Jisc banner

Online surveys  (formerly BOS)

Powerful, flexible online surveys

Adding pages, text and sections to your survey

This page explains how to build the framework of your survey by adding pages, text and sections.

To access the survey builder icon Survey builder, go to your Dashboard dashboard-icon, locate your survey and click on Design.

Adding pages

The best way to start building your survey is to decide how many pages you will need. Your survey has to consist of at least two pages:

When you first create a survey, you’ll be presented with two blank pages.

  • Page 1 is ready for you to add your questions.
  • Page 2 is the final page of the survey. It will be shown to your respondents after they have submitted their response, so It should not contain any questions; instead, add a Note for a thank you message or debrief.

To add another page to your survey:

  1. Click on Add page between pages 1 and 2.
  2. Enter a title for your new page and click Add page.
  3. To add more pages click Add page in the desired place.

Note: Breaking your survey up into several pages can make it seem less daunting for respondents as they won’t see all the questions at once. It also allows you to add routing to your survey.

Adding text

Every survey should have an introduction explaining what the survey is about, how long it will take to complete and what the data will be used for. You can also add text throughout your survey.

To add text:

  1. Click on Add item and select note icon Note from the drop-down menu. A pop-up window will open.
  2. Type your text into the text box and format it as required.
  3. Click Add note.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add additional notes.

Adding sections

Each page can be divided up into sections (optional). The section titles will appear as subheadings on your survey page.

To add a section:

  1. Click on Add item and select section icon Section from the drop-down menu. A pop-up window will open.
  2. Insert a title for your new section and click Add section.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add additional sections.

You can check your survey framework by clicking on preview survey icon Preview Survey. When you’re happy with it, start adding questions. (You can still change any element of your survey after you have added your questions.)