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LimeSurvey version: 6.5.15+240701
Own server or LimeSurvey Cloud: UQO
Survey theme/template: vanilla/Minimal Template
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Hello,

When my new participants have finished their survey and they click on the "send" button, the page seems to reload and the answers are not saved either on the page or in my database in the "responses" menu. I only see in the database unfinished survey with no answer.

For your information, some of my questions are mandatory and others are not, and I want participants to be able to return to the questionnaire several times to complete it more than once. The parameters for the "Participant Setting" menu are:
- Anonymized responses: Responses to this survey are NOT anonymized
- Allow multiple responses with the same access code: On
- Allow public registration: On
- Use HTML format for participant emails: On
- Send confirmation emails: On

The problem seems to persist whether or not I have a participant table. Also, my organization has changed the Limesurvey platform recently. So I had to export the survey structure from the old version (in the .lss format) and import it into the new version of limesurvey (V6) used by my organization. Previously in the old version, my survey was working fine and there were no problems with data savings. The problem arose when I imported the survey structure into the new version of limsurvey. Just to be clear, I don't talk about the answer previously submitted in the old version, I have export those and I know it is not possible to import them in a new survey. My problem is with the new participants who want to complete my survey.

Thanks for your help.

I only see in the database unfinished survey with no answer.

This is only possible if your questionnaire is all in one. Because with every click on "next" Limesurvey saves responses. So even if the last "page" is not saved, you should still have anything before.

If your survey is all in one and there is an issue when they "send", my suspicion is the notification email. Switch this off and see what happens. Should there be any issue with the notification, this can cause issues with submitting the survey.

I tried to switch it off and it did not work.

Also, I did the test by importing each of my sections separately (.lsg file) instead of importing the whole survey structure (.lss file). I activated my survey with each imported section and was able to send my answers every time, until I imported my last section (section 5) of my survey. Strangely enough, when I imported this section, my problem with submitting my survey responses reappeared. I did the test to delete section 5 in the survey create with the .lss file and the problem disappeared as well.

I'm wondering if the problem could be due to my conditions in this section. In section 5 of my survey, there are conditions that relate to questions in two other sections. However, I can't find the error - there doesn't seem to be a syntax error in my section. Can conditions create problems when importing a .lss or .lsg file?

I tried to switch it off and it did not work.

What does this mean? "It did not work" is not a very good description of an error. So you get to the end of the survey and when clicking on "send" it doesn't send?

From what I understand, your survey is not shown "all in one" (all questions on the same page), when you talk about sections.


However, in this case with each move from page to page Limesurvey MUST save responses. Make a test. Answer the first page of the questionnaire as a test and then look in the response table. The answers must be there. Else there is something seriously wrong with your Instalaltion.

Can conditions create problems when importing a .lss or .lsg file?

We can't rule out anything, but I highly doubt that this is the issue.

Are you able to upload the LSS file of your survey here?

It seems like you could narrow the issue down to section 5 of your survey. That is already some progress. Never the less, you should still see all responses up to that point, as limesurvey saves the answers to the database with each click on "next".

Here is the .lss file.

When   I say "It doesn't work", what I mean is that when I send my answers, the page seems to reload and all my answers disappear. The presentation format of my sections in my survey is set to "All in one". I did a test earlier and when I set the presentation format to "Group by group", I'm able to submit my answers, they save, the page doesn't reload and the answers are saved in the database in the "responses" menu. Ideally, I'd prefer the questionnaire to appear as before on a single page and not section by section.

Would the problem arise because I have too many questions and sub-questions?

In general it is good practice in survey design to go with one question per page, with one or the other exception where you put two questions that need to be together or that are very short onto the same page, which is why we generally recomment to use "question groups" like "pages". Of course, in certain circumstances it can be good or necessary to have all questions on one page. Usually this only works for pretty short questionnaires. Also because the risk for the respondent to "lose" all responses if there is an issue is quite high. Because Limesurvey only saves data once you click on "Next" or "Send".

If you have a very big and long survey, with a lot of variables, etc. there is a possibility that you could run into some server restrictions / limits.

OK, so you really want to show 188 questions, with 338 answer options and 806 subquestions on one page?

As I said before, experience has shown that it is best to show very few questions per page (ideally one by one).

With such a "monster" with 188 questions on one page, responders often become overwelmed. So I would highly recommend to rethink your survey design, purely from a UX and UI standpoint.

Now, given the sheer amount of questions and thus answers that need to be written into the database all at once, you might run into a couple of server limitations, depending on the server configuration.

E.g. the time limit each php script can run on the server, the maximum file / memory size allocated to each php script on the server or the max var limit (limit of variables).

If you have 5 sections (which I assume are question groups), try to show your survey group by group and see how it goes.

It is very likely that the size of your survey is the issue here, because you show it "all in one". 

Another factor about "all in one" is that it takes forever to render the questionnaire at the beginning. At least here it took a couple of seconds until the questionnaire was shown complete.

But looking at the preview of your questionnaire, I think it would highly benefit from being shown "question by question" or at least "group by group". This little monster is intimitating when shown all at once. People might get easily overwhelmed and you can get "lost" in that thing.

Hi,
there are about 1150 columns in the response table.

And 1150 columns on one page?
Obviously the setting of  "max_input_vars" in php.ini is too low.

This is what I get with a real low setting of 1000
 

As your questionnaire is well structured logically (sections) you should use them.
As it is now, it is really not appealling

As @holch: I'd recommend: generally "question by question", and only a few times two or three questions on one page.

Joffm

I know it's better to have a few questions per page to make it more user-friendly for participants. In the case of my survey, it's a data collection grid that my research assistants use to gather information from various user files. As the information is not linear for each file, it was easier for them to have all the questions appear on a single page.

But from what I currently understand, having all the questions on a single page can lead to problems with the server, which causes restrictions.

Use group by group and activate the question index, this will allow the person to jump between sections.