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Participation Report

The Participation Report shows the participation rate for your survey.

Participation rates have a big impact on the success of your survey. For example, low participation rates could mean you miss out on important insights. So it's a good idea to keep an eye on the participation rate while your survey is active.

The report can be filtered by demographic, giving you the opportunity to:

  • see if there are groups of people who might need special focus

  • boost your participation rate.

The report is made up of three sections:

  • donut chart

  • participation over time, and

  • demographic breakdown.

Donut chart

The donut chart shows the participant rate for your survey. It is broken down into the following segments:

  • Completed: Participants that completed the survey.

  • In progress: Participants that started the survey but didn't complete it.

  • Not started: Participants who were invited but didn't start the survey.

You will also see the total number of participants listed. This is the number of people you've invited to your survey. We use this and the number of people who completed the survey to calculate the participation rate.

For example:

  • Completed: 150 participants

  • In progress: 10 participants

  • Not started: 40 participants

  • Total number of participants: 200

  • Participation rate: 75%

The numbers on your chart will update if you apply demographic filters.

Using a public link or kiosk link?

The participation rate is calculated differently when you use a public or kiosk link.

In this situation, the total number of participants is not how many people you invite to the survey but how many people you expect to take your survey. You enter this number in the survey settings when you create a survey. It is an estimate that you can change at any time.

That means the participation rate for public or kiosk links is calculated using the:

  • number of participants you expect to take your survey, and

  • number of participants who complete the survey.

How the date filter affects the donut chart

When you apply a date filter to the participation report, it has an impact on how we calculate the Total number of participants.

When the date filter is applied, we calculate the Total number of participants by adding together:

  • Completed: Number of participants who completed the survey during the date period.

  • Incomplete: Number of participants who started the survey during the date period.

  • Not started: Number of participants who were added within the date period, but didn't start the survey within the date period.

Sometimes this might result in 0. For example, in a specific time period, there may be no completions, no surveys started, and no participants added.

Participation over time

The participation over time graph shows when participants completed the survey. Each point on the graph represents a time interval: day, week, month or quarter.

When you hover over a point, it will show you how many people completed the survey during that time period. Hovering over a point on the graph will also change the participation rate graph to the left.

The numbers on your graph will update if you apply demographic filters.

What date period does it cover?

If your survey has closed, it will show data from the start date to the end date of your survey.

If you're running a survey without an end date (an ongoing survey) or a survey that is still active, it will show data from the start date to the last time a participant started or completed a survey (whichever is latest).

Use the toggles to switch between time periods

You can change what time interval the graph shows by toggling between days, weeks, months or quarters. However, if your survey has just launched, you may not have access to all toggles yet.

Demographic breakdown

Explore participation rates for different groups of people with the demographic breakdown bar chart.

Start by selecting a demographic category, like 'Location'. This will automatically generate the demographic breakdown.

In this example, the result for each location will be shown with the survey's average overlaid on top.

The breakdown helps you compare:

  • a location's participation rate to the survey's average

  • participation rates across different locations.

You can also apply additional demographic filters to the bar chart.

For example, if you want to see which departments had low participation in Dunedin.

You would:

  1. Select Apply filters at the top right of the page.

  2. Select the demographic 'Location' and then 'Dunedin'.

  3. Go to the Demographic Breakdown section in your participation report.

  4. Select Department from the demographic category.

If there is a department with a low participation rate, this could be an opportunity to delve deeper into why it is low.

Using a public link or kiosk link?

The demographic breakdown is not available for surveys using a public or kiosk link. This is because the breakdown needs demographic information stored in your participant library.

When a public or kiosk link is used, the participant is anonymous. So we don't have access to their demographic information. Therefore the bar chart can't be generated.