Close or Pause Survey Collection

Pause or close collection with a backup export, link review, quota notes, end screens, and fielding records.

Close Collection Carefully

Closing or pausing a research survey should protect participants and preserve clean data. Before changing a live survey, decide whether you need to stop sharing links, close a quota cell, update an end screen, push a revised version, or unpublish the public link entirely.

Download a response export before making any fielding change. Once you push or unpublish, you cannot reliably reconstruct which responses were collected under which version.

Most collection controls are in Deploy. The Published card contains the public link, Push changes, and Unpublish. Quota controls and respondent structure settings are also reviewed from Deploy before you make a fielding change.

Deploy: Publish and Links

Before You Stop Collection

Step 1: Download current data. Open Export and download a backup before changing a live study.
Step 1: Download Export
Step 2: Check active links. Open Deploy and review which public or personal links have been shared.
Step 2: Check Active Links
Step 3: Update recruitment instructions. Stop distributing links through panels, email, course systems, QR codes, social posts, and lab webpages before you change the survey itself.
Step 3: Update Recruitment
Step 4: Use quotas when a cell is full. If only one arm or group should close, review Set Survey Quotas before changing the whole survey.
Step 4: Quota Controls
Step 5: Update end screens if needed. Use End Screens and Debriefing for Surveys when respondents need a closure or quota-full message.
Step 5: Update End Screens
Step 6: Publish any change deliberately. If you edit a live survey, use Publish and Share a Research Survey to make the current version active.
Step 6: Publish Changes

Choose The Right Closure Action

Pause recruitment only: stop sending the link but leave the survey published, useful when a panel or class roster will resume later.
Close one quota cell: adjust the relevant quota or route quota-full respondents to a dedicated end screen instead of taking down the whole study.
Fix a live typo or instruction: edit the survey, then return to Deploy and click Push changes so the published version matches the editor.
Stop all public access: click Unpublish in the Published card after exporting a backup and recording the fielding status.
Close after completion codes: verify that completion code or redirect behavior still works before the final respondents leave the survey.

Document The Fielding Change

Record the exact date and time collection paused or closed, which links were active, how many responses were collected, which quota cells were open, and whether any mid-field wording, quota, Flow, or end screen changes occurred. Add that note to your codebook so later analysis can separate design changes from respondent behavior.

Export: Data Output

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