Survey & research glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you'll run into designing and analyzing surveys.
SAML
Security Assertion Markup Language - an XML-based standard used for single sign-on, letting an identity provider authenticate a user to the platform.
Sample
The subset of a population that actually responds to your survey, used to estimate what the whole population thinks.
Sample size
The number of respondents needed for a survey's results to reliably represent the target population, given a chosen confidence level and margin of error.
Learn moreSampling error
The natural difference between a sample's result and the true value for the whole population, which shrinks as sample size grows.
SCIM
System for Cross-domain Identity Management - a standard that lets an identity provider automatically create, update, and deactivate user accounts.
Sentiment analysis
Classifying open-text responses as positive, neutral, or negative in tone, typically done automatically rather than by manual review.
Skip logic
A rule that ends a survey early, or skips later questions, based on how a respondent answered an earlier one.
Slider question
A question answered by dragging a handle along a numeric range, rather than picking from discrete options.
Standard deviation
A measure of how spread out numeric answers are around the mean - a small standard deviation means most answers were close together.
Start rate
The share of people who received a survey invitation and actually opened and began the survey, regardless of whether they finished it.
Learn moreStatistical significance
A measure of how likely it is that a result reflects a real effect rather than random chance, typically based on sample size and the size of the observed difference.
Stratified sampling
Dividing a population into subgroups (such as region or department) and sampling from each one, to make sure smaller groups aren't underrepresented.
Survey fatigue
Declining response quality or willingness to participate caused by surveys that are too long, too frequent, or poorly targeted.
Survey logic
Any rule that changes what a respondent sees next based on their previous answers - includes skip logic, branching, and piping.
Survey weighting
Adjusting how much each response counts in the final results so the sample better reflects the true population, correcting for over- or under-represented groups.
Clear definitions improve survey decisions
Terms such as anonymous, representative, significant, confidential, compliant, and secure carry specific expectations. Use them only when your survey method and implementation actually support the claim.
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