Excel: Write And Send Surveys From Home

Microsoft Excel offers a convenient way to create and send surveys, which can be accessed from any device on the web. It is a data collection tool that is part of the Office 365 environment and is ideal for quickly sending out surveys and collecting data in a familiar format.

Excel Surveys are only available online and do not have a desktop version. To create a survey, you must open your personal OneDrive or SharePoint account and select 'New > Excel Workbook' from the menu. You can then add a title, description, and questions with various response types such as text, paragraph text, number, date, time, yes/no, and multiple-choice.

Once you have designed your survey, you can preview it and share it with your audience by generating a link or a QR code. Responses to the survey will be saved in an Excel Online workbook, which can be analysed and sorted in Excel Online or with more advanced tools in the desktop version of Excel.

Creating a survey in Excel

Step 1: Access Excel Online

To create a survey using Excel, you'll need to use Excel Online, which is available through OneDrive. Open your personal OneDrive or SharePoint account and click on "New > Excel Workbook".

Step 2: Start Creating Your Survey

Once you have your Excel workbook open, it's time to start building your survey. There are two ways to do this:

Method 1:

Go to the "Insert" tab in the menu and select "Survey > New Survey". This will open a new window with three states of the survey: "Share with your audience", "View the result of the answers", and "Create and view".

Method 2:

Directly create a survey from the Home page of your OneDrive. This will also open a new window with the three survey states.

Step 3: Add a Title and Description

Although optional, it is recommended to add a title and description to your survey. This will give your responders a quick understanding of what the survey is about.

Step 4: Insert Your Questions

Click on the "Enter your first question here" box and then on the gear icon. This will open a dialog box with various options for the questions. You can choose from different response types, including unique choice, multiple-choice, yes/no, and more.

For multiple-choice questions, write the different answers that people can select. You can add or remove choices as needed.

Once you're done with the first question, simply click on "Add a new question" to add more questions to your survey.

Step 5: Reorder and Preview Your Questions

You can easily change the order of your questions using a drag-and-drop action.

After adding all your questions, it's a good idea to preview your survey. Click on "Save and View" to see how your survey will appear to your audience.

Step 6: Share Your Survey

Once you're happy with your survey, it's time to share it with your target audience. Click on "Share Survey", and a dialog box with a link to your survey will appear. You can copy this link and send it to your participants via email or any other method you prefer.

Step 7: View Responses

After your participants have completed the survey, you can view the responses by going to your OneDrive and opening the Documents folder. You will find an Excel workbook with the attribute "Survey". Open this file to see the answers to your questions.

Additional Customization:

If you want to further customize your survey, you can change the question weighting, response scores, and other formatting options. You can also use an Excel macro to quickly set up a basic survey template with numbered questions and option buttons for responses.

Sharing a survey with your audience

Once you have created your survey, you can share it with your audience by clicking on the "Share Survey" button. This will generate a link that you can send to your target audience via email, link, or by embedding it on a web page. You can also create a QR code for the survey, which people can access by scanning with their phone camera.

If you want to share the survey via social media, you can include the link in your post or share it directly with your followers or fans, depending on the platform.

It is important to note that anyone with the link can access and respond to the survey. There is currently no way to require a login or limit access once the survey is shared.

When you are ready to receive responses, click on the "Share Survey" button and choose how you would like to share it. If you are sharing via email, you can enter the email addresses of your recipients, and they will receive a notification with the link to the survey.

Once your survey is live, you can monitor your Excel spreadsheet for responses and start analyzing the results. The data will be stored in the spreadsheet linked to the survey, and you can use tools like Power Query to combine datasets for more advanced data analysis.

Additionally, you can view live results by clicking on the "Responses" tab, which will show you a live update of the responses, including a pie chart for choice questions.

By utilizing these sharing options, you can effectively gather responses from your target audience and gain valuable insights for your survey analysis.

Viewing survey results

Once you have sent out your survey, you will want to view the results. The process for this will depend on the platform you used to create and send your survey.

If you used Excel to create your survey, you will be able to view the results in an Excel workbook. To do this, return to your OneDrive and open the Documents folder. Here, you will find an Excel workbook with the attribute "Survey". Open this file to see the answers to your questions. If you have received new answers since you last checked, you may need to reload the page to see the updated workbook.

If you used Microsoft 365 to create your survey, you can view an overview of your survey and its responses by clicking on the survey's name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your survey does not appear, click "View All Site Content" or "Site Content", then click on the name of your survey.

From the overview page, you can click links to see a graphical summary of responses or view a list of all responses. If you are a survey respondent and do not have permission to see other responses, you can click a link to see and edit your own response.

If you used another platform to create and send your survey, such as Google Forms or SurveyMonkey, you will need to follow the instructions provided by that platform to view your survey results. These may include steps to generate charts or graphs from your results, or to export your results to a different format.

