Table of contents What are mask questions? Types of mask questions Date and time Yes and no File upload Gender Get started using mask questions What are mask questions? We at LimeSurvey define mask questions as question types that provide predefined answer inputs, e.g. gender, date and time, ranking, equation or simple yes and no questions. These question types greatly facilitate the collection of basic data as well as avoid having to waste time on workaround processes. Thus, mask questions nicely complete an all-round exciting survey. Types of mask questions Date and time The date/time question type enables you to create a question which requires the convenient response of a specific date, such as a participant’s date of birth, or a specific time, such as the hours worked each day. In order to use a date/time question, create your question and in the General options, select Question type and choose the type Date/Time in the dropdown menu. Then hit Save and close. Select Date Question Type If you check out the preview of your question, it will display a text/dropdown field. Your participant can either type in a date by complying with your date format or simply pick a date from the dropdown calendar. A little green bin icon at the bottom of the calendar allows a respondent to delete a date selection made. Date Question Type Preview Advanced tip: if you want to change the appearance of your date question type, navigate to the advanced settings in your question and switch on ‘Display dropdown boxes’. This will create three dropdown boxes for the participant to set a date. Date Dropdown Option Date Dropdown Option Preview If you would like to ask for a certain time instead of a date, go to the advanced settings of your date/time question and add a (valid) time format to the Date/Time format field, for example HH:MM (Hours:Minutes). Analogous to the date question, you can set the “Display dropwdown boxes” to either on or off to change the presentation style of your question. Time Question Type With the dropdown boxes option switched off, the time input can be added manually or by the time selector. Time Question Type Preview With the dropdown boxes option switched on, dropdown boxes according to your inserted time format will be displayed. Time Dropdown Option Preview Advanced tip: combine date and time function by adding both formats to the Date/Time format field in the advanced question settings, for example “dd/mm/yyyy HH:MM”. Date & Time Combination You can find even more detailed and advanced information on the date/time question type in our manual. Conclusion: date and time questions can be used flexibly and provide clarity in their usability. Yes and no The Yes/No question type is as self-explanatory as it is easy to implement as well as flexible to use. Within the question edition, navigate to the general options and select Yes/No as your question type, then save and close. Select Yes & No Question Type By default, the Yes/No question type displays your question as a block of buttons which is greatly beneficial as the button sizes facilitate clicking on them. Yes & No Button Format Advanced tip: if you prefer the good old-fashioned ratio buttons, then you will make a find in the question’s advanced settings. Here you can change the “display type” from button group to radio list. Yes & No Radio List Format Need more information on this question type? Check out our manual. Conclusion: Since the answer options are pre-set to yes and no, this question type may seem somewhat restricting at first. However, the fact that basically any question fitting the logic of the yes or no format, may be applied. This makes it incredibly flexible and convenient at the same time. File Upload The file upload question type allows the attachment of any file to a posed question. Simply choose “File upload” in the question type general settings. File Upload Question Type Respondents may then click on the “Upload files” button of the respective question and select files from their computers to add to the survey. Simple and effective! File Upload Preview Advanced tip: check the advanced settings of your question and have full administrative control over the file upload specifics of your respondents, i.e. restricting the maximum file size and number of files, the minimum number of files as well as all allowed file types. File Upload Advanced Settings Need more information on this question type? Check out our manual. Conclusion: a very easy, but valuable question type to have at hand. One of the most prominent examples nowadays is an employer requesting uploaded documents from a job applicant within the application process. Gender The gender question type is set up by selecting “gender” within the general options of your question. Gender Question Type Analogous to the Yes/No question type, the default display option are blocks of buttons. Gender Button Format Advanced tip: again if you prefer radio list buttons, just change the display type in the advanced settings of your question. Gender Radio List Format Need more information on this question type? Check out our manual. Conclusion: for demographic evaluation purposes, asking the gender question is one of the most basic and widespread thing to do in a survey. Leverage the convenience of mask questions in your own surveys LimeSurvey offers all features to paid subscriptions as well as free users. Mask question types are no exception here. Give it a try and create some mask questions of your choice with LimeSurvey! Simply click here to get started. If you want to learn more about mask questions in LimeSurvey, visit our LimeSurvey manual.  

