FIELD OF INVENTION / TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to survey systems and more specifically to method, system and apparatus for presenting a questionnaire.

RELATED ART

[0002] A survey system is used for collecting information from people to describe, compare or explain their knowledge, attitudes, opinion, desire, wants expectation, dissatisfaction, or behaviour about/on a product, service, or any matter or a thing. Several activities involved in a survey system are setting questionnaire for information collection, designing the study, preparing a reliable and valid survey instrument, administering the survey, managing and analysing survey data, reporting the results etc.

[0003] A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals during a survey to obtain statistically useful information about a given point. Adequate questionnaire construction is critical to the success of a survey. Poor survey construction and administration can undermine a survey. In most of the surveys, the questions are presented to the respondent in text format. The text based questions and answers are not always adequate.

[0004] Though questionnaires are inexpensive, quick and easy to analyse, often the questionnaires can have more problems than benefits. For example, unlike interviews, the people conducting the survey may never know if the respondent understood the question that was being asked. Also, because the questions are so specific to what the researchers are asking, the information gained may be minimal. Questionnaire often have standardised answers that make it simple while compiling data. But such standardised answers may frustrate the respondents. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical. So there is a need of user friendly, visually interactive form of questionnaire for conducting a better survey. SUMMARY

[0005] According to an aspect of the present invention, a survey system is provided for displaying a question image representing a survey question from a plurality of survey questions (questionnaire) of a survey. The survey system displays a plurality of option images for a user or participant to select an answer for the question image. The survey system associates quality attributes of the selected answer image to the question image. In one embodiment, a question image is an image of a character perceived with a particular quality.

The options images are the images representing a product or a brand.

[0006] According to another aspect, the question image is statically placed on a display device and the options images are displayed in motion on the display area posing challenges in selecting the option. The option images move in a production line format while new option images appear from the bottom of the display area.

[0007] According to yet another aspect, a text attribute is stored in the database wherein the test attribute represents one or more quality of the character or image. Accordingly the corresponding text attribute is used to prepare a survey report based on the user selection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0008] Fig. 1 is an example environment in which various aspects of the present invention is implemented.

[0009] Fig. 2a is an example diagram of the mobile device operative to present the questionnaire in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Fig. 2b is a diagram depicting an example survey subscription page displayed on the mobile device.

[0011] Fig. 2c is a diagram depicting an example user interface on a WWW.

[0012] Fig. 2d is a diagram depicting an example user interface on a social networking site.

[0013] Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a survey system in one embodiment.

[0014] Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an interactive application in one embodiment.

[0015] Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a response collection system in one embodiment.

[0016] Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the example operation of a survey system.

[0017] Fig. 7a- 7c successively depicts the example movement of the product images on the display according to an embodiment.

[0018] Fig. 8 is an example diagram depicting the product image scrolling.

[0019] Fig. 9a-9c successively depicts the example movement of the character images on the display according to an embodiment.

[0020] Fig. 10 is an example diagram depicting one way of displaying questionnaire in an embodiment.

[0021] Fig. 11 is an example diagram depicting another way of displaying questionnaire according to one embodiment.

[0022] Fig. 12 is a table showing example set of characters and their text attributes according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Fig. 1 is an example environment in which various aspects of the present invention is implemented. The figure is shown comprising mobile devices 110, network 120, firewall 130, and server end system 140. The server end system 140 is further shown containing server computers 150 through 170, and databases 180 and 190. Each element of the environment is described in further detail below.

[0024] A mobile device may be a small hand held computing device typically having a touch pad and/or a miniature keyboard which has an operating system and may run various types of application software. According to an embodiment, the mobile device is a touch screen enabled device. The mobile devices 110 may be connected to the server system 140 via network 120 and firewall 130. The network 120 may be a collection of computers and/or mobile devices such as switches, routers, wireless routers etc and other hardware components interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources. A network may be a LAN, WAN (like internet), WLAN, MAN etc.

[0025] The firewall 130 may be either software based or hardware based which may be used to help keep a network secure by controlling the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining whether it should be allowed through or not, based on a predetermined rule set.

