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Survey timer and timed survey

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imageSurvey-Setting

What is a survey timer or a timed survey?

A survey timer is a countdown timer set on a survey that displays the time left for a respondent to answer a survey. A survey on which the survey timer is configured is known as a timed survey.

Survey timer shows the preset time limit for a respondent to complete a survey from the time of starting a survey. Respondents need to complete the survey within a certain period of time and when the timer runs out, the survey closes and the responses are marked as incomplete. The minimum time limit is 1 minute and the maximum is 90 minutes.

Market researchers spend a lot of time and research on brainstorming and designing a survey. If the survey doesn’t collect enough number of responses, all the efforts go in vain. Hence, the survey administrator must make sure to set the right time limit for the survey. If the survey timer is set for a too-short time limit, respondents will not be able to answer all the questions, and so researchers will not be able to gather the data required to make decisions. Adding a survey timer makes the data collection experience much more robust as it helps control the pace of the survey and ensure the data collected is accurate and complete.

Example of survey timer and timed survey questions

Assume Walmart wants to conduct a survey to understand the purchasing trends of customers and potential customers. The time to complete the survey is set at 2 minutes. The first question asked can be:

survey timer

On a selection, the next question is displayed with an online timer running in the background so that each respondent can check how much time is left to complete the survey.

survey timer

Uses of a survey timer

The use case of a survey with timer is an online quiz or a questionnaire that should be regulated such that the respondent cannot get external help. In such cases, a timed survey works effectively to collect the right information from the respondent.

The survey timer is apt for online quizzes to ensure that respondents don't have the time to search for external help while answering quiz questions.

You can also use the timer data from the survey responses to see if there was any unscrupulous activity. If a respondent completes the survey in too little time, there is a possibility that he/she may not have answered questions without paying enough attention to the answer options.

You can also use the survey countdown timer to make sure that multimedia content such as videos and audio clips are watched/listened till the end.

Types of survey timer or a timed survey

Some of the widely used survey timers are:

Advantages of using a survey timer or conducting a timed survey

How to use a survey timer in your surveys?

Check out our survey timer help document for a better understanding of how it works.

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