There are many expensive tools you can use to create customized polls and questionnaires on your website. Today, I’ll show you how to create a custom, automated poll by embedding a Free Google Spreadsheet.
To see one of these polls in action go to Business Proposal: Find the Job your Meant for and then Business Proposal Results.
Create a List of Survey Questions Using Google Forms
Very Important Note
All of the answers people give will automatically be published on the first sheet of your file. Never manipulate that information or add anything to that first sheet, or you could break the whole system. If you want to work with the data from the survey, do that on a separate sheet within the spreadsheet. To Refer to data on sheet 1 you would use the following code in your formulas SHEET1!C2
Example Spreadsheet Formulas for Manipulating Data
On the second sheet within the spreadsheet, I want to put a person into a specific group based off of what personality they have. I do that with the following formula =IF(EXACT(SHEET1!C2, “Take over a business someone started”), 3, IF(EXACT(SHEET1!C2, “Start my own business”), 9, 0)). Depending on how they answer they will either be assigned the number 3 or 9.
If you didn’t check out my example above you might be confused. The test I’m performing is based off of Myers-Briggs, which is a personality test. My version of the test assigns people into one of nine different personality types. In the formula above I’m checking if their answer is exactly “Take over a business someone started” then assign the number 3 to the person. If their answer instead is “Start my own business” then assign them with the number 9. If they didn’t answer the question, then assign them with the number 0.
Then on the next sheet, I had up the total number of 1’s thru 9’s and figure out which personality they are the most alike. The formula I use to tally the total number of votes for a specific personality is =COUNTIF(SHEET2!C2:BB2, 1). This formula states, look in this row from C2 to BB2 on Sheet 2 and count the total number of 1’s in it. I then proceed to count the number of 2’s, 3’s, etc. Those are the only two formulas I need to make the whole system work.
Embed the Answers in a Web Page
To embed your survey in the webpage, just follow the same steps you used to embed the questionnaire
Create a Bar Chart that Displays the Answers
Embed a Google Chart into a Web Page
Well, I hope you have fun creating your own survey system with Google Spreadsheets. If you need any help, feel free to comment below. It’s worth a little time and will save you a lot of money.
Til next time…
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