[0026] The server computers 150 through 170 are physical computers (a computer hardware system) dedicated to run one or more services (as a host), to serve the needs of the users of other computers on the network. Each server computer 150 through 170 may be a single physical computer or a group of computers with one or more applications installed within a single computer. Databases 180 and 190 are an organized collection of data, typically in digital form. The data are typically organized and modelled to suit the survey application.

[0027] According to one embodiment of the present invention, an interactive application (survey application) may be installed in the survey mobile device 110. The questionnaires may be prepared and stored in the server computers. Alternatively, the questionnaire may be dynamically prepared/generated run time. The survey mobile device 110 may receive questionnaire from the server 140 and display it to the respondent through survey application/ interactive application. A respondent may be an individual who provides answers to the questions in a given questionnaire (set of well defined questions). In one embodiment, the

questions in the questionnaire and corresponding answers may be displayed in the form of images, voice, movie clips. The respondent may give the response by tapping/selecting on the relevant option. The mobile device 110 collects the response from the respondent and sends it to the response collection system 150.

[0028] According to one embodiment, server computers 150 and 160 may be configured to operate as response collection system and response analysis system respectively. The response collection system 150 may receive and store the response and other integrity data transmitted by the interactive application. The response analysis system 160 analyses the stored response and integrity data for the purpose of quality checks, aggregation, summarization, or preparation of results and reports. The different ways in which the survey may be performed are described in further detail below.

[0029] Fig. 2a is an example diagram of the mobile device operative to present the questionnaire in one embodiment of the present invention. The icon 210 when clicked enables the mobile device to present questionnaire and collect the answers from the respondent interactively. The mobile device 200 shown may comprise functional units such as but not limited to for example, a display, an input device, a processor and other peripheral devices providing desired functionality to the user. The functional units of the mobile device are not shown in the figure for conciseness. The display may be configured to display the questionnaire to the respondent. The input device may receive answers for the questionnaire displayed on the display. The processor in the mobile device may be configured to perform survey and generate the integrity data for each answer without respondent intervention. In the present invention, the display, input device and processor may together represent a mobile device.

[0030] Fig. 2b is a diagram depicting an example survey subscription page displayed on the mobile device. As the respondent clicks on the interactive application icon 210, the subscription page may be automatically popped on the mobile device. The respondent may enter his/her subscription details and subscribe for the survey. After subscription, the respondent may login to the survey using the login details such as email id, password for example. The survey starts when the respondent logs into the survey application and a set of well defined questions or questionnaire may be streamed into the mobile device from the server system 140.

[0031] Fig. 2c is a diagram depicting an example user interface on a WWW. According to one embodiment, the respondent may perform the survey by accessing a survey website through IP address. The details or guidelines for performing the survey may be provided on the website. The respondent may click on the button 220 to start a survey. The respondent may subscribe before doing the survey. The subscription may be performed by collecting the user credentials in the manner shown in Fig 2a, for example.

[0032] Fig. 2d is a diagram depicting an example user interface on a social networking site. According to an embodiment, the survey application/interactive application may interface with social networking application/sites such as facebook for example, for posing the questionnaire to the respondent. The respondent may click the survey application 250 and starts the survey. The user may be paid or compensated for doing the survey.

[0033] The manner in which the response collection system in the server 150 operates while performing a survey is described in further detail below.

[0034] Fig 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a survey system in one embodiment. Flowchart begins at block 301 and control passes to block 310.

[0035] In block 310, server system receives (consent to participate in a survey) the survey request from a respondent. The survey request may be the acceptance of the respondent to perform a survey. The respondent may subscribe and perform a survey through one or more mechanisms such as the interactive application installed in the mobile device, through survey websites, through social networking sites or any other interfaces. After receiving the survey request from the respondent, control passes to block 320.

