Format for Numbers

I had my students take the survey and as I was looking through their responses I realized that some of the numbers automatically formatted in certain ways. One question was on ratios and it was multiple choice. The answer was 2:1 and in the spreadsheet it turned them into times. I also realized that when students tried to type fractions they came out as dates. I guess I could have said in the question to express them as decimals. I am wondering if there is a way to change these default formatting issues? My surveys would involve numbers most of the time, so that would be important for me.

Jen,

Spreadsheets are set to look for certain kinds of symbols like / which means divide if you put an = sign in front of it - so 3/4 becomes 3 divided by 4. If you do not put an = sign in front of it the the spreadsheet treats the number like a date. Once the data is in the cell it cannot be changed. The next time you do a survey like this select the column by clicking on the letter title of the column and then use the format button which has the numbers 123. This is just below the  Format and Form menus. Select plain text, the choice at the bottom. Be sure to do this  BEFORE the students respond to the form. See image below.

Another thing you can do is use the help text just under the question. You can put an example of the format you would like the students to use.

Harold