This is a demostration of the basic question types and the main features implemented in LimeSurvey, the number one open source survey software.

Thanks to LimeSurvey's open stucture, further custom rating scales and features can be added using own programming skills or plug-ins. Consult the LimeSurvey forum for further information (for example the section "Can I do this with LimeSurvey?"). The layout can be fully customized with the internal theme editor. And the central participant database offers a complete respondent management – including email sendout and reminder management. Extentions, plug-ins, templates, and questionnaires can also be found in the LimeStore, some for free, some are charged.

You want to use LimeSurvey but you don't want to bother with installation of the software on your own server, with maintenance, and with backups? So you might consider using LimeSurvey Professional hosting, where all this burden is lifted from your shoulders. There is also a free account so that you can test LimeSurvey in detail and even do small surveys. If you want to install the community edition (CE) on your own server, but don't want to spend time on installing updates, LimeSurvey's Surveyor Packages including ComfortUpdates might be the right choice.

If you know that LimeSurvey is the right tool for you, but don't have the time to do a study yourself, there are also authorized LimeSurvey partners who offer commercial support – including fully-serviced hosting, support, training, custom code development, customization, survey creation, and theme design.

are used whenever not just one but multiple response options might be valid answers for a question at the same time (for example if respondents are asked to check all products they know).

This question type supports the following options:

• half-open response (with an additional text field)
• minimum or maximum number of responses
• exclusive options
• display in columns or rows
• randomized response order (this helps to avoid biased results caused by response order effects)
• use of graphics
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

are used whenever respondents have to decide for a single response option. Only one option per question can be selected as response. In a well designed questionnaire response options are exhausive (the complete spectrum of possible answers) and mutually exclusive (without overlap). Single choice questions are also used for rating scales (e.g., agree/disagree scale), where response options should be balanced (the difference in meaning between answers should be about the same).

This question type supports the following options:

• display in columns or rows
• randomized response order, which helps to avoid biased results caused by response order effects (randomization of response options should only be used with nominal scales, not with ordinal scales or rating scales)
• use of buttons or your own graphics
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

are handy if there are closed-ended lists containing a complete list of all possible choices (for example country names or departments in a company). Or if you have a fill-in-the-blank task. But be careful: Long lists might overwhelm respondents. And there is the risk that items presented on top of the list are chosen more frequently, just because options on the buttom are not that visible (especially if scrolling is involved like on smart phones and tablets). Overall, survey research shows that this question type might bias your results. So use it with caution and considering a simple single choice question might be better.

By design, in dropdown menus only a single choice can be made. In scrolldown menus more (or all) options are visible and you can select one.

Preselected answers bias your results and lead to an overestimation of the preselected answer. To avoid this configuration error, LimeSurvey automatically adds "Please choose ..." as first option. On smartphones and tablets dropdown menus are frequently presented as spinning wheel. The influence on data quality is unclear.

This question type supports the following options:

• random order of response options
• alphabetical sorting
• use of category separators
• option for "other" with a custom label
• use of an prefix for item lists
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

are used to present a list (battery) of questions that are to be answered on the same response scale. This is space-saving (even though this is not very relevant in online questionnaires) and might lower respondent's burden.

However, grid are not very well suited for devices with small screens (like smartphones) or on narrow browser windows. Grids in these environments have a negative impact on survey experience as they suffer from small font sizes with a low readability or horizontal scrolling, which is likely to bias given responses. To tackle this problem, LimeSurvey's responsive design (layout/theme) automatically splits up subquestions in single(-choice) questions that are displays below each other (stacked). Sounds complicated? Just access this questionnaire on a smartphone or make your browser window more narrow to see this feature in action (if you visit this page on a smartphones please switch to desktop computer to see the difference). All standard themes in LimeSurvey are responsive.

This question type supports the following options:

• repeat answer options after
• random order of subquestions
• theme options:
  – sticky header (stays on top of the page when scrolling down),
  – cross-hover (highlights row, column, and cell where mouse pointer is), and
  – dim (grey-out) answered subquestions
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

Whenever there is no list for all possible answers available (for example because you do not know yet) or a closed-ended list would be rather long and confusing (for example when asking for a favorite brand) or respondents should answer a question in their own words, an open question is the best choice. Open questions are more frequently used for qualitative research questions than for quantiative reseach questions (for half-open questions see the sections on single choice questions and multiple choice questions).

This question type supports the following options:

• size of the text box (width and height)
• maximum number of characters that can be entered
• restrict entries to numbers only
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

are used to rate items on scales of contrasting descriptors (e.g., good – bad or warm – cold).

In LimeSurvey a semantic differential is not a separate question type but can be done by using a standard grid question by just adding both descriptors separate by a vertical bar (the pipe sign: |) as subquestion. Usually the response options in the top bar are left empty.

• repeat answer options after
• random order of subquestions
• theme options:
  – sticky header (stays on top of the page when scrolling down),
  – cross-hover (highlights row, column, and cell where mouse pointer is), and
  – dim (grey-out) answered subquestions
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

are graphical rating scales.

With sliders respondents move a handle on a (horizontal) line between two extreme response options. Sliders might look like fun, but there is some survey research literature out there that shows negative effects of slider scales. So use this rating scales with care – or just use a regular rating scale made of radio buttons instead.

Star ratings are pretty similar to what you know from product ratings in online shops.

Both response scales can be found if you choose single choice question and 5-point rating scales and select a slider presentation in the display options.

This question type supports:

• LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

allows respondents bring items in a certain rank order. Each response options can be dragged and dropped from the left side to the right side. The order of items on the right side can be adjusted be moving items up or down.

This question type supports the following options:

• random order of response options
• … and of course LimeSurvey's general question options (e.g., mandatory, help text, filtering, tailoring, timer, custom styles, and many more)

Some special question types which might be handy for certain surveys are ready to use in LimeSurvey:

• selection of date and time
• equations to do the maths in LimeSurvey (for example to calculate test scores)
• file upload (if respondents should send you pictures or data)
• language switch for multilingual surveys
• collection of browser information
• map question

Some of these question types are presented below.

As LimeSurvey is open source software, users can dig deep into the system to modify whatever they want to change. In the spirit of free and open source software, many users share their modifications with the LimeSurvey community. Overall, more than 100 customizations and workaround are documented in the manual. Here are some examples:

• embedding audio in questions
• card sorting
• filtering answers
• implicit association test (IAT)
• question type "evaluative space grid" (ESG)
• question type "maximum difference" (MaxDif)
• partial and full randomization within and between groups
• loop questions
• prefilling questions
• ... and may more!

The following sections in the manual might be especially helpful:

• Theme Editor
• Workarounds: Manipulating a survey at runtime using Javascript
• Workarounds: Question design, layout and templating
• Workarounds: Survey behaviour

Furthermore, there is a special section in the LimeSurvey forum "Can I do this with LimeSurvey?".