UNHCE Form Builder Help

The UNHCE FormBuilder is located at: http://cecf1.unh.edu/formbuilder/index.cfm

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• Setting up your form
• Creating and editing questions
• Previewing your form
• Publishing your form
• Sharing form access
• Downloading and viewing results
• Using surveys for research
  
  

Setting up your form

1. Choose a form title. Form titles can be a collection of words, numbers, etc. Spaces are allowed. The title will be displayed on the completed form.
2. Generate form instructions which will appear at the top of the form prior to the questions.
3. Enter any text you'd like to appear after the survey is submitted, such as confirming it was successfully submitted, where to call for info on the topic, or where & when results will be posted.
4. Create a form name. Note: Form names should be 8 or fewer characters, including numbers, letters, or underscores. No spaces or punctuation marks may be used.
5. Select whether you would like responses emailed to you directly or not. The default is no. It will use the address which appears in your UNHCE staff database registration. (Note: There are other options for getting results as well. See “Getting Results” below.)
6. Select whether this is for internal use only. If so, it is only accessible by entering the username and password used for other internal information on our website, such as calendars and internal staff information.
7. Submit the form when completed, to go to the question area. (Note, you will be given a chance to edit this form from the questions area.)
   
   

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Creating and editing questions

There is a sample survey on the site, which can be accessed at: http://cecf1.unh.edu/formbuilder/intforms/form10_testfrom.htm If you would like to see a model of some of the options described below, you can review the sample question on that survey.

1. Enter the text you’d like to have appear as the question. Note that pressing enter will not force a new line in the text area. To start a new line, enter <br> where you would like to start a new line. If you would like a blank line to precede the new line, enter <p> before the text you want on the new line.

To have text appear bolded, precede the section you’d like bolded with <strong> (no spaces) and put </strong> at the end of what you would like to appear bolded

For example, to have something read, “This word is in bold type” you would enter, This word is in <strong> bold</strong> type.

2. Select the Question type. Question types are:

• Freeform single line – Used for things like name, address, county, etc. (See sample question 1.)
• Freeform multiple lines – Used for narrative responses. This field is basically unlimited, so answers of varying lengths, such as essays can go in here. (See sample question 2.)
• Select one from list (Radio Button)– Used for things such as True/False, male/female, income level, New England state, and other options where you want the user to select one and only one option. In general, if you have 6 or fewer choices, radio buttons are used. For 7 or more choices, use the drop down list. (See sample question 3.)
• Select one from list (dropdown box) – Used for things such as organization, program area, county name, state, etc. This is when there are a finite number of choices, and you are sure you have a comprehensive list, or don't mind using the option “other” if the list is not all-inclusive. In general, if you have 6 or fewer choices, radio buttons are used. For 7 or more choices, use the drop down list. (See sample question 4.)
• Select more than one from list (List Box) – Used for things such as county name, state, organization, etc. This is when there are a finite number of choices, and you are sure you have a comprehensive list, or don't mind using the option “other” if the list is not all-inclusive. In general, if you have 6 or fewer choices, check boxes are used. For 7 or more choices, use the list box. (See sample Question #5.)
• Select more than one from list (Check boxes)- This is used when more that one response may be appropriate, and for lists of 6 or fewer items. (For 7 or more choices, use the list box.) Frequently this is used for questions which end in “Select all that apply.” (See sample Question #6.)
• Comment - You can add a comment anywhere in your form by creating a “question,” and selecting the Type: Comment. Enter the text for your comment in the question field. Your comment will appear in your survey, placed in the order you select in the “Insert at number” field. When the survey is published, it will not have a number associated with it. Any questions following the comment will continue with the next question number. (Example: You insert a comment after question 6. The comment will not have a number, and the next question will be question 7.) Field 8 gives you a sample of a comment.
• Matrixes Form Builder allows you to generate a matrix for collecting responses to different questions. Building a matrix is a 2-step process. First you set up the top of the matrix, and then you list the questions. Directions for creating a matrix refer to the following example.
  

SAMPLE MATRIX

Please rate your responses to the following questions
	Strongly disagree	Mildly disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Mildly agree	Strongly agree
15) UNHCE needs greater visibility in NH.
16) UNHCE does a good job of marketing the entire organization.
17) With decreasing federal and state dollars, more effort needs to be put into collaborating with other agencies.
18) The vitality of UNHCE is dependent on the ability of NH population to understand our value.

• Matrix Format (Must be used in conjunction with matrix items.) The Matrix format field is used to populate the top (x axis) of a matrix. You start by entering a question in the question field. Select Matrix Format as the question type. Then, populate the options field with the choices people can select.
  
