Accessing Question Properties

Each question has a number of properties and options appropriate to the type of question. These allow you to set up the question such that it looks and functions as you wish. To view and edit a question’s properties, click on the question in the survey to open the Question Details overlay. Note that you can re-size the Question Details overlay as required to provide more space for your texts etc.; drag the right border.

The Question Details overlay for each question has several tabs.

• The Edit tab holds a number of the most-used properties for the question whilst the remainder of the properties are listed on a separate property sheet accessible via the Properties icon in the question details page toolbar (go to Question Properties and Options for more information).
• The Translate tab appears when more than one language is selected for the survey. This tab allows you to easily translate the texts, instructions answers etc. for the question.
• The Display logic tab allows you to define the logic for when the question is to be displayed.
• The Script tab allows you to use scripting to provided code masking, and validation for all question types except Info, and to add JavaScript to all question types except 3D-Grid (go to Scripting in Questions for more information).

To display a question’s properties, start by clicking on the question in the Survey pane to open the Question Details overlay. A number of the most-used properties are provided on this page, whilst the remainder are listed on a separate property sheet accessible via the Properties icon in the question details page toolbar (go to Question Properties and Options for more information). Note that the properties are not duplicated; they will be located either on the question details page, or on the properties sheet - not both. Note also that you can re-size the Question Details overlay as required to provide more space for your texts etc.; drag the right border.

As many of the properties on the question details page are identical for the various question types, all the properties available on the pages for all the question types are listed and described here. The question types to which each property applies are noted beside the property.

• Appearance - [Not Open text list, Info or Date]. These options define how the question is to appear to the respondent. The options available depend on the type of question (go to Appearance Options for more information). Click on Appearance and select the required option from the drop-down menu.
• Required question - [Not Info]. Check to require the respondent to provide an answer to the question before he/she can proceed to the next question. Note that this property will be disabled if it is not applicable, for example if all questions in the survey are required by default, or if the "parent" 3D-grid question is not required (go to Survey Settings for more information).
• Capture Order - [Multi]. Check this box to allow the order in which categories are selected to be accessed using scripting functions. The Forsta Scripting manual describes the use of these functions: AnswerOrder() First() and Nth(). Note that when this property is enabled, at least one category must be selected to continue past the question. Capture order relies on client side scripting. If the browser you are using does not support this, the question will default to a ranking question (input number rank values). To the respondent, the question will appear as a normal multi/list. This feature is primarily for use in the CATI environment.
• Type - [Not Info, Numeric list, 3D-Grid]. The question Type specifies whether or not it will be visible to the respondent and how the information is used. The options are:
• Normal - (default) an ordinary question that will be presented to the respondent so that he/she can provide their answer.
• Hidden - [Single, Multi, Open, Grid, Audio capture] the question is hidden from the respondent i.e. it is never displayed in the survey. However its value may be set from script-nodes, making for example, “on-the-fly” recoding possible. It is used for internal programming purposes or for reporting when you need to store a calculated variable which is used for example as a filter in a question or for arithmetic calculations on some of the respondent's answers.
• Background - background variables are by default hidden. The question will not be displayed in the survey, but will obtain its value from the respondent list. This can be very useful when you have information about your respondents that you want to apply in the logic of your survey. Note that the respondent list must contain a column with a name equal to the question ID.
• Recoded - turns this question into a recoded variable, which will not be displayed in the interview. You can predefine complex recoding rules in SQL or JScript.
• Panel variable (hidden) – [only available if the company owning the survey has Panel license] select to treat this question as a Panel variable, and hide it from the panelist. This variable type can be used to pull values from the corresponding field (with the same variable name/type) in the panel database. This is automatically done at the point in the survey where the variable is placed. Hidden panel variables will not push any data back to the panel, so in the event you need to set different values for these hidden fields, you must write a script to submit those values to the panel database. Note that this setting cannot be applied to Grid and 3D-Grid questions.
• Panel variable (visible) - [only available if the company owning the survey has Panel license] select to treat this question as a Panel variable, and leave it visible to the panelist. This variable type will pull the value that is stored in the panel database (if there is a value there). The question will be displayed to the respondent with this value, and the respondent can modify it and submit a different response as necessary. For surveys linked to a Professional Panel, if the panelist exists in the panel database then the new value will automatically be submitted to the panel database when the respondent moves to the next page. For panelist “registration” surveys, this means that the panelist must be added to the panel first (with the CreatePanelist function call), before the visible panel variables will be able to push data to the panel. For profile update or regular surveys, the panelist will already exist. For Basic Panel, no data will be submitted back to the panel database. Note that this setting cannot be applied to Grid and 3D-Grid questions.
• Answer list sorting – [Single, Multi, Ranking, Multi-Grid, 3D-Grid, Loop] controls the display order of the answer list elements in each group. If groups are not used, then this controls the display order of the entire answer list. The items can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).

When the answer list contains group headings, the Answer list sorting property controls the order in which the items inside each group are displayed. If the list does not contain any group heading items, then the Answer list sorting property controls the order of all the items in the list. If you have more than one group in the answer list, then the order of the groups is controlled by the Group display order which is set in the question's Properties sheet (go to Question Properties and Options for more information). Note that if some items are in groups and some are not, the position of any item that is not in a group will be controlled by the Group display order.