[0036] In block 320, RCS 150 streams questionnaire for the survey. According to one embodiment, the RCS 150 may dynamically prepares the questionnaire as soon it receives the survey request or may select from already prepared questionnaires and stream to the mobile device 110. The questionnaire may consists of a set of images, an audio clip or a video clip of a well known personality from TV, cinema or public life and images of popular brands/ products. RCS 150 also keeps a separate text attributes for each product and character to describe the product/ character. After streaming the questionnaire to the mobile device, control passes to block 330.

[0037] In block 330, interactive application presents an image representing a question on the mobile device. According to one embodiment, the question may be an image, an audio clip or a video of a well known or popular icon or personality from TV, cinema or public life. The question may also be an image of a popular brand or product. The control passes to block 340.

[0038] In block 340, server system selects multiple images representing multiple options for each question in the questionnaire. Group of images representing popular brands or products and well known personalities may be prepared and stored in the server database 180. After streaming the question, a set of images suitable for answering the question may be selected from the database and streamed to the mobile device 110. The control passes to block 350. [0039] In block 350, interactive application presents selected set of images to the respondent representing options to answer each question. The interactive application displays the set of selected images on the mobile device as options for answering the respective question. The respondent may tap on the option images which he/she thinks is suitable for the question image. The control passes to block 360.

[0040] In block 360, interactive application receives user selected image from the options. The respondent may select one or more images from the available options for a particular question image through input devices provided on the mobile device. The interactive application may receive and record all the images selected by the respondent and control passes to block 370.

[0041] In block 370, interactive application associates the selected answer image to the question image. The association may then send back to RCS 150 as a response from the respondent. Text attributes may be assigned to each character/image and product image to describe them. According to one embodiment, RCS 150 may transfer the text attributes of the character to the associated product and thereby a product may be assigned with the corresponding attributes. The flowchart ends in block 399.

[0042] The manner in which the interactive application operates is described in further detail below.

[0043] Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an interactive application. Flowchart begins at block 401 and control passes to block 410.

[0044] In block 410, interactive application presents a character to the respondent. The interactive application displays a character on the mobile device that may be a personality, public figure, icon or even fictional figure from the world of popular culture such as music, cinema, sports or public domain such as news media, politics, art, literature. The character may represent a question in the questionnaire. The character image may be displayed at any one position on the display area on the mobile device. After displaying the question image, control passes to block 420.

[0045] In block 420, interactive application presents a set of images representing answers option (in one example the set of images may represent products). In an embodiment, a group of images of popular brands or products related to the question image may be displayed as options on the mobile device. The option images may be displayed such that the image continuously move upward or downward on the mobile screen posing a challenge there by drawing more attention from the respondent. The question image may be statically placed at one position. After presenting the product images, control passes to block 430.

[0046] In block 430, interactive application captures the association. The respondent may tap on one or more product images which he/she thinks associated with the question image as the product images move over the screen. The interactive application records the tapped images and associates with the question image. After capturing the association, control passes to block 440.

[0047] In block 440, interactive application transmits the association to RCS 150 which may receive and store the association in the database. The flowchart ends in block 499.

[0048] The manner in which the response collection system may operate in a survey system is described in further detail below.

[0049] Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a response collection system 150. Flowchart begins at block 501 and control passes to block 510.

[0050] In block 510, response collection system 150 keeps text attributes of the characters. Text attributes may represent adjectives, qualities, perceptions, perceived values of the image/character. That is, the qualities or features of the character perceived by the public. In an embodiment, the RCS 150 may keep a list of characters and maintain a set of attributes or vocabulary for each character in the database 180. The text attributes are explained in further detail in Fig 12. The control passes to block 520.

[0051] In block 520, RCS 150 keeps text attributes of products. In an embodiment, the RCS 150 may also keep a list of products/ brands and maintains a separate set of attributes for each product in the database 190. The control passes to block 530.

[0052] In block 530, RCS 150 receives the association. Once the character and product images are displayed on the mobile device, respondent may select/ associate the product with the character with which his/her perception of the product may be determined. The interactive application sends the association made by the respondent to the RCS 150 which may receive the association and store in the database. The respondent's perception of a brand may be easily understood by analysing the association with a known character. The control passes to block 540.

