Question about Submission Time Discrepancy and Form Linking Issue

User Support Data Collection
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1

Hello,
I have a question regarding the submission timestamps recorded in the survey tool.
Is it possible that the recorded submission time in the dataset appears later than the actual time the form was submitted?

I previously posted a question here about an “ID error” some students encountered during form submission.

I’m currently conducting a survey at a school. Students access the survey via a QR code that opens the form in their mobile browser. The survey consists of two separate forms—one for the questionnaire and one for collecting personal information for sending out rewards. These forms are linked using the ?returnUrl= parameter.

After submitting the first (questionnaire) form, the second form (personal info) opens automatically. Therefore, the start time of the second form should logically be after the end time of the first form.

However, in a few cases from one school during a specific time period, the data shows that the second form’s start time was earlier than the first form’s end time. In some cases, only the second form’s data was recorded, and the first form’s data was missing entirely.

Is it technically possible for such discrepancies to occur within the system?

If not, I wonder whether some students may have directly copied and accessed the second form’s URL, bypassing the intended flow.

My account is hosted on: https://kf.kobotoolbox.org/

I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions you may have.
Best regards,
Nami

2

@Nami, could you also share with us the URL you link two forms? We could then test it and let you know what happens. You need not share with us your genuine URL but you could modify it slightly so that we don’t access your project.

3

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
Below is the URL in question.

Please note that the survey at this school has already been discontinued, and we have closed the link. The survey was conducted over two days. On the first day, 20 students participated, and there were no issues. However, the situation I described occurred during the second day of the survey (conducted on May 20, from 11:50 AM to 12:30 PM Japan time).

The survey involved 20 students; for 5 of them, we received the reward form responses before their survey responses. Additionally, the timestamps for those reward form submissions were slightly before the scheduled survey time of 11:50 AM.

I was not present at the time, but I was informed by the teacher in charge at the school that there were no issues with the campus Wi-Fi during that period.
We are conducting the same type of survey at several other locations, and this issue has occurred only at this particular school.
As we are planning to conduct the same survey at other locations as well, we would greatly appreciate it if you could let us know if there is any issue on the system side and any tips to avoid them.
Best regards,
Nami