Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The most popular

What are the "User Parameters" and how do they work?

prostopros.ru has designed a system which allows the persons taking part in a survey to be identified and to be controlled when the survey is sent using the "From my own mail" method. For this purpose, two new parameters (ShipID and CustID) have been created; the two parameters must be included in the survey sent to the participants. Click here to see a guide of how the system works.

How do I export the results of my survey to Excel?

You can consult this guide which helps you work with the results of your surveys in Excel.

How do I import data from Excel to "My Lists"?

There are several ways of collecting the results of a survey. One of these is through the My Lists application in prostopros.ru. Through My Lists, the link can be sent to a mailing list in an e-mail generated by prostopros.ru. For this purpose, it is necessary to import a list of e-mails in the space provided. The system will send the personalized invitations for your survey to be answered, and it will also monitor who responds to it. Therefore, the system monitors the status of each survey, inviting new participants or sending reminders for the invitations when applicable. Click here to see an explanatory document which will guide you through the use of the system.

How do I import data from Outlook to "My Lists"?

Exporting from Outlook to My Lists. Click here to see a guide on how to use the system.

Can I change the URL address of prostopros.ru in the browser menu?

One of the questions most highly valued by companies and organizations when carrying out an online survey is the possibility of being able to customize the survey in order to adapt it to meet corporate image requirements. From the prostopros.ru control module, the logo can be added, the colors and the footer can be changed, and the survey can be redirected to certain websites.
When you compile answers online, a URL for prostopros.ru appears on the browser menu, given that our servers are being used. The URL address of the browser cannot be changed through the control module. In these situations, the most ideal solution is to create a sub-domain in your DNS, within the web domain you own, indicating the prostopros.ru systems, and therefore the URL of your sub-domain will appear in the browser menu of the questionnaires. This could be a complicated task if you do not have enough expertise at technical level, but your systems technicians will not have any difficulties whatsoever in doing so. Remember that if automatic sending is used from My Lists, the prostopros.ru reference cannot be changed and you will have to send the message yourself.

General

What is prostopros.ru?

prostopros.ru is a complete solution for carrying out Internet surveys.
prostopros.ru provides everything necessary for carrying the simplest to the most professional surveys via the Internet.
Easily create surveys and get the responses that you need.

Who uses prostopros.ru?

Companies and professionals that need information in order to make decisions. Marketing, market research and human resources departments, as well as product designers, webmasters, NGOs, political analysts, etc. Basically, anyone who might need to carry out a survey to gather any kind of information uses prostopros.ru.

How does prostopros.ru work?

Register and use our simple survey editor to create your survey. You can invite the respondents to take part via Email, with a button on a website, or through  pop-ups, i frame, mobile devices, by telephone and/or paper. The results of the surveys will be at your disposal in real time.
Surveys can be created and activated in a matter of minutes, without the need to contract programmers. All the surveys are hosted in our powerful servers, thus allowing you to save all investment and maintenance costs.

Advantages of prostopros.ru compared to other research methods

The main advantages of online research vs. traditional methods are the following: low costas it is not necessary to hire interviewers, and the speed  provided by the Internet, given that the entry and processing of data are immediate.
prostopros.ru provides you with a powerful, user-friendly, professional tool which allows you to save much time and money due to its superior technology. prostopros.ru provides you with the most efficient technology on the market.

How long does it take to launch a survey?

Just 10 minutes to launch a simple survey with a few questions.
To create a long survey, with complex questions, it takes somewhat longer. However, if you use one of our templates it won't take much time at all.
After you have finished designing the survey, you'll see questions being compiled in real time.

Are there limits for saving surveys or their results?

The surveys and their results are stored indefinitely in our server, as long as you have an account with us or until you decide to delete them. With the free version, the results storage period is limited to 90 days from the time the survey is created.

What are the technical requirements for using prostopros.ru?

No type of download is needed, nor are there specific requirements.
To create a survey, you only need to have a modern browser with the cookies and javascript enabled.
However, a survey can be answered using any browser even if it does not accept cookies or Javascript. This means that anybody connected to Internet can answer your surveys.

Do I need to download software? what about the respondents?

No. You do not need to download any kind of software. As the creator of the surveys, you will need Javascript and to enable cookies, which any modern browser will have.

I have heard that research experts do not agree about how useful Internet surveys can be

A web survey does not yet represent the “general” population. A web survey reaches people who are connected to Internet or who have e-mail, just as a telephone survey only reaches people who have a telephone, or a survey in a shopping mall only reaches people who visit shopping malls, etc.
However, the Internet is extremely useful when the people you wish to interview go online. For example, if you wish to interview the employees of a multi-national company, or your customers or suppliers, the Internet is the most practical way of doing it. Furthermore, an Internet survey saves time and money for both those who are carrying out the survey and those filling it in.

How are security and privacy safeguarded?

Confidentiality:   prostopros.ru will not use, in any way whatsoever, the information gathered in the surveys you carry out. Password:  Saved in encrypted form in a secure database; it will not, under any circumstances, be stored on the websites browsed by users. When a user wishes to gain access, the password entered is compared with the password we have on our database (which is the encrypted database), and if they match then access is gained - otherwise access is rejected. E-mail addresses:  If you wish to use our system to send invitations to take part in your survey using the My Lists sections, you should note that your e-mail addresses are stored in encrypted form in your database, so that not even the prostopros.ru team can access them. We take the privacy and security of our customers very seriously. We have published our policy of security  and privacy  rules, strictily maintained.

