Many organizations want to know what people think about a given topic, understand their needs, or receive feedback. SurveyMonkey is one of the largest survey creation tools out there, with millions of questions answered in their system every day. With very little technical expertise, people can put together their own form to gather useful information from online audiences.
SurveyMonkey is aimed at small and medium sized organizations looking to create simple data collection forms, and requires very little technical knowhow. Individuals filling out SurveyMonkey forms will have to be online, so consider whether your target audience has the time, ability, and internet access to engage with your content. Use of the platform will require a subscription.
SurveyMonkey is a tool used by thousands of individuals and organizations to gather information from the public. The basic free version works for simple data collection, but is very limited in that a user can only view 10 responses. Viewing more data, and more sophisticated forms, including branching question logic, require paid accounts.
SurveyMonkey surveys can be sent out via email, posted on a web page, or shared as links.
A set of different response types, such as checkboxes, drop down selects, or free-form fields, can be readily combined to create a survey. If desired, users can include data validation to guarantee data accuracy by requiring answers to match a format, such as with a phone number or email address. Surveys can be created in multiple languages.
SurveyMonkey has some basic data analysis dashboards, including word clouds, charts, and graphs, but also permits downloading the raw results for further exploration. Information about the survey users, including IP addresses, are accessible to those conducting the survey.
Cost
SurveyMonkey is free for basic use, but the no-cost version is quite limited, only permitting viewing 10 responses and only creating surveys with up to 10 questions. For more sophisticated uses, pricing information is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/teams/details/ At the time of writing, the lowest tier of organizational accounts require three users at a minimum of $25/month each, or $900/year. Individuals can sign up for about $300/year.
Technical Requirements/Capacity
Setting up a SurveyMonkey survey is a relatively easy, intuitive process that should be possible for people capable of managing, for example, a Facebook page.
Support Available
SurveyMonkey has comprehensive help documentation. Phone and email support is provided for paid accounts.
Maintenance considerations
As a cloud-hosted application, there is no ongoing maintenance required.
Cybersecurity
Be careful what information you collect or upload to SurveyMonkey; as with any online data storage, anyone with access to your account will be able to see all of your collected information, including the IP address and likely location of survey respondants; so be cautious with your login information.