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Running Polls and Questionnaires
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Page Admins
We were recently asked about how to run polls or the questionnaires that we do occasionally. Here at RPL, you can't embed an Iframe to "host" a poll, but there are other ways to do it. Below, we'll go over how to set up your form, as well as how to share it on RPL.
First, you're going to need to start an account on Google Forms. Once you have your account set up, you'll be able to get to the dashboard. To start a new poll, questionnaire, or quiz, click the red button in the lower right hand corner with a + sign in it. This allows you to begin to create your form.
As you can see, you can add a title and a description, as well as multiple types of questions. Options include text boxes, multiple choice selections, checkboxes, and dropdown menus. To add options to the question, click Option 1 and type the response you'd like. To add another, click underneath that, where it says "Add Option". If you'd like, you can hit "Add Other" for the very last option. This will give respondents a text box to add their own text to.
To add a new question, click the gray + sign next to the form, which will allow you to add another question and choose the type of question it will be. You can have multiple types of questions for each form. Say you want a text box to ask for an email or name, multiple choice for another question, a dropbox or checkbox for the 3rd question, etc, these are all easily done by adding a new question and selecting the type of answers you want for it.
If you'd like any questions to be "required" questions where people have to answer those in order to submit the form, slide the "required" toggle to the right in order to turn it purple. That question will now be required on your form.
Once you have it set up how you like it, you can move to to the top right hand side. Click the artist palette to change the color scheme if desired, or add a photo to the top bar of the form. In the Settings menu, you can set it to collect email addresses, shuffle question order, turn it into a quiz, and to allow respondents to edit their responses after submitting. We do not recommend limiting to one response. This will force people to log-in to Google before filling out your form, which some would consider invasive or a waste of time. To get the most viable responses, definitely leave that open.
You now have your very own form set up and ready to go. Click "Send" in the upper right hand corner, and select to send via link (the middle option). Always shorten the URL, it just looks nicer and is easier to link.
Once you have your form link, paste it into a fresh notepad document or something similar, as you'll be needing it shortly. To use the Polls in the left side menu of the group/page, you'll want an icon image, generally 100x100 or so. Itty bitty pictures necessary. Here's a few options on Google if you need ideas. Save the icon of your choice to your computer.
As a page admin, go to your group/page and click "Manage". At the very end of that page it shows "Widgets", this is where you'll be heading. Set it up as shown in the image below, choose "No" for "Is It A Block". Give it a menu and URL title, we generally use the same thing as it's easier. Upload your chosen icon.
In the HTML box, use HTML to link to your form as shown below. Simply paste your own form link instead of the one provided. The "target blank" option makes the form open in a new tab, so your group members and fans aren't redirected away from your own page.
Now, when users click "Polls" in your group menu, they'll be taken to a page listing your polls as links. Clicking it will open the poll in a new tab, allowing them to submit their answers before going back to the tab that held the rest of the polls, if you're running more than one.
Once a poll is finished, simply delete that poll's code from the Widget. To add a new one, follow the same directions for creating a new poll and add it to the Widget HTML box underneath the currently existing polls.
To check responses, go back to your forms dashboard and click the form you want to check. Up top, you'll see a tab for Responses. You can see items in a graph form by clicking "Summary" or individual responses by clicking 'Individual".
If you have Weebly, you CAN embed a form on a Weebly page, and share the link that way, using the Embed element included in your page tools. You can also have the form hosted by Google itself, and simply share the link in a status as RPL does. However, if you are planning on running multiple ones at the same time, or keeping them up longer, setting a group/page menu section will be your best bet to keep things sorted nicely.
First, you're going to need to start an account on Google Forms. Once you have your account set up, you'll be able to get to the dashboard. To start a new poll, questionnaire, or quiz, click the red button in the lower right hand corner with a + sign in it. This allows you to begin to create your form.
As you can see, you can add a title and a description, as well as multiple types of questions. Options include text boxes, multiple choice selections, checkboxes, and dropdown menus. To add options to the question, click Option 1 and type the response you'd like. To add another, click underneath that, where it says "Add Option". If you'd like, you can hit "Add Other" for the very last option. This will give respondents a text box to add their own text to.
To add a new question, click the gray + sign next to the form, which will allow you to add another question and choose the type of question it will be. You can have multiple types of questions for each form. Say you want a text box to ask for an email or name, multiple choice for another question, a dropbox or checkbox for the 3rd question, etc, these are all easily done by adding a new question and selecting the type of answers you want for it.
If you'd like any questions to be "required" questions where people have to answer those in order to submit the form, slide the "required" toggle to the right in order to turn it purple. That question will now be required on your form.
Once you have it set up how you like it, you can move to to the top right hand side. Click the artist palette to change the color scheme if desired, or add a photo to the top bar of the form. In the Settings menu, you can set it to collect email addresses, shuffle question order, turn it into a quiz, and to allow respondents to edit their responses after submitting. We do not recommend limiting to one response. This will force people to log-in to Google before filling out your form, which some would consider invasive or a waste of time. To get the most viable responses, definitely leave that open.
You now have your very own form set up and ready to go. Click "Send" in the upper right hand corner, and select to send via link (the middle option). Always shorten the URL, it just looks nicer and is easier to link.
Once you have your form link, paste it into a fresh notepad document or something similar, as you'll be needing it shortly. To use the Polls in the left side menu of the group/page, you'll want an icon image, generally 100x100 or so. Itty bitty pictures necessary. Here's a few options on Google if you need ideas. Save the icon of your choice to your computer.
As a page admin, go to your group/page and click "Manage". At the very end of that page it shows "Widgets", this is where you'll be heading. Set it up as shown in the image below, choose "No" for "Is It A Block". Give it a menu and URL title, we generally use the same thing as it's easier. Upload your chosen icon.
In the HTML box, use HTML to link to your form as shown below. Simply paste your own form link instead of the one provided. The "target blank" option makes the form open in a new tab, so your group members and fans aren't redirected away from your own page.
<a href="https://goo.gl/forms/2e89ZxltUp0wR5wb2" target="_blank">NAME OF POLL HERE</a>
Now, when users click "Polls" in your group menu, they'll be taken to a page listing your polls as links. Clicking it will open the poll in a new tab, allowing them to submit their answers before going back to the tab that held the rest of the polls, if you're running more than one.
Once a poll is finished, simply delete that poll's code from the Widget. To add a new one, follow the same directions for creating a new poll and add it to the Widget HTML box underneath the currently existing polls.
To check responses, go back to your forms dashboard and click the form you want to check. Up top, you'll see a tab for Responses. You can see items in a graph form by clicking "Summary" or individual responses by clicking 'Individual".
If you have Weebly, you CAN embed a form on a Weebly page, and share the link that way, using the Embed element included in your page tools. You can also have the form hosted by Google itself, and simply share the link in a status as RPL does. However, if you are planning on running multiple ones at the same time, or keeping them up longer, setting a group/page menu section will be your best bet to keep things sorted nicely.