knowledge
Knowledge from everyday training practice.
Answers to questions that come up in almost every course I give – for reference, forwarding and doing it yourself. The articles are written in German only. They deal with LimeSurvey in German-speaking universities and public institutions, so that is where their readers are; your browser's built-in translation handles them well if you need it.
When the survey gets stuck: newtest, cache and timeout
The questionnaire starts halfway through, design changes do not appear, the session is gone after a break – three tips that resolve almost all of it.
Read the article (in German) → ```{benutzerrechte}Granting permissions without losing the overview
Who may do what: global user rights and survey permissions are two separate levels. Two ready-made sets of rights show this for a specialist department and for translation.
Read the article (in German) → ```{ebenen}The four levels of a survey – and what the SGQA code is
Survey, group, question, subquestion: knowing the levels means getting lost less often. And it explains the variable names in the response file along the way.
Read the article (in German) → ```{vv}The VV file: the export you should always take with you
The only format that can be read back in without loss. And why a flawless data set never comes straight out of LimeSurvey.
Read the article (in German) → ```{vergleichsoperatoren}Why the greater-than sign takes your condition apart
A > inside a condition can cause errors in the HTML editor. The text forms gt and lt avoid that. And = is not the same as == – a difference worth knowing.
Changing a hundred questions without a hundred clicks
Forgot to set every question to mandatory? Or need a different form of address throughout? There is an efficient route for that – and for a quick translation too.
Read the article (in German) → ```{versionierung}Versioning surveys: two routines you can run yourself
LimeSurvey has no undo across several steps. A daily export and dated copies on the server – both possible without your administrators.
Read the article (in German) → ```{sicherung}What a survey consists of – when moving or backing it up
A survey has six parts. Almost everyone backs up structure and data; resources, theme and timings are regularly forgotten.
Read the article (in German) → ```{quexml}The same questionnaire on paper: queXML
How a survey becomes a printable, scannable paper form, where the limits are – and what fits better if all you really want is to collect data offline.
Read the article (in German) →read_on
Need help with one of these topics, or another one?
I can show you how in a training course or a working session. In the meantime, do take a look at the LimeSurvey forum or the LimeSurvey manual.