Touch screen surveys are a great way of getting feedback on your product or services in a timely and cost-effective way. Touch screens are essentially a computer monitor with a touch sensitive overlay in the form of glass or other material. Users are presented with a series of question/answer pairs and can respond to the survey by simply touching the answer they want. Touch screen surveys are being seen more and more these days in many applications such as customer feedback and patient feedback surveys for the NHS.

Touchscreen surveys provide a fast way to get feedback from patients and customers. Survey responses are available in real-time so you can change your service on a daily basis. The surveys can be changed or modified if required so the touchscreen surveys are highly adaptable.

Compared with paper based surveys which can be high on errors and part-filled responses, touchscreen surveys often work out to be a lower end cost. Once the initial hardware investment is taken into account you can then run multiple surveys or add additional features.

Touchscreen survey systems can be setup with microphone, speakers and cameras so that people can provide feedback as audio or video clips. This is a great way to deal with those with learning difficulties or for those who want to leave feedback quickly. Users can also be presented with audio clips – music or voice and select the response they prefer.

Online survey software is great for running surveys on a website but have limitations when using a touch screen survey. Touchscreen surveys should be designed with large buttons and the ability to scale the presentation for any size of touchscreen.

Survey Software The touchscreen survey is created using online survey generation software where you log in and start creating your survey. Typically, users have different levels of use such as the ability to create surveys or just to be able to view the responses.

Each survey is created using a simple step by step process where the first step is to enter the basic details about the survey. Users can enter a start and end date such that the survey will only be available for use during a particular timeframe. The survey can be given a name and include helpful instructions for the end user which will guide them through the survey process. The survey can also be setup such that the end user has to answer all of the questions (mandatory) or not.

Touch screen surveys can present a variety of question types. Simple text answers allow users to enter textual feedback. Multi-choice answers are a quick and easy way for users to provide feedback. Preference range answers enable users to provide a range of responses (e.g. Good, Ok, Bad) for a number of questions. The survey software may also present the user with a form to fill out (e.g. please enter your email address). The survey software may also provide a validation on the input entered by the user to ensure that the data retrieved is valid.

Skip Logic Skip logic means users will only be shown questions which relate to their previous responses. As an example, a user may be asked their age and if they are below a limit (e.g. under 18) then they skip ahead a number of questions.

Survey Themes Each touchscreen survey can be customised in look by uploading background and header images so you can include your own logo or other images. The survey can further be customised by selecting the font, text sizes and colours to be used for the text. Finally, users can select from a range of button styles and other elements to create a survey which fits with their business style.

Survey Results Responses from the survey are available in the form of reports which can be exported to Microsoft excel and other application for further analysis. Reports are usually available in numeric/text and graphical form and usually you can export the report as a PDF document.

Types of touchscreen The touchscreen element itself is available in a number of different technologies with resistive and capacitive being the most popular. Resistive touchscreens can be used with a finger touch and with gloved hands or pointing device. Capacitive touchscreens are great where you need more toughened glass. For NHS or other organisations, the touchscreens can have privacy filters fitted to them so that users can provide feedback securely and privately.

Running surveys on touchscreen kiosks Touchscreen kiosks are similar to touchscreen monitors but include the computer parts and may have a keyboard, printer or other device to enable additional features. The kiosks can be branded so that users see the device as a touchscreen survey point. The touchscreen survey kiosks can be wall-mounted, free-standing or portable devices which are great for getting feedback during one-to-one consultations.

Conclusion If you are tasked with running a survey for your organisation then touchscreen surveys should be considered. For healthcare organisations which run many surveys with thousands of potential users the touchscreen survey will quickly return results and cover the initial investment.