After using SurveyGizmo for quite a long time, I have some more insight to offer on it. Truth be told, I’m getting very tempted to jump to LimeSurvey. Here’s why:
- Lack of access to the database. This is HUGE. The only way to get data out of SG is to download a csv file. The problem is that they format it in crosstab fashion – that is, with a column for every question. This makes it unusable for any database application. So if you’re planning to pull the results into another database, well, you end up writing some software to do pretty non-trivial conversions.
- No support for recurring surveys. At least, not without a lot of extra steps. Most of the surveys I do are recurring, and the results are analyzed as time series. Having them in separate surveys is a pain.
- SG has a strange architecture that leads to some performance problems that confuse users. The surveys are by default save-continue, but if you leave and come back too soon it looks like your results are gone. Only they aren’t.
Out of the box SG has some advantages that are making the choice to jump a little less clear:
- The reporting, while riddled with oddities, is competent and allows me to do one-off surveys quickly without any database work.
- Some question types work better, nearly all look better.
- I don’t have to administer a server that’s ‘off the grid’. Like many companies, ours is Microsoft-only and having a Linux server goes against the grain.
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Thank you for taking the time to record these observations! I’m currently working on a grant application to do an online emotion skills training intervention for people with type 2 diabetes, and I’ve been struggling with the very questions you talk about here. Surveygizmo’s numerous oddities are a real turn-off, and I’ve already torn out some hair trying to work with their clumsy in-house scripting and reporting features. But they seem more savvy and well-designed than other online survey tools, even some that market specifically to academics and cost much more. I really appreciate hearing about the pros and cons of limesurvey (not that I’m exactly shocked to learn that an open source project has better scripting and programming options than the commercial alternative, but a poorer interface…).
I’m also planning some fairly complex recurring surveys — once daily for 60 days, with special alternative questionnaires if they miss one or more days. We’ll see whether this turns out to be intolerably frustrating…
If you are planning a recurring survey, I strongly urge you to look at Limesurvey. SurveyGizmo really doesn’t have capability in this area. With SG you will have to clear all responses for each iteration of the survey – not exactly convenient!
Hey Steve,
Regarding access the data, while SurveyGizmo doesn’t have direct database access, it does have an API available for pulling down response data as XML data and parsing it as needed. Yes, it still means writing an in-between bit of software, but once written it will be all done.
Full disclosure, I’m an employee at SurveyGizmo.