Askia is a dedicated survey system in SurveyTester. A project set to Askia (or to Automatic) recognises an Askia web survey the moment the browser extension opens it: every page with its questions, answer options, grid rows, sliders, ranking lists and text fields, the error messages and the end page. From there everything else in SurveyTester works as usual - Auto Answer, Auto Complete, SurveyBots, test cases, issues and the Pages & Routing overview.
What an Askia survey looks like to a tester
Askia web surveys are served by the survey company's own Askia server, so the address differs from survey to survey.
SurveyTester does not depend on the address: it recognises an Askia page by the Askia survey form inside it. When the
link contains askia, SurveyTester even preselects Askia for a new project. Every page shows one or more questions, each
in its own block, with Next and usually Previous buttons below. If an answer is missing, the page stays and a
message appears in the question's block.
Why this is hard to test without SurveyTester
- Interactive controls. Askia surveys can use sliders, click-to-rank lists and responsive grids instead of plain radio buttons. SurveyTester knows these controls and answers them the way a respondent would.
- Question names are hidden. The respondent sees only the question text. SurveyTester reads each question's shortcut from the page, so every question in the result carries its name from the Askia questionnaire.
- Several questions per page. When a page holds several questions, SurveyTester records each one separately, each with its own answer options and its own error message.
Supported question types
| Askia question type | How SurveyTester records it |
|---|---|
| Single choice, also with "other, please specify" | One option is chosen; an "other" option gets a text. |
| Multiple choice, also with "other, please specify" | Several options are ticked; an "other" option gets a text. |
| Dropdown | One entry of the list is chosen. |
| Single-choice grid | Every row is answered with one scale point. |
| Slider, with its left and right labels | The slider is set to a value on its scale. |
| Ranking (click the items in order) | The items are clicked in an order, and each gets its rank. |
| Open text (single line or text box), with character limit | A fitting text within the allowed length is entered. |
| E-mail field | An e-mail address is entered. |
| Text-only blocks and pages | Recorded as information with nothing to answer. |
Errors and end page
- Error messages. When a page refuses to move on, the message in a question's block is stored as the error of that question.
- Navigation. SurveyTester uses the survey's Next and Previous buttons.
- End page. A page without a Next button is recorded as the last step of the run. Complete, screenout and quota outcomes are configured as for any other survey system, with survey end page identifiers on the project. See Survey end pages.
Step by step
- Create the project. Choose Askia as the survey system, or leave it at Automatic - the survey is recognised either way. Paste the survey link.
- Start a test run from the project with the SurveyTester browser extension, or let SurveyBots run the survey. The SurveyTester bar appears above it, and the first page is recorded as step 1.
- Answer the survey by hand, or press Auto Answer and Auto Next to let SurveyTester fill the page and move on. Each page creates the next step.
- Check the result on the Pages & Routing page: every page appears with its questions, every question with its answer options, grid rows and scale points.
Good to know
- Page and question names. A page is named after the current question of the Askia routing; each question keeps its Askia shortcut.
- Custom controls. Askia surveys can use custom controls designed for one survey. SurveyTester records the fields it finds, but may not be able to answer every custom control automatically. If you find a page that SurveyTester does not read correctly, please send it to us.