Run the study · Administrator

Manage rounds and snapshots

Choose whether a new round starts empty or copies answers, and understand what a round does—and does not—preserve.

Updated October 14, 2026

Screenshots illustrate the controls below. Layouts and labels may vary with your survey configuration. Select an image or “View full size” to open it in a new tab.

Preserve Round 1 when changing or resetting Round 2

Do not delete Round 1 to clear Round 2. Deleting a round also deletes all later rounds. Deleting Round 1 therefore removes Round 2 and any subsequent rounds as well.

To remove responses from the current Round 2 dataset, open View Responses, select Round 2, and check the intended users and page scope. Include all pages if the aim is to clear the whole rehearsal. Confirm the selected round before deleting responses. Clearing response records is different from deleting the round itself.

For a rehearsal-only Round 2, you can instead delete Round 2 only and recreate it with Start New Round (No Answers). Do this only when Round 2 contains no live data you need and there are no later rounds to preserve. Export anything needed first. See the Round 2 testing procedure.

Start Round 2 with the right response history

From My Delphi Surveys, click 1 in the Round column to open Survey Rounds. Choose the starting option according to whether Round 2 needs a fresh submission record.

Starting option	Answers and timestamps	Participant progress
Start New Round (No Answers)	Creates an empty current-round response dataset. Previous-round answers can still appear to participants for reference in Multi-round Delphi.	Starts at 0%. Displaying a previous answer does not record a Round 2 response. Participants must save the relevant pages in Round 2.
Copy Last Round (with Answers)	Copies previous answers and their original timestamps into the new round. Records can therefore show dates from Round 1.	Carries the existing answered status and progress forward. A participant who was 100% complete can appear 100% complete before returning in Round 2.

Choose Start New Round (No Answers) when you need to distinguish new Round 2 submissions from carried-forward answers. Copying with answers is appropriate when you intentionally want to carry the dataset forward, such as a Real-Time Delphi snapshot. Copied progress or old timestamps do not prove a participant revisited the new round.

Open Survey Rounds

From My Delphi Surveys, click the number in the Round column. Review the chronological round list before creating a new round. Participants can access only the most current round; administrators can select historical rounds for analysis.

A participant’s survey link is linked to the survey. When reused, it opens the current round rather than an earlier one. Give clear instructions when you ask people to return.

Click the current round number to open Survey Rounds. View full size (opens in a new tab)

More screenshots and examples (1)

The Survey Rounds window lists snapshots in chronological order. View full size (opens in a new tab)

Choose how the new round begins

Option	Data in the new round	Typical use
Start New Round (No Answers)	Answers are not copied into the new round. In Multi-round mode, previous answers may still be displayed as reference until replaced.	A fresh rating round. Distinguish reference values from newly submitted current-round answers.
Copy Last Round (with Answers)	Copies the previous round’s answers. They count in current analysis even if the participant has not revisited.	A Real-Time Delphi snapshot or a workflow that intentionally carries answers forward.

Real-Time Delphi can use multiple rounds or snapshots. Multi-round Delphi shows participants the previous round’s feedback, while Real-Time Delphi uses current-round feedback. Administrators can inspect current data in either approach.

Choose how responses will be handled when starting the next round. View full size (opens in a new tab)

A snapshot does not version the design

Rounds preserve response data, not separate versions of survey questions. Editing question wording, choices, types, or matrix structure can affect previous rounds as well. Keep a separate record of the design used at each study stage.

A snapshot does not override the minimum-answer threshold for displaying feedback. That threshold is a separate question or matrix-column setting.

Deleting a round

Deleting a round also deletes later rounds. For example, deleting round 4 of 7 removes rounds 4, 5, 6, and 7. Export the relevant datasets before any deletion and do not expect the data to be recoverable.

A round’s menu includes the Delete Round action. Review the consequences before using it. View full size (opens in a new tab)

Detailed instructions: Survey Rounds

Survey rounds are specific to Delphi surveys. Each survey round is a snapshot of the survey taken at a given time. Survey Rounds were invented with the Multi-round Delphi surveys and participants' answers were compared from round-to-round for consensus. The survey was carried on until consensus was achieved on all questions. A Delphi survey can have one or more rounds and the duration of rounds do not need to be of the same length.

