type Twitter.
- For Choice 4, type LinkedIn.
- For Choice 5, type Pinterest.
- For Appearance, choose Horizontal.
You won't make this question required, because users may not use any of the listed social media options.
The question is complete. The next question you'll create will appear if users answer that they do not maintain a social media account. It'll ask which search engine sites they use instead. The question will be similar to the one you just created.
- Click the Add tab and click the Multiple select button.
- For Label, type Which of the following search engine websites do you visit? For Hint, type Choose all that apply.
- For Choices, create the following choices:
- For Choice 1, type Google.
- For Choice 2, type Bing.
- For Choice 3, type Yahoo.
- For Appearance, choose Horizontal.
The question is complete.
Set rules
You've created the dynamic questions that you only want to appear in certain contexts. Next, you'll set rules that make these questions appear depending on how customers answer the yes or no question. Rules are what determine dynamic responses to survey questions.
- In the survey preview, click the seventh question, Which of the following social media websites or apps do you use?
The question is selected and becomes editable. Additionally, options become available to delete the question, duplicate it, or set a rule.
- On the side panel, scroll to the Behavior section and click Set rule.
The side panel expands to enable the setting of a visibility rule. To create a rule, you choose the question and the answer to determine if a question is visible. In this example, if the user answers no to the question about whether they currently maintain a social media site or app, then question 7 will not be visible.
- In the Visibility rule section, click the first drop-down menu and choose the question: Do you currently maintain an account on a social media site or app?
You'll keep the is value portion of the expression and choose an answer.
- Click the final drop-down menu and choose Yes.
Now if a user answers yes to question 6, question 7 will show. Also, a special symbol appears in the survey next to the question you set a rule for.
This helps you determine which questions have visibility rules set on them.
- Save the survey.
Next, you will set a visibility rule on the last question so it only appears when the answer to question 6 is no.
- In the survey, click question 8 to select it.
- On the side panel, for Behavior, click Set rule.
- For Visibility rule, do the following:
- Click the first drop-down menu and choose Do you currently maintain an account on a social media site or app?
- Click the last drop-down menu and choose No.
- Click OK and click Save to save the survey.
After you make some additional changes to the survey, you will preview it to see the changes.
You've created all the questions that will go into Super Tech Now's customer survey. Next, you'll perform finishing touches, such as changing your survey's appearance, before previewing and publishing it.
Complete your survey
Now that you've finished your survey's questions, you'll adjust its appearance. Then, you'll preview the survey and test its functionality before publishing it.
Change the survey appearance
Your survey has several appearance options you can change.
- Click the Appearance tab.
The first set of options determines whether certain layout elements are visible or not. You can choose to show or hide the survey's header, description, or footer. By default, all three elements are shown. You don't have any reason to hide these elements, so you won't change these options.
Next, you can choose the theme. The default theme is a green color, but you can choose from several colors or images. You'll change the theme to a blue color.
- For Theme, click the blue color in the second row.
The survey's colors change.
In this scenario, Super Tech Now wants the survey to match the color of its company logo, which is a specific shade of blue. You'll customize the theme to reflect its branding.
- Click Edit theme.
More theme options appear. You can change the color of all survey elements, including the text. You can also add an image to the background, although for the purposes of this tutorial you'll focus on the colors. To use the exact colors of the company's logo, you'll choose the color based on its hexadecimal (hex) code.
- Under Header, for Background color, click the color swatch. For Hex, type 2E5984.
The color changes to a more muted shade of dark blue.
- Under Web Page, for Select color, click the color swatch. For Hex, type 73A5C6.
The survey updates automatically with the new color.
- Save the survey.
Preview the survey
The web designer shows what the survey looks like, but you added some functionality (such as rules) that you can't test in this preview. To confirm your survey works as intended, you'll open a preview and test it.
- Click Preview.
After a few moments, a preview of the survey appears.
- Confirm that the first question, asking the date, is set to today's date.
- For the second question, asking your age, click any option.
- For the third and fourth questions, type any number between 0 and 24. Confirm that the Total screen time question correctly added your answers.
- For the final question, choose Yes. Confirm that the follow-up question asking about social media appears.
- For the original social media question, change your answer to No. Confirm that the follow-up question asking about search engines appears.
All of the functionality you added to the survey works as expected. Your test was a success.
You'll also see what the survey looks like on a phone screen, as users may access the survey that way.
- Next to the survey, click the Phone button.
The survey preview changes. The survey remains mostly the same, although the arrangement of some of the question choices is different.
Note:
You can also preview the survey as it would look on a tablet screen.
- Click the Close preview button.
The preview closes.
