Google Forms can be made anonymous to entice more people to participate in the survey. People are more willing to give feedback when they know they won’t be victimized. People often shy away from filling in surveys or Google Forms when they know their identity will be known. Therefore, the best idea would be to make Google Forms anonymous to get honest feedback without necessarily knowing who said this or that.
Hugely, the anonymous Google Forms encourage participation by protecting the identity of the respondent. The only disadvantage is that you won’t be able to follow up with the user in case they filled out something that needs immediate reaching out. When it is an anonymous form, not even the survey administrator will be able to know the details of the users.
Most anonymous surveys can be carried out online, by phone, email, or in person without necessarily getting the user’s name. In this article, we will learn more on how to make Google Forms anonymous and why you should do it.
Why Should You Make Google Forms Anonymous?
If you doubt making your survey anonymous through Google Forms, these benefits should convince you otherwise:
- Honest feedback – People may shy off from saying some stuff when they know, their identity will be recorded. However, when it is anonymous, people easily speak their minds. Additionally, it helps reduce biases based on the person, how they are, their upbringing, or social status. Therefore, all the captured data will be analyzed equally.
- Increase participation – People are more prone to taking part in anonymous Google Forms since they know that the responses won’t be linked to their identity. Therefore, they can speak their mind without judgment.
- Protect Privacy – Anonymity makes people want to participate knowing that the responses they give won’t be used to question them. For example; when requesting employee feedback.
- Gather more data – Since people don’t have to disclose their identity, more data will be collected, and people won’t feel as if they will be questioned afterward. Also, people will be more willing to answer sensitive questions and even give their honest views without fear.
How To Make A Google Form Anonymous
The process of making Google Forms anonymous is not that complex. You just need to follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Access Google Forms
First, access Google Forms online to create your intended form based on what you want to ask people or the data you want to collect. You will need to sign in to your Google account or sign up for an account if you don’t have one.
Step 2: Create a blank Form
Once logged in, you will be able to create a form. If you have previous forms, they will be shown there. However, if you have never created one, there won’t be any forms shown. Choose to create a blank form and label it as you want.
Step 3: Add questions to the Google Form
Proceed to add questions to the form – they should be linked to the topic and the kind of data that you want to gather. Make sure you ask the questions that will help you gather the data that you want seamlessly.
They can either be open-ended or close-ended questions. However, try to have more close-ended questions than open-ended ones because people are busy and the faster they fill it the better. 30% should be open feedback and 70% should be closed-ended answers.
Step 4: Configure Settings
Select the “Settings” tab on the main menu and on the responses option under “Collect email addresses”, change to “Do not collect”. You can also choose for the answers to be sent to Google Sheets directly and modify other settings.
Step 5: Complete the Google form
Once done configuring the Settings, proceed to complete the Google form with the questions that you want. Once you feel satisfied with the outlook, set it to live and preview your form by clicking the eye icon. You can also change the theme of the form to be as you please.
Step 6: Test the Google Form
It is crucial to test the form to see whether it is working well. Therefore, fill out the form and see whether your identity will be anonymous. The response should appear under the Responses Tab and the Google Sheets if linked.
Step 7: Share the Link for Filling
To share the link, click on the “Send” button in the top right corner of the screen, then select the link icon and copy the link. You can also shorten the URL for easy sharing.
As easy as that.
Why Is Google Forms Preferred By Many Users?
Google Forms is one of the best and easiest to use. Through it, you can easily analyze results in real time and even derive reports from the findings. It is mostly preferred because you can:
- Easily limit the responses to one per user.
- Allow autocomplete answers through machine learning & predictive analysis.
- Customize the form based on different themes.
- Shuffle the order of questions.
- Analyze the survey data using the in-built reporting
- Send unlimited
- Choose from 12 different field types and question types.
- Easily include text, photos, and videos.
Maintain Anonymity In Your Google Form Responses.
By changing the anonymity setting, you will be able to acquire genuine data for sensitive topics that people would not be willing to discuss. However, in as much as anonymous Google forms can help gather enough data, there can be some limitations in not knowing who said what for follow-up, inability to verify information given, it can be hard to monitor the progress of someone based on feedback given, you can’t give gratitude to those who filled the survey, it will be hard to segment the data and even contact the participants.
FAQs
Q. Is it better to have anonymous responses or have the user’s details?
It all depends on the topic and how likely people will give genuine responses without feeling that they will be victimized.
Q. What are other alternatives to Google Forms?
Microsoft Forms, Zoho Forms, ClickUp, TypeForm, Wufoo, FormStack, Jotform, FormSite, and much more.
Q. Is Google Forms free to use?
Yes, you can create a survey through Google Forms for free.
