Best online questionnaire tools

Read our full Google Forms review. A major difference between traditional market research platforms and the latest generation of online surveys is the amount of information they can extract from open-ended questions and unstructured language data. Such data is critical for capturing the kinds of free-flowing thoughts from the respondent that yield the most relevant customer insights. Online surveys that use artificial intelligence AI and natural language processing NLP have streamlined delivery of these kinds of high-value insights and make them available immediately, without any post-processing or further data manipulation.

Historically, to hear the voice of customer at scale, researchers have asked closed-ended multiple-choice questions in surveys rather than open-ended ones. The former is easier to tabulate than having to read and organize free-text answers, but it dramatically reduces the depth of the resulting data. As an example, a streaming music service wanted to understand consumer behavior but could only glean minimal information by using traditional close-ended survey approach.

Without AI technology, projects like this music survey with 10, participants might require days of manual data review, cleaning and organizing and still come up short on insights. In contrast, the next generation online surveys use AI and NLP to automatically perform a first-pass clean-up of text answers, in real time. An important added benefit of such a gamified interactive process is that respondents enjoy it more.

More engaged and attentive respondents in turn result in higher-quality responses. Furthermore, the statistically validated qualitative data can be used in quantitative models, such as net promoter score NPS , segmentation, or pricing studies, where natural text data can now become categorical variables in quantitative models.

The combination of AI and NLP technologies that smartly integrate into online surveys is making lasting inroads into the traditional market research toolkit. They are moving the insights industry toward free-flowing natural conversations with respondents, at speed and at scale. This is creating an opportunity for researchers to integrate unstructured customer data more directly into insights and statistical models that support them. We've also featured the best customer experience tools.

Mark is an expert on displays, reviewing monitors and TVs. North America. The best survey tools make it simple and easy to collect feedback from customers in order to manage business insights.

Reasons to avoid - Has seen successive price hikes. Typeform can also be integrated with other platforms like Salesforce, Google Docs, and Slack to add even more functionality. Typeform does offer a free plan, albeit with limited responses and features. SurveyMonkey is perhaps the most popular online survey tool available, and for some very good reasons.

The easy-to-use interface helps to make it easy for users to create and use forms, while the platform has also been designed to make it easy to use on mobile devices. There are also expert templates to choose from, while sophisticated tracking and analytical tools will help you to get maximum value from the data collected and enhance your sales methodologies for maximum effect.

SurveyMonkey offers a free plan that allows up to 10 questions to be asked in a survey, with up to 40 responses per survey. Several paid plans are available that will allow you to ask more questions and gather more responses, as well as opening up more advanced features.

Any replies are automatically saved to Google Drive where they can be transferred to excel with ease. Users also get access to videos that show them how to get the most out of the platform. As a free platform, you should not expect Google Forms to offer as many features as some of the other options available. While Google Forms may not offer the functionality that some will be looking for, it does still offer a range of useful features.

The fact that Google Forms is completely free to use, however, will make it appealing to a lot of people who need a fairly straightforward and affordable online survey tool. Survey Planet is a tool that might appeal to a lot of people because the free plan allows you to create an unlimited number of surveys, each with an unlimited number of questions and responses. Surveys sent using the free plan will be Survey Planet-branded, however. The platform comes with easy-to-use, customizable templates along with pre-written questions that users can use as they are or edit as they please.

Qualtrics is perhaps the most comprehensive online survey tool there is. It is packed full of useful features such as email triggers, real-time web reports, logic branching, pre-built templates, more than question types, drag and drop survey creation tools, and more.

The software has been built to be able to handle large, sophisticated questionnaires as well as simple questionnaires. Qualtrics has a free plan that allows users to have one active survey at a time, with up to responses. The price alone reflects that Qualtrics has been made with large corporations in mind and is at least partly justified by the vast array of features available.

Unstructured Interviews - It is an in-depth interview that allows the researcher to collect a wide range of information with a purpose. An advantage of this method is the freedom it gives a researcher to combine structure with flexibility even though it is more time-consuming. Pros In-depth information Freedom of flexibility Accurate data. Cons Time-consuming Expensive to collect. What are the best Data Collection Tools for Interviews?

Audio Recorder An audio recorder is used for recording sound on disc, tape, or film. Digital Camera An advantage of a digital camera is that it can be used for transmitting those images to a monitor screen when the need arises.