[0053] In block 540, RCS 150 transfers the text attributes of character to associated product. The text attributes for the product may be acquired by receiving the text attributes of various characters send by different respondent. For example, if most of the respondents associate a brand with a popular female character, the brand may acquire the corresponding text attribute. This may help brand managers easily categorise the brand based on the consumer's perception about that particular brand. The flowchart ends in block 599.

[0054] The manner in which a survey system functions is briefly described using a flowchart below.

[0055] Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the example operation of a survey system. Flowchart begins at block 601 and control passes to block 610.

[0056] In block 610, the respondent subscribes for the survey. The respondent may subscribe for the survey through interactive application installed in the mobile device or through the survey websites or social networking websites. After subscription control passes to block 620.

[0057] In block 620, interactive application displays an image of the character on the mobile screen. The server streams a question to the mobile device as soon as the respondent subscribe for a survey. According to an embodiment, the question may be an image, an audio clip or video of a well known personality. The interactive application displays/ presents the streamed image to the respondent. The respondent may perceive a character with any of the qualities such as but not limited to soft, arrogant, sturdy, delicate etc. For example, a villain character may be perceived as an arrogant character. After displaying question image, control passes to block 630.

[0058] In block 630, interactive application displays a set of images depicting products that moves over the mobile screen. Along with the character image, a set of product images suitable for the character may be displayed as options on the mobile device. In an embodiment, the product images depicting options may move in a production line format that is, moving/ rolling slowly one after the other with new products added to it as it goes along. The display may give some gaming effect for the survey. This visually interactive method of presenting the question may give respondents more attractive environment for performing the survey. Further, respondent may opt to respond to the survey when he/she would like to relax or play game. Thus, presentation of survey questions in accordance with the present disclosure may attract the respondent. After displaying the question and option images, control passes to block 640.

[0059] In block 640, the respondent picks product images associated with the character. After displaying the character and product images, the interactive application may display a text asking the respondent to click on the optional product images that suits the character. The respondent may tap on one or more of the moving product images which he/she thinks suitable for the character image. The respondent may select the products like playing in a shooting game or bow and arrow game focusing on vertically or horizontally moving targets (products). After associating the product images to the character, the control passes to block 650.

[0060] In block 650, interactive application captures and transmits the association made by the respondent. The interactive application may record the association made by the respondent and transmit it to the response collection system 150. The control passes to block 660.

[0061] In block 660, RCS 150 keeps a list of text attributes. The text attributes are adjectives or qualities that may be used to describe a person or physical object. The list of text attributes may be referred to as vocabulary. The control passes to block 670.

[0062] In block 670, RCS 150 keeps a list of characters and products. The RCS 150 may maintain a character list and product list that are used by the interactive application. A set of text attributes may be maintained for each character and product. These attributes may come from the vocabulary and may describe the character or product. The control passes to block 680.

[0063] In block 680, RCS 150 receives an association. When user makes an association on the interactive application, the association may be recorded and sent back to the RCS 150. Response collection system. The RCS 150 may receive this association and control passes to block 690.

[0064] In block 690, RCS 150 transfers attributes of the character to the associated product. Once RCS 150 receives the association from the respondent, it transfers all text attributes of character to the associated product. The products acquire attributes as multiple respondents use the interactive application and send back their associations. The flowchart ends in block 699.

[0065] The manner in which the character and product images display on the mobile screen is described in further detail below.

[0066] Fig. 7a- 7c successively depicts the example movement of the product images on the display according to an embodiment.

