Choosing online survey tool

Choosing a survey tool

The default tool for implementing surveys is O365 Forms. For the most complex surveys, LimeSurvey is recommended. LimeSurvey and REDCap are also suitable for collecting sensitive data, provided that the procedures described in the systems’ help pages are observed.

Office 365 Forms

O365 Forms allows you to create surveys and questionnaires and to easily share them with respondents. The system contains a variety of question types, including multiple choice questions, quizzes, and open-ended responses. It is also possible to respond to Office 365 Forms surveys with mobile devices. You can view the responses in an aggregate or individual form or download the data in an Excel file for processing outside the system. The service is easy to use and typically requires no special learning. O365 Forms is recommended for simple surveys and, for example, registering for events.

All members of the universities community may use O365 Forms with their TUNI id
https://forms.office.com. Responding to a survey does not require a TUNI ID unless requiring the ID is intentional.

Instructions

• Getting started with Microsoft Forms
• Wistec Online's Forms course (sign-in with your TUNI email address)
• Sending an email verification from an O365 Forms survey (pdf)

LimeSurvey

LimeSurvey is especially suitable for more versatile surveys in research use. For example, you can randomise the order of the questions, measure the time spent filling in the form, and edit a question based on the answers to previous questions. There are several different types of questions, such as the slider, ranking, and versatile table-type questions. It is possible to adjust the layout with your own colours and fonts.

LimeSurvey is only recommended if the functionalities of the simpler O365 Forms are not sufficient. The system is very versatile and the users really need to know what they are doing.

LimeSurvey can be used with TUNI email on https://survey.tuni.fi/lime/admin/.

Instructions for LimeSurvey

• You can view and complete a sample survey from the respondent’s perspective via this link.
• You can also create a custom copy of the sample survey using an .lss file. The instructions for doing this are available in Limesurvey’s admin interface.  When you select “Create a new survey” and “Import”, you can download the .lss file as the basis for your questionnaire and see how it is built. Download the .lss file here.
• Please note: TUNI LimeSurvey has been intended for regular use. If you have a survey where you are expecting several hundred answers per hour please contact it-helpdesk [at] tuni.fi (it-helpdesk[at]tuni[dot]fi) so that we can estimate if there is a need for additional resources to the server. TUNI LimeSurvey is hosted in our own premises.
• LimeSurvey’s user instructions
• Some TUNI-specific instructions
• Quick guide to LimeSurvey (PDF)
• How to transfer data from LimeSurvey to SPSS (pdf).
• Lime Survey: exporting expired surveys and deleting them from the system (pdf)

REDCap

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure browser-based tool for building and managing surveys and databases. It is widely used in medical research, but it is also suitable for processing more sensitive human sciences data. REDCap is primarily a system for collecting research data. REDCap includes a survey functionality as one of the data collection options, but for practical reasons, REDCap should not be used only for conducting surveys at least when the user is new to the system.

Further information on REDCap.

Maptionnaire

Maptionnaire is a map-based survey tool. It has already long been used in city planning as a participation tool, but is suitable for all research and development, which is based especially to map and image markings and other image materials. With Maptionnaire data can be collected, analyzed, and visualized. Use is based on online questionnaire editor.

If you are interested in using Maptionnaire, please join to our university’s Maptionnaire Teams: TG-Maptionnaire.

E-Lomake

The use of the former University of Tampere’s E-Lomake system ended on 31 December 2020.
The use of TAMK’s E-Lomake system will remain unchanged for the time being.

Webropol

The use of the former Tampere University of Technology’s Webropol system ended on 31 December 2020. 

IT Helpdesk
+358 294 520 500
it-helpdesk [at] tuni.fi (it-helpdesk[at]tuni[dot]fi)
helpdesk.tuni.fi