2006-05-03websurvey module
websurvey automation
When you know basic HTML formatting and have access to a webserver (with PHP & MySQL), nothing but some glue
holds you from implementing websurveys. If you don't feel like glueing yourself,
then this fits your needs.
The problem
Surveys can benefit from running over the internet. The public you're trying to reach may be spread
across the planet, but you still have one central place for managing the questionnaire and the storage.
Automating a survey this way most importantly requires you to write active web-content. Nowadays, a lot of
tools are available for this purpose. Most of them offer you a complete environment around it that you hardly
ever need, thereby adding the necessary overhead. You are then able to create your websurvey, but
without proper configuration or knowledge, you will end up with an instable system, invalidating the use of it.
Not suprisingly, extra overhead also increases the threshold for participating in the survey.
When your websurvey is not implemented well, it will end up being a fancy gadget.
The (partial) solution
While active web-content (scripting) needs proper attention,
writing HTML is not necessarily difficult. The basics can
be learned rapidly, only using a local browser application to view the result immediately.
e-circ has made a well-crafted PHP script which turns your passive HTML-pages into
active web-content, with only few minor changes. The script will scan your HTML pages one by one, and when a participant
fills out your questionnaire, the script will store the entered values into a MySQL
database. Once in the database, the data (answers to the questions) are available for post-processing.
By off-loading the active part to e-circ's PHP script, you must not worry on database connections, security issues,
fault handling, session management.
All intelligence comes from a single script which is designed to do just that.
How it works
The websurvey HTML pages you (or someone else) designed, use CGI forms.
This way, you can put form elements like input fields, radio & check
buttons, selection lists into your HTML. Instead of linking the form to the next page (the form's action field), the
form links to the websurvey PHP script. The script will need some kind of session identifier only in case of multi-page surveys.
This ID can be added to the form's action field with minimal PHP knowledge (or I can explain).
The script will put all CGI fields that you're interested in, into the database, and show the next page. By iterating through
the different pages, the whole survey can be completed.
During the various stages of execution, the script protects against abuse. This is necessary for security. In case
of attack, the script will redirect to your failure HTML page.
Alltogether, this form of websurvey does not create high cpu-load on your server. The script is fairly easy, not unnecessary bloated
with features you don't want.
The price
Price on request
