Create quotas

Q. I would like to run an online survey that allows the first fifty people that enter the web site to participate. After 50 surveys have been completed, the survey disallows any other entries. Is this merely a function of setting the survey quota to 50 or is the quota on a per question basis? What does the quota ID mean?

A.  The quota ID is the name you use to reference the quota. It's only use is to identify the quota and allow you to update or edit the quota after you have created it. Try to use a meaningful name for the quota ID, such as Age or Sex. You can also use the Question ID, such as Q1.

To set a quota so that only the survey only allows 50 completes use the first question and set all of the answer options in the Quota Conditions field. For example, if the first question ID is Q1 and is a gender question and 1=male and 2=female, do the following.

• Set the Quota ID to gender

• Make the Quota Condition: {Q1=1}OR{Q1=2}

• Make the Quota Limit = 50

• Make sure to make this question required.

After 50 people answer either male or female, the rest of the people that try to take the survey will be terminated.

A couple of suggestions:

• Keep a close eye on the survey so that you can remove it from publication soon after the quota limit is reached. This way, you will not force a lot of the Web site visitors to terminate (which can cause bad feelings).

• You may want to consider doing a Popup survey.