Manage survey and field research from questionnaire to report
Plan questionnaire review rounds, the sample and quota plan, participant recruitment and data quality work in one project. See on the timeline which work sets the report delivery date.
On paper, field research is a straight line
A survey project looks sequential in the plan: questionnaire, sample, fieldwork, analysis, report. In practice the pieces are tied together. The questionnaire goes into a third review round and the fieldwork start slips, the quota plan changes at the last minute, nobody is quite sure who runs the data quality checks, and the report delivery date stays where it was.
The pieces of this work live in different places: questionnaire rounds in message threads, the quota plan in a spreadsheet, the field schedule in another file, the delivery date promised to the client or your organization in meeting notes. Without putting them side by side, the project manager cannot answer “if the questionnaire is a week late, when does the report go out?”
YouReply Manage brings those pieces into one project. The ready-made phase set for survey and field research runs from questionnaire design to reporting; the brief holds the target population, planned sample, dates and budget; tasks, dependencies and milestones show which work is waiting on what. The survey itself runs in YouReply Survey; what is managed here is the plan for the research.
The phases of a field research project
Choose the survey and field research type when you create a project and it starts with these phases. The ready-made template is a starting point; rename, reorder, add or remove phases for telephone, face-to-face or online fieldwork.
Questionnaire design
The questionnaire is written, reviewed and scripted. The survey itself is built in YouReply Survey.
- The Review column and task comments for review rounds
- A task template and checklist for scripting checks
- Fieldwork tasks held back with a “blocks” link until the questionnaire is final
Sampling
The target population and sample size are decided and the sampling frame is prepared.
- Target population and planned sample size in the brief
- A method field: quantitative, qualitative or mixed
Quota setup
Breakdowns by age, gender, region or study-specific criteria are agreed and passed to the field team.
- A subtask or checklist item for each quota group
- Quota work separated with labels and the board filtered by label
Participant recruitment
Fieldwork runs. Responses are collected in YouReply Survey or by the field team you work with; the work plan for the fieldwork is tracked here.
- Milestones for fieldwork start and end
- Fieldwork tasks on the calendar, rescheduled by dragging
- The board grouped by assignee to see what sits with whom
Data quality
Speeders, straightliners and inconsistent responses are removed, and the checks to apply are agreed.
- A checklist for the control steps, with the progress counter on the card
- A task template for checks repeated in every study
Cost tracking
Fieldwork, incentive and service costs are compared with the budget.
- A planned and actual budget field in the brief
- Work such as supplier and incentive payments planned as tasks with an owner and due date
Analysis
Tables, cross-tabulations and statistical tests. Analysis is done in YouReply Analyze or in the software you already use.
- Tables from the analysis plan tracked as tasks and subtasks
- Analysis work pulled into a working period with effort estimates
Reporting
The report is written, reviewed and delivered.
- A milestone with a due date and completion ratio
- The critical path that sets the delivery date on the timeline
- The completion trend in the project summary
Capabilities for field research
Phases built for survey and field research
Phases are kept per project, and a task’s phase is independent of its status: work in the “Data quality” phase can be “In Review”. Filter and group the board.
The brief: population, sample, dates and budget
The research brief keeps the title, business problem, objective, research questions, method, target population, planned sample size, planned versus actual.
Dependencies and the critical path
A “blocks” link shows that fieldwork will not start until the questionnaire is final. The timeline (Gantt) draws dependencies as arrows, flags a violated.
Seeing work pile up in review rounds
The board, list and calendar show the same tasks. Put a concurrent-work limit on the Review column and you can see work waiting for review pile up; the.
Templates for recurring studies
For tracking or satisfaction studies you run regularly, keep the columns, labels, phases and starting work packages in a project template. Recurring work.
What YouReply Manage does not do
- It does not build surveys or collect responses. Survey building and response collection happen in YouReply Survey and statistical analysis in YouReply Analyze.
- It does not recruit participants, draw samples or clean responses; it tracks the plan, owner and dates for that work.
- It is not a budget module. The brief has a planned and actual budget field; no expense lines are kept.
- The YouReply field campaign connection is in development; once available, fieldwork progress and quota indicators will be tracked inside the project.
Field research management questions
- I build my survey in YouReply Survey. What does YouReply Manage add?
- YouReply Survey builds the questionnaire and collects the responses. YouReply Manage runs the rest of the research: questionnaire review rounds, the sample and quota plan, the field schedule, data quality checks, analysis and report delivery all sit in one project as tasks, dependencies and milestones. You use both products with your central YouReply account and a single sign-in.
- Can we use it if fieldwork runs with another provider?
- Yes. Tasks, the calendar, the timeline, milestones, the brief and phases work regardless of who runs the fieldwork. You can add a contact at the fieldwork provider to the project as a Viewer, or give them the Contributor role if you will be working on fieldwork tasks together.
- Can we change the phases to match our own field method?
- Yes. The ready-made research template is a starting point, not a required structure. You might add a phase for a qualitative pre-study, remove cost tracking or rename participant recruitment to “Fieldwork”. Phases are kept per project, so a change only affects that project.
- If the questionnaire is late, how do I see the effect on the report date?
- Link the questionnaire task to the fieldwork tasks, and the fieldwork tasks to analysis and reporting, with “blocks” links. The timeline draws that chain as arrows and flags a link when it is violated. The critical path highlight shows the work that directly sets report delivery.
- We run several field studies at once. How do we keep track of them all?
- Each study is set up as a separate project with its own brief, phases and tasks. A shared project template lets you start each study with the same column, label and phase structure; finished projects are archived rather than deleted and can be restored when needed. The Free plan includes 2 active projects and 5 seats; for more, compare plans on the pricing page.
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Plan your next field study here
Open a project with the survey and field research phases, fill in the brief and add your team with their roles. No credit card required.