There are a lot of cliche sayings when it comes to obtaining good data. Data is out there, it is plentiful, but is it any good? When it comes to making decisions using data or understanding data in general, there must be a trust that the data is good. Bad data could lead decision makers astray. In today’s economy, a poor decision due to inaccurate data could cause a company irreparable damage to a company’s bottom line. Finding ways to ensure quality data captured by Microsoft Forms is priceless to the creator of those forms. This blog post will show you how to use Microsoft Forms to gain an advantage in business.
Obtaining Good Data by Using Restrictions
Microsoft Forms can add restrictions to each data field. Restrictions are not a silver bullet. There are ways data could be manipulated via faulty information entered into the form, which could interfere with the quality of your data, despite best efforts. Despite people’s best efforts data corruption may occur, restrictions can guide entered data to be of higher integrity. With restrictions, obtaining good data will be made easier by guiding your form submitters. Take a look at the available field choices Restrictions has to offer to assist with vetted data. (See Image 1)
Image 1
Obtaining Good Data Using Email and URL Restrictions
Both restrictions are straightforward. The user need only select it in the drop down and no additional configuration is necessary. Email will automatically ensure there is a standard string build of the email. It will ensure there are characters followed by the @, followed by more characters, a “dot”, finished off by more characters. If the string entered does not have the needed @ and “dot” in the correct order, it will flag the form to not allow the user filling out the form to submit it until it is fixed.
The URL restriction works in the same way. It will ensure the field starts with either “http:// Or https://” without either starting the answer, it will be rejected, and the form will not be allowed to be submitted. Very easy to understand and quite straightforward. These two restrictions, Email and URL, ensure the user will understand what information is needed, but remember, it could still be false information by either a typo or malicious intent.
Text Restrictions
When it comes to the text restrictions, it becomes more interesting. Text restrictions check to see if something is either present or not. Refer to Image 2 and you will see the second drop down has two choices “Contains” or “Doesn’t contain”. For example, you expect three letters to start or finish a specific contract number such as CTR. You would select “Contains” in the drop down and enter CTR in the text field. This will ensure the text field will have the string “CTR” present in the response to the question. This would guide your responders to fill the form properly to obtain good data.
Image 2
Number Restrictions
Numbers are interesting as they can easily cause poor decisions if one forgets to add a zero. There is a huge difference between $100,000 vs $1,000,000. You can see by the number of choices on how to identify the number field, this could be tricky (See Image 3). You need to have a clear understanding of what you to accomplish with a number. Do you want it to be a number that allows decimals? What about a whole number so your employees round to the nearest ones. If your question is asking for a number between 1 and 10 you would utilize the “Between” option. If you’re expecting numbers greater than 1,000,000 you could use either “Greater than” or “Greater than or equal to” as a good option. I reiterate, you need to understand what you want with a number to use this restriction effectively.
Image 3
Length Restrictions
I think length is the restriction that will need the most practice in order to understand. Length restriction set up is not difficult to understand. The question is how to use it effectively. You can see in Image 4; you can place either a minimum or maximum count around the string length given for an answer. The number text box is the number of characters you want to set as the minimum or maximum limit. Oddly, the one thing that jumps to my mind around using the “Min Count” is an essay question with word minimums. There are other good uses, you just need to know what they are for your business use cases obtaining good data.
Image 4
Conclusion
Data is important. The amount of data information workers digs through on a daily basis can be daunting. If your workers must worry about the quality of the data on top of all of their other responsibilities, it could be quite overwhelming. When collecting data from Microsoft Forms, be sure to use restrictions where they make the most sense. It could assist you with peace of mind and quality data.