Web Services

Online Forms, Event Registrations and Surveys

This page contains information about how CI employees can create and publish accessible web-based surveys, online forms and event registrations at CI.

The University has three methods available for creating online forms, surveys and event registrations. The method used is determined by the data being gathered and the complexity of the form. The best place to start is by contacting your division representative (listed below), or by submitting an IT Help Desk request.

The fastest and easiest method is to work with your divisional representative using Wufoo.

Online forms and event registrations

Web surveys

What is Wufoo?

Wufoo is a simple and intuitive web-based form tool that allows you to easily create and manage forms for a variety of uses, including event registrations, surveys, work orders, etc.

Who can use Wufoo?

The Acadademic & Information Technology (A&IT) Department has purchased several licenses of Wufoo for use by select divisions within CI. These licenses are managed by divisional account managers who are trained on Wufoo to provide form-building services for their division.

Who is my divisional account manager?

If you are in need of a form or survey, please contact your divisional account manager listed below. They have been trained on the form building process in place, and can best determine if Wufoo is the right tool for the form(s) you need to create.

What features does Wufoo have?

Prior to contacting your Wufoo divisional account manager, you’ll need to determine if Wufoo is the right tool for your form. The Wufoo Operations Guide will help you and your account manager determine if Wufoo has the features you need, and identify potential security issues with your form.

Wufoo training online.

A&IT has developed an online training module for use by the divisional account managers and their constituents. It covers all the major features of Wufoo in several step-by-step exercises. The presentation can be viewed online (Silverlight player required) or downloaded for playback on mobile media players.

To view the presentation immediately, simply do the following:

Visit the presentation online here
Click on the “PLAY” link below “Wufoo Quickstart Training."
This will start the presentation from the beginning, with audio, screen & PowerPoint streams simultaneously within a custom Microsoft Silverlight player. If you have any issues with viewing the presentation in Firefox, try using Microsoft Internet Explorer instead.
To navigate to any portion of the presentation...
You can click on any of the time-coded Powerpoint index markers on the left side of the screen, Since the presentation includes a Powerpoint and Screen Capture, it is best to view the “Screen Capture” tab on the right side of the player. The magnifying glass in the upper right side of that window will enlarge the presentation so that you can view it easily alongside another browser window with your Wufoo account as you follow along.
Wufoo Operations guide (PDF): To download and view the PDF handout, click on the “PDF” tab to download it to your computer.

For more information or help:

If you need immediate assistance with a form, please contact your divisional account manager first. For all other inquiries, including Wufoo technical support, contact:
Tom Emens
tom.emens@csuci.edu
437-8946

To view the presentation offline through iTunes, an iPhone or iPod, simply do the following:

Visit the presentation online here
Click on either the “Podcast” or “Video Podcast” links on the right side of the screen...
This will open up iTunes and will download the Wufoo video.
NOTE: If you don’t have iTunes, you can access the files directly by clicking the RSS links adjacent to the “Podcast” & “Video Podcast” links

How do I create a web survey?

To create a web survey, do the following:

Create a draft of your survey in Microsoft Word.
1. In your draft, list all questions and answers.
2. For each question, note how you would like the answers to appear. The following answer formats are supported:
  - Radio button (such as Yes/No/Decline to State)
  - Checkbox (for multiple selections, such as "Check all that apply"-type questions)
  - Drop-down box (similar to Radio button)
  - Text field (supports multiple lines)
  - Likert Scale (using radio buttons)
3. Also write out any logic (for survey branching or other action) that your survey requires.
Contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to determine if the IRB approval is required to publish your survey, or whether you qualify for an IRB exemption.
1. The IRB oversees research on any human subjects at the University, so they will provide you with feedback about the requirements to perform your web survey.
2. Typically surveys that are used internally for program/organizational improvement and whose results will not be published are qualified for IRB exemption; however, only IRB can make that determination.
3. If IRB is required, complete the IRB process before proceeding to the next step.
Once your survey has received IRB approval (or exemption), send an electronic copy of your survey draft to the Help Desk at helpdesk@csuci.edu and request the creation a web survey. A work order will be created and assigned to a Web Services team member.
Web Services will create a draft of the web survey and publish it for your review and approval.
With final changes completed and your approval, Web Services will provide you with a URL to your web survey, which you may distribute to your survey participants.
You can request downloads of your survey data through the Help Desk.

How do I publish my survey? How do I publicize my web survey?

Web Services will provide you with a web link (URL) to your survey, which you can distribute to your survey participants at your discretion.

Publicity and distribution of web surveys is the responsibility of the researcher/survey owner. One approach to survey distribution might be to draft a "mail merge" message using Microsoft Word to generate mass emails to a group of recipients.

How long will it take to publish my web survey, start-to-finish?

It depends on how long it takes you to complete steps 1-5 of the web survey creation process. A general estimate is approximately 2 weeks (10 business days) to complete steps 1-5. Once Web Services receives your survey draft, we require a minimum of 3 business days to assemble the survey for your review and approval. Web Services may require more time depending on the length and complexity of the survey.

What features do your web surveys support?

Supported features include:

password protection
piping and branching
save-and-return later, with email confirmation
deletion of incomplete submissions after a designated period
email responses directly to survey administrator
periodic download of data in Excel or other formats

Does your web survey software support branching?

Yes, survey branching (i.e., going to different pages) is supported.

Can the survey be password protected?

Yes, the survey can be password protected, either using a generic password or a list of passwords. Please note that the password list must be manually uploaded or input into the survey software; the password list cannot link actively to a database or directory such as LDAP. The survey creator is responsible for creating the password list and keeping track of the password usage.

Where will my survey data be stored? How long will it be stored there?

Your web survey data will be stored on CI web servers, until the completion of the survey. Upon completion of the survey, the survey data will be emailed or otherwise provided to the researcher/survey owner for archiving. Web Services is not responsible for the maintenance of survey data archives upon completion of the survey.

How do I get my survey results? How long does it take?

Please email your request to download survey data to helpdesk@csuci.edu and include the name of your survey whose data you are requesting. Web Services will download the survey data for you and provide it in one of several formats, including:

comma- or tab-delimited text;
Microsoft Excel;
Microsoft Access (mdb); and
SPSS.

By default, Web Services will provide your survey results as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. It can take up to 2 business days to process requests for survey data.

Can I receive an email confirmation once a survey is submitted?

Yes. Please send the email address that you would like survey confirmations to go to along with your survey draft.

How can I limit who fills out the survey?

You can:

password protect your survey
restrict repeat survey results

Are there any graphing/statistics capabilities built-in to this software?

Yes, but they will be provided for reference purposes only. Web Services will not make any customizations to the default web survey reporting.

Will my survey be accessible?

Web Services will create your survey using best practices for accessibility per CSU Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) and Section 508 guidelines.

More information on ATI and accessibility can be found on the CI ATI web site.

Last updated: 2010-07-27

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