Conditions or branches (IFs) are used to ensure that only certain people answer certain questions. You can also set multiple conditions for a question or set of questions, grouping and nesting them.

1. Basic conditions

Basic conditions can be set for one or more questions, where the condition specifies the answer to one of the preceding questions or a combination of several answers. Alternatively, conditions can be set so that they are determined by random grouping or computations.

You can set the conditions while editing the questionnaire in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab:

• Click on the blue IF icon located in the left side menu.
• Move the start of the condition before the first question that you want only certain respondents to see (but after the question on which you will base the condition).
• Select the variable that will be the basis for the selection in the drop-down menu.
• In the next drop-down you can also change the way the condition is calculated: equal (=), not equal (≠), greater (>), greater than or equal to (=>) less than (<) and less than or equal to (<=).
• On the right, you then select (categories/answers) or enter (if it is an open question) the value for which you want the questions in the condition to appear for respondents.
• Finally, move 'ENDIF' after the last question that you want to be included in the condition (to be answered only by the respondents who match the condition you have set).

Example: if you want all those who answer NO to the first question (Q1) to skip to the end of the survey:

• Set the start of the condition ('IF') after the first question Q1.
• Set the end of the condition ('ENDIF') after the last question or before the conclusion.
• Set question Q1 as the base question for selection and the value of the condition to YES in this case. Leave the calculation operator set to the default value equal to (=).

Example of a survey with a basic condition >>

2. Follow-up conditions for the display of another question

• A follow-up condition on a question with categories intuitively and automatically creates a condition for the next question.
• By clicking on the IF→ icon, you can specify any category/answer as a condition for displaying another (usually the next) question.

Example: if you want question Q2 to be displayed if the first category, e.g. the answer YES, of question Q1 is selected:

• Start editing question Q1 and click on the IF→ icon next to the desired answer category ('YES').
• Immediately after question Q1, a new question will be inserted which will only appear for respondents who select the first category (answer 'YES') of Q1.

Example of a survey with a follow-up condition >>

3. Internal conditions - conditions for sub-questions and possible answers

• A condition does not have to apply to the whole question - you can also restrict the display of individual sub-questions (tables) or possible answers (categories).
• By clicking on the IF* icon, you place a condition on that category, i.e. you specify when that category is displayed. When you close the question editor, the answers or categories for which you have set a condition will display the condition you have set on the right-hand side.

Example: If you want the second question (Q2), where respondents rate the usefulness on a scale of 1 to 5, to show only the categories that respondents selected in the first question:

• Start editing question Q2 and click on the IF* icon next to the first statement.
• In the window that opens, you select question Q1 as the basis for the condition. You select the corresponding category as the value of the condition and leave the calculation operator set to the default value equal (=).

Example of a survey with internal conditions >>

4. Multi-criteria conditions

You can define more than 1 criterion for each of the basic and internal conditions:

• In the editing of a condition, you first create the first criterion by defining a variable and a value as the basis for selection, as described in points 1 and 2 respectively.
• You will then see an additional option at the bottom 'Add next condition';
  • If you want the condition to be met if any of the criteria apply (i.e. it is sufficient that only one criterion is satisfied), click on 'OR'. 
  • If, on the other hand, you only want the condition to be met only if all the criteria of the condition are met, click 'AND'.
  • You can also use the 'OR NOT' and 'AND NOT' options in case you want to set the condition to be met when it does not match the set criteria.
• On the left ('Brackets') and right ('Brackets') of each variable are icons in the form of '+' and '-' characters, which can be used to edit the brackets to ensure the correct order of computational operations for complex sets of condition criteria.

Example: you only want to show the third question (Q3) to those who answered YES to the first (Q1) or second (Q2) question:

• Set the start of the condition ('IF') after the second question (Q2):
• Set the end of the condition ('ENDIF') after question Q3.
• Set Q1 as the base for selection and the condition value to YES. Leave the calculation operator set to the default value equal (=).
• Then select 'OR' at the bottom of the 'Add next condition' line.
• Define a second condition criterion, selecting Q2 for the selector and setting the value of the condition to YES. Here again you leave the computation operator set to the default value equal to (=).

Example of a survey with conditions based on several criteria >>

The functionality is available for users of the 2KA and 3KA packages for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.

In the set of all question types, in the 'Special questions' section, you can find the 'Location, GPS' question type. This question type has three ways of entering a location: 'My location', 'Multi location' and 'Choose location'.

