Panel Integration

Panel Integration


Introduction


From this tab you can define the URL parameters that will be accepted by your survey.  (These parameters will be attached to the general survey start URL). This option is important if you want to integrate your survey with a professional survey panel provider that provides the participants for you. The latter usually provides the unique ID of every survey participant and you will need to save these unique IDs for further reference.

Important.png Attention : With some providers, the unique ID of the participant that will be omitted due to a quota limitation or when finishing the survey, needs to be sent back to the panel provider in the survey end URL or quota URL.

Survey's panel integration: Settings > Survey menu > Panel integration


Survey panel integration

An empty table will be displayed with the option that allows you to add an URL parameter.



Two fields need to be filled out:


  • Parameter: The name of the new parameter. It will be included in the URL;
  • Target question: Generally, the URL parameter is saved as a question. It is where survey participants will land once they click the link that also includes in its URL the parameter defined above.
Help.png You could also save the URL parameter as a response to a short text question or multiple short text question type.  (You will be able to select any short text question to save it to). However, even if you do not save the value of the URL parameter, you will still be able to use this parameter in the end URL.

How to use the panel integration function

An example is presented below to explain how to use the panel integration function.

1) First, create a short/long free text question and name it what ever you want (we will use "LS" for the Question code field). Then, enable the always hide this question option, located under the Display tab within the menu of the question.

Important.png Attention : Make sure you disable the welcome page! Let them land on the page with the short/long free text question. The parameter cannot work in the welcome screen because the parameter has to be loaded into the question first!

2) Go to the panel integration tab, and click the "Add URL parameter".

Select the short/long text question you created in the first step. The participants that come from the respective professional panel provider will land on the target question. It can be hidden so that the participants can start completing the survey.


Example - add URL parameter.png

The name you pick for the parameter will have to be included in the entry link that you will later supply to your panel provider. It will be named "LSid" in our example. Don't forget to click the Save button located in the upper right part of the table!

3) Now, you have to set up the entry link that you will send to the your panel provider. To get your survey URL link, click the Preview survey buttons.


Find the URL - panel integration.png


Copy the URL you accessed from the address bar:


URL preview question - panel integration.png


Help.png Hint: The "newtest" parameter is used to reset the session. This is useful when you wish to test locally the panel integration or when you know that your participants are using the same device/browser to fill out the survey. Therefore, adding "newtest=Y" in the survey URL creates new answers in the responses table by forcing the creation of a new session regardless of the used device/browser.


Add at the end the newly added parameter: &LSid="xxxxxx". The link should look like this:

http://localhost/index.php/369498?newtest=Y&lang=en&LSid=%22xxxxxx%22

Help.png Hint: The GET parameters use "?" for the first parameter and "&" for the rest of them. If you already have "?" in your URL, you must use "&" to add other GET parameters.

Whatever you replace the "xxxxxx" with will be stored in the short/long free text question when your participants lands on that page. For example, I sent to a user the following link:
http://localhost/index.php/369498?newtest=Y&lang=en&LSid=ABCD5
The string after LSid was stored as an answer to the short/long text question.


ABCD5 - panel integration.png

Important.png  Attention : The solutions provided below make use of the passthrough fields.  Please note that besides "parametername={PASSTHRU:parametername}", everything else has to be provided by your panel provider. 
The complete link has to be inserted into the end URL field that also has to be loaded automatically for everyone who successfully completes the whole survey.
The URL you have to send back to the panel provider should look like this:

https://panelproviderwebsite.com/?return=complete&parametername={PASSTHRU:parametername}
A screenout prevents the participants from continuing the survey because he or she is not a member of your survey target group. For screenouts, you have to set the quota limit field to "0" (zero) and allow the quota URL to be automatically loaded once it was triggered.

Then, add the following link into the quota URL field:
https://panelproviderwebsite.com/?return=screenout&parametername={PASSTHRU:parametername}
Help.png Note: Read the following wiki section to find out more about the LimeSurvey quota functionality.
A quotafull excludes participants from continuing the survey, because a certain quota has been exceeded. https://panelproviderwebsite.com/?return=quotafull&parametername={PASSTHRU:parametername}

Help.png Note: Read the following wiki section to find out more about the LimeSurvey quota functionality


This is not the only solution you can use to implement quotafull, complete and screenout redirects to your panel provider! For example, the ExpressionScript - Presentation, the SQGA identifiers, and the URL fields offer different workarounds to complete the same tasks (and even the more complex ones). For additional help, check also the LimeSurvey forums

Survey panel integration via expressions

Help.pngThe Survey panel integration via expressions functionality is still under construction.

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