Table of contents Introduction: Single Choice Essentials 5-Point Choice Questions Dropdown List Questions Radio List Questions List with Comment Questions Advantages & Disadvantages Get Started Find Out About the Essentials of Single Choice Questioning Singe choice questions are a subcategory of multiple choice question types. Typically, multiple choice questions consist of specific components: the stem is usually a question posed to a survey participant. This stem can be a sentence that requires completing, a problem that requires solving, a topic that requires assessing as well as any additional information that comes with the question. The key is described as the correct answer among all the given answer options, the so-called items. The remaining incorrect answer options are called distractors. However, this has to be treated with caution as it depends on the type of survey that is being conducted. Surveys that are used to test participants on their knowledge regarding a certain subject apply to the aforementioned logic as they deal with factual information which can be divided into correct and incorrect spectrums. A classic example for such a survey is educational testing, i.e. university exams which test student knowledge acquisition. When it comes to surveys however that are designed for asking participants about their opinions, attitudes or emotions, there can’t be a correct-incorrect-classification. In this case, all answer options are potential keys depending on the survey-taker. A good example for this survey type is an election in which the participant chooses one of several candidates or parties that reflect his or her interests to the best of knowledge. What both of these survey types have in common though is the general single choice structure, meaning an initial question followed by at least two or more predefined answer options of which the survey participant may choose only one. Use LimeSurvey’s Variety of Single Choice Questions to Guide Your Participants Single choice questions are a great way of leading your participants through a survey efficiently from a quality and quantity standpoint. It’s a much faster alternative to free text question types as each question only requires one or two clicks and furthermore, it helps participants manage the complex decision-making process due to the compressed variety of answer options. 5-Point Choice Questions This question type offers a 1 to 5 scale to choose from depending on for example the intensity of an answer to a given question. The 5-point choice is the most basic choice-based question type available in LimeSurvey, but is therefore generally applicable due to its rating structure. All core settings such as “relevance equation” (assign value to question and determine whether it’s supposed to be displayed), “random question in group” (randomisation of question order within a group) and more are available for this question type. Advanced Tip: instead of using a 1 to 5 scale, modify it by using a slider with emoticons or a star rating. 5-Point Choice Question Type Example Dropdown List Questions This type of list question presents itself with a dropdown menu from which the participant can select an answer option. The answer options are created by adding any required content to them. While the logic of this question type is the same as the following radio list question type, it does offer a decisive advantage. Radio buttons are immediately visible with the corresponding question and may lead to survey-takers not reading the question carefully enough due to being distracted by the answer options. A dropdown menu enables a participant to focus on reading and understanding the question first before moving on to the list of answer options. All core settings such as “relevance equation” (assign value to question and determine whether it’s supposed to be displayed), “hide tip” (hide question tips in case they’re not required), “alphabetical answer sorting” (answer options can be sorted according to the alphabet), “label for ‘Other’ option” (rename the ‘Other’ answer option to anything you like), “random answer options” (contrary to sorting answer options), “random question in group” (randomisation of question order within a group) and many more are available for this question type. Advanced Tip: add a category separator to your dropdown answer options to provide more structure for the participant, e.g. answer options “orange” and “apple” can be modified to “Fruit: orange” and “Fruit: apple” to display the dropdown category “Fruit” atop of “orange” and “apple”. Dropdown List Question Type Example Radio List Questions The radio list questions contain option buttons which are ultimately graphic control elements that allow a user to select one of a predefined number of alternatives. In LimeSurvey, these radio buttons are shaped like circular holes to click on. Radio buttons differ from checkboxes in a manner that checkboxes often allow for more than one selectable option at a time whereas radio buttons are intended for simply one answer choice. All core settings such as “relevance equation” (assign value to question and determine whether it’s supposed to be displayed), “hide tip” (hide question tips in case they’re not required), “alphabetical answer sorting” (answer options can be