How much do prostopros.ru's services cost?

We can offer you different subscriptions monthly & yearly whose prices vary depending on the number of respondents by survey you wish to receive.
You also have the option of testing the application's entire capacity
 free of chargeyou can have an unlimited number of surveys each with 100 questionnaires, totally free of charge. You can decide to purchase one of the payment accounts.

Regarding methodology

What does the "methodology" of a survey consist of?

The "survey methodology” refers to a series of practices and principles which set market research apart from merely asking questions. The goal of a good methodology is to obtain all the necessary information and to ensure that the results are reliable, accurate, and useful for the survey creator.
A good methodology involves good planning of questions, a proper selection of respondents, and for the questionnaire to be simple and comprehensible. If you need help in any one of these areas, you will find information here:
Selecting respondents Preparing effective questions

Is the Internet a good medium for interviewing people?

Yes, if the people you wish to interview are connected to the Internet.
Most survey creators find that the persons they wish to interview use the Internet. For example, surveys for executives, employees, consumers with high purchasing power, university students, etc.

Are Internet surveys valid?

Just as with traditional paper surveys, the results of a survey which is well designed and executed will be more "valid" than a poorly made survey.
The information contained in this "frequently asked questions" section, and the information furnished in other sections of this Website, will help you to design excellent surveys.

Who should I interview to obtain the best results?

The information provided by a survey is useful for learning about the group of persons answering the survey or about the persons similar to those who have answered. Therefore, the results of a survey made to retired persons will not be very useful for taking decisions regarding working persons.

How do I create efficient questions?

When preparing a question, the most important thing is to know what information you wish to obtain. Many interviewers find it is very useful to write the information they wish to obtain first, before writing out the questions.

Generally speaking, a question must be designed in the simplest and clearest form possible. The idea here is to make the questions as concise as possible and for the whole world to understand it the same way.

For example, a question such as “If the general elections were today, who would you vote for?” is better than “Who would you choose?” because the latter could be interpreted in different ways (who do you like best, for example). Likewise, "Assuming the general elections were today, who would you give your vote to?” is a question which is too long and complicated.

It's important not to use words which could have an influence on the respondent's response. For example, “On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate an omelette chewing gum flavour?” is better than “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you dislike the flavour of an omelette chewing-gum?”

And, lastly, be consistent: if you ask a question about Renault, you should ask about Citroen in the same way.

Remember:
  • Use clear language, which could be understood by anyone
  • Avoid asking personal questions
  • Be brief
  • Follow a logical order

What types of questions should I use?

Within the closed questions category, there are several types, namely: Dichotomous questions . Questions which only have two possible responses: "Yes" or "No". They allow the opinion of the respondent on a certain subject to be clearly distinguished. Multiple choice questions . Give the respondent a series of options. Allow respondents to identify preferences, consumption levels, uses and activities. For example: What brand of soft drinks do you consume? 1) Coca-Cola 2) Pepsi 3) Fanta 4) Sprite Opinion questions . Questions in which the respondent gives a value judgment and which are used to denote trends. For example: How would you rate the quality of product X? 1) Excellent 2) Very Good 3) Good 4) Sufficient 5) Poor Filter questionsThe filter questions are those which, depending on the answer given, will allow other unnecessary questions to be skipped in order to make the survey more effective and efficient. For example, if you are carrying out a work environment question amongst your employees, you may be interested in entering a series of specific questions for each department for which we will place the following filter question: Which of the following departments do you belong to? And depending on the respondent's response to this question, the following question will concern the specific department to which he or she belongs.
Open questions (those in which the respondent freely expresses his opinion) are good for obtaining shades of meaning, but they are the most difficult to analyze.

How many response options should I give?

Normally, from three to six. There can be more, but if you give too many options respondents may lose interest. On the other hand, the respondents must find the option which matches their response because if they can't find an answer they might quit the survey.
Studies show that it is a good idea to include the "none of the foregoing" or "no opinion" options in order to obtain a higher response percentage.

What is a filter question? What is it for?

Filter questions are those made previously to another question, in order to eliminate the participants who are not affected by it.
In other words, they stipulate whether subsequent questions are to be offered to the participant or not.
For example: Filter question
Which company department do you belong to?
1- Marketing and sales
2- Financial
3- Production
4- (...)
If the person answers 1 he or she is asked a specific question concerning marketing and sales, if he or she answers 2 the question is asked regarding the financial department...

Representativeness of the sample

The major concern when designing the sample of respondents is to ensure that the sample correctly represents the population segment which is being studied. For example, if you wish to get general information on Internet users and you only ask programmers, you would get information about that segment, not about Internet users in general.
However, if you carry out the surveys to the entire public you wish to interview, as is the case with your customers and employees, and not only to a sample, you don't need to worry.

Regarding technique

How does prostopros.ru work?

prostopros.ru is an Internet data gathering application for quickly and easily creating surveys.
Using our intuitive surveys editor, you can create professional surveys immediately without the need to install/download any software or do your own programming.
All phases of the study - creation and design of the survey, compiling of responses, reports - are carried out through our website. This means you can access your results in REAL TIME.

In what formats can I get the survey results?

The survey results can be seen through our results viewer or you can download them in CSV format (compatible with Excel, SPSS and similar programs). If you need the results in a different format, please contact us.

Technical requirements for designing the survey and for filling it in

To design the survey, you need the 4.0 version of the browser or higher (Netscape or Microsoft), with cookies and Javascript enabled.
Respondents can use any browser.