Summary
LimeSurvey (formerly phpSurveyor) allows users to create, administer, and analyze online surveys. It is important to note that LimeSurvey is not a desktop application that is installed on a personal computer; it is a web application that must be deployed on a server with php and MySQL capabilities (these are common web server technologies). Because of this, LimeSurvey may not be an option for the individual. It would be a more likely scenario for a school or department to have a LimeSurvey installation on a server that would allow instructor access.
LimeSurvey has too many features to cover tersely, but a few notables are its more than 20 different question types (including essay types), survey tokens to prevent repeat participants, and branching surveys that present different questions based upon previous responses. LimeSurvey's feature set is so broad because it is used for many tasks outside of academia, including tracking voting irregularities.
Surveys are accessible to participants and administrators through a web browser. As such, once LimeSurvey is installed, individuals do not need to interact with servers to create and conduct surveys. The appearance of surveys is customizable through a built-in template editor or through HTML coding. This gives the survey administrator a great deal of control over how the survey interface will appear to participants. Even without modification, the standard templates are clear and intuitive. The same cannot necessarily be said about the administrator interface, which requires the administrator to drill down though layers of unlabeled icons. After some experience with the administration interface, however, it becomes quick and easy to create surveys, collect their results, and analyze the data.
Academic Uses
One of LimeSurvey's most productive applications is harvesting primary research data. Geographical separation between administrators and participants becomes mitigated, because surveys are accessible on demand through a web browser. Additionally, LimeSurvey's ability to offer branching question paths and its capacity to accommodate large numbers of participants make it adept at managing large-scale surveys. Its token and cookie protections also help prevent intentional or accidental data tampering. Data may be analyzed through LimeSurvey itself or exported in common formats for further interpretation, perhaps using additional statistical tools. These factors make LimeSurvey an excellent tool for the researcher.
These same features suggest LimeSurvey's utility in another vital, but perhaps overlooked, academic task: organizational administration. Groups with some form of voting structure—particularly large groups with geographically-separated members, such as professional organizations and editorial boards—can benefit greatly from using LimeSurvey as a voting proctor. A centralized system has many advantages over alternatives such as email, including elimination of redundancy, consolidation of data, and fine-grained control of polling times. LimeSurvey excels in this role, and it is currently used in this capacity by many academic professional entities.
LimeSurvey's utility in the classroom is less evident. Individual instructors may not have access to a server upon which to install LimeSurvey. Additionally, although it has many features that make it a useful humanities exam proctor—such as essay-type questions—LimeSurvey currently cannot randomize questions. This is perhaps a slight drawback, but it underscores the fact that there are more suitable options for online exam administration. For example, several Course Management Systems, including the open source CMS Drupal and Moodle, have appropriate exam administration capabilities.
Features
- Platform independence (LimeSurvey runs on a server equipped with php and MySQL)
- Surveys and administrative functions are accessible through any modern web browser
- The number of active surveys, the number of questions per survey, and the number of survey participants are all theoretically unlimited
- Support for over 30 languages
- Surveys may be public or private
- Survey appearance may be customized through a built-in template editor or direct HTML coding
- Optional tokens keep track of who has completed a particular survey, and they ensure that each person participates only once
- Survey invitations and tokens may be sent to participants by email
- Over 20 different question types, including multiple choice (with optional comments), essay, scale ranking, and many others
- Branching surveys can present different questions based upon previous responses
- Surveys may be set with specified open and closed dates
- Survey participants may exit surveys and continue them at a later time
- Survey data may be exported to text, .csv, and Microsoft Excel formats
- Multiple support avenues, including a documentation wiki, forums, and the IRC channel #limesurvey on irc.freenode.net
Limitations
- Installation requires a server with php and MySQL, and some basic familiarity with these technologies
- Administration interface is icon-based, and can be unintuitive
- Survey questions cannot be randomized (for quiz purposes)
