PublicInput.com offers a wide array of engagement formats, designed to be flexible and useful for your specific outreach.
You can keep scrolling, or use the links in this table to hop to a specific question type:
Select one option - buttons Select one option - drop down menu | |
Quantitative Questions
Select one option (buttons)
The participant can click once to respond by selecting one of several items. These can be images, words or a combination of both.
Select One Option (dropdown)
Similar to above, this format works well when you have a longer list of items to select from (we recommend this for any list greater than 8 items).
Select multiple options
This format is similar to single-answer, but allows the participant to choose multiple answers, or a specific number of answers you can specify. (i.e. "choose your top three...").
Dropdown format is available but not encouraged as this will lean on native browser formats that may not be clear to all participants.
In the example above, all of the participants are highlighted in blue after responding.
In addition to adding pre-set choices, you can also add an "Other" option that allows the user to add a custom response. Click the Add "Other" button below the choices to include this option. You can then customize the wording prompt if you wish.
The prompt can also be changed later. Enter a desired prompt and click the Save button at the right of the text entry field.
Question with Correct Answer
This is a single-answer question with a pre-defined correct answer that will be highlighted once the participant responds.
Rank Options
Participants are asked to rank-order their top priorities or values. This is very useful when comparing among trade-offs or dealing with scarcity of potential outcomes.
Please check out our blog on Ranking Questions vs. Choose Multiple Options questions for more insight on the 2 and how to read your results. |
In addition to adding pre-set choices, you can also add an "Other" option that allows the user to add a custom response (just like the Select multiple options question discussed earlier). Click the Add "Other" button below the choices to include this option. You can then customize the wording prompt if you wish.
The prompt can also be changed later. Enter a desired prompt and click the Save button at the right of the text entry field.
On the live survey, users can click the Other choice to add their choice in the text entry field before click Add Other. The text entered will then be added to the ranking section as a new option.
Matrix
Matrix questions are a set of questions with the same response options, often a scale. This format is great for comparing related items. Results are displayed inline to provide a quick way to compare opinions or sentiment on each item row.
Consensus
This format is designed to facilitate crowdsourced ideation and crowd review of crowd-submitted ideas.
Participatory budgeting questions allow the public to select specific projects that they'd like to see funded, and can be restricted to a defined budget amount.
Slider
A slider question allows the participant to slide a point between two options (e.g. "Important" to "Not Important").
Please note: Slider questions are fun, but there can only be 2 options on the sliding scale for this question type. If you would like more than 2 response options, such as a center option (e.g. "neutral,") please choose a Matrix question instead.
All quantitative questions have the option to include a comment box & show results (live vote counts) immediately after participation. |
Qualitative Questions (Open Ended)
Comment - open-ended
One-line comment - short answer
Idea Board
A visual representation of comments, ideas, and concepts, much like sticky notes on a wall.
Comment participation can be public or private. If public, participants can engage with each other and staff can reply to comments as an agency administrator. |
If comments are set to Private at any point in the survey, you will not be able to go back and make any privately submitted comments public at a later date. |
We strongly discourage collecting participant information in a comment question. Instead, we recommend using the Contact Information question (below) to collect name, email, and other info so that it is tied to the participant's CRM file. |
Participant Information Questions
The participant can drag a circle to their location on the map or type an address.
The participant can type in 2 streets to find the nearest cross street or drag a circle to their location on the map.
The participant can enter their zip code or drag the circle to their on the map.
This question prompts the participant to enter their Name, email, zip code, phone number, and/or address. These fields are set up by the project administrator and can be customized when setting up the question, and can be required for participants. You can ask just one field, (e.g. just email) or any combination of the fields available.
Geospatial Questions
Allows participants to drop pins and draw lines directly on a map. Participants can add comments to their map pins, or attach images (if enabled.)
Allows the participant to select .KML/.KMZ file shapes, or shapes you draw on a google map:
Select Shape on Image
Allows the participant to select shapes you create on an image.
Demographic Questions
This question set holds all 5 default demographic questions. You can remove questions from the set, as well as add your own custom questions to the module.
The demographics module is customizable. You can add single demographic questions with one click, but you cannot edit them or their response options. This is because demographic questions have default answer options for consistency, and are connected to U.S. Census Data (if enabled.) |
Other (special use questions)
Confirmation Message
This question does not have responses, and is used for an "end of survey" message, such as "Thanks for your input." It's used to confirm the end of a question series or text survey, and does not have any response options.
Skip-Logic enables participants to skip over a question or group of questions that don't pertain to them based on the answer they provide for a specific question.
Skip-logic is different for our 2 project types: |
Need some inspiration? Click Add Question & check out the Examples Library at the top of the question menu!
The examples library shows you existing questions across multiple agencies.
Try it out!