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Slow Survey

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3 years 6 months ago #205036 by WMPsurvey
Slow Survey was created by WMPsurvey
Hello,

After weeks of configuration, I was finally able to get my survey (attached) to have the required functionality. I achieved this through some coding for customization and using relevance equations. Everything works exactly how I need it to work. However, when I performed my beta test, most users reported that the survey was slow and laggy. I assume this is because of the coding and equations. Is there anything I can do to make my survey less laggy?

Thanks!
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3 years 6 months ago - 3 years 6 months ago #205040 by holch
Replied by holch on topic Slow Survey
Part 1 is just fine, but I think your Part 2 is designed too complicated. It takes a while until the dropdowns react, probably due to calculations in the background.

What I also find quite confusing, that you have the main topics (e.g. Talent Acquisition, Learning, etc.) and the sub topics (internal recruitment, external recruitment, etc.) all on one page. I find that quite confusing. Especially, as I can choose a % for both, main topic AND subtopic.

I personally would include more "pages". E.g. I would first ask about the % of all main topics chosen in part 1 on one page and then I would create a separate page for all the subtopics of each of the main topics. This should reduce the calculations necessary per page and it would probably make the survey also more userfriendly.

The problem is the array filter and the huge equations for maximum value and question validation in HR2. The rest of the survey works just fine.

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Last edit: 3 years 6 months ago by holch.
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3 years 6 months ago #205041 by WMPsurvey
Replied by WMPsurvey on topic Slow Survey
I hear what you're saying, unfortunately that won't work. We administer this survey to an HR department. People in HR all do different processes (they select these on the first page), so someone in total rewards would choose Compensation, Retirement Benefits, and Health and Welfare Benefits. When they move forward in the survey, we only want users to see the tasks that relate to the processes they selected. We are asking what % of the time they spend on an annual basis on the tasks. Since the result must equal 100, having separate pages would make things complicated. We want users to see what their options are so they don't need to click back and forth to distribute their time.

I'm not sure what you mean about the main topics and the sub-topics being on the same page. The reason we have the main topics at the top is to separate the processes. I.e., If I select Compensation and Health and Welfare benefits, the processes headings group the tasks for the user. The section headers have an activity under it, I couldn't figure out a way to just make a new section header since I need all the tasks to be in the same table.

The goal is, we only want people to see the tasks that relate to the processes they select on page 1. We want all of these tasks to be on one page, and the % of time spent MUST equal 100%.

Hopefully, the additional background adds color to my requirements. I have a feeling that the only thing that would make the survey work faster is to remove functionality, but I cannot add any extra pages or "clicks" (per my instructions)
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3 years 6 months ago #205042 by holch
Replied by holch on topic Slow Survey

we only want users to see the tasks that relate to the processes they selected.


I understand that. However, you have two levels of topics. The main topics (like Talent Acquisition, Learning) and under each of these you have subtopics.

At the moment I can give 50% to "Talent Acquisition" and then 50% to a subtopic of "Talent Acquisition". This doesn't make sense and it is confusing.

In HR1 I would ask which processes they are involved in. Then in HR2 I would just ask the distribution in % for these main processes (without showing the sub processes). This way it is a lot easier for the respondent to distribute 100% among those topics. And then for each of the main topics I would provide a page with the subtopics and there they can distribute % to the different sub topics.

However, from what I understand now, you actually do not want people to give % to the main topics, but only to the subtopics and they should all sum up to 100%. Currently I don't think this is clear to respondents. You will need to find a way to hide the dropdowns for the main topics then.

Personally, this distributing 100% on all these things a difficult task, especially when you choose many "Main topics" and have a very long list of topics. Also, because the % disappears and you don't know where you are at at the moment. And you only offer steps of 5 percentage points. With a lot of options, you might need to be more granular, if you do some of the tasks, but very, very little. Just imagine you have 11 tasks that you do, 1 of them being the main task, lets say 50% of your time. Then you have 50% left for 10 tasks. This could work with 5% steps, but only if those 10 are igually 5%.

Therefore I suggested to have a step in between to make things clearer for respondents and first put % on the main topics, and then ask the % of subtopics for the main topics.

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3 years 6 months ago #205043 by holch
Replied by holch on topic Slow Survey
I just discovered that you also have Javascript AND for each subquestion relevance equations. I am not surprised that it takes a long time for Limesurvey to validate all these crossed equations, filters and scripts.