sorted according to the alphabet), “label for ‘Other’ option” (rename the ‘Other’ answer option to anything you like), “random answer options” (contrary to sorting answer options), “random question in group” (randomisation of question order within a group) and many more are available for this question type. Advanced Tip: if you have many different predefined answer options you would like to offer to your participants, simply extend your radio list to more than one column (max. eight) to vertically shorten the list of answer options and make it more readable for survey-takers. Radio List Question Type Example List with Comment Questions This question type is almost identical to the radio list question type. However, it adds the possibility of providing a free comment next to the selection of answer options. This is a great possibility for participants to elaborate on the choice of answer or to comment on the question as well as provide any sort of statement. Other than that, it offers all the benefits of the “radio list questions”. All core settings such as “relevance equation” (assign value to question and determine whether it’s supposed to be displayed), “hide tip” (hide question tips in case they’re not required), “alphabetical answer sorting” (answer options can be sorted according to the alphabet), “random answer options” (contrary to sorting answer options), “random question in group” (randomisation of question order within a group) and many more are available for this question type. List with Comment Question Type Example Build on the Advantages and Bear in Mind the Disadvantages of Multiple/Single Choice Question Types Leverage the Advantages Multiple/Single choice questions can deliver great results and turn out to be very effective evaluation tools if the predefined items are composed in a standardised way. Therefore, the beauty of this question type is that it can deliver quality insights on the one hand and simultaneously be used for large quantities of participants on the other hand. These questions can be set up easily and quickly, whether using pen and paper or on electronic devices. Due to its fast score nature, a wide range of content can be covered in a single survey. As a result of the aforementioned benefits, participants will be able to complete surveys quicker and more easily, hence be more inclined to fully complete them which in turn means a higher response rate for the survey creators and more reliable statistics. Consider the Disadvantages Multiple/Single choice questions put a strong limitation on the answer options which may result in no answer at all or an unsatisfactory option selected by a participant. If several of these situations occur within the course of a survey, many participants may supposedly exit without completion. In this case either a single choice question has to provide a way out of this restriction by offering to skip the question (which is highly disadvantageous for the survey creator), the option to select “other”, or a comment box for further elaboration. This question type is more suitable for either very well-defined topics or for lower-order tasks which narrows down its usability. When trying to solve problems or apply higher reasoning techniques in a survey, this question type will quickly run into trouble. Other typical disadvantages are for example ambiguity of predefined items depending on the survey creator’s interpretation and schematic answering in certain patterns by survey-takers which may lead to falsified results. Luckily though, LimeSurvey offers plenty of additional features to eliminate any disadvantages and create a fine mix of different question types. Enjoy the Benefits of LimeSurvey Single Choice Question Types LimeSurvey offers all features to paid subscriptions as well as free users. Single choice questions, being one of many different available question types, are no exception here and can help you get started with the LimeSurvey software. Give it a try and set up some basic questions and answers with our single choice questions: you’ll see it’s as easy a pie! Simply click here to get started. Furthermore, if you really want to get into advanced survey creation, you won’t be restricted. LimeSurvey and single choice question types in specific can be used in a wide range of different fields, such as educational testing, market research, elections and general scientific research. If you want to learn even more about all of our question types, simply visit our LimeSurvey manual.

