Modern mobile phones often offer Internet access and an Internet browser. So what could be more obvious than using these smartphones for surveys? There are three different cases:
Tip: You can test the design for mobile devices also on computer. Therefore search in your browser (Firefox, Chrome) for the development tools (e.g. Menu → further tools → tools for web developer, key combination Strg + Shift + I
). There you find a switch to the smartphone simulator.
Note: Not every questionnaire is suitable for filling out on the small display of a smartphone. Long scale batteries (more than 10 items) are no more fun on the small display than long question texts/instructions or long stimulus texts. Not to mention the fact that you like to fill out a 5-minute questionnaire on the bus, but probably not a questionnaire that takes 30 minutes. Therefore, scientific questionnaires are often not suitable for the small mobile phone display, regardless of the presentation.
The percentage varies between 0 and 100 percent depending on recruitment – but on average, 4 out of 10 people use a smartphone when they access a questionnaire at www.soscisurvey.de (data from the second half of 2018). This does not include tablets, which are unproblematic: : They offer sufficiently large screens and all types of questions in SoSci Survey can be answered just as easily by touch (touch display) as with the mouse. With smartphones, however, the small display can become a problem.
Basically any common smartphone browser can display an Internet page so small that it fits completely on the display. However, you can neither read the texts nor hit the buttons for the answers. The keyword “Responsive Layout” refers to various techniques that ensure that an Internet page can be displayed meaningfully on displays of different sizes. Essentially, unimportant elements are hidden on small displays and the remaining elements are shown in a different arrangement (e.g. below each other instead of next to each other).
The standard layouts of SoSci Survey (with the exception of “SoSci Smartphone” and “SoSci Survey Paper”) are designed to automatically adapt to the available screen width. A maximum width is set in the questionnaire layout so that the questionnaire is not stretched too much on large screens. However, there are two major restrictions for small displays:
On the small screens of smartphones, questions that use a lot of text (e.g. long item texts) or offer many options cause problems. In addition, some question types, such as the ranking question, require items and answer options to be displayed side by side as cards at the same time.
We recommend the following optimizations so that the questionnaire can be completed sensibly on smartphones:
With the question type “Device and transmitted variables” you can find out whether a participant completes the questionnaire using a smartphone:
This question stores whether the participant's browser identifies his or her device as a computer, tablet or smartphone. For example, if the question has the identifier “GG01”, the following PHP code shows smartphone users the question “FM01” and all other users the question “FS01”.
if (value('GG01_FmF') == 5) { question('FM01'); } else { question('FS01'); }
The following PHP code only displays question “FS02” if the participant is not using a smartphone. Detailed explanations of filters can be found under Filters and Conditional Questions.
if (value('GG01_FmF') != 5) { question('FS02'); }
Hint: The question type “Device and transmitted variables” can also record the screen size of the user. This information may be more useful for some filters than the device format. However, the question must be placed on the page before the filter at the latest (not on the same page as the filter).
It is possible to submit a completely different questionnaire to smartphone users than to other users. This can be useful if, for example, other content is to be displayed on a larger scale and/or if the questionnaire is to use a completely different layout for smartphone users (e.g. “SoSci Smartphone”).
Smartphone users are now automatically redirected to the new questionnaire when calling the main questionnaire.
Important: Changes to a question are copied to all questionnaires that use the question. If you want to modify a question for display on the smartphone/in the second questionnaire, create a copy of this question () and exchange the old question for the new question under Compile Questionnaire in the second questionnaire.
If the questionnaire is only to be completed on smartphones, the same [:en:create:optimizations]] as above apply. It may also make sense to use the Questionnaire Layout “SoSci Smartphone”. This layout offers comparatively little space for questions – but shows them with a correspondingly large font.
Scales have a special display for narrow screens (select in the first tab). Furthermore, with the question type “Scale (with intermediate values)”, the scale points can be displayed as a dropdown – this can be clearer, especially with long answer options.
Depending on the study design, the following chapters may also be helpful:
Sometimes it is necessary to reject participants who want to access the questionnaire with a desktop computer or laptop. This is similar to the procedure described above (Filter for smartphone users).
In addition, a text is created (Text Elements), which for example has the identification “GG02” and politely informs the participant to edit the questionnaire via mobile device.
For the following code example, it is assumed that the block “Device and transmitted variables” has the identifier “GG01” and the text has the identifier “GG02”. The following PHP code is placed as the first element on the first page of the questionnaire. It already integrates “GG01” using 'question()'', so that the module “GG01” no longer needs to be placed separately in the questionnaire.
question('GG01'); // Integrate functional block GG01 to determine the device format if ((value('GG01_FmF') == 1) or (value('GG01_FmF') == 2)) { text('GG02'); // Show text buttonHide(); // Hide buttons so that the questionnaire can no longer be completed }
Note: This PHP code allows filling using Tablet. To prohibit this too, add a check or (value('GG01_FmF') == 2) in the IF filter.
Note: The PHP code is designed to avoid inadvertent filling on the wrong device. Through targeted manipulation, participants may also be able to fill out the questionnaire on a device that should not be allowed: some browsers (e.g. Chrome) can emulate a mobile device, other browsers can transmit a fake browser identification.
Some content is not suitable for smartphones or even tablet computers. These could be for example…
You can use filters to inform subscribers who use a mobile device that it is not suitable for filling in the form. The procedure is equivalent to rejecting participants in smartphone studies (see above).
question('GG01'); // Integrate functional block GG01 to determine the device format if ((value('GG01_FmF') == 4) or (value('GG01_FmF') == 5)) { text('GG02'); // Show text buttonHide(); // Hide buttons so that the questionnaire can no longer be completed }
Use the Variables overview to determine the possible values of the device format for the filter. Code 4 describes a mobile device whose format cannot be exactly determined, Code 5 describes in Smartphone.