Overview

The YSC Portal allows you to create custom surveys to collect additional information from students and judges beyond the standard registration fields. This feature is useful for gathering dietary restrictions, t-shirt sizes, accommodation needs, workshop preferences, or any other information specific to your regional fair.

Accessing the Survey Manager

To create or modify surveys in the YSC Portal:

1. Click on your fair's name in the left sidebar
2. Select Surveys
3. You'll see a list of any existing surveys for your event

Types of Surveys

You can create two types of surveys:

• Student Surveys: Information collected from student participants
• Judge Surveys: Information collected from judges

Each survey can contain multiple questions of different types, allowing you to gather precisely the information you need.

Creating a New Survey

Step 1: Create the Survey Container

1. Click Create Survey

2. Fill in the following fields:

   • Survey Name (English): A descriptive name like "Additional Information" or "Dietary and Accommodation Needs"
   • Survey Name (French): The French equivalent if your fair is bilingual (can match English if not using French)
   • Active: Set to "Yes" to make the survey appear in registration forms
   • Survey Type: Select "Finalist" for student surveys or "Judge" for judge surveys
   • Event: Select your current fair event from the dropdown

3. Click Create Survey

Step 2: Add Questions to Your Survey

After creating the survey container, you'll need to add questions:

1. Find your newly created survey in the list and click the eye (view) icon

2. Click Create Question

3. Configure your question details:

   • Question Type: Choose from multiple choice, multiple answer, open text, yes/no, or document/image upload
   • Question (English): Enter your question text
   • Question (French): Enter the French translation if applicable
   • Required: Set to "Yes" if participants must answer this question
   • Sort Order: Determines the order questions appear in the survey (lower numbers appear first)

4. For multiple choice or multiple answer questions, add answer options:

   • Data Value: A single-word identifier for the database (not seen by users)
   • User Value (English): The answer choice visible to participants
   • User Value (French): The French translation if applicable
   • Click the plus icon to add more options

5. Click Create Question to save

6. Repeat this process to add additional questions to your survey

Question Types and Their Uses

The YSC Portal offers several question types to choose from:

Multiple Choice (Single Selection with Radio Buttons)

• Best for: Questions where only one option can be selected
• Examples: T-shirt size, meal preference, preferred judging day
• Configuration: Add all possible choices as answer options

Multiple Answer (Checkboxes)

• Best for: Questions where multiple selections are allowed
• Examples: Food allergies, workshop preferences, available volunteer times
• Configuration: Add all possible choices as answer options

Open Text

• Best for: Collecting free-form responses
• Examples: Special accommodations, additional comments, biographical information
• Configuration: No additional configuration needed

Yes/No

• Best for: Simple binary questions
• Examples: Permission to use photos, interest in volunteering, attendance at events
• Configuration: No additional configuration needed

Document or Image Upload

• Best for: Collecting files from participants
• Examples: Permission forms, project abstracts, profile photos
• Configuration: No additional configuration needed, but consider specifying file type and size expectations in the question text

Editing Existing Surveys and Questions

You can modify surveys and questions at any time:

To Edit a Survey:

1. Find the survey in the list and click the pencil (edit) icon
2. Make your changes
3. Click Update Survey

To Edit a Question:

1. View the survey by clicking the eye icon
2. Find the question and click the pencil (edit) icon
3. Make your changes
4. Click Update Question

To Delete a Question:

1. View the survey by clicking the eye icon
2. Find the question and click the trash (delete) icon
3. Confirm deletion when prompted

Common Survey Question Examples

Here are some useful questions you might want to include:

For Students:

• Dietary restrictions or preferences
• T-shirt size for fair merchandise
• Transportation needs
• Parent/guardian contact information
• Media release permission
• Special accommodations required
• How they heard about the fair

For Judges:

• Dietary restrictions or preferences
• T-shirt size
• Previous judging experience
• Areas of expertise
• Scheduling preferences
• Conflicts of interest with schools or students
• Interest in other volunteer roles

Viewing and Exporting Survey Responses

After participants complete your surveys, you can view and export their responses:

1. Go to Assets in the sidebar
2. Select Users
3. Use the filter to select your event and user type (Regional Fair Participants or Judges)
4. Select the users whose information you want to export
5. From the Choose an option dropdown, select Export Users
6. Check the box for "Survey Responses"
7. If you included document uploads, also check "Survey Documents"
8. Click the blue action arrow

The system will generate an Excel spreadsheet with all responses and a zip file containing any uploaded documents.

Best Practices for Surveys

• Keep it concise: Only ask for information you actually need
• Clear instructions: Make questions easy to understand
• Logical order: Group related questions together
• Default options: For multiple choice questions, consider which option should be the default
• Required vs. optional: Only make questions required if the information is essential
• Testing: Create a test registration to verify your questions appear and function correctly
• Privacy: Only collect personal information that is necessary for your fair

Troubleshooting

• Survey not appearing: Ensure the survey is set to "Active"
• Question not visible: Check the user type setting (Student vs. Judge)
• Response issues: Verify the question type is appropriate for the information you're collecting
• Multiple surveys: If you have multiple surveys, check the sort order to ensure they appear in the desired sequence

If you encounter issues with surveys that you cannot resolve, contact Youth Science Canada at support@youthscience.ca for assistance.