Result Visualizations
NextGenPoll can display live results in 6 chart formats. The presenter chooses the active format during a session; the chart updates in real time for both the presenter and participants (if results are shown to the audience).
Bar Chart (Histogram)
A vertical or horizontal bar chart showing response counts or values per option.
- Best for: Single Choice, Multiple Choice, Slider, Numeric Answer, Ranking
- For Numeric Answer, the histogram also displays min, max, average, mean, and median below the chart.
Pie Chart
A proportional circle chart showing the share of each answer option.
- Best for: Single Choice, Multiple Choice, Slider
- Works well when there are 2–6 distinct options and you want to emphasise relative proportions.
Word Cloud
A visual cloud where words appear larger the more frequently they were submitted.
- Best for: Short Answer, Long Answer, Single Choice, Multiple Choice
- For text questions, individual words from all responses are weighted by frequency.
- For choice questions, the answer option text is weighted by vote count.
Ranked Table
A sorted leaderboard table showing options ranked by response count or average rank score.
- Best for: Ranking, Single Choice, Multiple Choice, Slider
- Shows position, option label, and score/count.
Venn Diagram
An overlapping circle diagram showing co-selection patterns between answer choices.
- Best for: Multiple Choice (when understanding which options were selected together matters)
- Most effective with 2–3 options that have meaningful overlap.
The Venn Diagram is currently only available for Multiple Choice questions.
Heatmap
A grid-based intensity map.
- Best for: Single Choice, Multiple Choice
- Useful when question options map to a spatial or matrix layout.
The Heatmap visualization type is defined in the system but not yet fully implemented. Selecting it will fall back to Bar Chart display.
Switching Charts Live
During a live session, the presenter can switch the active chart type at any time:
- In Presenter View, locate the active question panel.
- Click the chart type selector (icon buttons above the result area).
- The chart updates immediately for the presenter and for all participants currently viewing results.
The selected chart type is broadcast via WebSocket — no page refresh needed for participants.
Which Charts Are Available Per Question Type?
| Question Type | Bar | Pie | Word Cloud | Ranked Table | Venn | Heatmap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Choice | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Multiple Choice | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Short Answer | — | — | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Long Answer | — | — | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Numeric Answer | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Slider | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Ranking | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | — | — |