Capture external data

What is an external reference variable?

An external reference variable is used to pass data to the survey and associate responses with their respondents. You can assign an ID number or other information that will uniquely identify a respondent to the ext_ref variable. When the results are collected, the ext_ref variable is captured and stored with the other data. An external data reference can also be added for each survey participant while distributing emails.

The &ext_ref variable is automatically captured in the raw response data. You can use it later, along with survey reports to analyze data. While using a reference variable in QuestionPro Surveys to capture external data, below are some of the points to keep in mind.

• The external reference variable can store up to 64 characters.
• You can use alphanumeric characters (A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9).
• Accented characters or characters from languages other than English may not get saved. Please limit it to English characters.
• You cannot use the pound/hash [#] in the external reference variable.
• We recommend not to use commas and quotation marks (single or double) in the ext_ref variable.

Example of external reference variable in surveys

Consider a University that wants to conduct a course evaluation survey. You can append the external reference parameter (ext_ref) with the URL, as shown below.

http://surveys.university.org/?ext_ref=course_name

You can also use ext_ref to create a survey that identifies unique respondents.

http://surveys.university.org/?ext_ref=student_id

If you are using the email list management interface to send out a survey email, add the following tag to your survey invitation.

&ext_ref=xxxx

Note: The mail merge tags are special variables that are used in email list management to track the email addresses of respondents. Append &ext_ref=xxxx at the end of the mail merge tags.

Uses of external reference variable in surveys

• Collect respondent specific data: External reference data can be used to gather data specific to each respondent, such as customer id or employee id.
• Link secondary data with survey results: You can view a bigger picture by collecting secondary information through external reference variable and using it while analyzing the results of primary data.

Advantages of capturing external data

• Analyze individual responses: Once you have the respondent specific information, you can analyze individual feedback and address areas of concern, if any.
• Compare historical data: You can compare historical feedback for an individual respondent and know if his/her experience has improved.

How to use external reference variable in your surveys?

Learn how to set up and use this feature with our help file on custom variables.