Vraagtype - Array
From LimeSurvey Manual
Short description
An array allows you to create subquestions as your left hand headings along the y-axis of a table, and let your participants respond with a series of possible answer options using those subquestions along the y-axis of the table. Examples of uses for this type include multiple point choice scales and questions that require feedback on several aspects of a particular topic.
General description
Download english sample question: F_-_Array_Flexible_Labels.csv
A further option available with Arrays is the Semantic Differential . You have to choose Array or Array (5 point choice) as your question type and afterwards you can part the answer which should be on the left side from the answer on the right side of the array by using a Pipe Char '|' (If you do not know where is the Pipe Char on your keyboard you can enter it by pressing and holding Alt key, entering 124 and releasing the Alt key). For example: If you want to have 'Good' and 'Evil' on the left and right of the row just write 'Good|Evil' into the answer field:
Download english sample question: H_-_Array_Flexible_Labels_-_Semantic_Differential.csv
Core settings
Mandatory
Description
This option allows the survey administrators to request their respondents to answer certain survey questions. If the mandatory questions are not answered, the respondents will not be able to proceed further. If you have a question with multiple subquestions, and you require only certain subquestions to be answered, use the minimum answer attribute located under the Logic tab.
If you use any of the preinstalled themes and the mandatory question attribute is enabled, a red asterisk will be shown next to the question. If you wish to hide it, please check these instructions.
Available options
- On - Question must be answered before the participant can proceed to the next page - the answer option 'No answer' is never shown.
- Soft - If the question is not answered, a warning is shown when trying to proceed to the next page - however, the participant can choose to ignore the warning and proceed. Note that the 'No answer' option is still shown (if activated in survey presentation settings)
- Off (default) - Question can be left unanswered
Option 'Other' (other)
Description
This option is used by multiple choice-type questions and gives you the ability to ask for a selection that is not part of the enumerated answer list.
Available options
- On
- Off (default)
Condition (previously "Relevance equation")
Description
If the result value of the condition is "1" or "true", the question is "relevant" in the survey context, i.e. it is shown to the survey participant. If not, the question is hidden. Any survey question allows you to specify a relevance equation. This function is the successor of conditions and supports much more complex conditional logic.
Syntax Highlighting
Whenever you save the condition, it is evaluated and syntax-highlighted. Any errors will be color coded so that you can quickly detect and fix them.
Valid values
- Any condition that makes use of the ExpressionScript syntax, without surrounding curly braces.
Examples
Here are good examples of syntax highlighting.
Advanced settings
Answer width (answer_width)
Description
This value sets the answer column width by using a percentage system. For example, if you type in this field 40, then 40 percent of the width of the question will be used for answers. The remaining width will be equally divided between the subquestions.
Valid values
- Any integer value from 1 to 100.
Array filter (array_filter)
Description
The Array filter setting allows you to use any multiple choice question to select or set which responses are displayed in a subsequent list, array or multiple choice question.
- Multiple choice
- Multiple choice with comments
- Multiple short text
- Multiple numeric
- Array (5 point, 10 point, Yes/No/Unknown, Increase/Same/Decrease, Column)
- Array (Dual Scale, Text, Numbers)
- Ranking
Furthermore, each of these question types can be filtered.
The only exception is Array (Column), which can filter other questions, but not itself.How to set a filter
To set a filter, enter the question code of a multiple options question in the array filter box of the question you are currently editing. The respective question will be used as the source of information for the current question, the selected answers from the previous question being retrieved and used as answer options for the current question. For example, if your source multiple option question code is "Q1", enter "Q1" into the 'Array Filter' box to start the filtering process of the answers. Only the answer options that are selected in question Q1 will be visible in the array_filter-ed question.
The subquestion codes used in the first question must coincide with the subquestion codes from the second one. Otherwise, the array filter function will not filter the answers to the first question. Note: When you want to filter the "other" answer option from the first question, you need to provide a subquestion for this answer in the second question and the subquestion code for this answer needs to be "other". Check the below example to better understand how the whole system works.
Cascading
The selected options can be displayed in cascade. This means that you can select a question which filters another question, which filters another question, and so on.
Array filter example
Let's take a look at the following example to better understand the power of this setting:
In the screenshot from above, we got two questions. The first one is a multiple short text question type, while the second one is an array dual scale question type. The answers you provide in the first question will be listed in the second one. Technically, the answers you provide to the subquestions from the first question are filtered and displayed in the second question.
This example can be downloaded from the following link: limesurvey_group_32.lsg. Import this question group into your LimeSurvey installation.
Array exclusion filter (array_filter_exclude)
Description
The Array filter exclusion setting allows you to use any multiple choice question to select or set which responses are NOT displayed in a subsequent list, array or multiple choice question.
- Multiple choice
- Multiple choice with comments
- Multiple short text
- Multiple numeric
- Array (5 point, 10 point, Yes/No/Unknown, Increase/Same/Decrease, By column)
- Array (Dual Scale, Text, Numbers)
- Ranking
Furthermore, each of these types of questions can filtered.
