In paper surveys, you have no way to skip questions without telling the respondent directly, “Answer this, don’t answer that.” This creates fatigue for your survey respondent and maybe more importantly, wastes paper! Using online surveys, you can improve on both of these fronts: no paper used and no unnecessary questions!
In a classic example, a yes or no question is followed by one or two questions that refer to the previous question, such as, “If your answer to Question #1 was yes…” If you were to build this into a SurveyGizmo survey, you would need to make sure the follow-up question was not required. Otherwise, the respondent could only continue to the next page if they answered the question that doesn’t apply to them!
But alas, the answer is simple, and the process is covered in our Dynamic Show/Hide Tutorial. The feature is available with all paid plan levels and offers an elegant solution: only show the respondent the questions that are relevant to them! In other words, show only the ‘yes’ question if they actually choose ‘Yes’ in Question #1! Even better, you can choose to require the follow-up question if you want to ensure they answer the question before continuing to the next page. With the show/hide triggers, only if the question is visible will a required question stop them from moving forward without answering.
Check out the tutorial and make a leaner, meaner (kinder?) online survey!
Tags: online surveys, paper surveys, show/hide
Feb. 1 
Jan. 31
1
Hi,
Good post. A great point to make that online surveys are environmentally friendly and don’t waster paper, and also improve the user experience.
Cheers,
Richard
2
Hi Richard,
Definitely. Online surveys are much easier and user friendly than paper surveys.
Thanks!
Brittany