Help & Documentation

Getting Started

AKTI SURVEY is a powerful platform for creating, distributing, and analyzing surveys. Whether you're conducting research, gathering feedback, or collecting data in the field, this guide will help you get started quickly.

Quick Start Guide

1. Create an account — Register with your email address to access all features
2. Create your first survey — Click "Create Survey" from your dashboard
3. Add questions — Use the drag-and-drop editor to build your survey
4. Configure settings — Set dates, rewards, and access policies
5. Publish — Make your survey live and start collecting responses
6. Share — Distribute using short links or invite codes
7. Analyze — View responses and track progress in real-time

Creating Surveys

The survey editor provides a powerful drag-and-drop interface for building professional surveys quickly.

Survey Settings

When creating a survey, configure these essential settings:

Basic Information

• Title — A clear, descriptive name for your survey
• Description — Explain the purpose and what respondents should expect
• Header Image — Optional banner image displayed at the top

Timing

• Start Date — When the survey becomes available (immediate or scheduled)
• End Date — When the survey closes automatically

Access Policy

• Public — Anyone can take the survey (appears on homepage)
• Invite Only — Only users with invite links can access
• Registered Users — Requires login to participate

Response Settings

• Allow Anonymous — Whether unregistered users can respond
• Allow Multiple Responses — Whether users can submit more than once
• Response Limit — Maximum total responses to accept

Adding Questions

Click "Add Question" to insert a new question. Each question has:

• Question Text — The question itself
• Help Text — Optional additional instructions
• Required — Toggle to make the question mandatory
• Question Type — Select from 10 available types

Question Types

AKTI SURVEY supports 10 question types to capture different kinds of data:

Survey Lifecycle

Every survey goes through a defined lifecycle with specific states:

Draft

Initial state when creating a survey. In draft mode you can freely add, edit, and remove questions, change all settings, preview the survey, or delete it entirely. Draft surveys are not visible to the public.

Scheduled

When you publish with a future start date, the survey becomes "Scheduled". It will automatically transition to "Active" when the start date arrives. Questions become locked at this point.

Active

The survey is live and accepting responses. Real-time statistics are available, and you can close the survey early if needed. Questions cannot be modified during this state.

Closed

No more responses are accepted. When a survey closes, the budget is distributed to collectors (if applicable), and full results become available. You can reopen with a new end date if needed.

Archived

Surveys can be archived for long-term storage. They're removed from active lists but retain all data for historical reference.

Survey Versioning

AKTI SURVEY uses a versioning system to maintain data integrity and track changes to surveys over time.

What is Versioning?

The Version number (displayed next to the status badge in the survey editor) indicates how many times a survey has been published:

• Version 1 — The survey has been published once (initial publication)
• Version 2, 3, etc. — The survey was edited and re-published multiple times

Why Versioning Matters

Surveys are versioned and immutable once published. This design ensures:

• Data Integrity — Responses are permanently tied to the exact questions that were asked at the time of submission
• Change Tracking — You can track how a survey has evolved over time
• Historical Accuracy — Each version creates a snapshot that preserves the original questions and options
• Audit Trail — For compliance purposes, you can always see what respondents were asked

How Versioning Works

1. When you first publish a draft survey, it becomes Version 1
2. While active, questions are locked and cannot be modified
3. If you need to make changes to questions, you must close the survey first
4. Editing and re-publishing creates a new version with the updated questions
5. Previous responses remain linked to their original version

Viewing Version History

The current version is always displayed next to the survey status badge (e.g., "Active • Version 1"). Survey creators can view the full version history from the survey management page.

Sharing & Distribution

AKTI SURVEY provides multiple ways to share your surveys with respondents, with built-in tracking to attribute responses to the person who shared the link.

Tracked Invite Links

When logged-in users (Admins, Coordinators, or Agents) share surveys, they automatically get personalized invite links:

These 6-character invite links track who shared the survey, so when someone completes it, the referrer gets credit for the response. This enables accurate reward attribution and recruitment tracking.

Short Links (Legacy)

Short links with the /s/ prefix are still supported:

These function identically to invite links and also support referrer tracking.

Creating Share Links

1. From the survey management page, click "Share Survey"
2. Your personalized invite link is automatically generated
3. Optionally enter recipient contact info (email or phone) for additional tracking
4. Copy and share the link via any channel

Direct Survey URL

For public sharing without referrer tracking, use the standard URL:

This link is used when non-logged-in users share surveys, or when referrer attribution isn't needed.

