Surveys
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Surveys

      Build Surveys

      Learn how to Build Surveys

       

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      I. Introduction

      Boardable Surveys is an integrated tool that helps nonprofits collect, analyze, and act on feedback from board members, staff, and stakeholders—all within the Boardable platform.

      This tool can collect answers to multiple questions at once, in many different formats.

      For Boardable organizations which use this product, surveys can be created by any admin or member. Observers can participate in surveys, but will not have access to create and edit.

      II. Question Types

      The following question types are supported:

      • Radio Button

        • Lets responders select one option from list

        • Adding Other (describe) option adds a short textbox to answer options

          radio

      • Single Line Input

        • One of several single-line response types:

          • Date

            • Date including year, month, and day

              date

          • Date and Time

            • Date including year, month, day, and time

              date and time

          • Month

            • Month and year

              month

          • Number

            number

          • Password

            • Short textbox for password

              password

          • Text

            • Short textbox

              text

          • Time

            • Time including hour, minute, and AM/PM

              time

          • URL

            • Short textbox for URL

              URL

      • Rating scale

        • One of several rating types:

          • Labels

            • Lets responders select one option from text, numeric, or mixed ratings

              labels

          • Stars

            • Lets responders rate question out of five stars

              stars

          • Smileys

            • Lets responders rate their sentiment on question from :( to :)

              smileys

      • Checkboxes

        • Lets responders select one or more options from list

        • Adding Other (describe) option adds a short textbox to response choices

          checkboxes

      • Dropdown

        • Lets responders select one option from dropdown list

          dropdown

      • Multi-select dropdown

        • Lets responders select one or more options from dropdown list

          multi-select-dropdown

      • Yes/no Boolean

        • Lets responders select Yes or No

          yesno

      • File Upload

        • Lets responders add file attachments

          file upload

      • Ranking

        • Lets responders order list of options by preference

          ranking

      • Long text

        • Lets responders submit long, free-written answer

          long text

      • Single-select matrix

        • Lets responders respond to multiple questions with single response from list of options

          matrix

      III. Additional Survey Elements

      When building a survey, the following items can be added in addition to questions:

      • Pages

        • Group multiple questions together in one screen; responders must click Next and Previous to move between pages

      • Image

        • Displays an image to responders

      • Panel

        • Groups multiple questions together in a single panel within a page

      • Dynamic Panel

        • Allow each responder to add multiple responses for same questions

      • Signature

        • Collects signatures from responders

          signature

      IV. Settings Options

      Surveys can have one of three background colors:

      • Light

        light theme

      • Plain

        plain theme

      • Dark

        dark theme

      After completing a survey, responders can see a thank you page hosted by Boardable, or an external site linked by the survey builder.thank you page

      V. Build Survey

      To build a survey:

      1. Click Create New Survey

        1. New survey menu defaults to Build tab

          create new survey

      2. Click into text field labeled Enter Survey Name

      3. Type title for survey

      4. Add questions, images, panels, or signature fields using leftmost menu, or Add question button

        1. To use leftmost menu:

          • Default options are radio button group, rating scale, checkboxes, single-select dropdown, yes/no boolean, and file upload

          • To select another type:

            • Click search field at the top of the leftmost menu; menu expands to include complete list of options

            • Select option from expanded list, or search option by name

            • Question or element is added to new survey form

        2. To use Add Question button:

          1. Click ellipses next to Add Question; question type options expand

          2. Select option from list

          3. Question or element is added to new survey form

            new survey form

      5. Customize questions and other elements

        1. Question titles default to “question#;” to replace, click in question title field, delete existing text, and replace with preferred text

        2. To add answer options to radio button questions, checkbox questions, single- or multi-select dropdown questions, ranking questions, or multi-select questions, click + button next to item #, None, or Other (describe)

        3. To remove answer options from radio button questions, checkbox questions, single- or multi-select dropdown questions, ranking questions, or multi-select questions, click - button next to unwanted question

        4. To change label text in rating scale—labels, click into label, delete default numeric scale entry, and replace with desired text or numbers

        5. To add image after selecting this from one of the fields described in step 4:

      6. Customize page layout

        1. To start a new page, add new question to this page’s section

          1. Each page must be titled before a new page can be started

        2. To move questions within pages, panels, or across panels and pages:

          1. Hover over top of question until cursor becomes a +

          2. Click and drag question to desired location

      7. Customize settings

        1. To select survey language, background color, and thank you page:

          1. Click Options tab

          2. Use Theme dropdown to select theme/background color

          3. Choose thank you page, from:

            • Use default “Thank you for completing the survey” or

            • Write custom markup thank you page or

            • Link to external thank you page URL

              thank you page

      8. Preview responses

        1. Click Preview tab to view questions as they will be displayed to responders

      9. When survey is set as needed, click Save

        1. Survey is saved, and not sent to responders; to learn how to do this, please see Related Articles

      VI. Troubleshooting

      Questions in New Page are Added to Existing Page

      This happens when the existing page is untitled. Page titles are required; each page must have a title before a new page can be started.

      Survey Disappears After Clicking Done

      To save a survey for further building/editing, it’s necessary to click Save before clicking Done. Otherwise, the survey is lost. Restoring deleted surveys is not presently supported.

      Add File Doesn’t Include Attachment Field

      The Add file question type allows survey responders to add a file in answer to a question; it does not let the survey builder attach a file to the question title.

      Related Articles