Limit responses with quotas | LimeSurvey

Limit responses with quotas

About quotas

A quota stops the survey for participants once enough complete responses with a given answer are in. Use quotas to balance your sample, for example 100 laptop users and 100 phone users, or to screen out people outside your target group. You set quotas in the survey menu. They take effect while the survey is active.

Create a quota

  1. In the editor, click Menu, the document icon in the left toolbar, and then Quotas.

  2. Click Add new quota.

  3. Fill in the form (1 to 8) and click Save (9).

The New quota form with nine areas numbered 1 to 9

  1. Quota name: a name for you, for example "Laptop users".

  2. Limit: the number of complete responses the quota allows.

  3. Quota action: when the survey ends for a participant once the quota is full. See Choose the quota action below.

  4. Active: Yes checks the quota in the running survey. No keeps the quota without effect.

  5. Autoload URL: Yes sends participants straight to the URL (8) instead of showing the quota message.

  6. One tab for each survey language. Write the quota message in every language.

  7. Quota message: what participants see when the quota is full.

  8. URL and URL Description: an address to send participants to, for example back to your panel provider, and the text of its link.

Add the answers the quota counts

A new quota counts nothing until you add answers to it.

  1. In the quota, click Add answer (1).

  2. Pick the question and click Next. The list shows only the questions a quota can count.

  3. Pick the answer and click Next. To add another answer right away, tick Save this, then create another first.

The list of survey quotas with seven areas numbered 1 to 7

  1. Add answer: adds another answer to the quota.

  2. The answers the quota counts, here Laptop of question Q001. Remove takes an answer out again.

  3. The ... menu: Edit quota opens the form again, Delete deletes the quota, Validation shows the name and message of the quota in every survey language.

  4. Completed and Limit: the complete responses the quota has counted and its limit.

  5. Quick CSV report: downloads a summary of all quotas as a CSV file.

  6. Add new quota: creates the next quota.

  7. The bar on the left is green for an active quota and yellow for an inactive one.

Tip: To activate, deactivate or delete several quotas at once, tick them in the list. A bar with Activate, Deactivate, Change texts and Delete appears below the list.

Choose the quota action

  • Terminate after related visible question was submitted: the default. The survey ends as soon as the participant submits the page with the counted answer.
  • Terminate after related visible and hidden questions were submitted: the same, and answers of hidden questions count too, for example a hidden question filled from a URL parameter.
  • Terminate after all page submissions: the quota is checked each time the participant submits a page.
  • Soft terminate after related visible question was submitted, answer will be editable: participants see the quota message and can go back and change their answer.

How quotas count

  • A quota counts complete responses only, including those collected before you created the quota.
  • Several answers of one question in the same quota add up: a quota with Phone and Laptop counts both together. For a separate limit per answer, create one quota per answer.
  • Answers of different questions in the same quota must all match: a quota with Laptop in one question and Student in another counts students who use a laptop.
  • A quota with Limit 0 stops everyone who gives the answer. Use it to screen out people outside your target group.

Note: Quotas work only while the survey is active. When you invite participants, those stopped by a quota show as Screened out in the summary of the participant list.

Next steps

FAQ

Which questions can a quota count?

Questions with fixed answer options, such as List (radio), List (dropdown), Yes/No, Gender and Multiple choice. When you add an answer, the list shows only the questions of your survey a quota can count.

How do I send screened-out participants back to my panel provider?

Enter the return link of your provider under URL and set Autoload URL to Yes. See Panel integration: connect a panel provider.

Can I pause a quota?

Yes. Set Active to No in the quota, or tick it in the list and click Deactivate. The quota keeps its answers and counts again when you activate it.