How-To Exporting a survey from LimeSurvey
You can save both the responses to a survey and the survey itself, including its settings, questions, and answer options, outside of LimeSurvey. This allows you to analyze the responses using other statistical software such as R, SPSS, or SAS. The survey can be imported back into LimeSurvey at a later date, for example, to run it again.
To export, first open the survey from your survey list.
1. Save the survey structure with the settings, questions, and answer options via the menu item Display/Export > Survey Structure (*.lss).
Later, you can transfer this structure file (*.lss) to a new survey via Create new survey > Import. The title and other settings, as well as all questions and answer options, will be retained. Only a new survey ID will be assigned, and previous participant responses, as well as any existing survey participants and survey permissions, will be removed. As is usual with new surveys, the status of this new survey is inactive.
2. Save the survey with the settings, questions and answer options, participant responses, and survey participants via the menu item Display/Export > Survey Archive (*.lsa).
However, in order to create such a survey archive, the survey must be active, i.e., it must still be running or have expired but not been deactivated.
You can then restore this survey archive at a later date by selecting Create new survey > Import, with all settings and participant information (data and responses). Only the survey permissions need to be reset, and the new survey will be assigned a new survey ID. The status of the survey—actively running or actively expired—will also be retained.
3. Saving participants' responses
via the menu item Responses > Responses & Statistics > Export
When saving, you can choose from various file formats, including CSV, Microsoft Excel, PDF, SPSS, and R (data or syntax file).
Important note: Please check the exported files for completeness and readability, and ensure that they can be imported again before deleting the survey in LimeSurvey (or having it deleted from the system page). Once data has been removed from the system, it will not be imported again by the URZ.
Table
Survey: Settings, questions, possible answers | Included | Included | - |
Survey participants | - | Included | - |
Participant responses | - | Included | Included |
Survey eligibility | - | - | - |
Status of the survey | - | Included | - |