Patent Application
20140272898
1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to the capture of response data from survey respondents in online surveys. In particular, the application relates to a system and method for presenting multiple related survey questions in such a way as to allow for quicker and easier responses from survey respondents and also allow for the capture of more detailed information from those respondents via a streamlined user interface.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Traditionally, surveys of public opinion were conducted over the telephone. A survey was typically conducted by a survey taker who presented a series of questions to survey participants and recorded the answers given to the questions. As computer technology evolved and the Internet became more ubiquitous in our daily lives, survey providers began developing software which allowed for surveys to be conducted online via web pages accessed through Internet browsing software. These online survey applications were typically designed to proceed in the same manner as telephonic surveys, with online users asked to answer questions presented sequentially, with the answers recorded by the survey software. Existing techniques for conducting online surveys are inadequate and suffer from various problems related to the way data is presented to and collected from survey participants. As a result, improved online survey systems and methods are needed.
The system, method, and devices of the present invention each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this invention, several of its features will now be discussed briefly.
In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of presenting and receiving compound answers to survey questions is provided. The method includes retrieving, from a computer memory, data indicative of a first question for which a user response is sought. The method further includes retrieving, from the computer memory, data indicative of a plurality of possible responses to the first question for which a user response is sought. Data indicative of a follow up question for each of the plurality of possible responses to the first question for which a user response is sought is also retrieved, as well as data indicative of a plurality of possible responses to each follow up question. A user interface element is generated for display on a user interface of a client device. The user interface element comprises at least a portion of a group of cells, and the at least a portion of the group of cells comprises rows and columns. Each row contains a cell indicative of a question subject and a plurality of cells arranged as table columns indicative of possible responses to the first question about the question subject. The method further includes receiving data indicative of an inputted selection of a first response from one of the possible responses, the inputted selection being a selection of the cell associated with the selected first response. Based on the data indicative of the inputted selection of a first response from one of the possible responses, the plurality of possible follow-up responses to the follow-up question for the selected first response are generated for display on the client device. Data indicative of an inputted selection of a follow-up response from one of the plurality of possible responses to the follow-up question is received, and based on the data indicative of the inputted selection of follow-up response, instructions for modifying the cell associated with the selected first response on the client device are generated. The modification of the cell provides an indication that the first question and the follow up question have been answered.
In another embodiment, an online survey system is provided. The system includes data storage configured to store data indicative of a first question for which a user response is sought, a plurality of possible responses to the first question for which a user response is sought, data indicative of a follow up question for each of the plurality of possible responses to the first question for which a user response is sought, and data indicative of a plurality of possible responses to each follow up question. The system further includes a computing device in communication with the data storage and configured to generate a for display on a user interface of a client device a user interface element, the user interface element comprising at least a portion of a group of cells, the at least a portion of the table group of cells comprising rows and columns, each row containing a cell indicative of a question subject and a plurality of cells arranged as columns indicative of possible responses to the first question about the question subject. The processor is further configured to receive data indicative of an inputted selection of a first response from one of the possible responses, the inputted selection being a selection of the cell associated with the selected first response, and based on the data indicative of the inputted selection of a first response from one of the possible responses, generate for display on the client device the plurality of possible follow-up responses to the follow-up question for the selected first response. The process also is configured to receive data indicative of an inputted selection of a follow-up response from one of the plurality of possible responses to the follow-up question; and based on the data indicative of the inputted selection of follow-up response, generate instructions configured to modify the cell associated with the selected first response on the client device. The modification of the cell provides an indication that the first question and the follow up question have been answered.
The inventors have recognized that one of the challenges that online survey developers face is the need for a survey which does not require significant time or effort on the part of the user. If the survey respondent must repeatedly load new pages in order to complete the survey, it becomes more and more likely that the survey respondent will give up and not finish the survey. If the user fails to finish the survey, in many instances the data obtained is of dubious value. At the same time, online surveys should also be designed to collect as much detail from the survey respondent as is possible.
