We definitely want you to qualify for and complete all the surveys that you are invited to but realistically that isn't going to happen as no-one can qualify for everything.
This article helps to consolidate information from multiple areas that relate to each status.
[ Completed ]
A survey will be recorded in history as "Completed" when the survey has qualified and completed in at least the notified time, and when the survey has been redirected back to the Octopus Group website.
To receive the survey incentive automatically upon completion of the survey make sure to follow all prompts till you've been redirected back to the Octopus Group website.
Manual incentives will be applied for non-standard survey setups and for surveys amendments identified at the status checking project stage.
[ Screened Out ]
A survey will be recorded in history as "Did not qualify" when the survey has not qualified to continue.
This means the responses to the screening questions identified the target group of the survey participant as not needed for the project
Note: Our clients apply our statuses as redirections from their surveys, they may not implement the non-complete statuses consistently.
I.e. A "QA flagged" status might be returned as "Screened Out"
[ Quota full ]
A survey will be recorded in history as "Quota full" when the target group for the survey has reached the assigned target number.
Once a survey nears completion there are likely to be many target groups that are close to or are full.
Octopus Group can be commissioned at any stage in the project so it is possible to receive and attempt a survey immediately and still be redirected as quota full.
[ Duplicate ]
- The survey has been previously attempted via a different survey providerWe do not restrict how many survey providers a member decides to join, however, it should be understood that being an active member of other survey providers will incur more disqualified surveys with Octopus Group. The identification and disqualification happens at the survey tool stage using a form of digital fingerprinting. This technology is not 100% accurate i.e. totally different people may be duplicated based on IP address alone.Being disqualified is identified by the client's survey tool, not Octopus Group.Once identified as a duplicate the survey id cannot be reset to allow an additional attempt.
- The survey only allows only one access.On rare occasions a survey will have a limit of one attempt/start, and if anything breaks that session it will be marked as duplicate on subsequent attempts/starts. We inform you of this requirement on the pre-survey notification page.
All network connection issues are the responsibility of the internet provider
[ Paused ]
A survey will be notified in the survey list as "Paused" when the survey has been identified either having an error that needs fixing or the target group has been filled (or nearly filled).
If a survey is paused it won't be accessible but don't worry it's nothing that you have done.
Octopus Group staff have to pause surveys for a few reasons:
- If there is an issue with the survey that our client needs to fix it before responses can be collected correctly.
- If a particular target group has been filled, we'll pause that group. The client may open that group up again if other targets are not filled.
- If a survey has collected the total target it is after, but the client is still doing the final data validation.
- If the survey is a tracking (ongoing) study and will be opened and closed on a frequent schedule - (This means you'll have another opportunity later when it is unpaused)
In all these instances we rely on the client to ask us to pause and unpause as necessary. If we unpause a survey or a specific target group we will also send reminders so that members are re-notified.
[ Technology Flagged ]
A survey will be recorded in history as "Technology flagged" when the survey has been identified as failing the technology validation checks.
- Already attempted surveyThis is covered in more detail under Duplicate, however the identification of a previous attempt could also be listed as technology flagged.
- VPN'sVPN usage can be automatically flagged as there is technology to identify this and some clients implement disqualification of VPN users.
- Out of countryAccessing a survey from outside of the country listed in the account may also be disqualified.
A survey will be recorded in history as "QA" when the survey has been identified as failing the quality validation checks.
- Similar question check
This is where questions are repeated to validate consistency of answers. - Text question checks
This is where text responses are evaluated for valid responses. Keyboard mashing is never acceptable so if the question can't be answered, then a response explaining that should be entered. - Other security checks
Security checking can take many forms, each of these processes are uses to provide confidence in the data quality. We know that the majority of our members are doing the right thing.
[ Started ]
[ Not Attempted / Fresh ]
If the survey is live, this is a totally new and untouched survey invitation.
If he survey has closed, the initial state of the survey invitation that was sent but never attempted.