When To Use Audio Response
Audio response questions let respondents answer by recording or uploading audio instead of typing. They are useful for open-ended interview-style prompts, oral history and language research, accessibility for respondents who find typing difficult, and studies where tone, hesitation, or emotion carries information a text box would lose.
Block Builder: Audio Response
Use audio response when hearing the answer matters. If a written transcript is enough, Short Answer or Text Chat is easier for respondents to complete and for you to analyze at scale.
How It Supports Research Design
- In-browser recording: respondents record directly with their microphone, no extra software needed.
- File upload: respondents can instead attach an existing audio file.
- Maximum duration: caps recording length so responses stay a manageable size.
- Instructions field: tells respondents what to talk about and how long to speak.
Configure It In Domandata
Step 1: Open Block Builder. Open the survey and select the block where the spoken response belongs.
Step 1: Open Block Builder
Step 2: Add an Audio Response question. Choose Audio Response from the question type selector.
Step 2: Choose Audio Response question type
Step 3: Write clear instructions. Tell respondents what to talk about and roughly how long to speak, since there is no text prompt to re-read while recording.
Step 3: Write instructions
Step 4: Set the maximum duration. Choose a limit long enough for a real answer but short enough to keep file sizes reasonable; recording automatically stops at the limit.
Step 4: Set maximum duration
Step 5: Choose recording, upload, or both. Allow upload as a fallback for respondents whose browser or device blocks microphone access.
Step 5: Recording and upload options
Step 6: Preview and grant microphone access. Test both the record and stop controls, and confirm playback works before publishing.
Step 6: Preview the recorder
Preview: Try Audio Response
Audio Response: Respondent View
Record or upload audio — the same recorder respondents use to answer in their own voice.
Data And Export Notes
Each response exports as a downloadable audio file for that question. Audio is stored inline with the response rather than in separate cloud storage, so keep the maximum duration reasonable — long recordings from many respondents increase the size of exported response data.
Related Help
- File Upload Survey Questions for attaching an existing file instead of recording
- Text Chat Survey Questions for structured open-ended text
- Short Answer Survey Questions
- Privacy and Anonymity in Research Surveys
- Prepare for IRB Research Survey Review