ETHNOS, SPHYNX or MODALISA, which one to choose?
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sensbill
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Patrick_SI Posted messages 6 Registration date Status Member Last intervention -
Patrick_SI Posted messages 6 Registration date Status Member Last intervention -
Bonjour, I need to choose survey form creation and statistical processing software. I've found three that seem good, but I'm having trouble deciding between ETHNOS, SPHYNX, or MODALISA. They all claim to be number 1 in the market. If anyone knows their strengths and weaknesses, it would really help me in making my choice.
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20 answers
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We had to choose software to conduct satisfaction surveys on our members (we are a mutual insurance company).
I attended demonstrations of Modalisa, Sphinx, Question, and Ethnos. It's true that Ethnos is much more professional than the others (logical, easy to use, beautiful screens and graphics...). It is the one we chose, and we are very satisfied with it. -
Well, you see, we have ethnos at high school, it's very simple and easy to use! Every time I've had a questionnaire, I have done perfectly.
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I would say Modalisa or Sphinx because I have used both. The simplest thing is to test them. There are free demo versions. They each have their advantages, see how they work to find out which one best suits your needs.
In my previous company, we used Sphinx. In my current company, we chose Modalisa. We compared several products; Ethnos was quite good but the enterprise version is really too expensive for what it is (the student version may be more accessible)
Otherwise, there are free options:
Tri2
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Difficult to be brief. Before purchasing Modalisa, we made a fairly detailed comparison between several software options on the market. It was also for paper surveys with follow-up phone calls.
The Sphinx:
- Advantages:
Overall, Sphinx is quite user-friendly
For online surveys: not bad because it’s WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") / also good if you don’t have too many respondents (payment based on the number of respondents). It offers an online panel management option (expensive but good)
For analysis: offers most necessary analyses (univariate, bivariate, multivariate, variable transformations...)
It has a scanner reading system
Quite advanced online analyses
PLS regression and structural equations
Offers phone support contracts
- Disadvantages:
For online surveys: forms not editable with an HTML editor. Cost per number of respondents. Expensive survey server.
No multi-window feature (at least in the version I used): not practical for working on 2 surveys at the same time or even on the same survey.
Limit on the number of lines
The graphs are not great
Their basic version lacks many accessible features, notably variable transformations, open-ended question processing, and result presentation.
Modalisa
- Advantages:
Very easy to use
The statistical index PEM: complements the Chi-square very well and is very practical for small samples
Online survey: Their survey server is inexpensive. Their HTML forms are editable.
All functions are integrated, so you have everything on the same interface. It's simpler.
For analysis: offers most necessary analyses (univariate, bivariate, multivariate, variable transformations, regressions...)
No limit on the number of lines. The graphs are really good
Free support
I’ve seen a bit of the new version (version 7 I think): very good
- Disadvantages:
No WYSIWYG for online surveys
No module: if you just want to do basic and cross-tabulations, it’s a bit expensive. In fact, whatever your needs, you have access to all the features, so at first, it feels like there are too many compared to your needs. But it’s like Excel, in fact, we rarely use all the features.
No scanner
No phone support contract (free but by email)
I know users of both products and generally, each defends the one they chose. Aside from some specific functions, it’s also a matter of feeling, so ask for a demonstration to clearly see the differences and which one suits you best.
I hope my response will be helpful to you. -
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Hello,
I don't know Ethnos, but I am familiar with Sphinx and Modalisa. I prefer the ergonomics of Modalisa, it's a matter of taste. Modalisa appears more austere, but the interface is very intuitive and the main menu bar (at the top of the screen) is structured like the flow of a standard survey (if there is one), from the creation of the survey to the analysis, which allows for quick navigation.
Both Sphinx and Modalisa work very well. Both, if I remember correctly, have small issues with Yates' correction, but then again, unless reasoning all things considered equivalent, one approximation is as good as another... and everyone gets by.
The strength of Modalisa lies in its flexibility, the PEM and profiles on PEM that allow for quick processing of heavy surveys. The AFCs are very flexible, nicely represented and readable. They are easy to implement, and if you dig a little, you can find the contributions of factors beyond the first two. But you can also perform PCA and AFC with Sphinx. The contributions are easier to read, better presented, but if I remember correctly, you can't add additional modalities.
Both software allow you to export data to almost anything you want. Since I use a lot of AFC, I complement Modalisa with Trideux (which allows for juggling with the additional ones) and/or R. Both of these software, Trideux (austere and flexible but rustic) and R (austere, flexible, very fine, ugly maps) are free... but a bit more complex than Sphinx and Modalisa, although... and they do not allow the formatting of a questionnaire.
