Audience research
Part of Researching payroll software users around payday rather than from an adoption count
Microsoft Forms, Google Forms, SurveyMonkey or Jisc for payroll research, decided with a pilot
Compare four survey tools for payroll software research in England by collection, export, analysis, governance and fit, using current provider records.
No survey platform fixes a biased sample or a leading question. Choose the tool after defining participants, data sensitivity, analysis needs and organisational controls. This comparison uses provider documentation checked on 5 September 2026; plans and features can change before purchase.
| Tool | Current documented strength | Export route in the cited record | Best fit to test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Forms | Microsoft 365-linked collection | Excel workbook | Existing Microsoft workflow |
| Google Forms | Forms, collaboration and live response view | Google Sheets | Simple collaborative studies |
| SurveyMonkey | Dedicated survey plans and advanced options | CSV, XLS, PPT, PDF or SPSS on stated plans | More complex survey operations |
| Jisc Online Surveys | Research-oriented tiers and response analysis | XLSX, CSV, SPSS or PDF | Research teams needing its stated controls |
Microsoft Forms
Microsoft's Forms and Excel guidance says response data can be opened in Excel, with workbook storage depending on whether the form is personal or group-based. This may suit a team already governing OneDrive or SharePoint.
Verify the organisation's licence, respondent access, retention and tenant configuration. Product availability does not establish that every payroll research use is approved.
Google Forms
Google's Forms help documents survey creation, collaborator access, response charts and the option to store results in Google Sheets. It can support a straightforward questionnaire and shared analysis.
Check account type, ownership, external-response settings, data location requirements and offboarding. Do not collect payroll records merely because a form is convenient.
SurveyMonkey
The provider's UK plans and pricing details describe different response allowances, question features, collectors, exports and analysis capabilities by plan. Advanced functions can help with routing and larger studies, but the needed tier must be verified against the live page and contract.
Separate access to collected responses from the ability to export them. Confirm renewal, overage, team permissions and deletion terms before launch.
Jisc Online Surveys
Jisc's feature comparison lists plan-level response limits, question types, respondent-list functions, analysis and downloads. Its first-party page also states security and privacy credentials that procurement teams should validate against current documentation.
It may suit structured research programmes, especially where SPSS export or respondent management matters. Price and eligibility still require a live check.
Make the decision with a pilot
Score each option on accessible question presentation, logic, anonymous versus identified responses, invitation control, export completeness, team permissions, retention, supplier terms and total cost. Test with dummy data, never genuine payroll details.
The GOV.UK Service Manual advises that survey and benchmarking work generally needs many more participants than a small interview round. Its research planning guidance also says method choice should follow the research question. A polished form sent to an unrepresentative list still produces weak evidence.
Before committing, create the same short test survey in every shortlisted tool. Check keyboard navigation, screen-reader labels, mobile layout, branching, required fields, withdrawal information, export column names and treatment of partial responses. Invite colleagues only for technical testing, not as substitutes for real payroll users.
Download the results and confirm that analysis can reproduce the displayed totals. Record how deleted responses, duplicate submissions and missing values appear. Ask the data-protection and security owners to review the configured service rather than a generic marketing page.
Use a dated decision sheet and note unknowns. The winning option is the lowest-risk tool that meets the study design and governance needs, not the platform with the longest feature list.