Google Forms Tutorial

Hey everyone, Kevin here! Today I want to show you how you can use Google Forms. You can use Google Forms to create surveys and quizzes. There are two things I love about Google Forms. First off, it's entirely free to use; all you need is a free Google account and you can start creating forms. Also, it's a super intuitive product. It's pretty easy to use.

In this video today, we're going to start off with how you can even get Google Forms. Then we'll create a basic survey, add some sections, set up logic so depending on how one of your respondents answers one of the questions, it'll send them to a different section of the survey. Then we'll also look at how you can distribute your survey, collect the responses, and analyze your results. By the end of this video, you'll know how to use Google Forms end to end.

Alright, let's jump on the PC and let's start building some forms!

Accessing Google Forms

Here I am on my PC and we want to create a Google Form. How do we do that? Head to the website google.com. Once you land on the homepage, up in the top right-hand corner, we have the waffle icon. It kind of looks like a waffle; it’s also known as the app launcher. When we click on this, it shows you all your different Google apps, and you might notice Google Forms is not in this set.

To access Google Forms, click into Google Drive. This drops us on the Google Drive homepage. In the top left-hand corner, we have a button that allows us to create new content. When I click on this, we can create all our typical things like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and here's the option to create a new Google Form. If we click on this, this will drop us into a new blank Google Form. Over here, I could also expand this sub-menu and start from a template.

Quick Access via Address Bar

Next, I want to show you one other way, perhaps even quicker, to get to Google Forms. Up in the address bar, simply type in forms.google.com and hit Enter. This drops us onto the Google Forms homepage. If you've ever used Docs, Sheets, or Slides before, this probably looks very familiar. Google intentionally uses the same layout across all these different products.

Up in the top left-hand corner, you can start with a blank new form, so you're building it up from scratch. On the right-hand side, you have different templates. It's worth a look to see if there's a template that already does what you're trying to do; that way you could save a little bit of time.

If you want to get back to an existing form, down below, you can see all your different recent forms. You also have filters and options to change how you visualize these forms. If you start getting a lot of forms, you can use the search to get back to the specific form you're looking for.

Creating a New Form

Alright, well, we came here today to create a new form, so let's go down and start with a blank form. This now drops us into a blank new Google Form, and we can use this screen here to start building out our survey or quiz or whatever you want to build out.

By default, we land on the Questions tab, and we'll use this to build out our survey. There's also another tab called Responses, but we haven't gotten any responses yet as we haven't built our survey yet. We’ll come back to what we can do with that later, but for now, we need to give our form a title. Right now, it's an untitled form, which isn't very useful.

I've been meaning to create a viewer satisfaction survey for my YouTube channel for some time, so I'll use this video to create that. Feel free to follow along and create your own form, or you could mimic what I'm doing just to learn the ropes of how to use Google Forms. Here I'll type in Viewer Satisfaction Survey.

Under the title, you can type in a form description. I'll type in some text that gives a bit more context on what this survey is about. I'll just say, Let me know what you think about my channel. This provides the framework for what this survey is about, and now I can start adding some questions.

Adding Questions

To add my first question, Google was nice enough to insert a placeholder question here, so I'll leverage this for my first question. Click on it, and it now highlights this question. You can click on the title and it will highlight this item or the question itself. Here you have a text field where you can type in your question.

For the first question, I want to know if the person is subscribed to the Kevin Stratford YouTube channel. So I'll just go in and type in, Are you subscribed to the Kevin Stratford YouTube channel?

Google provides suggestions like Yes, No, or Maybe, and I can just add all. Over to the right of this, I also have the option to insert an image along with this question. Maybe someone doesn't know what the Kevin Stratford YouTube channel is or isn't sure what it's referring to. I'll click on Add Image just to add a visual cue.

This now opens up the Google File Picker, and I can choose where I want to insert the picture from. I have the picture on my desktop, so I'll just drag and drop it into this screen, and this uploads the photo.

I see the photo, and it has been integrated into this question. So not only can I ask text questions but also include images. I could insert videos here too, so you can include all sorts of multimedia alongside your question.

Question Types

Right up on top, next to the image icon, we have a drop-down list. Here I can click to decide what type of question this is. By default, it's set to multiple choice, which makes sense for this yes, no, or maybe question. But I could choose short answer, paragraph, checkboxes, drop-down, file upload, etc. Throughout this video, we'll insert a few different types just to see how they work. For now, multiple-choice works fine.

Here I see all my different entries like Yes, No, Maybe. I can click on these and shift their position as needed. For instance, most people are probably subscribers, so I'll have Yes first.

