Creating Surveys
Getting Started
Whether you're preparing your organization's annual survey or collecting quick feedback on a specific topic, PerformYard provides a fast, flexible survey builder to help you gather input from your team. There are two primary ways to create a new survey. To get started, navigate to the Surveys home page.
Creating a Survey From Scratch
To start a new survey, click the Create Survey button near the top right corner of the home page.
In the popup modal, name your survey. Please note that duplicate survey names are not allowed. Next, you'll be taken to the Build Survey tab, where you can begin adding the following question types:
- Instructions: Adds context or guidance for participants. This type has no response input.
- Long Answer: Open-ended questions that allow participants to type detailed responses.
- Multiple Choice: Present a list of up to 20 answer options. By default, participants can select one answer, but this can be modified to allow multiple selections.
- Rating Scale: A scale-based question where each choice maps to a numeric value. Useful for reporting and analysis.
To save your work, click the Save Survey button before navigating away from the tab. Once saved, you can preview what the survey will look like in the Preview Survey tab.
Using Existing Survey as Template
Users can also create new surveys by copying an existing one. This is especially helpful for recurring surveys or when reusing similar questions. To create a new survey using an existing one as a template, click into the survey you want to copy and navigate to the Survey Results tab. Next, click the Options button in the top right corner and select the option to save as copy.
You will then be redirected to a new Build Survey tab with prefilled content, including the survey name and questions. From here, you can rename the survey, edit or remove existing questions, add new questions, and rearrange question order.
Publishing Your Survey
After finalizing your survey and reviewing it in the Preview Survey tab, click the Publish button in the top right corner of the page. Next, you will be prompted to specify whether the survey should open immediately or at a later date.
Open Immediately
Clicking the "Publish Survey" button will make the survey available for responses with no defined end date. If you want the survey to close on a specific date, click the Schedule Start and End Date option in the popup. Enter the current date as the start date and specify the desired end date. If no end date is set at the time of publishing, you can still do this from the Survey Results tab after the survey has been published. To do so, select Options > Edit Survey Schedule. You can also close the survey manually by selecting Options > Close Survey.
Schedule In Advance
If you're planning ahead for something like an annual company survey, you can schedule the survey to open on a future date. This option allows you to prepare the survey in advance while controlling when it becomes available to participants. To do this, select the Schedule Start and End Date checkbox. Set your desired start date and, if applicable, the date it needs to close.
Sharing Your Survey
Once a survey has been published (regardless of its start date), the survey link is generated to share with participants. Please note that participants cannot view or submit responses to the survey until it is in an Open status. If they access the link early, a message will display to inform them that the survey is not yet available.
