Collecting data via the Audience Answers tablet survey

You can request a tablet survey by visiting the Audience Answers Survey Command Centre and the survey request webform. Within this form you will be able to enter in the details of your organisation, any additional questions which you would like to be included as well as the methodology you would like your survey to use. Once all your survey details have been confirmed via email, your tablet survey link will be sent to you within 10 working days. 

Audience Answers has an integrated survey app that allows you to collect survey responses both online and offline. As it’s a browser-based application, you don’t need to download or install any specialist software. All you need to do to get started is click the survey link provided when in Wi-Fi range. As long as you have accessed the link online once, via your tablet’s browser, you will then be able switch to offline data collection. 

All responses are stored securely within your browser’s cache. Once the tablet is back within Wi-Fi range, responses can be uploaded to Audience Answers. 

Please note: an interviewer ID must be set before any responses can be uploaded. 

You will not be able to upload any collected responses until you have set your interviewer ID. This is to prevent survey responses being uploaded that cannot be attributed to a specific fieldworker. 

Setting your interviewer ID can be done before you start collecting or before you upload responses. To do this, click on the burger menu in the top right-hand corner. Then select ‘Interviewer ID’ from the drop-down list. 

You will then be able to set your Interview ID. Your ID can be alpha or numeric and can contain special characters. 

No, your Interviewer ID is linked to your device. However, you do need to add your interviewer ID prior to uploading responses (otherwise you will get an error message and will not be able to upload). 

If you switch devices, the fieldworker will need to update the device with their own interviewer ID. Otherwise the device will retain the fieldworker ID as defined by the previous user, and responses will be incorrectly attributed to them. 

There are two ways you can upload your responses: firstly by clicking the green ‘Upload responses’ button which appears upon submission of a response. Secondly, by selecting the burger menu dropdown in the top right-hand corner and clicking the green ‘Upload responses’ button. 

Both ‘Upload responses’ buttons will display a running count of how many responses are stored locally on your browsers cache and are yet to be uploaded. 

As the Audience Answers tablet survey is run on a browser-based application, it is compatible with the majority of tablet devices and browsers, therefore we do not recommend a particular brand of tablet. 

However, please note that the tablet app cannot be supported unless your device can run at least iOS 13 / Android 5.0. 

The Audience Answers tablet survey can be run on any type of device – i.e. a phone or laptop, but for optimum fieldworker and interviewee usability and experience, we recommend using a tablet device. 

You will need to connect your tablet to the internet to access the survey for the first time, via your tablet’s browser, using the survey link provided by our team. After this you can go ahead and collect your data offline. 

This is because the responses get stored in your tablet’s local browser storage (or cache), so you won’t lose any of your data if you go out of Wi-Fi range. 

When you are ready to upload responses to the Audience Answers server, you will need to re-connect the tablet to the internet. If you have a stable internet connection at all times, the app will still work in the same way and you will still need to periodically upload responses to the Audience Answers server. 

If you are collecting data across multiple surveys on the same tablet you will be able to see a list of surveys stored on your device and the number of responses that are yet to be uploaded. To see the list of surveys stored on your device, click on the burger menu in the top right-hand corner and select the ‘Survey list’ option.