• Field width - [Loop] the number of characters assigned to responses in the database when exporting.
• Progress bar weight - [Loop] input a value for the estimated number of iterations through the loop that will be performed by a respondent when answering the loop question. For example, if you are inviting the respondent to provide information regarding five different products, then the respondent will go around the loop five times so you would input 5 in this field. Then, in the event a progress bar is used for the survey, this setting will increment the progress bar an appropriate distance while the loop question is being answered.
• Prompt list sorting – [Grid]. This controls the display order of the prompt list. The items can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).
• Prompt Group sorting – [Grid, 3D-Grid]. If the prompt list is organized into groups, these properties control the display order of the groups. The groups can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).
• Scale sorting – [Grid]. This controls the display order of the scale list. The scale items can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).
• Question sorting - [Multi Grid] This controls the display order of the questions (see Questions below). The items can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).
• Column sorting – [3D-Grid]. This controls the display order of the grid columns. The columns can be displayed:
• In order – in the order that they appear in the list.
• Randomized – in pseudo-random order (go to Randomization for more information).
• Rotated – the list is shifted and rotated by one position for each new response.
• Flipped - will alternate between displaying the list top-bottom or bottom-top for different respondents.
• Alphabetically sorted - will sort the list alphabetically based on the labels (in the current language).
• Columns/Rows – [Single, Multi, Open text, Numeric list]. Divides the answer list into several columns and/or rows. If you specify only the number of rows, the answers will be distributed evenly across the columns and vice versa. If both Columns and Rows are specified, Columns takes precedence. Note that answers in groups and auto-sum numeric lists are not currently supported.
• Number of answers – [Multi, Ranking]. You can force respondents to select a specific number of answers, define the minimum number of answers required, and define the maximum allowed number of answers.
• Equal to - specifies the exact number of answer items to be selected by a respondent taking the interview. Here you must take into account the number of answer items available, especially when using masking.
• Min/Max count- allows you to specify a minimum, maximum or range of answer items to be selected by a respondent taking the interview. Here you must take into account the number of answer items available, especially when using masking.
• Resizable mode - [Open, Open Text List - supports touch devices]. You can allow the text fields to be automatically or manually re-sized while the respondent is typing text if the amount of text typed is greater that the current area will allow. The options are:
• Off - The box cannot be re-sized. In the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, vertical scroll bars will be activated.
• Auto and manual - in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, the height of the field will automatically be increased so the text can be viewed. In addition, grab-points are displayed so the respondent can re-size the field as desired. Vertical scroll bars will be activated if required.
• Auto - in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, the height of the field will automatically be increased so the text can be viewed. Vertical scroll bars will not be activated.
• Manual - the text field has re-size grab-points such that in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, he/she can adjust the height and width of the field manually so the text can be viewed. Vertical scroll bars will be activated if required.
• Input box size - [Open, Open text list, Numeric, Numeric list]. Set the number of rows you want the text box to have in the survey, and/or the width of the box in characters.
• Input prefix - [Numeric list]. Places prefix characters before the input field. This could for example be a $ character if you are asking about prices in the USA.
• Input suffix - [Numeric list]. Places suffix characters after the input field. This could for example be km if you are asking about distances.
• Input assistance - [Numeric, Numeric list]. Check this box to place the thousand and decimal separators automatically when an answer is provided. The characters used will depend on the respondent's language standards. For example, if the question requires a numerical answer comprising 9 digits, 2 of which are decimals, it will be displayed as 1,234,567.89. Use the minus (-) character for negative numbers.
• Total digits - [Numeric, Numeric List]. Specifies the maximum total number of digits that can be stored, both to the left and to the right of the decimal point). Input an integer 0<p<=28.
• Decimals - [Numeric, Numeric List]. Specifies the maximum number of digits that can be stored to the right of the decimal point. Input an integer 0<=s<=p.
• Upper / Lower limit - [Numeric, Numeric List]. Define the scope of the entry. For “Lower limit”, there is a drop-down containing the choices “>” and “>=”. For “Upper limit”, there is a drop-down containing “<” and “<=”.

Note: For Numeric questions, the respondent can use either comma (,) or point (.) as the decimal separator according to their language standards. The respondent can also write a decimal number with a value less than 1 without the leading zero, for example ".35", and the negative sign (-) can be input as the first character; no other non-numeric characters will be accepted.

• Recording length Min / Max - set the minimum and maximum length of the recording, in seconds.
• Edit in - in the event you have selected more than one language for the survey then you can add a Title, Text and Instructions for each selected language. Select the language that you wish to edit.
• Title - [All question types] The title of the question. The title appears in the survey designer pane, and it functions as the heading for the question on the survey page in a web survey. It also appears as a descriptive label for the question when used in Reportal. The length of the title can be maximum 255 characters, otherwise it will be truncated. When a title is not provided, any character string in the Text field will be used as a title.
• Text - [All question types] The question text.
• Instructions - [Not Image upload, Audio Upload, Video Upload, Geolocation] Here you can type in any descriptive instructions or comments you may wish to provide to the respondent.
• Actions - [Single (not table lookup or hierarchy), Multi, Grid, Numeric List, Ranking, ] opens the Actions drop-down menu (go to Actions Properties for more information).
• Questions - [Multi Grid] The questions you wish to ask the respondents. These can be sorted as you require (see Question sorting above).
• Answers - [Open text list, Single, Multi, Numeric list, Ranking, Multi Grid] A list of options from which the respondent can select the desired answers to the questions. Note that the Answers can have a number of settings (go to Answer List Columns for more information).
• Prompts - [Grid, 3D-Grid] The various subjects in the question about which you want the respondent’s opinions.
• Scale - [Grid] The answer options available for the respondent to choose from. Note that the scale will be the same for all prompts in the grid question

Note: The columns displayed in the Questions, Answers, Prompts and Scale lists depend on whether Advanced answer settings is selected (go to Advanced Answer Settings for more information). All the columns are described in the Answer List Columns topic documentation (go to Answer List Columns for more information).