All these aspects have a major impact on overall employee satisfaction, one of the most important performance levers of any organisation, as we will outline later. How relevant different "impact categories" such as financial, developmental, emotional, or others are for each individual varies depending on an employee's personality or goals. Nevertheless, knowing how and where to invest resources in order to keep employee satisfaction high is vitally essential, not only to boost organisational performance, but by implication to avoid employee turnover and retain top talent. Due to fast-paced work environments, obstacles, and resistance to change, jobs are ultimately minimised, and this may lead to substantial and frequent staff fluctuation. Thus, organisational structures and dynamics are heavily disturbed and costs and resources are invested inefficiently as well. As a result, organisations prefer to hire the right people in the first place and invest in them to ensure survival and growth. Happier employees make for more productive organisations Retaining high quality employees is, in fact, the core task of every organisation that is working towards the goal of long-term business success since employees are the foundation of added value in organisations. Employees will, in most cases, only leave a job if they are unhappy with their situation in an organisation. Therefore, leadership needs to ensure employee satisfaction to foster engagement and identification with an organisation. If there is substantial employee dissatisfaction with the work conditions, the consequence will be either employee resignation or feelings of inner submission, each of which will result in productivity and performance deterioration. Why is this? Negative emotions, if not recognized and addressed, may overshadow the ability to focus on professional tasks and lead to general incapacity. A high employee satisfaction rate consistently equates to employees accomplishing more and improvement in performance.  I.e., happy employees = increased organizational productivity and performance.   How to determine employee satisfaction In order to build employee satisfaction, organisations need to identify any potential negative emotions that might be floating about in order to act upon these and improve work conditions, as well as avoid employee turnover.  This can be achieved one-on-one with a coaching approach. However, it will cost much more time to hold individual meetings throughout the organisation and doesn’t ensure anonymity for employees. The latter may lead to dishonesty in responses on attitudes to avoid negative consequences.   A more quantitative and anonymous approach is an employee satisfaction survey. It’s easily and quickly set up and distributed among organisational members, also easily flexibly evaluated.   Furthermore, the same survey can be conducted on a frequent basis to receive comparative values over time and determine the impact of certain actions aimed at increasing employee satisfaction.   Asking the right questions in employee satisfaction surveys There are three overarching and intertwined factors that could potentially impact employee dissatisfaction which need to be covered in an employee survey.   Job: Aspects such as low perceived meaning, tasks being too challenging, unpleasant work conditions, insufficient development and promotion possibilities, and high stress due to workload can easily lead to staff dissatisfaction with their jobs and role within the organisation. For example: 82.39% of employees say a lack of progression would influence the decision to leave their jobs. (CareerAddict.com) Employees said the three most contributing factors to quitting their jobs were a lack of career advancement opportunities, low pay, and the absence of a salary pay raise. (CareerAddict.com) Of those who had already quit their jobs, 35% would consider returning if they were offered a better salary or a higher position. (CareerAddict.com) Environment: Circumstances related to employees’ teams, departments or general environment such as low collegial appreciation and respect, slim contribution opportunities and poor communication can make people feel uncomfortable and can have a negative effect on job performance and interaction with coworkers. 83% of people feel their relationships with coworkers are excellent, very good or good. (Cigna) 33% of executives say, "Improving our employees’ loyalty and faith in the company is a top priority." (The Predictive Index) 67% of employees are as productive as they can be in their office environment. (Olivet University) Management: Supervisors who do not lead in a performance-driven and emotionally intelligent way can put immense pressure and stress on employees and create a negative work environment.  They may also make employees feel undervalued and intimidated. 9% of employees said their company/manager is awesome at acting on feedback, 24% said pretty good, 44% said okay, and 23% said horrible. (Achievers) 41% of employed Americans want a work environment where employees are encouraged to have a work-life balance. (Cigna) 56% of workers said their employer or manager generally determines their work schedules. (TSheets) If viewed correctly and addressed appropriately, any staff dissatisfaction that may arise can be used as an opportunity to demonstrate an organisation’s willingness to put the effort in and change, as well as improve existing conditions and processes, rather than to consider them a threat or a weakness. This strengthens the bond between organisations and their employees to ensure long-term staff retention and loyalty. LimeSurvey offers an employee satisfaction survey template which will be available for "LimeSurvey Cloud" (Basic, Expert, Enterprise) and as "ComfortUpdate" for the community edition (3 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months) subscriptions and covers all the above mentioned variables/items to measure employee satisfaction effectively. If you have questions or suggestions, simply contact our support and we will answer you as soon as possible.  