The need for simplicity in the interface has always been in tension with the desire for obtaining rich and meaningful data from survey respondents. Embodiments disclosed herein address this tension by providing systems and methods which allow for the creation and distribution of online surveys which allow for the collection of compound answers to survey questions. In particular, using the systems and methods disclosed herein, initial questions and answer-specific follow-up questions are presented in such a way as to reduce the perceived and/or actual time and effort needed to complete the survey. In some embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed herein generate a graphical user interface which presents two related questions which, separately, may be difficult to represent without redundancy and without taking up significant real estate on the user's display. The questions are consolidated and represented such that when the user response to the first question, the user is immediately presented with a menu of possible responses to a follow-up question based on the first answer given without the need for another page to load, or for significant changes to the graphical user interface. By reducing the perceived and/or actual time and effort needed to complete the survey, it is more likely that a given survey respondent will take the time to more accurately answer all of the survey questions, thereby yielding a more complete data set.
The computer system 100 also may include a network interface 106. The network interface may take the form of a network interface card and its corresponding software drivers and/or firmware configured to provide the system 100 with access to a network (such as the Internet, for example). An operating system 108 is also included in the computer system 100. The operating system 108 may be a well-known general operating system such as Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X which is designed to provide a platform from which computer software applications may be executed by the processor 102. Alternatively, the operating system 108 may also be a special purpose operating system designed specifically for the online survey environment.
Running on the operating system 108 may be web server software 110. The web server software 110 may be a standard off the shelf web server product such as Apache, Internet Information Server, or some other web server software. Alternatively, the web server may form a part of the operating system 108, or it may be a specialized HTTP server which is configured specifically to deliver survey web pages to browsing software via a network such as the Internet, or some other local area network or wide area network. The web server software 110 may be stored in the memory 104 for access by the processor 102 to execute on the operating platform provided by the operating system 108. The computer system 100 also may include an application server 112. The application server 112 may take the form of specialized software designed to run applications within the system environment. The application server 112 may be integrated with the Web server 110 and/or the operating system 108. The computer system 100 further includes a survey module 114. The survey module 114 may include computer hardware and/or software which is configured to provide online survey applications which may run on the application server 112, on the web server 110, or both. The survey module generally is configured to allow for the creation and distribution of online surveys to survey respondents as will be discussed in additional detail below. In some embodiments, the survey module may include a web application such as a Flash-based application, and portions of the survey module 114 may be loaded into a web browser running on a remote computer.
Turning to
The configuration data may further include instruction data which provides information to survey respondents on how a particular question should be answered. For example, for a question such as “What is the highest level of education you have completed?”, an instruction may be associated with the question which indicates to the survey respondent that only a single response among a plurality of choices should be selected. The configuration data 202 may further include graphics data which is associated with the questions. For example, icons which are indicative of a particular theme may be included in the configuration data. The configuration data 202, although typically stored as an XML file, may also be stored in various other forms. For example, the configuration data 202 may be stored in a relational database that is accessed by the application server 112.
Returning to
Turning now to
Because the survey obtains limited information from the answer to the initial question 302, additional survey logic is needed to ask follow-up questions 308 from the survey respondents. These follow-up questions may be specific to the answers given to the initial question. For example a follow-up question to answer 306A may be different than a follow-up question given to answer 306B. Because there were three possible answers to the initial question 302, there are three different follow-up questions 308 which are defined. The first follow-up question 308A identified in the diagram as Q2a stems from the respondent's answer that he uses “Brand 1.” The first follow-up question 308A asks the survey respondent whether “Brand 1” is his preferred brand. Two possible answers are defined as shown in the decision tree. The first answer to follow-up question 308A is follow-up answer 308A1 “it's my preferred brand.” The second answer to follow up question 308A is follow-up answer 308A2 “it's not my preferred brand.”
The second follow-up question 308B, identified in the diagram as Q2b, stems from the respondent's answer that he no longer uses Brand 1. In this instance, the follow-up question asks whether the survey respondent would consider using the brand again, even though he does not use it anymore. Here the survey respondent is provided with two possible answers as well. The first possible answer is follow-up answer 308B1 “would consider using it.” The second possible answer is follow-up answer 308B2 “would consider it as a last alternative.” Thus, both the follow-up question and the answers to the follow up question are directly related to the initial answer given by the survey respondent.
