There are 3 approaches to having several versions of a survey
Waves are recommended for Longitudinal surveys and Tailoring surveys to specific projects
What are versions of a survey?
It refers to when you want to ask the same or similar people, the same or similar questions, potentially but not necessarily at different points in time.
The characteristics of the different ‘versions’ of a survey might be as follows:
Some questions are the same
Some questions are worded differently
Some questions are removed
Some questions are new
A key factor to determine which approach is best for you is: do you want to be able to aggregate results and connect results from across the different versions of the survey, in spite of the differences in questions across each version?
If the answer is Yes, use the Waves or Reusables method.
Comparison
FUNCTIONALITY | Waves methodSame metrics, same custom fields, same survey | Reusables methodSame, new & revived metrics; same, new & removed custom fields; different surveys | Originals methodSimilar metrics, similar custom fields, different surveys |
|---|---|---|---|
Surveys you need to create | 1 | Several | Several |
How it works | Tailor the wording of a survey question for specific projects | ||
Remove certain quantifiable questions from different versions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Change the wording of certain quantifiable questions in different versions | Yes | No | Yes - But you’ll need to create a duplicate metric which means you won’t be able to aggregate results across versions |
Use Progress Boards to Connect Results from across different versions (e.g. for Longitudinal Surveys) I.e. to calculate
| Yes | Yes | Only if all of your quantifiable questions are worded identically in each version (because they use the same Metric) |
Distance Travelled | Yes | Yes | No |
Distribution over Time | Yes | Yes | No |
Use Progress Boards and Progress Panels to Aggregate Results from across different versions I.e. to calculate
| Yes | Yes | Only if all of your quantifiable questions are worded identically in each version (because they use the same Metric) |
Metrics you need to create | 1 per quantifiable question | 1 per quantifiable question | Several per quantifiable question because you need 1 per quantifiable question |
Sequence Analysis to connect results from across different versions | Yes | No | No |
Outcome Charts to connect results from across versions | Yes | No | No |
Ability to change the wording of certain qualitative questions in different versions (using Custom Fields) e.g. Open Text questions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Custom Fields you need to create | 1 per qualitative question | 1 per qualitative question | 1 per qualitative question |