Link Types Summary

Invite Codes for Private Surveys

For invite-only surveys, generate unique invite codes that restrict access, track individual submissions, and can be single-use or reusable.

Referral Source Tracking

AKTI SURVEY automatically detects where your invite link clicks come from when shared on social media platforms. This helps you understand which channels drive the most survey responses.

How It Works

When someone clicks your invite link shared on social media, the system detects the source using:

• URL parameters - Platforms like Facebook add tracking parameters (e.g., fbclid) to links
• HTTP referrer - The browser sends the referring website (e.g., t.co for Twitter/X)

Supported Platforms

What Gets Tracked

For each invite link click, we record:

• Source platform - Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.
• Click count - How many times the link was clicked from each platform
• Response count - How many clicks converted to completed survey responses
• Timestamp - When the click occurred

Using UTM Parameters

For advanced tracking, you can add UTM parameters to your invite links:

The utm_source parameter will be used as the source if no platform-specific indicator is detected.

Leaflet Flyer

Create professional printable flyers with QR codes to promote your surveys in the field. Perfect for leaving behind at locations, handing out at events, or posting on bulletin boards.

What is the Leaflet Flyer?

The Leaflet Flyer feature allows coordinators to generate PDF flyers that include:

• Your unique QR code - Links directly to the survey with your tracking code
• Customizable message - Edit the text to match your audience
• AKTI Survey branding - Professional logo and design
• Your name attribution - Shows who shared the survey

Creating a Flyer

To create a leaflet flyer:

1. Go to Leaflet Flyer from the sidebar menu (Coordinators only)
2. Select the survey you want to promote
3. Choose a message template (English or Bengali available)
4. Customize the message if needed using the rich text editor
5. Preview your flyer in real-time on the right panel
6. Click Generate PDF to download

Using Placeholders

Templates support special placeholders that get replaced automatically:

Template Margins

Administrators can configure PDF margins (top, right, bottom, left) for each template to ensure proper printing on different paper sizes and printers.

Best Practices

• Print on white paper - The flyer is designed for white backgrounds
• Test the QR code - Scan it with your phone before distributing
• Use appropriate language - Choose Bengali templates for Bengali-speaking audiences
• Keep it simple - Don't overload the flyer with too much text
• Include context - Make sure people understand what the survey is about

Rewards System

AKTI SURVEY includes a built-in rewards system to incentivize survey participation and high-quality data collection. Your total reward points come from two sources:

Submission Rewards

Survey creators assign a reward points value to their surveys. When someone collects a valid response, they earn these points immediately.

Geo Diversity Bonus Rewards

On top of submission rewards, collectors earn bonus points based on their geographic diversity. Every 30 minutes, the system computes your daily Geo Diversity Score (see Leaderboards & Top 100) and converts it to bonus reward points using the survey's geo reward multiplier:

The default multiplier is 1.0x. Survey creators can adjust it to give more or less weight to geographic diversity.

Who Earns Rewards?

Rewards are earned by registered users who:

• Share survey links that result in completed responses
• Collect responses as field survey agents
• Have valid, non-duplicate submissions tracked to them

Anonymous respondents and duplicate submissions do not generate rewards.

Recalculating Rewards

Survey owners can update the reward points value and click "Recalculate Rewards" to update all existing submission rewards with the new point value. Geo diversity bonus rewards are recalculated automatically every 30 minutes.

Budget & Payments

Beyond gamification points, AKTI SURVEY supports real monetary budgets for paying data collectors.

Setting a Survey Budget

When creating a survey, enter the total budget amount. This represents the total money to be distributed to collectors when the survey closes.

How Budget Distribution Works

When a survey with a budget closes:

1. The system counts all eligible responses (from registered users who earned rewards)
2. The total budget is divided by the number of eligible responses
3. Each collector receives their proportional share based on responses collected

Budget vs Reward Points

Projected Pay

For surveys with a budget, the leaderboard displays a Projected Pay column showing an estimate of what each collector would receive if the survey were closed at that moment. This is calculated based on each collector's share of total reward points among eligible participants.

Opting Out of Payments

If you prefer not to receive monetary compensation for your survey collection work, you can opt out of payments through your profile settings:

1. Go to your Profile Settings
2. Expand the Payment Preferences section
3. Check the box labeled "Exclude from payment"
4. Click Save Payment Preferences

On leaderboards, opted-out users will show "Opted-Out" in the Projected Pay column, and their contribution to charity is displayed at the bottom of the leaderboard table.