Publish the survey
Your survey is complete and works the way you want. You'll publish it so people can start taking the survey.
- Click the Publish button.
The Publish Survey pane appears. It asks you to confirm that you want to publish the survey.
- Click Publish.
After a few moments, the survey is published. If this is your first time publishing a survey using the web designer, a message appears confirming the publishing and showing you how to access a link to your survey that you can share with others.
- On the ribbon, click the sharing button.
A window appears with a link and QR code pointing to the survey. It also informs you that the survey is currently private, meaning only you and administrators in your organization can access it. Next, you'll share the published survey.
- On the ribbon, click Collaborate.
The Collaborate page also includes a link to the survey and the option to show its QR code. It also allows you to choose who is allowed to submit to the survey.
Super Tech Now's customers cover a wide range of people, so it makes the most sense to share the survey publicly so everyone can submit to it.
- For Who can submit to this survey, check Everyone (public).
- At the bottom of the page, click Save.
Now, Super Tech Now can send out a link to the survey in emails sent to customers.
You've finished your survey, previewed it, and published it. Super Tech Now is ready to send out the survey to its customers. Next, you'll take a sample survey and learn about how the survey results are saved and analyzed.
Conduct a survey
Now that your survey is published, you'll collect some data. First, you'll open the survey. Then, you'll conduct test surveys and analyze the results to find patterns among the responses.
Submit surveys
You'll open the published survey in a new tab using the link and also on your mobile device using the QR code. Then, you'll submit some sample surveys.
- On the Collaborate page, in the Share this survey section, copy the link to the survey.
Note:
If you closed the page, you can return to it. Go to the Survey123 website and sign in. On the My Surveys page, click Super Tech Now Customer Survey. In the survey, click the Collaborate tab.
Note:
Your link will differ from the link in the example image.
- In a new browser tab, paste the link and browse to your survey.
The survey appears on the tab the way it did in the preview.
- Return to the Super Tech Now Customer Survey - Collaborate tab. For Share this survey, click the Show the QR code button.
A QR code for your survey appears.
Tip:
If you want to save the QR code, click Click to download. You can share the downloaded QR code or print it and display it in your store for customers to access.
- Optionally, using your phone or mobile device, scan the QR code to access the survey.
The survey appears on your phone.
- On either your computer or your mobile device, go through the survey and answer all the questions.
Note:
The specific answers you give don't matter, as long as you answer all of the mandatory questions.
- When you finish taking the survey, click Submit.
After you submit the survey, a message appears, confirming the submission.
Next, you'll take the survey a few more times to create a group of sample results that you can analyze.
- Close the window with the submitted survey. Open the survey again on your preferred device.
- Retake the survey, choosing different answers for the questions.
- Submit the survey.
- Retake and submit the survey at least three more times, choosing different answers for the questions.
Now, you've taken the survey a total of at least five times.
Review your data
All of the data collected by the sample surveys you submitted is collected by and accessible through the Survey123 website. You'll use the website to examine the results.
- Return to the Super Tech Now Customer Survey - Collaborate page.
- On the ribbon, click Overview.
The Overview page appears. In the upper right corner of the page is a toolbar with options for analyzing, sharing, and visualizing survey data.
The Overview page contains a high-level summary of your survey results. This page shows the total number of records (the number of surveys submitted), total participants (the number of unique devices conducting surveys), and the start and end times for surveys submitted. You can filter by date range, causing a graph of the number of surveys conducted within that time period to appear.
Because you took all of the surveys, there is only one total participant. It's likely that the times when the surveys were submitted are close together, too.
- On the ribbon, click Analyze.
The Analyze page contains graphs and tables that show the results of responses to the survey questions.
- Scroll through the page to see the results of your surveys.
The results are not only shown but also organized in charts so you can detect patterns in your data. For instance, if a large number of survey participants answered that their age was 21 to 30, there would be a large spike in the bar chart for the age question.
Using this page, you can find patterns in your data and derive insights from the survey results.
- On the ribbon, click Data.
The Data page contains a map showing the location where each survey was conducted. (Because the survey you created didn't take any geographic information, the survey results may appear at latitude 0, longitude 0.)
This page also contains a table that stores each survey's results. You can use this table to look at the answers to specific surveys.
Above the map, you can click Export to choose to download your data as various data types. You can open downloaded data in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro and further analyze it using geoprocessing tools and data from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, from publicly available data from ArcGIS Online, or from within your organization.
In this tutorial, you built a customer survey in the Survey123 web designer. The Super Tech Now franchise will be able to use this survey to better understand its customer base. It'll also help the company make smart decisions about which social media and search engine sites to purchase advertisement space on.
You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.