The third follow-up question 308C, identified in the diagram as Q2c, stems from the respondent's answer that he has never used Brand 1. In this instance, the survey seeks to know whether, although the survey respondent has never used the brand, whether or not he would consider using. The survey respondent is provided with two possible responses to this third follow-up question as well. The first follow-up response 308C1 indicates that the survey respondent “would consider it.” The second follow-up response 308C2 indicates that the survey respondent “would never use it.” As with the previous two follow-up questions, this third follow-up question also is directly related to the initial answer given by the survey respondent.
Using the survey logic provided by the question/response tree builder 208, a user interface may be generated which efficiently conveys the questions to survey recipients and provides a simple and intuitive interface for receiving information from survey respondents. This user interface may be based on a streamlined decision tree, an example of which is provided in
Turning now to
It should be noted that in some embodiments the survey respondent need not actually select the response in order for the drop-down to appear. In these embodiments simply moving the mouse over a particular response because the drop-down to appear and allow the user to know what the follow-up answers will be prior to making a selection of the primary answer. This type of implementation may also improve the speed with which the user may be able to complete the survey. It should be further noted that there is no need to actually recite or display the follow-up question to the survey respondent. For example, the user interface need not state “You indicated that you no longer use Southwest Airlines. Please indicate whether (a) you would consider using it or (b) you would only consider it as a last alternative.” Survey respondents often skip over text, these widgets obviates the need to display text likely to be unread anyway. Rather, the displayed response options provide the user the necessary context to understand what is being asked without the need for a detailed recitation of the follow up question.
In some embodiments, even if a selection of a primary answer has been made, the survey respondent may be required to make a secondary answer selection in order for the answer to be considered completed within the user interface 400. For example, if the user selects the primary response 306B from the second column 406, but fails to select one of the secondary responses, the user interface 400 may be configured to return that particular answer to its original state, and not reflect the selection of the primary answer. In other words, the user may be required to provide both the primary answer in the secondary answer in order for an answer to be recorded with respect to any given brand.
Turning now to
Although one specific example of a user interface is described above in connection with
Turning now to
Once the follow-up questions have been defined, the process moves to block 508 where answer options to the follow-up questions are also defined. In the example described in connection with
Once the survey has been defined and stored, the system 100 including the survey module 114 may be configured to generate a survey which may be presented to a survey respondent via a graphical user interface such as user interface 400.
The process begins at block 602, where the user interface is generated, including a separate row for each question subject along with its associated primary answer options. The user interface may be a user interface such as that described above in connection with
Next, the process moves to block 608 where the system generates secondary answer options for selection based on the first answer option selected by the survey respondent. Typically, secondary answer options may be generated by retrieving data from the question/response tree 208 associated with the survey. The data may be retrieved via a database query, or some other retrieval mechanism. Next the process moves to block 610, where the retrieved secondary options are displayed on the user interface, such as graphical user interface 400 for example, for selection by the survey respondent. The retrieved secondary options may be displayed proximate or adjacent to the highlighted first selected option. The secondary options may be presented to the survey respondent in a drop-down menu from the selected first option, as shown in
Once the secondary answer options have been displayed to the user, the system awaits a user selection of one of the secondary answer options 612, where it is determined whether a selection has of one of the secondary answer options has been made by the user. If a selection has not yet been made, the process moves to block 614, where the user is prevented from making additional selections while the secondary question remains pending and answered. Preventing the user from moving onto a new question without first fully answering a secondary question helps to ensure that a complete data set is captured in the survey. If, the system determines at block 612 that a selection has been made, the process instead moves to block 616, were the completed response is displayed, including the first selection made by the user and the secondary selection. In some embodiments, the complete selection is displayed as shown in
Those of skill will recognize that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention. The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.
A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CDROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.
The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal or some other type of device. In the alternative the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
