It is possible to use additional demographics in a survey for data that may not be known by the organization, such as "How do you travel to work?", or "What are your preferred hours of work?". These are referred to as self-report demographics, as the participant is selecting which demographic option applies to them. These questions could be 'regular' questions that are asked in the survey, but the benefit of making them demographic questions is that you can use the results as filters in your reports (as opposed to just getting a count of how many people chose each option in a bar chart).

This is commonly used when designing an unattributed survey as you will need to ask people to nominate their Department, Location, or other demographics that you would like to analyze the data with. For more information about designing your survey as unattributed or attributed, you can find it here.

You can also add self reporting demographic questions to your Effectiveness and Experience Surveys as well.

Only single select question types are relevant for self report demographic questions, with the list of select options being set up as Answer Details.

When defining select options, remember that self report demographics are held to your reporting group minimum, typically 5, so try to make your options apply to more than 5 people who will be invited to participate in the survey.

If you need to set up a long list of select options, say more than 10, just copy the options to the clipboard, then paste into the first select option field. The system will split these out into separate options automatically (saves a whole lot of individual copying and pasting!).

When there are more than 12 select options, the system will make this field display as a drop-down list (as long as the Other option has not been enabled). People can use the search function at the top if the list to quickly find the option they need.

This covers how to add self reporting demographic questions to your Attributed, Unattributed and Experience type surveys:

At the bottom of the survey designer, click Add New Demographic section.

To add a self-report demographic question, click Add Demographic Question

Type out the demographic question and the associated demographic options.

Add a demographic label. This will be the text that will show in reports as a filter.

By default, the demographic sections will be at the bottom.

Similar to any normal sections you create, demographic sections follow the same path. You can do the following:

Self-report demographic questions will be displayed on the Demographics page but as view only.

You’ll notice you have the option for your self-report demographics to come at the beginning of the survey or at the end of the survey. Typically, we recommend having the demographics at the end of the survey so you don’t prime the respondent with their demographics. This is especially true when running an inclusion survey. Asking questions about someone’s identity prior to asking questions about Voice or Belonging makes those pieces of their identity more salient and could influence a respondent’s objectivity. For the extra geeky, check out the concept of stereotype threat to learn more.

There are exceptions when you would want the demographics to come at the beginning of the survey. For example, if you are running a training feedback survey, you would want the participant to select the name of the training they took first so they can have this in mind as they answer the remaining questions. If you have questions about whether your unique demographics should come at the top or bottom of the survey, just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.

Click the Edit survey option for a specific survey on your Surveys page

Click the Demographics tab

Click Add Section link and type a name for the section > Create

Click Add Demographic link

Type the self report demographic question

Type a name for the self report demographic in the Short Description (this will be used in reports)

Type the possible select options for the question on the Answer Details tab.

💬 Need help? Just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.