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3 years 6 months ago #205044 by WMPsurvey
Replied by WMPsurvey on topic Slow Survey
Under each main topic (in the same question) is the first sub-activity. I get how it looks confusing, but I'm not sure how else to divide the sections while keeping everything in the same table to calculate the =100%.
________________________________

Talen Acquisition (main topic)
_______________
Talent Acquisition Consulting and Strategy
Definition

Input: While Talent Acq is the header, the real question is asking the user what X% of time they spent time on consulting and strategy.
____________________________________

(cont...). It is not an option for me to add any additional pages to the survey or change how it looks/works (stakeholder requirement). I know the lag is caused by the extensive customization. I was hoping there was a way to enhance the survey performance without making significant front-end changes. My huntch is that its not possible, which is fine. Option B is to find another survey tool, but hoping there are some tricks or different ways I could approach the configuration without changing it from the user end. Thanks for your help so far and for looking at it, I appreciate it! Let me know if you think of anything else : )
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3 years 6 months ago #205047 by holch
Replied by holch on topic Slow Survey

It is not an option for me to add any additional pages to the survey or change how it looks/works (stakeholder requirement).

OK, so that is out of the question then. I personally don't think it is a good approach, but I am not a stakeholder. ;-)

I was hoping there was a way to enhance the survey performance without making significant front-end changes. My huntch is that its not possible, which is fine.

Maybe someone finds an approach that can improve on performance. Maybe your code is not 100% ideal. However, your code is quite complex and completely understanding what is happening takes probably a while. The person would have to invest quite some time into looking into the details.

Option B is to find another survey tool, but hoping there are some tricks or different ways I could approach the configuration without changing it from the user end.

I am not an expert if this is mainly a Limesurvey problem and if this would work better in any other survey tool. But to be honest, looking and the different equations I think another tool might run into similar issues. But of course this would needed to be tested.

I think the "header"/"Main topic" issue is something that should be possible to solve relatively easy with Javascript. Let's see if Tpartner or Joffm come up with a solution there.

If I find some time, I might have a look at the equations and see if there is something that can be improved to speed it up. But I think the problem is the complexity of different equations and filters that built on each other.

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3 years 6 months ago #205048 by holch
Replied by holch on topic Slow Survey
Hmm, I deleted all questions but HR1 and HR2 and now the whole survey can't be previewed anymore. I guess I broke the survey. Not sure why this would happen though. Strange.

Are there any equations that would hide HR1 and HR2 without the welcome page and the two "agree" pages?

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3 years 6 months ago #205051 by Joffm
Replied by Joffm on topic Slow Survey
About three months ago there was the same issue here.
forums.limesurvey.org/forum/design-issue...risk?start=15#200962
LimeSurvey IS really slow dealing with such an amount of subquestion each depending on subquestion relevance.
As in HR1 the headers of HR2 are asked you might split HR2 into these 15 questions with question relevance instead of subquestion relevance.

That might help.
According to the validation (100%) you have to find something.
I will try as well.

Joffm

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3 years 6 months ago #205052 by Joffm
Replied by Joffm on topic Slow Survey
And there is an array filter in HR2.
But HR2 and HR1 don't have the same subquestion codes. So the array filter won't work.
As in the manual

The subquestion codes used in the first question must coincide with the subquestion codes from the second one. Otherwise, the array filter function will not filter the answers to the first question. Check the below example to better understand how the whole system works.

And maybe this is another reason for delay.

Joffm

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3 years 6 months ago #205055 by Joffm
Replied by Joffm on topic Slow Survey
The main rason for the delay is your validation.
You calculate the sum 4 times.
In the "Max. Input", the validation and twice in the validation tip.
You should not do this.
After each change of a dropdown all the calculations have to be done.

Do the validation with the tip "Please, the sum of percentages has to be exactly 100%"

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3 years 6 months ago #205056 by jelo
Replied by jelo on topic Slow Survey

holch wrote: Maybe someone finds an approach that can improve on performance. Maybe your code is not 100% ideal.

The performance issues around filtering are unsolved. No difference between LS3 or LS4.

forums.limesurvey.org/forum/design-issue...-subquestions#200822


This performance issue is even more worse when using browser on smartphones.

The meaning of the word "stable" for users
www.limesurvey.org/forum/development/117...ord-stable-for-users
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