Jisc banner

Online surveys  (formerly BOS)

Powerful, flexible online surveys

Merging responses from several surveys ADVANCED

You can merge the responses from two or more surveys that have the same structure (the same number, type and order of the questions).  For the merge process to work, all the merged surveys must contain the same number of questions in the same order.  Additionally, the question types must match across all surveys (e.g. if question 1 in one survey is a multiple choice (single answer) question you cannot merge this with a survey where question 1 is a multiple choice (multiple answers) question).  Finally, the questions must contain the same number of answer options.

The merge tool will attempt to match question 1 with question 1, question 2 with question 2 and so on.  If all the questions are the same type (e.g. every question 1 in the surveys being merged is a selection list question), and all questions contain the same number of answer options, they will be merged.  If there is any mismatch between the surveys then the merge tool may attempt to merge questions later in the survey or it may simply stop at the point that the first mismatch is discovered.

To merge responses from several surveys:

  1. On your survey’s Analyse page, click on the Advanced tab and select Merge surveys from the menu.
  2. In the first drop-down menu, select the survey you wish to merge.
  3. Click Next. You will now see a table listing the questions from both surveys side by side.
  4. Check that the questions have been matched correctly and click Proceed with merge (or click Cancel to return to your Summary page).

The combined responses from both surveys will now appear on your Summary page.

To merge in responses from another survey, repeat the steps above.

If you want to save your merged view for later use, click the save icon Save these settings button at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Your view will be saved under the Views tab at the top of the responses list.

To remove the comparison and return to your response summary, click clear Remove advanced reporting at the top of your Analyse page.