Create Your First Academic Research Survey

Domandata is academic survey software for building social science research surveys with clean structure, controlled flow, and exportable research data. Before adding questions, write down the main construct, treatment, population, and outcome measures your survey needs to capture.

A good first survey usually has a few clear sections: consent, screening, the main task or experimental treatment, outcome measures, demographics, and an end screen. Those sections become blocks in the Block Builder. For a planning checklist, see Design an Academic Survey Instrument. If you are bringing over an existing study, see Import Research Surveys.

1. Step 1: Create the survey shell. From Surveys, click New survey, add a working title your research team will recognize, and open the new survey in the editor.

   Step 1: Dashboard

2. Step 2: Add blocks for each study section. In Block Builder, click Add block and create short block names such as Consent, Screening, Treatment, Outcomes, Demographics, and End Screen.

   Step 2: Block Builder

3. Step 3: Add the right question types. Inside each block, choose question types based on the variable you need, such as categorical choice, open text, ranking, matrix scales, conjoint tasks, sliders, or visual heatmaps.

   Step 3: Question Types

4. Step 4: Name important variables clearly. On the question card, fill in the question name field for responses used in branching, experimental conditions, quotas, or export analysis.

   Step 4: Variable Name

5. Step 5: Save reusable material. Save repeated consent text, demographic batteries, or validated scales to the Library when you expect to use them again. Open Library from the top navigation to review saved material.

   Step 5: Library

Each question type creates a different kind of research data. For categorical variables, start with Multiple Choice survey questions or Dropdown survey questions. For open-ended responses, use Short Answer survey questions. For scale batteries and Likert-style measures, use Grid Matrix survey questions. For preference experiments, use Conjoint survey questions, Ranking survey questions, or Slider survey questions.

You can also show consent language, instructions, or stimuli with Content Blocks, collect image clicks with Heatmap survey questions, use Text Chat survey questions for conversational data, or protect public surveys with reCAPTCHA survey verification.

Use Flow after your block order is mostly stable. Flow is where you connect blocks, create branches, and add experimental condition sets. For randomized survey experiments, see Create Experimental Conditions. If you need balanced sample targets or closing screens for full groups, see Set Survey Quotas.

Use Preview to walk through the survey as a participant. Check required questions, randomization, experimental paths, quotas, page breaks, and end screens. Submit at least one preview response and inspect the export shape before collecting live data. See Preview and Pilot Test a Survey and Export Research Survey Responses.

When the survey is ready for participants, publish the current version and share the stable public link. See Publish and Share a Research Survey and Survey Participant Links.