What you can do with WebQ

WebQ is an online survey and quiz creation tool that can help you enhance communication with your students and receive valuable feedback from them. Participants respond online to the survey you create, and WebQ automatically compiles their answers. You can read them and view basic response statistics directly on WebQ, or download the responses as a dataset and analyze them in a spreadsheet or statistical package of your own, such as MS Excel or SPSS.

Here are some of the advantages that WebQ offers and some ideas on how you can use it for teaching.

• Participants only need access to the Internet to use WebQ.
• Students can take the quiz or survey outside of class, freeing up time for discussions or collaborative work.
• You can collect, organize, and score the responses automatically.
• You can use WebQ to test student knowledge and interests, and re-assess the material you will cover in the remaining class time.
• You can create short WebQ surveys for one minute "buzz sessions" after each class to assess your students' comprehension of and interest in the lecture material. You can use this feedback to improve your lectures.
• You can have students vote on class issues such as lecture topics, paper due dates, and group presentation order.

Plan your quiz or survey

Although you can easily edit your survey in WebQ, it is a good idea to spend some time planning it before you start to build it. Here are some points that you might want to think about as you plan your survey

Develop your survey or quiz content

We recommend that you type the text of the questions you want to include in your quiz or survey before you start building it in WebQ. This will also speed up the creation of the survey, as with WebQ3 you can easily copy and paste the content of your survey.

Think about the types of questions you want to include

With WebQ your survey will be completely Web-based, and its design and implementation are significantly different from paper surveys. We recommend that you take a look at the possible question types in WebQ before you begin the design process. This way, you have an idea of what WebQ has to offer and you can design your survey taking full advantage of the tool.

Consider if your data needs to be confidential or anonymous

When configuring your WebQ quiz or survey, you have the option of specifying that responses should be either anonymous or confidential. The choice you make determines what identifying information about respondents is recorded, and how it is stored. Anonymous surveys do not record identifying information, while confidential surveys store it separately from responses. To learn more about the alternatives, review the WebQ security options.

Consider how people will access your survey

If you have a class or department Web site, you can provide a link to your quiz or survey from it. This will make your survey much easier to find and access. You can also send an email with the survey or quiz URL to participants, or have WebQ send email announcements when the survey or quiz is published.

Review the participant experience options

With WebQ you can determine what participants can do and see while taking your survey and afterwards. You have the option to set a time limit, allow them to return to previous pages, review and change their responses after submitting the survey, and many more. Check the WebQ guide on customizing your participants' experience to review your options and find out what settings suit you best.

Consider how to encourage participant response

Depending on the type of survey you are creating, you might consider encouraging your participants to take your survey or quiz. One option is to continue contacting them on a regular basis: except for anonymous surveys, WebQ can keep track of participants who have not yet responded and send them reminders as often as you decide. Other options include offering a reward or incentive, or grading student participation.

Think about how you will analyze your data

WebQ allows you to view and download the results of your survey or quiz in a variety of formats. You can view responses and simple statistics online, but will need to download your results in Excel, CSV, or SPSS format for more advanced analysis. It's a good idea to pilot your results to make sure that you are getting the data you need to perform the desired analysis. In addition, you can add abbreviated answers (a code or value) to multiple choice questions that will be recorded in the results; this can help you in the analysis phase.