[0067] In Fig. 7a, character 705 represents a personality, public figure, icon or even fictional figure from the world of popular culture such as music, cinema, sports or public domain such as news media, politics, art, literature. The character image 705 may be fixed at any one position and the product images may be moving over the mobile screen. Images 710 through 725 represent the set of products that may be moved in a production line format slowly one after the other with new products added to them as they go along. In one embodiment, maximum 4 products may be presented on display at any time and new products may appear from the bottom of the screen and a already displayed product may disappear from the screen. The interactive application also displays a text or plays an audio asking the respondent to tap on the products that suits the character. The character may be a popular villain, hero or heroine, for example, which may be perceived as an arrogant, strong or soft character respectively by the respondent. The respondent may tap or associate the brands/ products that he/she thinks matches to the qualities of the character. That is, the respondent tap on those brands that he/she thinks suiting the character. So by analysing the association, it may easily understand the respondent's perception of the brand. The images of associated products may be moved to one corner of the screen. 735 represent the selected character.

[0068] In Fig. 7b, image 745 represents a new product 745 appearing or entering the display screen as the products moves upwards. 740 represent the first product disappearing from the screen as the new product 745 comes into the screen. According to one embodiment, the products may be moved but not limited to upwards, downwards, leftwards or rightwards on the screen. In an alternative embodiment, the products may move like bubbles or streams challenging the respondent to tap on the particular bubble giving a gaming effect. This visually interactive way of presenting questionnaire increases the respondent's interest in performing a survey. The gaming effect may be implemented by integrating suitable animation software with the survey application. The products may also appear on the screen from the centre as pop ups.

[0069] Fig. 7c, illustrates the sequence of movement with the fifth product 745 completely displayed while first product 740 completely removed from the screen. 750, 755 and 760 represent the products that are selected or assigned to the question character by the respondent. The survey system may assign a higher importance (weighting) to a first selected product and lower importance to subsequent selections. Alternatively the importance may be assigned other way as well. For example, first selected product 750 may assigned with 80% weighting, the second selected product 755 may be assigned with a weighting of 70% and the third selected product 760 may be assigned with a weighting of 60%o and so on. The weighting may represent the matching percentage of a product with the character. The product with high weighting represents the primary and most suitable product for the character. The weighting may be assigned to the product based on its matching with the attributes of the character perceived by the respondent. For example, a character with more weighting to soft attribute may be assigned with soft, delicate products. Those products are more preferred.

[0070] Fig. 8 is an example diagram depicting the product image scrolling. The character image 800 is a still from a movie. The character image 800 text attribute stored in the database is "delicate". Images 820 through 870 represent the images of popular products/brands which may be moved in a production line format. 880 represent the text asking the respondent to tap on products/ brands suiting the character. If the respondent clicks on the product image 830, the product 830 is attributed to the quality "delicate". Thus survey response may record the brand attribute as "delicate" and present such perceived opinion on the survey report. Thereby giving a more accurate perception of the user.

[0071] The manner in which the characters moving with respect to the product is described below.

[0072] Fig. 9a-9c successively depicts the example movement of the character images on the display according to an embodiment.

[0073] In Fig. 9a, image 910 represents a stationary product image which may be a popular brand/ product. Images 915 through 930 represent images of characters which may be moving upward in a production line format. A maximum of 4 characters may be on display and rest of the characters may move up and disappear from the screen. The character images may be a set of characters with different text attributes such as soft, arrogant, sturdy etc. The movement may be in, but not limited to, upwards, downwards, leftwards or rightwards over the screen.

[0074] Fig. 9b is the successive diagram of Fig. 9a depicting the movement of characters. As the characters move upwards due to scrolling effect, new characters may appear on the screen. 915 represent the first character which is partially disappeared from the screen whereas 935 may be the new character that starts appearing on the screen as they move along.

[0075] In Fig. 9c, the complete appearance of fifth character 935 makes the disappearance of first character 915 from the screen due to scrolling effect. The interactive application displays a text asking the respondent to tap on the characters that suits the products. The respondent may tap on one or more characters suiting the product. The selected characters 940, 950 and 960 may go and sit at some position on the mobile screen and the interactive application receives the tapped characters as association for the particular product. Since the association is made with well known or popular personalities/ characters, the respondent's perception of product may be easily recognised. Here also, the firstly selected character 940 may have more weighting compared to the remaining characters 950 and 960. The first selected character 940 may have a weighting of 80% to 90%, the second character 950 may have 70% to 80% weighting and the third character may be weighting less than 70%. The attributes of characters with more weighting may be assigned to the respective product.