In short, Modalisa and Sphinx are very good and sufficient for many things. Additionally, you can also do quite a bit with Excel... -
I agree on the integration aspect, automated processing, compatibility (.doc, .ppt, .xls), and good ergonomics.
However, I think Modalisa can work very well for factor analyses. I've seen researchers (sociologists, ethnologists...) using it for multivariate analyses and typologies. Of course, it doesn't have the power of SPSS or SPAD.
Finally, you also have to consider the price you want to pay. SPSS is very powerful but also very expensive.
The downside of Modalisa is that you cannot program with it. Whereas SPSS is great for that. But you still need to know how to program! So the learning curve is not the same.
In fact, SPSS is a statistics software, and Modalisa, like Sphinx, Ethnos, or Questions Data, is a survey processing and analysis software. It all depends on your objectives and your level in statistics and computer science. -
I had the opportunity to use all 3 software programs.
I would choose Ethnos without hesitation for its ergonomics, ease of use, and power.
I agree with one of the speakers about Modalisa, which is a complicated mess (to be avoided at all costs).
Sphinx is mediocre, but the phone support when I needed to call them was not up to par.-
To follow up on Laurentc's comment, we can still feel the comment of an Ethnos salesperson! The first was from "Sebastiano" and this one is from "Sebastien"; it's a bit much and the content is similar. There’s a lack of imagination! Other publishers have made comments, but at least they played it straight and didn’t hide it.
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Hello,
I recently discovered another lesser-known solution in our area that deserves to be recognized. It is of Finnish origin but also distributed in French from Belgium.
It’s called Webropol
It is a complete suite in the form of a web platform (so no installation needed) that includes the creation of questionnaires, their distribution, and especially extremely comprehensive analysis tools - accessible without any specific knowledge.
It is very easy to use even though the more advanced analysis tools require some statistical knowledge.
Otherwise, for the "Basic Reporting" part, despite the name "basic," it is extremely efficient and generates top-notch visualizations of the results! -
I find the comments on Ethnos a bit questionable. It feels a bit like a commercial comment from the company! And it doesn’t really reflect the spirit of the forum... It's true that it may look a bit more professional on the graphics side (they are pretty), but you have to consider the price! To get something comprehensive, you need to pay an arm and a leg ;-)
Moreover, I've had the opportunity to work with several of these survey software programs and Ethnos is not that user-friendly and doesn’t have a good value for money at all, and they are never available for support
To say that Modalisa is a clunky system... I can't let that slide (I agree with Noan59). You probably haven't used it, or you're being disingenuous! And the comment about Sphinx not being very reliable surprises me as well?!-
Hello,
I am the sales manager at Sphinx, so I am very familiar with all the software you mentioned. I believe that each publisher has its strengths and weaknesses. Indeed, Modalisa is a good software, and by no means is it overly complicated. If Sphinx were not reliable, I don't think it would be chosen by our thousands of clients, and we wouldn't be generating the revenue that we do today. I also find the comments about Ethnos very questionable... but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
If you want to get an idea, the best solution, in my opinion, is to request a remote demonstration. Then, a test license for a period of 3 to 4 weeks. You will be able to conduct all the necessary tests and choose confidently.
If you need more information: Email address removed Moderation CCM -
They are mistaken about the forum. All of this is pathetic. We feel like we're dreaming. We now have an uninhibited sales manager who "knows all the software" (oh, it's not the excess modesty that's going to kill him one day!) from that thing, the Sphinx editor, who, under the guise of a soothing and hypocritical speech, tries to push us his merchandise. A wasted effort. Hiding behind pseudonyms or adopting an uninhibited Boris Sarkozy style to make us cough up our money is the same if not worse. I will never spend a single penny on the software mentioned in this thread. So be it.
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What seems very questionable and disingenuous are those who claim to know all the software like Laurentc or Boris but who don't know even one thousandth of it. I speak as the HR manager of a research firm that frequently uses Ethnos, which we find efficient and indispensable. I don’t mention other software and I do not disparage them because for my part, I dare to assert that I do not know them.
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Well, I never claimed to know all the software. I simply studied at different universities and worked in three different companies. This led me to use and compare several products, including Modalisa and Ethnos. As for Sphinx, I used it very little; I was just surprised by the questioning of its reliability, because in perhaps over 20 years it has been quite widespread, and it would be known!
In response to chassauxsorcieres, what I find pathetic is the relentless clicking on the + and - buttons. Looking closely, you can see that the guys from Ethnos regularly click + for themselves and - for others. When you look at the numbers, it's ridiculous
I am not a forum specialist, but is it possible to have a forum deleted when it has become more of an arena for confrontation than a place for information?
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Hello everyone.