My location

'My location' allows you to identify the current location of the respondent. The focus on the map is pre-set to Slovenia, but can be changed by clicking on the 'Set focus' button on the map to make the map clickable, so you can use your mouse to set the desired focus. In the question settings, the option to query the current location and display a search window is pre-set. The user can also activate the display of a sub-question, which appears as a marker on the map with an input field.

Example of 'My location' question subtype >>

Multi location

'Multilocation' allows the respondent to mark several places on the displayed map. The question is particularly useful when asking the respondent for more than one location, e.g. which places they have visited in the last year. This option is accessed by selecting the question 'Location, GPS' and selecting 'Multi location' from the three 'Subtype' options given.

The focus on the map is preset to Slovenia, and the search window display is also turned on by default. The maximum number of possible answers is pre-set to three (3), which the user can change using the drop-down list, and can also turn on the display of the sub-question, which will appear as a marker on the map with an input field.

Example of 'Multilocation' question subtype >>

For both location input options, two columns are created in the data table: 'Address' and 'Coordinates', and if a subquestion is configured, a 'Value' column. The entered or selected addresses and coordinates are in the form of a link to a pop-up window with a map and a marker for each respondent. The results in the analyses are displayed in a similar way, except that there is also a 'Google maps' icon in the leftmost cell, which acts as a link to a pop-up window with a map of all the responses/markers for each variable.

Choose a location

The 'Choose location' option provides the respondent with pre-marked values or points on the map where they can enter their answer. This option is accessed by selecting the question 'Location, GPS' and selecting 'Choose location' from the three 'Subtype' options given. This question type is useful when the survey editor wants to illustrate a specific route and several locations on a map. The question allows the survey editor to add values or markers by clicking on the map, and with the map toolbar, the survey editor can draw on the map. They can start by marking places on the map with clicks, and continue drawing the route by clicking on the 'Hand' button and then clicking on the map where he wants the route to go. With more clicks, they can make turns and mark the route accurately. When they click the 'Hand' button again, they finish drawing the route. A box appears to enter the name of the route and a 'Delete' button appears to delete this marked route. The legend explains that the 'Hand' button means finish drawing, the 'Marker' button adds a marker and the 'Line' button adds a line. For marker and line, as mentioned, a title can also be added to serve as additional information or a label. It should be noted that the line is not a value, but only additional information to the respondent (e.g. illustrating several possible routes). As with the Multi Location - Marker Entry sub-type, a sub-question can be added in the settings. The results are displayed as coordinates in the data table.

Example of 'Choose a location' question type >>

The functionality is available for users of the 2KA and 3KA packages for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.

Non-list based web surveys do not enable unique identifiers, which would enable us to control duplicate entries. Therefore, we have two alternatives, IP address and cookies, however each with certain limitations.

COOKIES

A cookie is a small text file sent from the server hosting the web questionnaire and then stored on respondent devices. Next time the respondent visits this same web questionnaire, the 1KA application recognizes this unit, which can be used to prevent repeated access or to enable proper continuation from eventual pausing or breakoff.

1KA application enables a variety of duration options in terms of cookies, which can be also accessed through the 'EDIT' - 'Settings' - 'Respondent Access' - 'Completion options'. When you select ‘The same respondent can complete the survey only once‘ under the ‘Multiple responses‘ option, you have following options for cookie storage duration: 

• ‘Until the end of the browser session‘ - where the cookie will be deleted as soon as the respondent closes their browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera,...); so if the respondent returns within the same session, they can make further corrections. Caution: if a second respondent enters in the same session after the first respondent, the cookie will still be from the first respondent and there will be problems!;
• ‘1 hour‘ - means that the cookie will be deleted after one hour from the first time the respondent clicked on the survey URL. The same warning as above (browser session) applies;
• ‘1 month‘ - the cookie will be deleted after one month since the respondent first clicked on the survey. The same warning as above (browser session) applies.

You can find more about cookie settings and options for future continuation of the survey fulfilment in the Settings for respondent access: cookies and passwords manual.

Limitation: The problem with cookies is that they are tied to the browser, which means that respondents using another browser, other devices or users deleting the cookie can complete the survey again. Cookies face serious problems due to increasing ethical and legal restrictions, as well as because some users decide to block them. For these reasons, cookies serve poorly as a replacement for the ID code.

IP ADDRESS

The IP address is a number assigned to all devices logged into the network, including the respondent’s device. 1KA application enables you to block duplication of IP addresses, which can prevent the same person from repeatedly responding to your survey.

