For Optimized databases, if you re-launch a survey while a respondent is answering it, then the respondent will normally remain in the older un-updated version of the survey until he/she leaves the survey. However in the event you wish to update the survey for all respondents immediately, for example you discover a serious fault in the survey that must be corrected as soon as possible, then you can force "open" surveys to be updated to the later version. To do this:
- In the Launch Survey > Options tab, check the "Enforce new version immediately" box.
- Save the changes
Now when the survey is re-launched, respondents currently working in the survey will also be updated to the newer version of the survey.
If a respondent leaves the survey for any reason and later returns, then on reentry he/she will always be presented with the updated version of the survey.
Note: If you use the "Enforce new version immediately" property on a survey in which you have made extensive changes, then this may cause confusion for any respondents currently answering the survey. In addition, it may also disturb the survey logic for respondents in progress, and this in turn may reduce the quality and usefulness of the data provided by those respondents. You will need to assess the reasons for the re-launch, and possible effects, for each case individually.
Note: Only two older versions of a survey are saved. Therefore if you re-launch a live survey too often, you risk forcibly updating respondents anyway, even though you have not checked the Enforce... box. If you have to re-launch a live survey several times and do not wish to enforce the new version on any respondents who may be answering the survey, ensure you wait long enough between re-launches to allow those respondents to complete the survey.