I am currently thinking about starting a company for satisfaction surveys. Could you share your experience with me? (need....) -
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For free online surveys, I would suggest Google Forms (very simple) or LimeSurvey (more complicated but more powerful). However, they don't offer much for processing, so you might struggle with Excel. For processing, I recommend Sphinx or Modalisa (simple, not too expensive, and effective); avoid Ethnos (too expensive for not much).
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Now there's https://www.evalandgo.com/fr/ which is really easy to use and has a free version!
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Hello,
I would suggest www.webropol.com
I am a reseller for this application in the Benelux and France. So if you need any information, feel free to send me a little email.
Email address removed Modération CCM
See you soon!
Greg -
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ethnos finger in the nose (easy as pie) that I happened to come across
for the story, I had several databases that I wanted to process totaling 2 million rows, which I couldn't do in Excel limited to 1.2 million rows, even in the latest version
I managed to get through it far too easily thanks to ethnos by importing them, then merging them together and then extracting the statistics I wanted...
it's just simply amazing...
to successfully perform these imports, you need the unlimited version, I admit I don't have an official version but I will make up for it when I have the means -
Hello,
I use Sphinx for professional purposes and it is not suitable at all...
It is not powerful at all and not practical at all...
I think I've wasted my money... it's a shame Ethnos is much better... I've tested both and I can tell you that!
Goodbye! -
Hello,
I have the same question as you a year later
I need to enter and process data for a CAP study at Handicap International and I don't know whether to choose Modalisa or Spynx
and you? -
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Well, forums have become advertising spaces!!
And no one is talking about the incredibly easy and powerful (and free) software called evalandgo? (https://www.evalandgo.com/fr/
I only work with that one now ;)-
free, free... there is still a pricing tab. The free version is very limited. And while the paid version allows for good data collection, it doesn’t provide real analysis.
It all depends on the usage, though. But for true processing, it seems lacking to me, unless you then import the data into Modalisa, SPSS, Sphinx, or others.
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To have used both quite a bit in an agency:
The big advantage of Modalisa is that it is completely integrated and automated (questionnaire entry, automated data processing, automatic export of *.doc files. The interface is also very simple.
On the other hand, I find it less practical and efficient for more detailed and technical analyses, such as factor analyses (PCA).
For use in relatively simple surveys (like market studies), Modalisa has no equivalent. For technical purposes (advanced sociological study), for me it's SPSS.
Barbs -
Hello,
I worked with Modalisa and Sphinx. Modalisa is more professional in both analysis and presentation of results. Sphinx is okay but a bit academic and especially a bit expensive to have all the features. I used Modalisa in college and I use it in my company, plus they are quite nice over the phone.
Modalisa works on Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and Mac.
And Modalisa has free support!
So for me, there's no comparison. -
Having used Modalisa in my company for over 5 years, I can't let you say it's a cumbersome tool!
It's incredibly easy to use. Admittedly not very pretty, but you can't criticize it as it's so easy to get the hang of. I train about 10 people a year, and in less than 2 hours, they know how to create surveys, enter and process data...
All done by non-statisticians!!! It's a bit like the Word of survey software!
P.S: I have no shares in their company :)-
Hello
I see that you know Modalisa very well. I have a few technical questions if you don’t mind.
I need to install Modalisa on a 2003 server. The people in charge of creating surveys will do so from their workstations. Once the questionnaire is created, how do I upload it to the server? How do I configure the FTP? And for making it available online on the Intranet or Internet, what should I do?
If you could give me some tips that would be great
Thank you- On workstations, a user will create a survey and edit the HTML form. Then, they simply save the survey (File menu/ Save). It is then enough to take this backup (.MLS) and the edited HTML file and transfer them to the machine with W2003 (it is preferable to zip the files before transfer).
Then, going online is very simple:
read the backup in Modalisa (File / Read backup), publish the survey (new online survey / choose the survey from the list!), then place the HTML file in the folder indicated by Modalisa.
Personally, I use FTP to transfer the files, but it is not mandatory.
Otherwise, for going online on the Internet or Intranet, the Modalisa server sets itself up automatically, a fixed IP address is required.
I use this documentation: http://www.modalisa.com/pdf/Web_formulaires.pdf
If you need to publish a report: http://www.modalisa.com/pdf/U_Presentations_5.pdf
I hope I could help you. - Good evening
Thank you for your response. Do you use the cgi script (and where can we find this script??) In fact, I need to put the questionnaires online on a web server and create the response files with the modalisa cgi script. I don't know much about development....... do you know how to do it??
Thank you in advance
Ablette
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Hello;
I always work with the Sphinx software because it is very effective for survey processing.
For more information, I recommend looking at the following link:
https://www.optima-europe.com/logiciels/sphinx/
Halima