This page offers valuable information and directs you to resources for finding the necessary support to build your surveys. Whilst MASH (Maths and Stats Help) supports students with the analysis of data collected from surveys and questionnaires, we cannot provide assistance with using survey tools. However, the guidance and links provided here will help you choose the right tool and access the support you need.
Data for research is often collected via online forms, surveys, or questionnaires before further analysis. The University of Lincoln offers three choices for both students and staff: MS Forms, Jisc Online Surveys, and QuestionPro. When research involves an online survey or questionnaire, students and researchers must use one of these three University approved platforms to ensure data collected is stored securely (in compliance with data protection guidance) and is in a format suitable for your analysis.
Online questionnaires or surveys may only be made live and distributed if you have received a favourable ethics opinion. Contact ethics for support: ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.
This page will help you choose an appropriate tool for your use case, provide links for accessing it, and suggest support pages. For all these tools, you can also use Copilot for support for example you by asking for step-by step instructions.
This page will help you choose an appropriate tool for your use, provide links for accessing it, and suggest support pages. For all these tools, you can also use Copilot for support, for example by asking for step-by step instructions.
To choose the best tool for your needs, consider the design of your study, the type of data you intend to collect, and how the data will be handled afterwards. This will help you identify the necessary features and select a suitable tool.
MS Forms is a quick solution to gathering information or conducting quizzes. It has a user-friendly interface and offers templates that enable easy creation of surveys. We recommend this as a first choice for most information-gathering cases due to its intuitive use and integration with other Microsoft products, including Copilot assistance for help generating questions. However, it has limitations in the customisation, such as limited randomisation options and logic choices, and it offers fewer question types compared to the other two tools.
Access MS Forms: via Office 365 or directly MS Forms, using your university login details
Support for MS Forms: Microsoft Forms Help & Learning.
Jisc Online Surveys offers a wider choice of question type and more customisation and functionality than MS Forms, making it a good choice for detailed data gathering in research questionnaires. Designed for academic use, it includes features common in academic research surveys and offers a choice of export format. Whilst the increased functionality comes with a more complex interface, there is a well-established support site to help with the development and the settings of your Jisc Online Survey. If MS Forms doesn’t quite meet your requirements, Jisc Surveys is likely to do so.
Apply for a Jisc Online Surveys account: UoL JISC account.
Access Jisc Online Surveys: Login | Jisc Online Surveys (only after creating an account).
Support for Jisc Online Surveys: Help & Support – Online Surveys (jisc.ac.uk)
QuestionPro is a comprehensive survey tool that offers functionality for more complex questionnaire designs. Widely used in Psychology studies, it offers advanced customisation options and features seen in experimental design. It includes features such as streaming media content, sophisticated branching, logic and question design and it is compatible with custom JavaScript.
Create and Access QuestionPro: UoL QuestionPro using your university login details.
Support for QuestionPro: Help Centre, Online Training and Live Chat.
As Psychology is the primary user of this software, we also recommend that you visit the PsychTech pages for guidance and information about QuestionPro and their support: QuestionPro – PsychTech (lincoln.ac.uk)
Your school may have a preference of which tool you use. The three tools covered here comply with the data protection legislation, which includes requirements around data storage. Please be aware that other online survey tools may not adhere to the legislation.