This functionality can be accessed under the 'EDIT' - 'Settings' - 'Respondent access' - 'IP recognition' tab. In the ‘IP recognition' category select the desired option - for editing responses during completion and multiple responses.

Limitation: The problem may occur in the case of dynamic IP addresses (dynamic IP address for the same device is changed when disconnected and restored) or in cases where the number of devices on the same network has the same IP address (eg. in organizations).

Despite these limitations, the use of IP blockage may prevent at least some of the simpler frauds like fake responses or server attacks coming from a single device.

In general, we do not recommend using IPs and cookies for restricting access to the survey, because they can cause various expected and unexpected problems. In the default settings of the 1KA application these options are usually turned off. Still, in some specific situations, they can be useful, particularly if we know that in our target population none of the above problems emerges.

The best way to prevent duplicate entries is to use individual codes. In the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' tab, you can set individual codes through the interface for sending email invitations, which is available to users of the private package 3KA. Usually, this code is then used in the email invitation, either automatically (in the URL of the survey) and does not need to be entered by the respondent. However, we can require the code to be entered manually. Similarly, the code can be sent in other ways, e.g., in a letter, and respondents can retype it. The generation and use of individual codes is described here.

The double grid table is useful, for example, if you want the same respondent to rate certain question units based on their importance and satisfaction. You can generate a double grid table in the 'EDIT' – 'Questionnaire' tab, by navigating to the blue + icon on the left sidebar menu, where you choose the 'Double grid table' under the category 'Single answer tables'.

When editing the question, you can specify the subheading of each scale in the right-hand side menu, in the '1st table subtitle' and '2nd table subtitle' input boxes in the 'Answers' section. Under these subheadings, you enter the values of each category in the table, e.g. from 1 to 5.

Example: you want to know how satisfied respondents are with the design and quality of different products. You would write 'How satisfied are you with ...' in the text of the question, '... with the design?' in the subheading of Table 1 and '... with the quality?' in the subheading of Table 2. For both sub-tables (columns), mark the values from 1 to 5 and write the names of the products in the rows.

Example of a survey with double grid table >>

While editing the questionnaire in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab you can use the glossary, which can help you define the vague terms that you use in your survey, and are less known to your respondents. By using a glossary you create keywords that are marked with grey colour in the survey. Respondent can see the definition whether by clicking on the highlighted word or by moving a mouse over the word and a definition will appear in the form of a pop-up window.

Adding a definition with glossary:

• Click on a question or an answer where you want to add a definition of the word and open the advanced editor. For questions, you can open it by clicking on the blue letter A (on the right side of the editor) and for answers by clicking on the pencil icon (on the right);
• Select the desired word and click on the icon for the glossary (blue magnifier). Glossary in CKEditor can also be opened with command ALT + T;
• A new window will open with your highlighted word in the 'Selected word' box;
• Enter a definition or text in the 'Description/Definition' box.

You can choose between two display modes of definitions:

• Tooltip / hoover / Mouseover: the definition of respondent appears when the mouse moves over the word;
• Click required: the definition appears when the respondent clicks on the word.

Example of a survey with glossary >>

The 1KA tool offers different ways of inserting a date question:

1. Insert a 'Date' question type, selected from the question types on the left or via the "Add question" button when editing the questionnaire. It is possible to set a lower and upper limit for the display of the year, or to enable the time selection. The question is displayed to the respondent in the form of a calendar from which they can select the desired date and optionally the time as well. 

2. Insert a 'Number' question type. If you want the respondent to enter the day, month and year separately, insert 3 questions of the Number type and move them in a block. When setting up the block, choose a horizontal layout (see the manual Structuring the questionnaire into blocks). For each number question, you can also set limits (e.g. the respondent can only enter a number from 1 to 31 in the first field representing the day). This will display the fields for the day, month and year in horizontal succession for the respondents to enter their answers in numeric form.

3. Insert a 'Category - Single answer" question type and select the 'Dropdown' layout. If we want the respondent to select the day, month and number separately, we can insert 3 'Dropdown' questions. Arrange the questions in a block and choose a horizontal layout for the questions in the block. Add possible answers for each dropdown (e.g. from 1900 to 2010 for the year). The respondent selects the day, month and year from each corresponding dropdown.

4. Insert the 'Table - Number' question type. Choose the number of horizontal categories - e.g. 3 (for day, month and year) - and name them. Replace 'Enter text' with 'Date:' and delete the question text (Click and enter the text of the sub-question). The respondent will be presented with the date fields in a one-line table - separately for day, month and year.

