Elements that make up a question in Cxoice
Questions are defined by a few key pieces of data, but the specifics vary by question type. Here's a quick guide.
Question name
Every question needs a name or ID.
Conventional question numbering can be used, like Q1, Q2, Q3 and so on, but we recommend using useful names such as ‘age’ or ‘jobtype’ as it makes it easier to reference when doing routing, text substitution and later analysis.
Question names must start with a letter and be alpha-numeric and can include – or _ but not spaces, commas or full stops/periods. These will be ignored when you type in the name.
Also note that uppercase and lowercase are different – so Age ≠ age.
We generally recommend using lowercase for question names to distinguish them from formula functions which are always uppercase.
The name can be edited or changed at any point, but you cannot have two questions with the same name.
Question type
The question type determines what type of answer or data you will collect.
Select the question type from the drop-down list, and the question definition form will change automatically to match the question type requirements.
Cxoice includes over 50 question types, grouped by category.
Basic types to begin with include
Single – to pick an item from a list
Multiple – to pick several items from a list
Text – for a line of text, Long text – for a textbox
Grid – for grid type questions
Script for instructions.
More information about each question type can be found in the Question Types section.
You can change from one question type to another just by selecting a different question type – for instance to switch from a Single to a Multiple. The question form will update intelligently, so lists or question contents are kept the same and do not have to be retyped.
Question text
Question text refers to the question itself. What should the question ask?
Questions should be clear, unambiguous and written in language that participants will understand quickly. Avoid jargon, or questions which can be interpreted in more than one way.
The question text can include HTML tags, and can be created with our rich text editor if the option is turned on (simple ‘plain’ text is often more consistent and easier to work with, so we don’t turn on the rich text editor automatically)
For technical control questions such as PageBreak the contents of Question text sometimes specify other types of control or comments.
Codes/Code list
A code list is a set of pre-prepared answers for a question.
A code list applies to question types such as singles, multiples, grids and advanced question types like click to rank and hotcold scales.
The example below shows the definition for a “Single response (list)” question type. This question type includes a list of ‘Codes’ that can be selected. You can add, delete and move these with the buttons next to each option.
If you copy (Ctrl-V) a list of items from Word or a spreadsheet into the last item in the code list, it will automatically be converted into a list of codes for the question.
A GETLIST formula can be used as the first code list item and will pull in a list of codes or items selected from a previous question. See the lists and formula section.
The label option – making questions compulsory or ‘must answer’
To make a question compulsory, so it must be answered, include a label. A label usually describes the question. For instance, if the question is “Which brands have you purchased?”, the label might be “Brands purchased”.
If the question is skipped the participant will be asked to “Complete the question about…” followed by the label wording. In the example case “Complete the question about Brands purchased”
Using label texts makes the error messages friendlier and clearer – particularly if there are several questions on the page, while also ensuring the question is treated as compulsory.
If you are working in multiple languages, translate the labels so error messages fit with the questionnaire language.