Simple mode and expert mode First of all, there's the 'Responses' button in the admin interface that will lead you to LimeSurvey statistics via 'Responses & statistics'. Responses & Statistics When you access the statistics function, you have two possible statistics modes from which to choose: The simple mode This mode will give you swift statistics by merely clicking on the 'Simple mode' button. Thus, you will only get response graphs and no free text answers. However, you can switch between displaying all responses, only complete responses and only incomplete responses. Simple Mode The expert mode This mode allows you to filter your responses according to certain criteria. Once you have set all your filters, you generate the statistics report by clicking on the ‘View Statistics’ button in the top right corner. If you have falsely filtered and would like to restart, you can ‘Clear’ your selection in the top right corner. Results Summary Expert Mode Now to the available filters: The general filters contain … Data selection Include either all responses, complete responses or incomplete responses Provide a summary of all fields: if activated, this will automatically mark all question groups and questions to be taken into account for the statistics Subtotals based on displayed questions: if activated, this will hide the number of incomplete or not displayed response count Statistics report language: selectable are all languages that the survey was set up in Response ID: an interval of respondent IDs can be chosen to focus the attention on only those statistics Output format: HTML, PDF or Excel are available Output options Show text responses inline: lists all answers from free text question types Show graphs: adds graphic illustrations to the statistics Number of columns: one to three columns can be set to display statistics Graph labels: question code, question text or both can be used to label the horizontal graph axis Chart type: different chart types such as bar charts, pie charts and line charts can be chosen for the graphs, however, these can be changed later individually for each graph within the statistics overview General Filter The response filters contain all question groups, questions and answer options that can all be selected individually depending on the statistics you want to look at. Response Filter By clicking on the ‘Export images’ button at the bottom of the result table, regardless of simple or expert mode, you may receive the results in a file format of your choice (default PNG, PDF or Excel). Alternatively, the ‘Responses’ button within the statistics function offers you to browse through your results and filter according to certain criteria you determine. Response Overview Advanced tip: LimeSurvey offers many export possibilities. Go straight to processing your results in many other data handling software solutions such as Microsoft Excel/Word, SPSS, R, STATA or CSV. This allows you to undertake more complex, statistical calculations and tasks. Results Export Learning by doing statistical evaluation LimeSurvey offers all features to paid subscriptions as well as free users. The statistics function as well as diverse export possibilities are no exceptions here. Give it a try and set up some basic questions and answers which to evaluate statistically with LimeSurvey! Simply click here to get started. If you want to learn more about statistics in LimeSurvey, visit our LimeSurvey manual.  

Master your LimeSurvey quota setup The LimeSurvey quota setup is quite simple if you know where to look for it. Within the general survey overview, go to Survey properties and then find Quotas in the dropdown menu. Quota Settings From here on, a quota is created in two steps. Firstly, the quota settings are determined by clicking Add new quota and filling in the required data. Quota name: descriptive name for the quota Limit: maximum amount of completed surveys for respective quota Quota action: action performed when participant ends up in quota that is already full Terminate survey: will terminate survey immediately Terminate survey with warning: allows going back to change answers before survey termination Autoload URL: upon quota action, participant is redirected to this URL Quota message: message sent to participant if quota is full URL: displayed or redirected to after quota message URL Description: text displayed for URL Quota Setup Secondly, the created quota is specified by adding an answer of a survey question that is to set the condition for the quota specifications. There is an Add answer button designed for this purpose. For example, a quota can be set to allow maximum 10 participants between the age of 18-29 to enter the quota (see screenshot). The remaining answer options, i.e. other age spans, are (if not specified otherwise) not affected by the quota. It is important to bear in mind that multiple quotas for the same question are connected logically with an 'and' operator, meaning both conditions have to be met to trigger the quota, therefore making them impossible to apply when using for instance single choice questions with only one answer possibility. Quota Condition Quotas vs. conditions Oftentimes, survey creators grapple with conditions in order to prevent certain people from participating in a survey when in fact they really require a quota. By approaching this matter with an inverted logic, quotas can be set to answer options that are assigned the number 0, thus actively screening out the people who select those answer options. Following this method, participants can immediately be excluded from a survey at any desired time along the way. This leads to more control over the survey and can prevent unwanted actions or opinions. A good example for this case is asking people whether they agree to data protection policies regarding survey data. If this question is denied, thereby neglecting fundamental survey data guidelines, the person can be screened out and prevented from impacting survey results. The benefits and risks of quota usage LimeSurvey offers all features to paid subscriptions as well as free users. Quota management is no exception here. Advantages of quota control: Quotas offer simplicity, time saving and money saving when it comes to setting them up and accumulating respondents. Furthermore, the survey creator receives data from participants that are supposedly highly relevant and fitting to the research topic. If this level of relevance is in fact achieved, participants may be more interested and motivated to complete the survey which can lead to higher response rates. Disadvantages of quota control: Restricting a survey to only specific people can lead to the impression of researcher bias and losses in the quality and validity of statistics. Moreover, it may lack representativeness of a general population and instead may only refer to quota-specific characteristics in a small sample group. The conclusion here is that working with quotas is a great and easy way to get surveys to the required types of people. However, it has to be treated with caution as the significance of the results is not applicable to larger masses of people. LimeSurvey advice: test it and see for yourself! Give it a try and set up some basic questions and answers attributed with quotas! Simply click here to get started. If you want to learn more about quotas in LimeSurvey, simply visit our LimeSurvey manual.