Date Question Type

A Date question is a short-answer, open-text field with validation that ensures entries are dates. You can choose to validate for the following formats:

  • MM/DD/YYYY
  • DD/MM/YYYY
  • YYYY/MM/DD

The question includes a calendar date-picker that can also be navigated using keyboard controls.

When To Use It

Use Date questions to collect date responses from your respondents.

Selecting Your Date Format

On the Validation tab of your date question select either MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, or YYYY/MM/DD format.

If you wish to set this up by default for the entire survey you can do so via Advanced > General > Standard Survey Date Format.

Specifying a Min/Max Date Range for Survey Respondents

On the Validation tab of your date question you can specify the range of dates for which respondents can select using the calendar date picker. For example, say you are looking to allow survey respondents to only select a 2014 date. You can specify 01/01/2014 as the Min value and a Max value of 12/31/2014. Then when survey respondents click on the date picker calendar they would only be permitted to select between those dates.

You can also enter "today" as the min or max value to only allow respondents to select today's date or future dates or past dates.

There are other useful formats such as -1 week, or -1 month. This would mean that whenever survey respondents take your survey they would only be permitted to select a date as far back as one week or one month ago.

Valid Date Formats for Filtering

  • mm/dd/yyyy
  • mm/dd/yy
  • dd/mm/yyyy
  • dd/mm/yy
  • 10 April 2014
  • +/-1 days, weeks, months or years
  • next/last Monday
  • today

Survey Taking

On a desktop and most laptops the Date question type looks like so.

Date Question on Desktop

When optimized for mobile devices the Date question type looks very similar.

By default, survey questions show one at a time on mobile devices to prevent the need for scrolling on smaller screens. You can turn off this one-at-a-time interaction if you wish.

Date Question on Mobile

Note: The date picker calendar may not be supported on all mobile browsers, however keyed entries will still be validated for valid date entries.

Navigating the Date Picker via Keyboard Controls

The Date Question is screen reader accessible and the associated calendar date-picker can be navigated by all users via keyboard controls. Use the following controls to navigate the date picker:

  • When the calendar is opened, focus is set on the current date.
  • Press the LEFT (⇦) and RIGHT (⇨) arrow keys to navigate a calendar row by day.
  • Press the UP (⇧) and DOWN (⇩) arrow keys to navigate between weeks on the same week day.
  • Press the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to navigate forward and backward by month.
  • Press the HOME and END keys to navigate forward and backward by year.
  • Press the SPACE or ENTER keys to activate/input the selected date.
  • Press ESCAPE to close the calendar.

Reporting

In the Standard Report Date questions report as a collapsed response list.

Date Question Reporting

 See additional compatible chart types

Within the Standard Report there are various chart types available for visualizing your data. The below grid shows which of the our chart types Date questions are compatible with. 

Chart Type (Aggregate)

Compatible
Collapsed Response List

 
Contact Cards

 
DIY Grid/Cards

 

 See what other report types are compatible

The below grid shows whether Date questions are compatible with each of our report types. If you plan to do some specific analysis within Alchemer this report compatibility chart should help you choose the right question types.

Report Type
Compatible
Standard
 
Legacy Summary
 
TURF

Profile
 
Crosstab

Comparison
 (not available as source question)

Exporting

In the CSV/Excel export, the data is displayed in a single column within the spreadsheet.

Basic Standard Market Research HR Professional Full Access Reporting
Free Individual SurveyGizmo Enterprise*
*Excludes Stakeholder
Feature Included In