Creating a PlaceSpeak Survey

Click on the “Create Survey” button.

Insert your Survey’s Title in the available space. Add a description of your survey in the “Survey Description” space.

You may choose to include a welcome message, as well as an end message. Check the relevant box and include your message in the space provided.

You can also determine who can participate in the survey. 

Anyone: Any registered PlaceSpeak user. 

Residents Only: Individuals who reside within the geographical boundaries of your map. 

English/French Bilingual Surveys

Please note: if you plan to present a bilingual (English and French) survey within your PlaceSpeak Topic, please prepare your Survey in English first, including all the desired conditions and branch logic; then provide the translations to the PlaceSpeak team so we can integrate the French version of the survey to match the English and ensure consistency in the conditions and logic.

Survey Section

You can add sections (pages) to group your questions to make it easier for participants to move through your survey, e.g. Survey Questions, Demographics, etc. 

Survey Questions

Add questions to each section/page of your survey. 

PlaceSpeak provides functionality for a wide variety of survey question types:

Question Types

Single choice questions: These are used when the respondent should only choose one out of a list of options. 

• 5 point choice: This question shows a vertical 1 to 5 scale where the participant may select one answer option at a time. E.g. "On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to support the proposed traffic ordinance? (1 = least likely, 5 = most likely)"
• List (dropdown): This question type puts the answer options in a dropdown menu.
• List (radio): This question type collects input from a list of radio buttons.
• List with comment: This question type displays a list of radio buttons, while allowing the participants to provide a additional comment with their submission.

Multiple choice questions: These are used when the respondent can choose multiple options from a list (e.g. "Check all which apply"). 

• Multiple choice: This question type can collect multiple selections through checkboxes.
• Multiple choice with comments: This question type can collect multiple selections through checkboxes, and participants can add additional comments to every option selected. 

Arrays: In these questions, a matrix can be displayed in which columns are represented by subquestion and the same answer options are shown for each row. The text of the question can be either a specific question or a description. A "No answer" answer option is automatically added if the question is set to be not mandatory.

• Array: An array allows you to create subquestions as your left hand headings, and let your participants respond with a series of possible answer options along the top of the table. 
• Array (10 point choice): An array type that is prefilled with answer choices on a 1 to 10 scale. 
• Array (5 point choice): An array type that is prefilled with answer choices on a 1 to 5 scale. 
• Array (An array type that is prefilled with answer choices "Increase", "Same", and "Decrease". E.g. "Do you think spending should increase, decrease, or stay the same on the following items?"
• Array (Numbers): This type allows a large array of numbered dropdown boxes with a set of subquestions as the "y-axis", and another set of subquestions as the "x-axis".
• Array (Text): This type allows for an array of text boxes with a set of subquestions as the "y-axis", and another set of subquestions as the "x-axis".
• Array (Yes/No/Certain): An array type that is prefilled with answer choices "Yes", "No", and "Uncertain". 
• Array by Column: This question type is the same as an array, except the subquestion and answer axes are swapped.
• Array dual scale: This type provides two scales of answer options for each subquestion. 

Mask Questions: These questions have pre-defined answer choices. 

• Date/Time: This question type can be used to ask for a certain date, for a time or a combination of date and time. Dates and times can be entered directly, chosen from a popup calendar or from drop-down boxes.
• Gender: This type collects gender information ("Male" or "Female") from the user. If this question is not mandatory, a "No answer" choice will be available. Note that additional gender options cannot be added, and should be collected through a List (radio) question instead. 
• Multiple numerical input: This question type allows multiple text boxes to be created, each of which can only be answered using numbers. Each text box corresponds to an subquestion, and the subquestion text becomes the label for the input.
• Text Display: This question type allows you to enter content as a "preamble" to an actual question. This means you can include additional content such as images, video, and links that are not included in the actual question. This type of "question" can be added before the actual question, to provide the participant with important information before responding to the question.
• Ranking: This question type allows you to present your participants with a list of possible answers/options, which they may then rank in order of preference.

Text questions: These questions are used for collecting qualitative (text) responses from participants. 

• Huge free text: This question type collect multiple lines of text input, and is wider than the long free text type.
• Long free text: This question type collects multiple lines of text input.

Option 'Other'

Some question types, such as single choice questions or multiple choice questions, provide the option for respondents to select "Other" and fill in the blank. Toggle the switch on/off to enable this option. 

Adding Images

Remember to resize images prior to uploading into a survey.  Use the Add Image tool in the tool bar to ensure the image is inserted in such a manner that it will "respond" to resizing in windows and in mobile view. 

Mandatory

Toggle the switch on/off to make a question mandatory or optional. 

Question Body

You can embed images and use various font styles (bold, italics, underline) as part of your survey questions. You may re-order, edit, or delete your questions at any time.

Question Help

You can include help text or directions here if you believe that a question is extremely complex. 

Set Conditions

You can program your survey so that certain questions only show up if certain conditions are met, e.g. "Only show question X if question Y was answered 'Z'".

You can select single or multiple conditions.

Third-Party Survey Tools

If you have created a survey using one of our partner survey tools (QuestionPro, eSolutions FormBuilder, Simple Survey, Alchemer), you can easily integrate them as part of your engagement.

Select which third-party tool you used in the drop-down menu.

Include your survey title and link, and click the “Publish” button to make the survey live.

*SimpleSurvey clients: Please note that the "Allow usage in a frame (iframe)" option must be toggled on within your SimpleSurvey settings. You can find it by logging into your SimpleSurvey dashboard, navigating to the Design Menu, followed by Settings. Scroll to the bottom and expand "Advanced".

Adding PlaceSpeak Location Code to QuestionPro Surveys

Please note that a QuestionPro licence is required in order to integrate QuestionPro Surveys into PlaceSpeak Engagement Topics.

Log into your QuestionPro Account

Click New Survey and set up the survey per QuestionPro set up procedures.

To ensure the integrity of the data collected through PlaceSpeak (ie geospatial and profile verification) add the PlaceSpeak location code - ${custom1}  into the Custom System Variable Mapping within QP Survey Setup. 

Access the System Variable Mapping in Question Pro Survey and add location in Display Name and in the Code Field in the Custom 1 Variable. The related location data will populate in the Survey CSV report with a Custom 1 Location column. 

This will add a "location" custom variable column to the report that indicates the location of each respondent based on the labeled polygons on the PlaceSpeak Topic Map. Verified PlaceSpeak respondents who reside outside of the polygons on the PlaceSpeak map will appear as "Non-Resident".  Responses that do not contain location data were collected from unverified respondents from outside of PlaceSpeak.

Integrating QuestionPro Survey iFrame into PlaceSpeak

Copy the URL for the survey from the Link field in the QuestionPro Survey setup page

Within PlaceSpeak Topic Admin navigate to Engagement / Surveys and choose QuestionPro from the Third Party Survey Tools drop down menu. Add the Title of Survey as created in Question Pro and add the shared link from Question Pro Survey Setup.

Your QuestionPro survey will now be visible on the Engagement Toolbar Survey Button on your PlaceSpeak topic.