The only exception is Array by column which can filter other questions, but it cannot be filtered.How to set it up
Enter the question code of a multiple options question in the array exclusion filter box of the question you are currently editing. The respective question will be used as the source of information for the current question, the non-selected answers from the previous question being retrieved and used as answer options for the current question. For example, if your source multiple option question code is "Q1", enter "Q1" into the 'Array exclusion filter' box to start the filtering process of the answers. Only the answer options that are NOT selected in question Q1 will be visible in your question.
The subquestion codes used in the first question must coincide with the subquestion codes from the second one. Otherwise, the array exclusion filter function will not filter the answers to the first question. Check the below example to better understand how the whole system works.
Cascading
The selected options can be displayed in cascade. This means that you can select a question which filters another question, which filters another question, and so on.
Example
Let's see together the below example:
In the screenshot from above, we got two questions. The first one is a multiple choice question type, while the second one is a multiple choice with comments question type. The answers you provide in the first question will be excluded from the second one. For example, if you select the ComfortUpdate option (that has the subquestion code 'SQ1') and the Plugin option ('SQ4'), the 'SQ1' and the 'SQ4' subquestion correspondents from the second question will be excluded. In our screenshot, we can observe that only the unselected options in the first question and displayed in the second one.
This example can be downloaded from the following link: Limesurvey_group_array_filter_exclude.zip. Import this question group into your LimeSurvey installation.
Description
If enabled, the question will always be hidden - it will not be displayed to the survey participants. This function can be used in the following scenarios:
- If you wish to prefill a question with a URL and you want not to have it displayed on the screen. This overrides any conditions used within the survey because the respective question will not even be embedded on the page.
- If you wish to store or calculate a value on the fly via the ExpressionScript - Presentation.
Note: A common question type that is used with this function is the Equation one.Available options
- On
- Off (default)
Insert page break in printable view (page_break)
Description
This attribute is only active when you actually print a survey from the Printable View. It forces a page break before the question.
Available options
- On
- Off (default)
Show in public statistics (public_statistics)
Description
This attribute allows the survey administrator to chose if a particular question results should be displayed to the survey participants after they submitted the survey.
Note: To have the statistics displayed on the last page, do not forget to enable this functionality from the presentation & navigation settings. Otherwise, no statistics link will be displayed at the end of your survey.The default setting for each question is 'Off' (=Do not show the question statistics to the respondents). You have to enable this for every single question if you want to show the survey statistics of that (those) particular question(s) to the survey participants after the survey submission.
Available options
- On
- Off (default)
Randomization group name (random_group)
Description
It places the questions into a specified randomization group, all questions included in the specified group being displayed in a random order to the survey respondents.
You can find a sample survey using randomization group name in ExpressionScript sample survey.
Valid values
Just enter any string you like (for example: 'group1'). All question which have set the same string within the randomization group name box will have their place in the survey randomized (=randomly exchanged among each other).
Preview
To preview the questions use the preview survey instead of the preview question group function, as the second has been reported to not show the questions in a randomized order.
Random answer order (random_order)
Description
Deprecated for Answer Options : As of 5.5.0, this attribute is not longer used for ordering answer options. Please see QS:Answer_order
This attribute causes LimeSurvey to ignore the existing order of answer options/subquestions, and instead it orders them randomly. This option permits the survey creator to diminish the survey bias. Please note that if a question has subquestions, the order of subquestions will be randomized, not the order of the answer options.
Available options
- Yes - Randomize when participant enters survey
- No (default)
SPSS export scale type (scale_export)
Description
This is used for SPSS export only. This attribute overrides the default scale guessed by SPSS. To learn what the different measurement scales do, please read the related SPSS documentation.
Available options
- Default (default)
- Nominal
- Ordinal
- Scale
Use dropdown boxes (use_dropdown)
Description
If this function is enabled, the answer options layout will use dropdown boxes instead of radio buttons.
Available options
- On - dropdown boxes are used.
- Off (default) - radio buttons are used.
Minimum answers (min_answers)
Description
This function can be used to ensure that a user selects at least a certain number of answers in a multiple choice question.
Valid values
- Any integer value above 0
- Any number
- Any SGQA code
- Any question code (variable name)
- Any equation, using ExpressionScript syntax, without surrounding curly braces.
Example
If set to X (a random number), the users can submit the survey form if they select at least X checkboxes. If this option is utilised for ranking questions, this ensures that at least three items are ranked before allowing the respondent to submit the answers/survey.
Please note that if you use this attribute with Ranking questions, you have to set the question to non-mandatory. Otherwise, all the items need to be ranked which is counter-intuitive if you decide to use the min_answers function too.
Maximum answers (max_answers)
Description
It can be used to limit the total number of answers a user can select in a multiple choice question.
Valid values
- Any number value
- Any SGQA code
- Any question code (variable name)
- Any equation, using ExpressionScript syntax, without surrounding curly braces.
Example
If set to 2, the user will only be able to check at most two checkboxes or one checkbox + fill the "Other" field (if any). For the Ranking question type, the participant would be able to select maximum two items.