Survey rounds are created by clicking on the number under the Round column:

Which will take you to the Survey Rounds popup window listing all rounds in chronological order starting with the first one:

When you create a new survey round, you have the following two options:

1) "Start New Round (No Answers)": this option will create a new survey round empty; i.e. the responses panelists entered in previous round will not be copied over into new round. This option is recommended in Multi-round Delphi surveys where panelists can only see responses entered in previous round; anything they enter in current round will not be visible to the panelist group until a new round is created and started. If a new round is created with this option in a Multi-round Delphi, panelists by default will see their responses from previous round for all questions they haven't answered yet. Once they answer a question, their current responses will be displayed to them as their own answers/comments. In a Multi-round Delphi, all analytics are calculated and displayed for the previous survey round, not current round. Use the Real-time Delphi if you want to display up-to-date statistics and analytics.

2) "Copy Last Round (with Answers)": this will copy all answers from previous survey round into the new survey round. This option is recommended in Real-time Delphi surveys where it could be useful to create snapshots of the survey in different points in time. When this option is used, panelists do not have to reenter all their responses from scratch, rather just change their last responses if they think it's needed. You may also use this option in Multi-round Delphi surveys where you may create a new survey round and run some tests and then discard the new round by deleting it and going back to previous round. Deleting a rehearsal round removes its responses, but does not undo shared questionnaire design changes. Preserve collected questions and use the Round 2 testing procedure above. Remember, if you copy/paste responses into a new survey round, those responses will be counted as real responses and will be included in the analysis even if panelists did not enter the survey in the new round.

You may add survey rounds not only to Multi-round Delphi surveys, but Real-time Delphi surveys as well. If you add a new round in a Real-time Delphi survey, each round will function as a real-time Delphi; so you basically take a snapshot of your survey in time keeping all data collected up to that point.

Panelists can only access the most current round, they cannot access previous rounds. Only survey administrators can have access to all rounds for analysis.

You may delete survey rounds but all data in deleted round and all data in all new rounds will also be deleted. So, if you have 7 rounds and you delete round 4, then round 5, 6, 7 will all be deleted as well. When you delete a round, all data collected in that given round will be wiped out and cannot be restored. |To delete a round, click on the round number to see a dropdown menu with the "Delete Round" option:

From the Survey Analytics page, you will be able to see comparison of and benchmark KPI's per survey rounds over time.

The Analyze Survey pages allow you to pick a survey round for which you want to see the analysis for:

The SPSS Export report on the Download Results page also allows you to pick a survey round for which you want to download data for:

Survey participants can only see the most recent survey round; they cannot see nor return to earlier rounds. When they click on the survey invitation link to log on to the survey, they are always taken to the most current round. A survey invitation link is linked to the survey, and not specific survey round. Only the most current survey round can be active. All earlier survey rounds are closed and cannot be opened; only one round can be active (Open) at any time and only the most recent round can be active at any time.

Editing a survey will change questions, choices in all previous survey rounds, as a survey round is the snapshot of the survey data at a given time (survey designs do not have survey rounds and their versions are not kept, and cannot be restored to either).

When a panelist is deleted from a Group, his or her survey data will be removed in all current survey rounds, however, their data in previous survey rounds will not be deleted. So, if you remove a person from a survey in its current survey round (e.g. in round 5), then the panelist's data will be removed from round 5 but will be kept in all previous rounds (round 1, 2, 3 and 4).

Common questions

Do copied answers prove the person participated again?

No. Copy Last Round carries answers forward whether or not the participant revisits. Report new-round participation using the activity evidence required by your protocol, rather than copied completeness alone.

Does a new subscription mean I should create a new survey for round 2?

No. Existing study data remains available in the renewed subscription. Use the same survey and its round workflow unless the protocol needs a separate project. See the subscription guidance for response validity.

Why does Round 2 already show 100% completion and old dates?

It may have been created with Copy Last Round (with Answers). This carries answers, original timestamps, and progress forward. For a fresh submission record, use Start New Round (No Answers); preserve Round 1 and review the reset instructions before clearing any current data.

Why can participants see answers in an empty Round 2?

Previous-round answers may be displayed as reference. They are not recorded as Round 2 responses until the participant saves the relevant page, even if the answers remain unchanged.

Need help with a specific survey? Participants should contact their study team. Administrators can contact Calibrum.

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