Deferring Rewards to Another User

You can transfer your earned rewards to another user on the platform. This is useful if you want to give your earnings to a team coordinator, a teammate, or support someone else's collection efforts.

How to Defer Your Rewards

1. Go to your Profile Settings
2. Expand the Payment Preferences section
3. In the "Defer Rewards To Another User" section, search for and select the user you want to transfer rewards to
4. Click Save Payment Preferences

Changing or Removing a Deferral

You can change the recipient or remove the deferral at any time by returning to your Payment Preferences and selecting a different user or clearing the selection. Changes take effect immediately on all leaderboards.

Leaderboards & Top 100 Collectors

Leaderboards showcase the top data collectors for each survey and create healthy competition among your team. Each survey has its own leaderboard ranking up to 100 collectors.

Viewing Leaderboards

Access leaderboards from the main "Leaderboards" page, individual survey pages, or your dashboard showing your rankings across all surveys.

How the Top 100 Ranking Works

Rankings are determined by a composite score that combines two factors:

Both values are normalized (scaled from 0 to 1 relative to the top performer) and then combined using the weights above. This means volume and geographic quality both matter for your rank.

What is Geo Diversity?

Geo Diversity measures how geographically spread out your collected responses are. The system calculates the distance between every pair of responses you collected on each day using GPS coordinates, and assigns a score based on the average distance:

Your total Geo Diversity score is the sum of your daily scores across all days you collected responses. Scores are recalculated every 30 minutes.

Ranking Example

Here's a concrete example showing how the composite score changes the ranking compared to a pure response-count system:

Why Geo Diversity Matters

• Better data quality — Responses from diverse locations produce more representative datasets
• Prevents location farming — Collectors can't simply gather many responses from one spot and top the leaderboard
• Encourages field coverage — Collectors are motivated to travel and cover more ground
• Fairer rewards — Collectors who put in the effort to reach diverse areas are recognized for it

Taking Surveys

This section is for survey respondents — people who are answering surveys.

Finding Surveys

• Browse public surveys on the homepage
• Use a direct link shared with you
• Use a short code link (survey.aktiful.com/s/XXXXXX)
• Enter an invite code you received

Completing a Survey

1. Read the survey description and instructions
2. Answer each question (required questions are marked with *)
3. Review your answers if needed
4. Click "Submit" to send your response

Important Notes

• Required Questions: Questions marked with * must be answered before submitting
• Saving Progress: Currently, surveys must be completed in one session
• One Response: Most surveys limit you to one response per person to ensure data quality

User Roles

AKTI SURVEY uses a hierarchical role system to manage permissions.

Trust Score & Tiers

AKTI SURVEY uses a trust-based hierarchy system to manage data quality and user permissions. Each user in the collection network has a Trust Score and Tier that determines their credibility and position in the organization.

What is Trust Score?

Trust Score is a value from 0-100 that represents how trusted a user is within the system:

• 100 — Maximum trust (System Admins, Admins, and users they directly create)
• 90-99 — High trust (Tier 2 coordinators/agents)
• 50-89 — Moderate trust (Mid-tier team members)
• 10-49 — Lower trust (Deeper hierarchy members)
• 0 — No trust (Public survey takers)

What is Tier?

Tier indicates position in the organizational hierarchy:

Trust Decay

When users invite others into the system, trust decays by 10 points per tier level:

Parent vs Recruiter

The system tracks two relationships:

• Parent — Your direct supervisor in the organizational hierarchy (determines your tier and trust)
• Recruiter — The person who actually invited you (may differ from parent; used for reward attribution)

Creating Invite Codes

Coordinators and Agents can create invite codes to expand their team:

1. Go to My Team from the coordinator dashboard
2. Select the role type: Survey Agent or Coordinator
3. Click Create Invite to generate a shareable link
4. Share the link (e.g., survey.aktiful.com/ic/AbC123) with the new team member

Monthly Trust Adjustments

In addition to initial trust decay from invitations, trust scores are also adjusted monthly based on user activity. This ensures that active, productive team members maintain their standing while inactive members may see their trust decline.

