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Include additional self-report demographics in a survey
Include additional self-report demographics in a survey

How to set up self reporting demographic questions within a survey

Jared Ellis avatar
Written by Jared Ellis
Updated over a week ago

What can I learn from this page?

How to set up self reporting demographic questions within a survey

Who is this guide for?

Account Admins, Survey Admins, Survey Creators

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.

Select options

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.

How to add self report survey demographics to your survey

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

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the survey and click Add New Demographic section. A new section will appear similar to creating a new section in the survey designer.

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Note: The section name will be displayed to participants

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

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3. Fill out the demographic question and select options you would like your employees to choose from.

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Note: Demographic questions only accepts single select question types

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

5. By default, the demographic sections will be at the bottom. You can move them to the top of the survey by clicking Move to the Top. We discuss why you might choose to move them to the top in the next section.

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

  • add/edit/delete demographic questions

  • add demographic select options

  • enable other options

  • move demographic questions to not shown to users

  • make demographic question mandatory/optional

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

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Note: you can also add answer based rules on self-report demographic questions

Where should I place the self-report demographics?

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, don’t hesitate to reach out to support@cultureamp.com for help.

How can I add self reporting survey demographics to an Effectiveness survey:

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

  2. Click the Demographics tab

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

  4. Click Add Demographic link

  5. Type the self report demographic question

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

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

Note: Culture Amp will not automatically generate self report demographics for your unattributed surveys. Separately, if you duplicate a template or existing survey with self report demographics, those demographics will be copied over to your new survey.


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