I can also add logic so only certain respondents see specific questions. For instance, if someone says, No, to this subscription question, I want to know why. For this, I need to add sections. I'll select the first question and click on Add Section.

Now I have two sections. I want this question to be in section 2 (for those who aren’t subscribers). I can use drag and drop to move items around. I'll name section 2, I'm not a current subscriber.

I'll also add another section for those who said Yes or Maybe, calling it Additional Questions.

Adding Logic

We need to add a little bit of logic so our form behaves how we want. Go back to the initial question, click on the ellipsis, and select Go to section based on answer. Here if someone selects Yes or Maybe, I want them to go to section 3.

After creating the structure, ensure it's working correctly by using preview mode, which allows you to test the logic.

Additional Questions

Let’s add more questions to the Additional Questions section. I'll click on the Plus icon and ask, What video would you like to see next?, selecting Short Answer.

For another question, I want to insert a Likert scale. I'll select Linear scale and ask, How likely are you to recommend this channel to a friend or colleague?. I’ll set the scale from 1-10 and label the extremes appropriately.

Next, I want to ask, If you had a magic wand, what’s one thing you would improve?, with a paragraph response type.

Importing and Adding Media

Instead of creating another new question, I'll import one. Click on Import and choose a previously used form/question.

Finally, I want to insert a text section to thank people. Click on Add Title and Description and enter a thank you note.

Final Steps

Change the form title in the top left corner and adjust theme settings by clicking on the customization icon in the top right.

Hit Preview to ensure everything is looking good before distributing the form.

Distribution

Click on Send in the top right to send your form via email, link, or social media. Shorten the URL if needed or embed the form using HTML code.

Collecting and Analyzing Responses

Once responses start coming in, view them under the Responses tab. You can view responses in summary, by question, or individually. Create a spreadsheet to analyze results or download a CSV for Microsoft Excel.

Toggle off the form when you no longer want to accept responses. All data is saved in the cloud in real-time and accessible via Google Drive.

Conclusion:

That’s how easy it is to create, distribute, and analyze a survey or a quiz using Google Forms. If this video helped, please give it a thumbs up. To see more videos like this, hit the subscribe button. If you want to see me cover other topics, leave a note down below.

I hope you enjoyed and, as always, hope to see you next time. Bye!

Keywords

Google Forms
Surveys
Quizzes
Free Google Account
Creating Forms
Google Drive
Logic Branching
Collecting Responses
Analyzing Results
Customizing Themes

FAQ

Q1: How do I access Google Forms? A: You can access Google Forms by going to google.com, clicking on the app launcher (waffle icon) in the top right, and selecting Google Drive. From there, click on the New button and choose Google Forms. Alternatively, you can go directly by typing forms.google.com in your address bar.

Q2: Can I insert images or videos into my Google Form questions? A: Yes, you can insert images and videos into your Google Forms questions to provide visual context or further information.

Q3: How can I set up logic in Google Forms? A: To set logic in Google Forms, click on the ellipsis next to a question and select Go to section based on answer. This allows you to direct respondents to different sections based on their answers.

Q4: Can I import questions from other forms? A: Yes, you can import questions from other existing forms by clicking on Import Questions and selecting the form and questions you want to include.

Q5: How do I distribute my Google Form? A: You can distribute your Google Form via email, by sharing a link, embedding it on a website, or posting it on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Click on the Send button in the top right corner to choose your preferred method.

Q6: Can I turn my Google Form into a quiz? A: Yes, you can turn your Google Form into a quiz by going to Settings and enabling the Make this a quiz option under the Quizzes tab. This allows you to assign point values and correct answers to questions.

Q7: How can I view and analyze the responses to my form? A: You can view and analyze the responses under the Responses tab in Google Forms. You can view summaries, individual responses, or export the data to Google Sheets or download it as a CSV file for further analysis.

Q8: Can I customize the appearance of my Google Form? A: Yes, you can customize the appearance of your Google Form by changing the header image, theme color, background color, and font style. This can be done by clicking on the palette icon in the top right corner and adjusting the settings.

Q9: How do I stop accepting responses for my form? A: To stop accepting responses, go to the Responses tab and toggle off the option for collecting responses. This will prevent any further submissions.

Q10: Is it possible to collaborate with others in creating a Google Form? A: Yes, you can add collaborators by clicking on the ellipsis in the top right corner and selecting Add collaborators. This allows you to share the form with others, who can help you build and edit it.

Google Forms Tutorial