Example of a survey with different options of displaying the date question >>

When creating an online survey, it is important to take into account that respondents can also access the survey via mobile devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets). In 2021, almost 60% of 1KA's respondents completed the survey via smartphone.

Therefore, when designing the questions in the survey, mobile respondents should be taken into account, both in the actual writing of the questions and in ensuring that the questions are displayed correctly regardless of the type of device used by the respondent. If surveys are not adapted to mobile devices, there may be problems related to data quality, e.g. incorrect recording of responses, satisficing, respondents skipping questions, etc. If respondents become dissatisfied, mobile respondents are much more likely to leave and not complete the survey.

To avoid these problems, PEW has developed eight recommendations for creating a survey that is also mobile-friendly:

1. Software must be optimised for mobile devices

Mobile optimisation means that the software automatically detects the device used by the respondent, in particular the screen size, and adjusts the layout of the survey accordingly. Fonts, spacing and buttons should be large enough so that respondents do not need to enlarge the screen. There should also be no horizontal scrolling, but vertical scrolling is acceptable.

2. Shorter is better

This refers to both the number of questions and the scope of the question. The longer the survey, the more likely respondents are to disengage - this is true for all types of surveys, but even more so for mobile surveys. This is because of the small screen sizes of smartphones, which can be solved by shorter questions and answers, which will make it easier for respondents to read and complete the survey, and should improve the quality of the data itself.

3. Avoid more advanced features

When creating a survey, it is important to try to keep it simple and not complicate things by including more advanced functionality such as sliders and the like. Research shows that respondents on mobile devices have difficulty using these features correctly as they require a high level of skill. It can also take more time than simpler formats. Thus, radio buttons, checkboxes or text boxes are the most recommended if possible.

4. Avoid tables

Surveys presented in table form are designed to make efficient use of space by formatting questions and response categories in a table or matrix. However, the use of tables on all devices has certain drawbacks. For example, researchers have found that with tables, respondents often choose the same, usually middle, answer for each item in the table, leading to non differentiation, also known as straightlining. This data quality problem is even more pronounced on mobile devices, as tables often require horizontal scrolling in addition to vertical scrolling, which can mean that all questions and answers may not be visible at the same time. This may cause respondents to leave the survey.

To avoid problems associated with tables, many online survey tools, including 1KA, allow you to optimize the table question type for mobile devices. More >>

5. Multiple questions on the same screen

As tables are not ideal for mobile surveys, it is better to ask multiple questions on the same screen. In the past, it was popular for online surveys to have each question on its own page or screen. However, due to slower page loading on mobile phones, this can put unnecessary strain on respondents. This can be avoided by putting questions about the same topic on the same page or screen.

6. Making the most of the smartphone screen

Smartphones have limited screen space, which makes it even more valuable. Avoid embedding logos, advertising and graphics (which also take longer to load), as this can saturate the screen. Navigation buttons should be at the bottom of the screen to force respondents to scroll past all the questions and answer options; this way they do not miss anything.

7. Survey invitations should contain a unique URL

Respondents should not be required to enter an access code or password to complete the survey. This creates another barrier to completing the survey, which is especially true for respondents on smartphones, as entering the code means that they will have to switch between the survey invitation received in their email inbox and the mobile web browser. For a better user experience, it is preferable to use individualized URLs for each respondent, so that when the respondent clicks on the URL in the invitation, the survey will open directly and the respondent can start completing the survey right away.

8. Invite respondents to complete the survey by SMS

In case we have the explicit consent of the respondents to send text messages, in addition to invitations by email, we can also send an invitation to complete the survey by SMS. We include the URL to the survey in the message and the respondent just clicks on the URL in the message.

For further reading on this topic, see the report by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).

An online survey created using the 1KA tool can also be answered by respondents via a mobile phone. Due to the smaller screen, certain adjustments are required to optimize the survey. For more advanced and new types of questions, or more advanced layouts of basic types of questions (such as image hotspot, slider, combined table, etc.), it may occur on mobile devices to have some offsets or opacity. In this case, we recommend using the basic types of questions and / basic layout questions.

FEATURES IN MOBILE PHONE ADJUSTMENTS

Category - single answer and category - multiple answers (basic vertical layout)

The basic questions, category - single answer, and category - multiple answers, are generally not problematic and are shown in the survey on a mobile device in such a way that they enable the survey to be completed normally. This applies to the following layouts: vertical, vertical - left text, drop-down menu, select from the list, image type.