Camcorder A camcorder is used for collecting data through interviews. Pros Can be administered in large numbers and is cost-effective. It can be used to compare and contrast previous research to measure change. Easy to visualize and analyze. Questionnaires offer actionable data. Respondent identity is protected. Questionnaires can cover all areas of a topic.

Relatively inexpensive. Cons Answers may be dishonest or the respondents lose interest midway. Questionnaires can't produce qualitative data. Questions might be left unanswered.

Respondents may have a hidden agenda. Not all questions can be analyzed easily. What are the best Data Collection Tools for Questionnaire?

Formplus Online Questionnaire Formplus lets you create powerful forms to help you collect the information you need. Pros Informed decision-making. Easily accessible. Cons Self-reported answers may be exaggerated. The results may be affected by bias. Respondents may be too shy to give out all the details. Inaccurate reports will lead to uninformed decisions. What are the best Data Collection Tools for Reporting?

Newspapers Newspaper data are relatively easy to collect and are sometimes the only continuously available source of event data. Website Articles Gathering and using data contained in website articles is also another tool for data collection. Hospital Care records Health care involves a diverse set of public and private data collection systems, including health surveys, administrative enrollment and billing records, and medical records, used by various entities, including hospitals, CHCs, physicians, and health plans.

Pros Accuracy is very high. Easily accessible information. Cons Problems with evaluation. Difficulty in understanding. Tools to collect existing data include: Research Journals - Unlike newspapers and magazines, research journals are intended for an academic or technical audience, not general readers.

A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles written by researchers, professors, and other experts. Surveys - A survey is a data collection tool for gathering information from a sample population, with the intention of generalizing the results to a larger population.

Surveys have a variety of purposes and can be carried out in many ways depending on the objectives to be achieved. Pros Easy to administer. There subsists a greater accuracy with results. It is a universally accepted practice. It diffuses the situation of an unwillingness of respondents to administer a report.

It is appropriate for certain situations. It cannot be relied upon. Bias may arise. It is expensive to administer. Its validity cannot be predicted accurately. What are the best Data Collection Tools for Observation? The best tools for Observation are: Checklists - state-specific criteria, allow users to gather information and make judgments about what they should know in relation to the outcomes.

They offer systematic ways of collecting data about specific behaviors, knowledge, and skills. Direct observation - This is an observational study method of collecting evaluative information.

The evaluator watches the subject in his or her usual environment without altering that environment. Pros Information obtained is usually very detailed. Cost-effective when compared to one-on-one interviews. It reflects speed and efficiency in the supply of results. Cons Lacking depth in covering the nitty-gritty of a subject matter. Bias might still be evident. Requires interviewer training The researcher has very little control over the outcome. A few vocal voices can drown out the rest.

Difficulty in assembling an all-inclusive group. The best tools for tackling Focus groups are: Two-Way - One group watches another group answer the questions posed by the moderator. After listening to what the other group has to offer, the group that listens are able to facilitate more discussion and could potentially draw different conclusions. The main positive of the dueling-moderator focus group is to facilitate new ideas by introducing new ways of thinking and varying viewpoints.

Pros Encourage participants to give responses. It stimulates a deeper connection between participants. The relative anonymity of respondents increases participation. It improves the richness of the data collected.

Cons It costs the most out of all the top 7. It's the most time-consuming. The best tools for combination research are: Online Survey - The two tools combined here are online interviews and the use of questionnaires.

This is a questionnaire that the target audience can complete over the Internet. It is timely, effective and efficient. Especially since the data to be collected is quantitative in nature. Dual-Moderator - The two tools combined here are focus groups and structured questionnaires. The structured questioners give a direction as to where the research is headed while two moderators take charge of proceedings.

Easily create and share online forms and surveys, and analyze responses in real-time. Select from multiple question types, drag-and-drop to reorder questions, and customize values as easily as pasting a list. And add custom logic that shows questions based on answers, for a more seamless experience. See charts with response data update in real-time. Or open the raw data with Google Sheets for deeper analysis or automation. Access, create, and edit forms on-the-go, from screens big and small.

Others can respond to your survey from wherever they are—from any mobile device, tablet, or computer. Add collaborators—just like with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—to build questions together in real-time. Then analyze results together without having to share multiple versions of the file. Use built-in intelligence to set response validation rules. For example, ensure that email addresses are properly formatted or that numbers fall within a specified range.

It's easy to share forms with specific people or with a broad audience by embedding forms on your website or sharing the links on social media. We use industry-leading security measures to keep your data safe, including advanced malware protections.