This article explains how to edit the different parts of a survey (questions, participants, configuration) that has already been launched. Editing a live survey can have different effects on the results, depending on the type of adjustment and question.

One-time surveys

Edit a question

You can edit all types of questions, but you should be aware that editing a question might affect the results of your survey that have been collected from participants until then.

To edit the questions of a survey, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it.
3. Select Edit.
4. Then you can make the changes listed in the table.

Depending on the changes, the results that have been collected until then might be affected, which is why we don't recommend making certain changes as you will lose data.

Note
Re-ordering of questions, adding a new question or duplicating a question has no effect on the previous responses of the survey.

 

Changes that don't affect collected data

Change	Notification/Action required	Effect on results
Change the text of the question or fix typos	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Update, to confirm the change.	This will have no effect on the collection of responses. In the results, only the updated question text will appear.
Change the text of the answer options for single-/ multiple choice questions	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Update, to confirm the change.	This will have no effect on the collection of responses. In the results, only the updated answer option text will appear.
Add answer options for single-/ multiple choice questions	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Update, to confirm the change.	For anyone who hasn't participated yet, the new answer options will be visible and in the results, you will see the responses for old and new answer options.
Change the naming of Favorable labels or Unfavorable labels for scale questions	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Update, to confirm the change.	This will have no effect on the collection of responses. In the results, only the updated labels will appear.
Make a question mandatory by activating Required	Participants who haven't responded to the survey yet will have to answer this question from that moment on.	This will have no effect on the collection of responses.
Enabling Comments for a question.	Participants who haven't responded to the survey yet will have the option to leave a comment on their answer from that moment on.	This will have no effect on the collection of responses.
Adding a Theme to a question	A pop-up will appear informing that the question will be grouped by the selected theme in the result.	You can now group the survey responses by selecting the applied themes.

 

Changes that do affect collected data

The following changes are not as recommended, as you might lose responses that have been collected until then.

Change	Notification/Action required	Effect on results
Change the type of the question	A pop-up will appear where you will be reminded that previous responses to this question will not be recorded. You need to click Change, to confirm the change.	You won't see any previous responses submitted for this question. For anyone who hasn't participated yet, the new question type will be visible and in the results, only the updated question will appear.
Disable Comments for a question.	A pop-up will appear where you will be reminded that comments that were submitted previously will be deleted. You need to click Disable, to confirm the change.	You won't see any previous comments submitted for this question. For anyone who hasn't participated yet, the question will not have the option to leave a comment.
Delete answer options for single-/ multiple choice questions	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Update, to confirm the change.	You won't see any previous responses submitted for this question. For anyone who hasn't participated yet, the new answer options will be visible and in the results, only the updated options will appear.
Delete a question	A pop-up will appear where you need to click Delete, to confirm the change.	You won't see any responses submitted for this question, and it won't be visible to people who haven't participated yet.

Edit participants

You can either add more participants to the survey or remove employees from the list of participants.

 

Add participants

To add a participant to the survey, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it and select Edit.
3. Then click Participants.
4. Search, filter and select the participants you want to add to the survey.
5. In the Add participant pop-up, click Add, and the survey invitation will automatically be sent to the new participant.

Note
Adding participants to a live survey has no effect on the previous responses of the survey.

 

Remove participants

To remove a participant from the survey, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it and select Edit.
3. Then click Participants.
4. Search, filter and select the participants you want to add to the survey.
5. Untick the box in front of the employee name.
6. Click Remove in the Remove participant pop-up to confirm the action.

Note
You won't see any responses submitted by this person, and they won't be able to access the survey anymore.

Edit the survey configuration

In the survey configuration of a live survey, it is not possible to change the privacy settings (make a confidential survey visible or vice versa). It is also not possible to change the start date or time for the survey launch. To change the End date of the survey, or the reminders, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it and select Edit.
3. Then click Configuration.
4. Under Schedule & Reminder, adjust the number of days until the survey should be closed, and make changes to the email reminders.

Note
To close a survey immediately, just click on Close now in the bottom-right corner. A ll existing responses will be saved, and no one else will be able to participate.

Any changes will automatically be updated without any additional confirmation necessary.

Recurring surveys

Recurring surveys repeat over time, for a custom number of rounds. You can edit the configuration for the current round together with all the future ones.

Edit a question

To edit a recurring survey, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it.
3. Select Edit.
4. You can Edit the text and type or question.

When editing a question, remember that:

• If you change the text of a question (for example, fixing a typo), the updated text appears in all rounds (past, current and future). This change does not affect results over time.

• If you change question type: the change applies to current, past and future rounds. This makes the results over time inaccurate. Responses already submitted in the current and past rounds are kept.

• If you add or delete an option in a choice question, results over time will be inaccurate. Note that if you delete an option, it is removed from all rounds, with the already submitted answers.
• If you disable comments, already submitted comments for the current round are deleted. Comments for past rounds are kept.
• If you delete a question: this only impacts the current and upcoming rounds. The question (and relative answers) remain in previous rounds.

Tip
You might need a question to appear on one round only. You can add the question to a scheduled or open round, then delete it when editing the following scheduled round.

Edit participants

To edit a recurring survey's participants, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it.
3. Select Edit.
4. Click Participants.
5. Search, filter and select the participants you want to add or remove.

When editing the survey participants, remember that:

• Deleted participants cannot access the current and upcoming rounds.
• Deleting participants does not impact previous rounds. The participant's responses for those rounds remain.

Edit the survey configuration

To edit the survey configuration, follow these steps:

1. Go to Surveys in the main sidebar.
2. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it and select Edit.
3. Click Configuration.
4. Adjust the privacy settings (only available if the round is still scheduled in the future).
5. Add or remove collaborators.
6. Edit the timeline: change the round duration, the survey's frequency or its closing date. You can set the start date of the upcoming round only if the current one is closed.

Note that you can revert the survey to a one-time occurrence, if the first round is still scheduled in the future.

Tip
When setting or changing the start date of the upcoming round, Personio automatically adapts the survey's frequency options for the next rounds. For example, if the start date is the 4th of December, the yearly cadence is set for the 4th of December of each year.

 

Close the current round

To close the current round earlier than planned, follow these steps:

1. Hover on the recurring survey you want to edit. Click the three dots next to it and select Edit.
2. Click the three dots on the upper right and select Close round.
3. A window opens asking you to confirm your choice. Click Close round.