[0076] Fig. 10 is an example diagram depicting alternative way of displaying questionnaire according to an embodiment. Character A 1010 and character B 1020 may represent the images of two well known or popular characters with different attributes. According to one embodiment, character A may represent a female character and character B represents a male character. Product 1030 may represent image of a popular brand/product. The interactive application may ask the respondent to drag the pointer towards the character whom he/she thinks that more suits the product. The respondent may drag the pointer towards right or left. If the respondent moves the pointer towards right, character B which is the male character may be recorded as the association for the product 1030 with a corresponding grade in the scale and send back to the RCS 150.

[0077] Fig. 11 is an example diagram depicting another way of displaying questionnaire according to one embodiment. A character image 1110 may be displayed as one of the question in the questionnaire and four product images A, B, C, D may be displayed as options for answering the question. The character image and product images may be stationary. The respondent may click on any of the four products as his/her answer and the interactive application may receive this as an association. After answering the question, interactive application displays next question in the questionnaire on the mobile screen.

[0078] Fig. 12 is a table showing example set of characters and their corresponding set of text attributes according to one embodiment. Text attributes may be the adjectives or qualities that may be used to describe any person or a physical object. Each quality may be compiled based on general perceptions and/or based on any study made. Response collection system 150 maintains a separate set of text attributes for each character as well as product in the database. The text attributes may be assigned with some weighting. For example, weighting 1 in the Fig. represents qualities which are 80-90% matching with the respective characters. Similarly, weighting 2 represents a 60-80% matching qualities and weighting 3 represents qualities that match below 60%. The different attributes such as but not limited to delicate, sturdy, long lasting, arrogance, clean may be assigned to different characters. As multiple respondent makes different character association for the products using the interactive application and send back to RCS 150, the products acquire association.

[0079] While various examples of the present disclosure have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described examples, but should be defined in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

CLAIMS

I/we claim,

1. A method comprising:

displaying a question image representing a question within a plurality of questions of a survey;

displaying a plurality of option images; and

receiving an answer image representing an answer to the question, wherein the answer image is selected from the plurality of option images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the question image is statically placed on a display device and the options images are displayed in motion on the display area posing challenges in selecting the option.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the option images move in a production line format while new option images appear from the bottom of the display area.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

selecting plurality of option images for the question image; and adding different weighting to the plurality of the selected option image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing plurality of images;

storing text attributes for each image;

dynamically selecting a question image and the plurality of option images from the plurality of images; and

associating a text attribute of the selected option image to the text attribute of the question image to form a survey report.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the question image represents a product brand and the plurality of option images represents corresponding plurality of characters.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the question image represents a character with a first quality attributes and the plurality of option images represents corresponding plurality of product brands.

8. A server system for conducting a survey comprising:

first unit configured to displaying a question image representing a question within a plurality of questions of a survey;

a second unit configured to displaying a plurality of option images; and

a receiving unit configured to receiving an answer image representing an answer to the question, wherein the answer image is selected from the plurality of option images.

9. The server system of claim 8, wherein the question image is statically placed on a display device and the options images are displayed in motion on the display area posing challenges in selecting the option.

10. The server system of claim 9, wherein the option images move in a production line format while new option images appear from the bottom of the display area.

11. The server system of claim 10, the receiving device further configured to receive plurality of option images for the question image and an analysis unit configured to adding different weighting to the plurality of the selected option images.

12. The server system of claim 11, further comprising: A first storage for storing plurality of images;

A second storage for storing text attributes for each image; and

A question forming unit configured to dynamically selecting a question image and the plurality of option images from the plurality of images, wherein the analysis unit further configured to associating a text attribute of the selected option image to the text attribute of the question image to form a survey report.

13. The server system of claim 12, wherein the question image represents a product brand and the plurality of option images represents corresponding plurality of characters.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the question image represents a character with a first quality attributes and the plurality of option images represents corresponding plurality of product brands.