FAQs for participants experiencing technical difficulties completing UK Biobank online questionnaires

What information do I need to supply to help UK Biobank to resolve a technical difficulty I have encountered trying to complete a questionnaire?

If you encounter technical difficulties when completing a questionnaire, please email ukbiobank@ukbiobank.ac.uk with the following information:

The date and time you encountered the issue;
The device you were using (e.g. the brand and model of your desktop computer, laptop, phone or tablet);
Your device’s operating system (e.g. Windows, iOS [Apple], Android);
Your internet browser (e.g. Safari, Firefox, Chrome);
A screenshot or photograph of the problem, if possible. If not, please give details of which page you were attempting to access and what the issue was.

This will help our IT team to try and resolve the problem for you and other participants.

If you are unable to supply this information, please call the Participant Resource Centre (PRC) on 0800 0 276 276 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) to discuss the issue.

I am accessing the questionnaire on my smartphone but am finding it difficult to read the text as it is not displaying correctly. What should I do?

The way that your mobile phone has been set up (via its ‘Settings’) can affect the way that the questionnaire is displayed. For example, if you have altered the text size and weight from the default settings to make the text larger and bolder, this may have an impact upon elements of the questionnaire, such as page titles, section names and web links. If you are finding that this is the case, we would suggest that you complete the questionnaire using a desktop computer or laptop instead of your mobile phone.

Why can’t I use the browser back arrow to return to the previous page?

If you use the browser back button, we cannot guarantee that the answers you have already provided will display correctly. Please only use the navigation buttons on the questionnaire itself if you wish to move backwards and forwards through the questionnaire, not browser buttons.

If I enter information on one page, go back to the previous page to see what I wrote there and then move back to the page I was on, my latest answers have not saved. Why is this?

This is the way that our online questionnaires are designed. You have to click the ‘Save/continue’ button at the bottom of each page to ensure that your answers on that page are saved. If you go back to the previous page without having clicked this button, your answers on the current page will not be saved and you will have to enter the information again.

I have been working through the questions on the page of a questionnaire and have clicked Save/continue at the end of the page. The system will not allow me to move on to the next page, but instead it goes back to the start of the page. What should I do?

Check the highlighted text at the start of the page. It is possible that you have not answered one or more of the questions on the page, and the system is waiting for you to do this before allowing you to move on. If this is the case, the system will alert you with the text ‘Please alter the answer to the highlighted question/s. Thank you.’ You should then scroll down the page to the highlighted question(s) and answer it/them. When you click on the Save/continue button after doing this, the system should allow you to proceed to the next page.

I partially completed my questionnaire but when I came back to complete it, I was unable to continue to the next section.

You will need to redo the identity check (the first section) every time you close and then come back to the questionnaire. We ask you to complete this again in case an error was made the first time or in case someone else, for example someone you share an email address with, started your questionnaire or tries to use a web link to a partially completed questionnaire.

If you take a break from completing a questionnaire (for example, you make no clicks or selections) for more than 30 minutes, you will be automatically logged out of the questionnaire. If you click ‘Save/continue’ more than 30 minutes after the last time you saved, you will have to restart the module from the original questionnaire link. When you return to the questionnaire, you will have to complete the identity check module and you will be redirected to the module that needs to be completed.

I do not want to add a comment, but the ‘End page’ section has not turned green on the menu. What should I do?

Please open the section and then simply click ‘Save/continue’. It is important that you do complete all sections of the questionnaire, otherwise you will continue to receive our automated reminders asking you to finish it.

Where can I find further information on individual questionnaires?

Frequently asked questions for some of our online questionnaires are available to read at the following links:

Health and Well-being Questionnaire FAQs (ukbiobank.ac.uk)

Mental Well-being Questionnaire FAQs (ukbiobank.ac.uk)

Sleep Questionnaire Frequently Asked Questions (ukbiobank.ac.uk)

Social Interactions and Focus Questionnaire FAQs (ukbiobank.ac.uk)

Visualisation and memory questionnaire FAQs (ukbiobank.ac.uk)

Pain and sensation help (ukbiobank.ac.uk)