Q01
Message
All templatesPrivacy & Compliance
Smart Home Control Preferences & Default Settings Study
Surveys homeowners on their smart home comfort levels, device control preferences, and attitudes toward manufacturer default settings to inform product UX and setup experience design.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
23 questions · ~10 min
Q02
Multiple Choice
Which best describes your current housing situation?
- Own this home
- Rent or lease
- Living with family/others (not the owner)
- Prefer not to say
Q03
Multiple Choice
What type of home do you live in?
- Single-family house
- Townhouse / Rowhouse
- Apartment / Condo
- Mobile / Manufactured home
- Other (please specify)
Q04
Opinion Scale
Overall, how comfortable has your home been in the last 7 days?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Very uncomfortableMax:Very comfortable
Q05
Opinion Scale
When it comes to controlling your smart home devices, where does your preference fall?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Simple, minimal controlsMax:Detailed, fine-grained controls
Q06
Multiple Choice
Thinking about the most recent smart device you set up, what did you do with its default settings?
- Left defaults as they were
- Changed a few key settings
- Customized many settings
- Tried changes, then reverted to defaults
- I haven't set up a device recently
- I'm not sure / don't remember
Q07
Long Text
Based on your responses in this survey, please share any additional thoughts or experiences about controlling your smart home devices or dealing with default settings.
Q08
AI Interview
We'd love to learn more about your experience. An AI moderator will ask you a couple of follow-up questions about how you manage comfort and control in your smart home.
Q09
Dropdown
What is your age?
- 18–24
- 25–34
- 35–44
- 45–54
- 55–64
- 65 or older
- Prefer not to say
Q10
Message
Thank you for completing this survey. Your responses have been recorded and will help improve smart home experiences. You may now close this window.
Q11
Multiple Choice
Which of the following connected or "smart" devices are currently in your home? (Select all that apply)
- Smart thermostat or connected HVAC
- Smart lighting (bulbs/switches)
- Smart speaker / voice assistant
- Security system or cameras
- Robot vacuum or floor care
- Connected large appliances (e.g., washer, fridge, oven)
- Smart plugs or outlets
- Home energy monitor
- None of the above
Q12
Opinion Scale
How satisfied are you with the level of control you have over temperature and climate in your home?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all satisfiedMax:Extremely satisfied
Q13
Opinion Scale
For managing your home's temperature and climate, how much automation do you prefer?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Fully manual — I set everything myselfMax:Fully automatic — the system decides
Q14
Opinion Scale
I trust that manufacturer default settings are appropriate for most households.
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Strongly disagreeMax:Strongly agree
Q15
Multiple Choice
How do you describe your gender?
- Man
- Woman
- Non-binary
- Prefer not to say
Q16
Opinion Scale
How satisfied are you with the level of control you have over lighting in your home?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all satisfiedMax:Extremely satisfied
Q17
Opinion Scale
For managing your home's lighting, how much automation do you prefer?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Fully manual — I set everything myselfMax:Fully automatic — the system decides
Q18
Ranking
When setting up a new smart home device, rank the following by how important they are to you (drag to reorder, 1 = most important).
- Quick setup with clear guidance
- Clear explanations of what defaults do
- Recommended presets that work well out of the box
- Advanced options available for later customization
- One place to manage all device settings
Drag to rank
Q19
Dropdown
Which country do you currently live in?
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Australia
- Germany
- France
- India
- Japan
- Other
Q20
Opinion Scale
How satisfied are you with the level of control you have over home security?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all satisfiedMax:Extremely satisfied
Q21
Opinion Scale
For managing your home's security, how much automation do you prefer?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Fully manual — I set everything myselfMax:Fully automatic — the system decides
Q22
Dropdown
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
- Less than high school
- High school or equivalent
- Some college, no degree
- Associate / 2-year degree
- Bachelor's / 4-year degree
- Postgraduate or professional degree
- Prefer not to say
Q23
Ranking
Rank the following ways of controlling your smart home devices by how often you would ideally use each one (drag to reorder, 1 = most used).
- Automatic / scheduled controls
- Physical switches or manual controls
- Preset scenes or routines
- Voice commands
- Smartphone app controls
Drag to rank
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Includes dedicated opinion-scale questions measuring satisfaction with control over temperature, lighting, and security separately, plus automation-preference scales for each domain
- Directly probes trust in manufacturer default settings and ranks what matters most when setting up a new device — not just device ownership
- Uses ranking questions to capture real behavioral preference (e.g., app vs. voice vs. physical control) rather than single-choice guesses
- Pairs the closed-ended data with an adaptive AI follow-up interview and auto-generated report, so UX teams get both quantifiable scales and qualitative reasoning from the same respondents
Jotform
Jotform 4.0This is a ready-to-field static form template covering general smart home usage, making it a genuine topical match for this study. It's built for quick deployment and customization within Jotform's form-builder ecosystem, but it appears to be a fixed question set rather than a research instrument designed to probe attitudes toward defaults or control preferences in depth.
What it does well
- Quick to deploy and embed via Jotform's widely-used form builder
- Easily customizable fields and branding within their template editor
- Benefits from Jotform's broader integrations (payment, storage, notifications) if needed later
Where it falls short
- No adaptive AI follow-up questioning — every respondent sees the same fixed question set
- No voice AI interview option or guided screen-share tasks for observing real device setup behavior
- No automated per-response quality scoring or transparent prompt methodology published
Frequently asked questions
What questions are in the “Smart Home Control Preferences & Default Settings Study” template?
The template includes 23 ready-to-use questions, starting with: “Welcome to this research study on smart home experiences. We are interested in how homeowners interact with connected d…” · “Which best describes your current housing situation?” · “What type of home do you live in?”. The full set is previewed above, and every question is editable.
How long does this survey take to complete?
Respondents typically finish the 23 questions in about 10 minutes.
Can I customize this template?
Yes — every question, answer option, and the ordering is editable before you launch. You can add or remove questions, or ask the AI editor to rework the survey around your research goal.
Is this template free to use?
Yes. Open it in the editor and start customizing right away — no account required to try it, and the free plan covers launching your survey.
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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