photo credit: pqs

Google has yet another service they are offering free that could make a great homeschool entrepreneur project. I set up a survey for our newsletter readers as an example, and it took me less than an hour. Most of that time was thinking up questions! Here’s the easy instructions to create a survey with Google Docs:

First, if you don’t have an account with Google, you will need to sign up. It doesn’t cost anything, but you will need it to sign into your Google Docs account.  I don’t think you have to have a gmail account, but don’t quote me on that. I believe any email address you have will do. Once you’re signed in, go to Google.com and click on ‘documents’  which is found in the “more” drop down list of their services listed at the top left. Or, go to docs.google.com.

Second, now that you’re into the program, click on the “NEW” button on the left, which drops down some choices, and for a survey, click on “FORM“. This will bring you to a new screen, and at the top you will put the name of your survey, like “My First Survey“, or whatever your survey is about. The box under that is where you can explain about the survey, like when you will give them the results, or skip questions if you like, etc. You leave the “name” box blank, it’s for the survey taker to put their name.

Third, write your questions. “Question Title” is the actual question, such as, “What kinds of music do you listen to?“. The help text can tell them if they can choose only one answer, or as many as apply. You can put a box there for a short typed answer from them, or a paragraph box for a longer answer. You can even have them rate something on a 0-5 scale. Be sure to click “Done” after each question, and add another question with the button “Add Question” on the top left. Don’t worry about mistakes, you can go back later and edit or even trash the question later with the little icons you see on the right of the question box. You can even drag and drop the question boxes to rearrange the questions if you want.

Fourth, save it all (top right), and you can view your survey by clicking the link at the very bottom of the survey, where it says, “You can view the published form here“. Try answering your own questions and be sure they all work the way you wanted them to before you send it out. To send it, just copy the link at the bottom and paste it into your email or webpage.

Finally, to view your results, just log into your Google Docs account and your surveys will be there, sorted, ready to read! Nice, huh? I’m no pro, but if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help. Have fun!

If you missed the survey we sent out, you can still view it at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pMDeq1m3fhvynqx_u3n4jGw