Choosing question types

Choosing the right types of questions for your survey is crucial to ensure you get the answers and insights you need. Here are some tips and guidelines for selecting the appropriate question types:

Open-ended vs. Closed-ended Questions:

Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide their answers in their own words, often in a text box. This type of question is useful when you want to gather more meaningful and detailed feedback. For instance, you can ask, "What do you like about our product?" or "How can we improve our customer service?" However, open-ended questions can be more challenging to analyse, as responses may vary and require manual grouping.

On the other hand, closed-ended questions provide respondents with a predefined list of answer options, such as "yes" or "no," or a set of choices. These questions are easier to analyse, as they produce structured data. Closed-ended questions are ideal when you want quick insights or want to segment your respondents based on their answers. For example, "Are you satisfied with our product?" or "Which of the following features do you like about our product?"

Multiple Choice Questions:

Multiple-choice questions are the most popular type of survey question. They allow respondents to select one or more options from a list of answers. This format is intuitive, user-friendly, and produces clean data for analysis. However, be cautious not to limit responses too much, as it may impact the accuracy of your results. Consider including an "Other" option or a comment field for respondents to provide their own answers.

Rating Scale Questions:

Rating scale questions present respondents with a scale of answer options, typically numbers ranging from 0 to 10 or 1 to 5. These questions are useful when you want to gauge how respondents feel about a particular topic. For example, "How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend?" or "How satisfied are you with our customer service on a scale of 1-5?" Ensure you provide context and explain the values of the numbers on the scale to avoid confusion.

Likert Scale Questions:

Likert scale questions are commonly used to measure perceptions, attitudes, and opinions. They usually consist of a five- or seven-point scale, ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." This type of question is excellent for understanding specific feedback and gauging respondents' opinions on various topics. For instance, "Do you agree that our product is easy to use?" or "How satisfied are you with our recent event?"

Demographic Questions:

Demographic questions aim to collect background information about your respondents, such as gender, age, income, occupation, and location. These questions are powerful tools for segmenting your audience and gaining deeper insights into your target market. They are often used in conjunction with other question types to provide context and help analyse the data.

Image/Picture Choice Questions:

Image or picture choice questions use visuals as answer options. They are particularly useful when you want feedback on designs, logos, or product concepts. Additionally, they can make your survey more engaging and provide a break from text-heavy questions. For example, you can ask respondents to select the most appealing product packaging design or the logo that best represents your company's values.

When designing your survey, it's important to keep it concise, mobile-friendly, and focused on your specific goals. Consider the type of information you need and the depth of insights desired. By choosing the right question types, you'll be well on your way to creating a successful survey that provides valuable data and insights.

Tips for creating surveys in Excel

Creating surveys in Excel is a straightforward process that can be done in a few simple steps. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Getting Started

To begin creating your survey, open a blank workbook and go to the ''Insert' tab, then select 'Forms'. You will be prompted to save your workbook to your OneDrive for Business account. A blank form will then open in Forms.Office.com, where you can add a title, description, and even an image.

Adding Questions

Excel offers different types of questions, including Choice, Text, Rating, and Date. For Choice questions, you can type as many options as you want and add an "Other" option for respondents to fill in their own answers. For Rating questions, respondents can choose a number of stars or select a specific number. You can also mark any question as required.

Customizing the Survey

You can clone, delete, or move questions up or down using the icons above each question. Additionally, you can preview the survey to see how it will appear on a computer or mobile phone. This will help you ensure that your survey is responsive and adaptable to different devices.

Sharing the Survey

When you are ready to share your survey, click on the "Share" tab. You will have the option to choose who can access the survey: "only people in my organization" or "anyone with the link". You can share the survey via a link, a QR code, embed code, or email.

Viewing Responses

Once respondents start completing your survey, you can view the results in real-time. The responses will be logged in your Excel file, including the date and time each form was started and completed. If you are sharing the survey within your organization, you will also receive the respondent's name and email address.

Customizing Responses

You can customize the response options for each question. For example, for the Text question type, you can allow a Long Answer if you want respondents to provide more detailed information. For the Number question type, you can specify if the number should be a Fixed Decimal, a Percent, or a Currency, and you can also set the number of decimal places.

Additional Tips

• Keep your survey as short as possible to increase the response rate.
• Avoid "Yes" or "No" questions as they can introduce psychological bias and affect the validity of your data.
• Randomize your answer options to prevent the first-choice bias, where people tend to select the first answer listed.
• Use a neutral tone in your questions to avoid leading respondents towards a particular answer.
• Include a "red herring" question to identify inattentive respondents.
• Always proofread your survey before sharing it to check for any errors or typos.

Frequently asked questions