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= Running a survey at May First/People Link =

MF/PL is planning to offer survey functionality to all of its members.

At the moment, that functionality is under development, but it's reasonably functional.  If you're an MF/PL member, you can participate in this beta if you'd like to.  You can request [/newticket?keywords=survey.dev.mayfirst.org&summary=new+account+on+survey.dev.mayfirst.org&description=Please+set+up+an+account+on+survey.dev.mayfirst.org+for+NAME+with+username+USERNAME+and+email+EMAIL&type=Task/To+do+item request an account by opening a ticket here] -- we'll need an e-mail address at the very least to get you started.

== Offering a survey ==

When your account has been created, you should get an e-mail with a password that you can use to log into http://survey.dev.mayfirst.org/admin

Once you have logged in, click the "create or import new survey" button in the upper right.

Below is a quick start guide for getting a new survey working:

 1. In the top right corner, click the button with the paper and plus sign (Create or import new survey)
 1. You will get a lot of fields to fill out. There are save buttons after each set of fields. Please fill out all the fields before clicking the save button. If you are unsure you can use the default values for just about everything (see the [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Creating+a+New+Survey manual for creating a survey] for more info). Minimally, you should specify the:
  * Survey Title
  * Admin email
  * Bounce email
 1. Create groups. In the right hand corner there's a label that says Groups, followed by a drop down, followed by a paper icon with a plus sign (when you hover over it, it says: Add new group to survey). Click that button to add a new group. In the simplest survey, you just need one group (if you want to get fancy you could have different groups who will answer different questions). See the [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Creating+a+New+Group manual for more info on groups].
 1. Now, enter the questions for this group by clicking the paper plus sign icon after the Questions drop down. The first field is the hardest - it asks for the question code. This field will help you identity the question in a short form when exporting the answers. If you are asking a series of demographic questions, followed by a series of opinions about the war, you might want a coding system that takes these sections into account. For example, dem.gender (What gender if any do you identify with?), dem.age (How old are you?), war.support-prior (Did you support the war prior to the invasion?), etc.
 1. Continue adding as many questions as you need. If you are unsure of any options, see the [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Adding+A+Question manual].
 1. When you are done with your questions, click the green gear icon on the left (which says "Test This Survey" when you hover over it). Make sure all the questions look right. Edit any questions if you need to.
 1. When you are satisfied, click the small green triangle next to the red square on the left (which says "Activate this survey" when you hover over it).
 1. You will see a page that tells you what your survey code is (it's the number in parentheses, such as 19264). You can now publicize your survey. The web address to publicize will be: !http://survey.dev.mayfirst.org/index.php?sid=YOURSURVEYCODE&lang=en. Replace YOURSURVEYCODE with the number of your survey.

== Creating a user account that can offer surveys ==

''this section contains instructions that are only useful for MF/PL administrators''

In the long run, we should be using OpenID to authenticate to limesurvey, and limesurvey account creation should be automatic, with authorization based on the username.  But at the moment, that doesn't seem to be possible.  So when a member requests an account to be able to create and offer a survey you should:

 * visit http://survey.dev.mayfirst.org/admin/ and log in as your administrative user.
 * click the key icon in the upper-left (the tooltip should say "create/edit users")
 * At the bottom of the table of users, you should see three fields, for username, e-mail address, and full name (the columns line up with the columns listed for existing users).  Fill in those fields for the new user and click the "Add User" button to the right.
 * Once the user is created, click "Set User Rights", and make sure that ''only'' the "Create survey" right is checked. (see #371 for an example of why the other rights could cause trouble if used carelessly).