Take a look at the following assortment of the most popular and widely used chart types to get a good idea for evaluating and reporting on your own survey data. When to Use a Pie Chart single choice questions mask questions (e.g. Gender, Yes/No) Pie charts are best used when you are presenting a share of something, ideally items explaining a single variable to benefit readibility and assessment. Logically, all shares in a pie chart should thereby add up to 100%. For example, when you have binary survey responses, e.g., yes/no question types, or questions with only a few answer options/categories. Overloading a pie chart with too many categories, i.e., 6 or more, makes it hard to identify labels as well as shares and should be avoided. When it comes to data types, nominal data such as demographics, i.e., data without an order or ranking, as well as ordinal data such as likert scale ratings, i.e., data with an order or ranking, can be visualised using pie charts. Nominal data can be arranged clockwise from largest to smallest share and ordinal data can be arranged clockwise according to ranking or rating scale. In order to increase distinction between shares in a pie chart, strong colour contrasts or colour shades can help to achieve this. Pie charts are a nice and visually appealing solution if you are trying to show general trends rather than specific accurate data. General Tip: Avoid including "Other" as an option choice, as an answer as different responses will not be displayed in a pie chart, but will be shown as "Other". When to Use a Donut Chart single choice questions mast questions (e.g. Gender, Yes/No)  Donut charts work similarly to pie charts. Donut charts have a circular cutout in the middle whereas the shares within pie charts completely fill out the middle.  Despite these seemingly small differences, the way these chart types are viewed and interpreted from a psychological standpoint vary substantially. Shares of a pie chart all run to the middle and focus a viewer's attention to the centre where all pieces are processed as by the size of their areas. Shares of a donut chart however focus the viewer's attention to the length of each piece, thereby demonstrating a more linear approach of processing results. The latter way of interpreting data is naturally easier for people. Apart from that, donut charts can be used in the same way as pie charts, i.e., assessing shares of a whole. When to Use a Bar Chart single choice questions multiple choice questions arrays mask questions (e.g. Gender, Yes/No) There are several different ways to visualise data with bar charts. Most commonly used are the vertical and the horizontal bar charts. Both vertical and horizontal bar charts are composed of columns which are either aligned vertically or horizontally to the x-axis respectively. Furthermore, they are suitable to visualise nominal and ordinal data.  The vertical bar chart is helpful when displaying percentages or means of only a few categories. Otherwise, too many categories would increase the width of the entire chart across a screen and make it hard to read or even display. Rule of thumb here is to reduce categories included in a vertical bar chart to only about a handful. Compared to pie charts, bar charts facilitate direct comparison between categories, especially when ordinal data is arranged from largest to smallest column or vice versa. Furthermore, bar charts can easily display negative values which is impossible with pie charts and makes the former superior and more flexible in most cases. The horizontal bar chart comes in handy where the vertical bar chart falls short. If you have more than a handful of categories, select the horizontal bar chart as it extends vertically and improves readibility. Stacked and grouped bar charts are great solutions when displaying subcategories, i.e., break down categories for a more detailed view of your data. The only difference between stacked and grouped bar charts is the way subcategories are displayed, namely subcategories in the same bar versus in different bars. General Tip: Make sure to display your bar labels horizontally, otherwise viewers have to tilt their heads to read them. Also, don't include the answer option "Other" for the same reason disclosed for pie charts. When to Use a Line Chart Single choice questions Multiple choice questions Arrays Mask questions (e.g. Gender, Yes/No) Line charts consist of data values that correspond to individual answer options and are best used to display trends, comparisons or peaks over time, therefore are great when running surveys repeatedly. General Tip: Reduce the number of labels on the x-axis to a maximum such as 5 to ensure readibility; however, make sure to have enough data points to enable proper extraction of trends. Also, adjust the relative height of the y-axis to match your highest value point within the line chart to improve the visual appeal of the chart. Furthermore, do not include the answer option "Other" for the same reason disclosed for pie charts. Chart Types in LimeSurvey In LimeSurvey, for each question that is created in a survey a chart type can be predefined in the statistics options of the respective question. If not changed, it will be set to bar chart by default. Not to worry though, in the statistics overview after collecting survey responses, you can simply and flexibly switch back and forth between all available chart types. Besides bar, pie, donut and line chart, LimeSurvey offers a few more chart types that are not as mainstream: radar (spider) chart and polar chart. Radar charts are a great way of visualising multivariate data, i.e., data with multiple variables, on two dimensions while the variables are represented by axes starting from the same point. Thus, radar charts are beneficial when other chart types such as bar charts become rather cluttered with an increasing number of variables. Polar charts are essentially radar charts since both display data as circular graphs and can be used nicely for visualising multivariate data. However, while radar charts connect the variable results to a "web", the polar charts display results in adverse bars within the circular diagram. General Tip: Keep the number of variables in your radar or polar chart to a maximum number of 8 to avoid chart overload and confusion. Advanced Tip: If you are dealing with large amounts of survey data in general, we recommend you consider creating pivot tables to get more efficient and structured data filtering options when generating flexible and powerful pivot charts. Conclusion Learning how to use these different chart types effectively will be of great benefit not just when presenting survey results, but also and more importantly when deriving actionable measures from these results. It is always important for you to consider that your audience may not be familiar with the survey setup, i.e., structure, variables and items in detail, which makes it essential to facilitate the readibility and interpretation of your survey results by choosing the most suitable chart to get your point across. Always remember: There is no one right chart to visualise your survey data. It ultimately comes down to weighing the pros and cons of each chart.