Before you activate a survey, note that:
- when the survey is initialized, you can change the text for questions, answers, the survey etc., but not the type of question or the answer options.
- you cannot add new questions or delete questions. Nor can you add answers to any of the array or multiple choice questions. However, you can add answers to the basic list type questions.
- if you deactivate (not expire) the survey, responses will be moved to a backup table and you will lose participation information; but you will again be able to add new questions and groups and modify survey parameters.
Once you are happy with the structure of your survey you can:
- activate your survey.
- set Notification and Data settings.
- chose between open or closed access mode.
1. Activate survey
Activate your survey by clicking Activate survey :
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2. Notifications and data settings
Before activation, a window will be displayed, asking you about notification and data management settings of your survey. Additionally, the following settings cannot be changed once a survey has been activated.
Please check these settings now:
- Anonymyzed responses: This option allows you to determine whether responses to your survey are matched with information from your survey's token table, or kept "anonymous". If you decide to enable it, your survey is set to anonymize responses - there will be no way to connect answers and participants;
- Save IP address: If enabled, the IP address of the survey respondent will be stored together with his/her answers;
- Save timings: If enabled, the time spent on each page of the survey by each survey participant is recorded;
- Date stamp: Enable this if you would like to see the date the answers were submitted;
- Save referrer URL: If enabled, the referrer URL will be stored together with the answers.
Once you have chosen your desired settings, click the Save & activate survey button. The following message will be displayed which brings us to the last step choosing between closed or open access mode.
3. Open or closed access mode
By default the survey is in open access mode. You can switch to closed access mode by clicking on the: Switch to closed-access mode button. Below the main differences between the two options so you can make up your mind what fits your needs:
- Open-access mode: Everyone can view your survey. You will be able to distribute your survey via following channels: anonymous URL, QR Code, social media See Survey Settings --> Overview --> Share your survey for more details.
- Closed-access mode: People will only be able to access the survey if they have an acces code either manually or by url which contains the code.
See Survey Menu --> Survey participants for more details.
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By activating a survey, LimeSurvey:
- enables the responses and statistics section from Survey Menu. Since the survey is now activated, responses can be gathered and statistics can be created from these responses.