How Monthly Adjustments Work

At the beginning of each month, the system calculates each Coordinator and Agent's activity points from the previous month and compares them to the month before that:

• Points increase — Trust score goes up
• Points decrease — Trust score goes down
• No change — Trust score stays the same

Point Categories

Monthly activity points are calculated from:

Trust Delta Formula

The trust adjustment is calculated as:

Admin Review Process

Trust adjustments don't happen automatically. They go through an admin review process:

1. Calculate — System generates proposed changes based on activity
2. Review — Admin reviews each proposal and can approve, skip, reject, or override
3. Apply — Approved changes are applied to update user trust scores

Maintaining Your Trust Score

To maintain or improve your trust score:

• Stay active by collecting survey responses regularly
• Recruit new team members when appropriate
• Contribute to dataset management
• Maintain consistent month-over-month activity

Anti-Fraud Protection

AKTI SURVEY includes multiple layers of protection to ensure data quality and prevent abuse.

Duplicate Prevention

• User Account — Logged-in users can only submit once per survey
• Device Fingerprinting — Tracks device characteristics to identify repeats
• Cookie Tracking — Browser cookies track previous submissions
• IP Throttling — Rate limits submissions from the same IP

Velocity Checks

The system monitors submission patterns, flagging unusually fast completion times and bot-like patterns.

Geographic Controls

• Geo-blocking — Restrict surveys to specific countries/regions
• IP blocking — Block known VPN/proxy services
• Location verification — Require GPS location for mobile submissions

Moderation

AKTI SURVEY provides tools for maintaining data quality through both manual review and automatic detection of problematic responses.

Manual Moderation

Survey owners, coordinators, and administrators can manually review and flag individual responses. Each response can be marked with one of three flags:

Impact on Rewards

When a response is flagged as spam or invalid, the system automatically:

• Removes reward points — The collector loses the reward points they earned for that response
• Removes budget share — The collector loses any budget allocation from that response
• Updates leaderboards — Rankings are recalculated to reflect the reduced points

If a response is later changed back to valid, rewards are restored (provided the collector is still eligible for rewards).

Automatic Data Quality Control

In addition to manual moderation, AKTI SURVEY employs automatic data quality control (QC) systems that analyze response patterns in real-time:

What the System Checks

• Completion time — Responses completed too quickly may indicate careless or bot-generated submissions
• Response patterns — Identical answers across multiple questions or straight-lining (selecting the same option repeatedly)
• Answer consistency — Contradictory answers that don't make logical sense
• Text quality — Gibberish, random characters, or copy-pasted content in text fields
• Duplicate content — Responses that are nearly identical to previous submissions

How Automatic Flags Work

When the system detects potential issues:

1. The response is flagged for review with a suspected spam/invalid marker
2. Survey moderators receive a notification to review flagged responses
3. Moderators can confirm or override the automatic flag
4. If confirmed as spam/invalid, rewards are removed as described above

Best Practices for Collectors

To avoid having your responses flagged:

• Take your time — Ensure respondents understand and thoughtfully answer each question
• Verify responses — Double-check that answers make sense before submitting
• Avoid rushing — Quality data collection takes time; don't prioritize quantity over quality
• Be present — When collecting in person, actively assist respondents to ensure accurate responses
• Report issues — If a respondent refuses to cooperate or provides obviously false information, document this instead of submitting poor data

Data Sets

Data Sets are structured collections of reference data that enhance survey capabilities. They provide standardized options for dropdown questions, enable hierarchical selections, and help maintain consistency across multiple surveys.

What are Data Sets?

A Data Set is a curated collection of items organized in a hierarchy. Examples include:

• Geographic data — Divisions, districts, upazilas, unions
• Organizational data — Departments, teams, positions
• Classification data — Industries, occupations, education levels
• Product catalogs — Categories, subcategories, items

Survey creators can link dropdown questions to Data Sets, automatically populating options and enabling cascading selections (e.g., selecting a division filters the district options).

Becoming a Data Set Manager

To contribute Data Sets to the platform, you need to become a Data Set Manager:

1. Register an account if you haven't already
2. Contact a System Administrator to request Data Set Manager status
3. Provide justification explaining what data sets you plan to contribute
4. Await approval — System Admins review requests and grant access

Once approved, you'll see a "Datasets" option in your dashboard where you can create, edit, and manage your data sets.

Data Sets We're Looking For

AKTI SURVEY focuses on Bangladesh-specific research and surveys. We're actively seeking contributors for the following data sets:

Contributing a Data Set

When creating a Data Set, please ensure:

• Accuracy — Data should be verified from reliable sources
• Completeness — Include all relevant items within the scope
• Structure — Organize hierarchically where appropriate (parent-child relationships)
• Bangla support — Include Bangla translations where applicable
• Documentation — Describe the source and methodology used

Frequently Asked Questions