Surveys

Surveys let you collect feedback from the members of your unit — a quick pulse on a campout, a vote on next year’s theme, or a sign-up interest check. You build a survey from a short list of questions, publish it so members can respond, and then review the answers as aggregated results. Everything lives under Surveys in the leader navigation.

A survey moves through three states: Draft (you’re still building it), Published (members can respond), and Closed (responses are locked and you’re reviewing). You can only edit questions while a survey is in Draft.

Creating a survey

Open Surveys to see every survey for your current unit. Each row shows a status pill (Draft, Published, or Closed), the title, an optional description, and a count of questions and responses. Use the dropdown at the top to filter by All surveys, Draft, Published, or Closed.

To start a new one, click New Survey. An inline form opens with two fields:

• Survey title — required, up to 200 characters.
• Optional description — a short note shown to members on the response page (up to 2000 characters).

Click Create draft. The survey is created in Draft state and you’re taken straight to the builder so you can add questions. New surveys always start empty and unpublished, so nothing is visible to members until you publish.

Note

Surveys belong to the unit you’re currently working in. If you lead more than one unit, switch units first using the unit selector before creating a survey. See Switching Between Units if you’re not sure which unit is active.

Adding questions in the builder

The builder lives at /surveys/:id/edit and is where you assemble the survey. The header shows the title, description, and current status. Below that, your questions are listed in order, each showing its text, type, and whether it’s required. Multiple-choice questions also list their answer options.

To add a question, use the Add question panel:

1. Type the Question text (up to 500 characters).
2. Pick a Type:
   • Short text — members type a free-form answer.
   • Multiple choice — members pick one option from a list.
3. Leave Required checked if members must answer, or uncheck it to make the question optional.
4. For multiple choice, fill in the Options. Two option boxes appear by default; click Add option for more. The trash icon next to each option appears once you have more than two, so you can never drop below two. Blank options are ignored when you save.

Click Add question and it appears immediately in the list above. Repeat for each question you need.

Caution

Editing is only available while the survey is in Draft. Once you publish, the question list is locked — you can’t add, change, or remove questions. Get the wording right before you publish.

Publishing and closing

When your draft has at least one question, a Publish survey button appears at the bottom of the builder. Publishing flips the survey to Published, opens it to member responses, and locks the questions. After publishing you’re taken to the results page.

To stop collecting responses, open the survey’s results and click Close survey. The Close survey button only appears while a survey is Published. Closing moves the survey to Closed, members can no longer submit, and the results stay available for you to review.

Tip

There’s no separate “send” step — publishing is what makes a survey live. Let members know it’s open through your usual channel (see Communications), and share the respondent link described below.

The respondent experience

Members fill out a survey at /surveys/:id/respond. They see the title, the description if you added one, and each question in order. Short-text questions show a text box; multiple-choice questions show radio buttons for the options you defined. Required questions are marked with a red asterisk, and the Submit response button stays disabled until every required question is answered.

When a member submits, they get a “Thanks for your response!” confirmation. Each member can submit only once — a duplicate submission is rejected by the system. If the survey isn’t currently Published (still Draft, or already Closed), members see a notice that it isn’t accepting responses and the form is read-only.

Note

Responses are tied to the member who submits them, but the results view aggregates everything — see below for exactly what you can and can’t see.

Reviewing results

The results page at /surveys/:id/results is your read-out. The header shows the survey title, the total response count, and the current status. Each question is summarized according to its type:

• Multiple choice — every option is listed with a tally, the percentage of responses, and a bar chart, so you can see the split at a glance. Options with zero responses still appear with a count of 0.
• Short text — the raw free-text answers are listed one per line. If no one has answered a question yet, it shows “No answers yet.”

While the survey is Published, the Close survey button sits at the top of this page so you can lock it when you’ve gathered enough responses. Results remain viewable after closing.

Tip

Multiple-choice questions give you clean, countable data — reach for them when you want a tally you can act on. Reserve short-text for open-ended feedback you’ll read individually.

Surveys pair well with the rest of your unit toolkit. Use Communications to announce a new survey, and your Member Directory to confirm who should be responding.