Quick Start Guide

Not sure about how to create surveys on Google Surveys? Check the 6 easy-to-follow steps for your successful research, as well as things to keep in mind when creating surveys.

Question formats in which the respondents choose one answer from available options

Question format	It looks like:	Description	Things to keep in mind when creating surveys
Single Answer		The respondents can only pick one answer. Can be used as a screening question.	Missing an opt-out answer choice
Two choices with image		The respondents choose one of two answer options with the uploaded image of your choice. Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Images larger than 300x250 pixels will be shrunk to that size. Animated GIFs are not allowed. Can be used as a screening question.
Side-by-side image		The respondents pick one of two thumbnail images. Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Images larger than 125x125 pixels will be shrunk to that size. Animated GIFs are not allowed.
Menu with image		The respondents choose one answer from up to five answer options with a large image. Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Images larger than 300x250 pixels will be shrunk to that size. Animated GIFs are not allowed. Can be used as a screening question.
Large image choice		The respondents pick one out of up to five thumbnail images that can be enlarged. Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Images larger than 300x250 pixels will be shrunk to that size. Animated GIFs are not allowed.

Question formats in which respondents choose multiple answers

Question format

It looks like:

Description

Things to watch out when creating surveys

Multiple answers

The respondents can choose more than one answer and there is an automatic “None of the above” option.

Can be used as a screening question.

Conflicting answer choices

Multiple answers with image

The respondents can pick one or more answers from up to seven choices with a large image displayed.

Can be used as a screening question.

Question formats in which respondents answer using a star rating scale

Question format	It looks like:	Description	Things to watch out when creating surveys
Rating scale		The respondents can answer on a 5, 7, 10, or 11 star rating scale (e.g., "Not interested" to "Very interested").	Rating scales not clear
Rating scale with text		The respondents can read a statement in the sentiment text field and choose using a 5, 7, 10, or 11 star rating scale.
Rating scale with image		The respondents can see a displayed image and choose using a 5, 7, 10, or 11 star rating scale. Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Images larger than 300x250 pixels will be shrunk to that size. Animated GIFs are not allowed.

Question formats in which the respondents can write their answers in a placeholder field

Question format

It looks like:

Description

Things to keep in mind when creating surveys

Open-ended

The respondents can enter one- to two-word answers or a short phrase.

Character limit

Open-ended with image

The respondents can enter text in a placeholder field with an image of your choice displayed.

Accepts GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats.

Images larger than 300x250 pixels will be shrunk to that size.

Animated GIFs are not allowed.

Learn more about things to keep in mind when creating surveys.

Step 3 - Write a question: Conduct questions

There are useful tools you can use to design your questions and answers during the creation process.

Tool	It looks like	Description
Bin/Move		Bin: delete the question The arrows: move the question forward or back
Pinning		When the answer choices are displayed in a random order, pinning an opt-out answer (e.g., "None of the above", "N/A") to make it always show at the bottom of the list is strongly recommended.
Randomization		The “Randomly reverse answer order” option or the "Display answers in this order" option is recommended to maintain the logical order of your answers if required.
Screening Question		Allow a survey creator to target questions to a specific audience by filtering respondents

How to use Pinning

Click the "pinning" icon next to the answer you want to display at the bottom of the answer list.
Only one answer can be pinned.

Please note that it's only available in “Single Answer” and “Multiple-answers” question formats.

It is advisable to have an opt-out answer such as “None of the above” and “N/A” and pin it using the "pinning feature".
The answers may not apply to all possible respondents, so adding this choice helps keep response quality high.

How to change randomization

Click the "Randomize answer order" icon to change the randomization settings.

Note that this feature is only available to certain Question formats. [see Types of Questions]

Use the refresh icon to check the randomization setting is done correctly.

How to set up screening questions

Select the checkbox for Screen with this question.
Select the checkbox for each answer that qualifies a respondent for this audience.

Note that this feature is only available to certain Question formats. [see Types of Questions]

Pricing varies based on the incidence rate for your survey, which is determined through by an audience test.

Having three or more answers helps eliminate confusion for the respondents, provides a better user experience, and improves the quality of survey results.

Step 4 - Define audience setting: Reach the proper audience for your research purpose

This selection of audience lets you reach the proper audience, from the general online population of a country to the visitor on your website, depending on your research purpose.

Please note that only one country or state is allowed to target per survey. And it is not available to target both audiences (Android smartphone users and general population) at the same time.

What settings are available?

want to get a representative sample of a country’s population? → General Population
want to survey Android smartphone users on your next new app? → Android
want to see how satisfied your website visitors are with your latest site content? →your website

The availability of some audience types varies by the targeted countries.

Step 5 - Choose demographic targeting: Filter the specific demographics

This selection lets you filter the specific demographics you want to reach.

The questions/answers should be written in a language widely accepted and understood in the targeted country.

Need to further narrow your target audience?

→ Use a screening question to filter in only those you want to target.

Step 6 - Purchase responses: Determine how many responses to acquire

The number of responses you should purchase depends on how confident you want to be in your results.

For general internet-audience questions, we recommend 1,500 responses to ensure the representativity of data.

Why?

A top-line margin of error of 10% or more is acceptable for some business decisions, but others require more accuracy. For general internet-audience questions, we recommend 1,500 responses to ensure that top-line results are within a 3-5% margin of error and that results segmented by one or two dimensions (e.g., age, gender, etc.) are within a 10% margin of error. The number of responses recommended in order to receive statistically significant responses can be different for targeted surveys to a custom audience.

Preview before finalizing your purchase.

You could view all of your questions as they would look live by clicking view_as_respondent

under "Details" column, and then selecting Desktop, Mobile, or Android App.

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