{"id":425,"date":"2013-09-23T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T19:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debradalgleish.com\/blog\/?p=425"},"modified":"2013-09-23T15:50:25","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T19:50:25","slug":"excel-web-survey-vs-google-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debradalgleish.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/23\/excel-web-survey-vs-google-form\/","title":{"rendered":"Excel Web Survey vs Google Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which number formats are most popular in pivot tables? I have my guess, but wanted to see what other people thought. <\/p>\n

So, I decided to create a survey in SkyDrive, using the new survey builder feature. Well, it\u2019s new to me \u2013 I can\u2019t remember how long it\u2019s been available. Things didn\u2019t go well, but the survey is included at the end of this article.<\/p>\n

Build the SkyDrive Survey<\/h3>\n

I logged into Skydrive, and found the commands to build the survey. You can start one from the main panel, which is handy.<\/p>\n

\"skydrivesurvey\"<\/p>\n

Or, start a survey from the Excel Web app.<\/p>\n

\"skydrivesurvey03\"<\/p>\n

It was easy to create the questions \u2013 the survey builder has a clean layout, with the question setup opening at the side.<\/p>\n

\"skydrivesurvey02\"<\/p>\n

In a few minutes, my survey was ready to share.<\/p>\n

Share the Survey<\/h3>\n

There was a button to create a link to the survey, so I entered that in Firefox, to test the survey.<\/p>\n

\"skydrivesurvey01\"<\/p>\n

It worked well, but the results aren\u2019t date stamped, and there\u2019s no built in charting of the results. Half the fun of taking a survey is in clicking that button, to see how other people have responded.<\/p>\n

Also, I couldn\u2019t see a way to create embed code, to put the survey on a blog. There might be a way to do that, but it\u2019s not obvious to me.<\/p>\n

So, that SkyDrive survey attempt was a disappointment! <\/p>\n

Back to Google Docs<\/h3>\n

I headed over to Google, where I had created surveys before, and built the same survey in a couple of minutes. <\/p>\n

To the Excel Web Survey\u2019s credit, I did find it slightly easy to follow the flow of setting up the survey, and making edits to the questions. <\/p>\n

Share the Google Survey<\/h3>\n

After building the survey, you can create a link, or get the code to embed it in a website. So, I followed the link, and filled in a survey, to make sure it was working correctly.<\/p>\n

When you complete the survey, you\u2019re offered the chance to see the results. Nice!<\/p>\n

\"googlesurvey02\"<\/p>\n

And, back in Google Docs, I can see the survey results, and each record has a date\/time stamp. <\/p>\n

\"googlesurvey01\"<\/p>\n

I hope they add these features to the Excel Web survey tool soon, because they are deal breakers for me!<\/p>\n

Please Take the Number Format Survey<\/h3>\n

Anyway, here is the completed survey form, so please answer the 3 questions to help me see which number formats are most often used in pivot tables. Thanks!<\/p>\n

And here is the link<\/a>, in case you can\u2019t see the embedded form below.<\/p>\n