  In the example provided, “ Please rate your responses to the following questions ” is a matrix format question.

The options (in the options field) are:

These options were added automatically, using the pre-selected options at the bottom of the question menu. (In general, it is best to have 5 or fewer items, unless you are using a number scale. As you design your survey, keep in mind that the options in the matrix format need to fit across the screen.)

Note – The matrix will not be assigned a question number. Each item within the matrix will have its own number.

• Matrix Item (Must be used in conjunction with matrix format.) This populates the left hand column (Y axis) of the matrix associated with the preceding matrix format.
  
  Each item you want listed in the matrix is its own matrix item.
  
  In the example above, questions 15-18 are all matrix items.
  
  

3. If you have selected a question which includes a list of responses, enter the list, with commas between items. (Note: Commas should not appear within the list for an item, or it will consider it a separate item. For instance, if you want Durham, NH, list it as Durham NH . Otherwise, you will end up with 2 choices, one Durham and the other NH.)

Note – Previous questions appear on the left side of the screen. You can review what you have already entered.

TIP – If you have a list of choices which appears in more than one question, you can cut and paste a list from a previous question using the list of already generated questions on the left side of the screen.

Preset Options

To assist in the rapid generation of a survey, some frequently-used options have been built into Form Builder. For questions which allow you to choose form a list (such as the Select one, Matrix, or Select more than one options), you can populate that list with a preset option.

Current options at time of publication include:

• NH Counties – All 10 counties – full names are listed
• US State Abbreviations - The USPS abbreviations for the 50 states and the District of Columbia
• Agreement Scale - a 5-point scale going from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree
• Favorability Scale - a 5-point scale going from Strongly unfavorable to Strongly favorable
• Poor to Excellent – a 4-point scale from Poor to Excellent
• Excellent to Poor - a 4-point scale from Excellent to Poor
• Gender - Male, Female

4. Select a question number. Leaving this field blank will cause the question to be added to the end of the list. Question numbers can be added or changed before submitting the form for publication.

5. Choose whether or not you want the user to have to respond to that question. The default is that responses are not mandatory.

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Previewing your form

Once you have completed the form, you should preview it. That option is on the left side of the screen above the list of questions.

The preview shows the form as it will appear when published. The preview is bounded by a border that will not display in the published form. Also keep in mind that this is just a preview, the submit button will not do anything in the preview.

From here, you have the option to publish the form if it's ready, or return to edit the form further.

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Publishing your form

Once you are satisfied with the form, or ready release it for publication, select the publish option. This can be found on the preview page, or your home page for FormBuilder.

You can edit a survey and republish it. Be sure to republish it for the changes to take effect! Beware that changing a form that is currentl "live", without republishing it, results in the following:

• Changing the order or wording of questions in the form without republishing will render the results view of your form inaccurately. The responses will be for the published question, but the questions are drawn from the current unpublished form.
• Changing the number of questions will cause the results not to display, though you can still download the results.
• Republishing the survey will result in the previously collected data to be wiped out. This is to ensure that your summary information is accurate, rather than combining apples and oranges. You will be given the option to download the current responses when you republish your form.
  
  

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Sharing form access

You can share your form (survey) with anyone else who is registered as a user in the Form Builder application. You might want to do this if you are coauthoring a survey, or want one or more people to be able to have access to the data generated from the form.

To share your form, locate the desired form on the Form Builder home page. Click on the Share option to the right of your form. This will bring up a page with your form title, a list of all users who have access, and a dropdown box. The dropdown box contains a list of all registered users. Select desired users (one at a time) with whom you’d like to share access to the form. Click on “add user” to give that user access to your form.

You can also remove a user using this page. Any users who have been added to your form can be removed by selecting the “Remove” button next to the user’s name.

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Downloading and viewing results

You have the option of having individual responses mailed to you as they are entered. This is in the Info screen as you are setting up your form. (You can always go back and edit your choices in that area.)

You can review results by selecting that option on your home page for FormBuilder. Results will be listed in a summary format, followed by each response set listed individually.

You can download the results by selecting Results on your home page, and then selecting the download option on the top of the list of responses. You will be given a choice of reviewing the results then, or saving them to a file. (Note: the results will be in an Excel spreadsheet format. You may be required to select Excel as the viewing application.)

Beware that editing a published survey and not publishing it causes the questions listed on the results page to not match the questions being asked in the survey. The results relate to the questions asked in the published form of the survey.

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Using surveys for research

Please keep in mind that any research involving human subjects is governed by IRB policies which are outlined in: Protecting Human Subjects in Research at UNH at: http://www.unh.edu/osr/compliance/IRB.html Please consult that before publishing your survey.

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