For both question types and different layouts, the entire answer box is coloured when you click/tap on the selected answer (the entire box is also clickable).

Category - single answer and category - multiple answers (other layouts)

For one-answer and multiple-answer questions, layouts are also available that may appear unmanageable on mobile devices, so the layout selected on mobile devices is ignored and the question is displayed in a normal layout (vertical). This applies to the following layouts: horizontal beside the question, horizontal under the question, drag-drop.

Table

Table type question and all subtypes and table type question setups are automatically displayed on mobile devices as a set of basic question types. For example, if we have a question table - single answer with 5 different sub-questions, the question will appear on mobile devices in the form of a set of 5 consecutive questions of category type - single answer.

Example of a survey with a custom view of a table type question (mobile preview) >>

You can also display tables in the form of automatic expanding in the tab 'EDIT' - 'Settings' - 'Mobile settings'.

Example of a customized view of a table type question - auto-expand (mobile preview) >>

CUSTOMIZATION OF THE DOUBLE GRID TABLE QUESTION TYPE

For the question type 'Double grid table', the answers on the mobile phone appear as a series of questions of category type - single answer. For the sake of transparency, there is a horizontal continuous line between the individual answers on the cellphone and a dashed line between the individual tables.

Example of a survey with question type double grid table (mobile preview) >> (for comparison, see how layout types look on the web version of the survey)

DISPLAY OF THE TABLE WHERE MOBILE CUSTOMIZATIONS ARE OFF

If you turn off mobile customizations (see the last paragraph), you can also view the spreadsheet on mobile devices in the same format as the web, or use any of the step-by-step questions.

When editing advanced question types and different table layouts, in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab, to the right of the 'Advanced' tab, there is the 'Step by step mode' option. If you select 'NO', the question will be automatically adjusted as a consecutive series of questions of category type - single answer (or multiple answers) when answering by mobile phone.

There are 6 different types of Step by step completing that you can see at the link below.

Example of a survey with different forms of step by step answering mode >>

Example of a survey with different forms of step by step answering mode (mobile preview) >>​

Input questions (text and number)

On a mobile phone, questions with an input field (question types 'text' and 'number'), buttons for questions of type roulette and selection list are automatically adjusted to 100% screen width.

Drag and drop question

You can choose the drag-and-drop layout for different types of questions: category single answer, multiple answers, table. For single or multiple-choice questions, the drag-and-drop layout automatically adjusts to the default vertical layout when completing the survey via mobile. Table type question - Drag-and-drop layout appears on your mobile device as a classic (mobile-friendly) question.

Questions with pictures

By default, if you have images in the survey, they are displayed by default when responding to the survey via a mobile device, and they are adjusted to occupy 80% of the screen width.

Question with inserted video

If you inserted a video in the questionnaire, the width of the video will adjust automatically on 100% of the width of the mobile device. Respondents will be able to see the full video, no matter the width of the device they’re using for filling out the questionnaire.

Example of the survey with embedded video (mobile preview) >>

ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENTS

Hiding radio and checkbox buttons

With the type of questions such as 'Category – single answer' and 'Category – multiple answers' there is an extra option 'Hide radio button' or 'Hide checkbox button' in the 'Advanced' tab. Functionality is recommended for mobile devices, especially when you're using pictures for answers. In this case, you can hide these buttons (radio or checkbox buttons), respondents which will be filling out the questionnaire on their mobile device will be able to select pictures as an answer with the tap on it. It will be easier for them to choose the answer, as it would be selecting the 'checkbox' or 'radio' button, where you have to be more precise.

Example survey with hidden radio and checkbox buttons (mobile preview) >>

Adjusting the size of the radio and checkbox buttons

With question types 'Category - single answer' and 'Category - multiple answers' additional options of changing the size of radio and checkbox buttons are available to 2KA and 3KA private package users. These options can be accessed in the tab 'EDIT' - 'Design' - 'Theme modification', under 'Custom icons', 'Icons size'. Minimum size of buttons is 18 x 18 px and maximum size is 55 x 55 px. We especially recommend the use of this feature when designing surveys for mobile devices.

Example of a survey with a default size of buttons

Example of a survey with a modified size of buttons (40 x 40px)

Preview for mobile phone and tablet

You can use the preview to see how the survey will appear on different types of devices (computers, mobile phones or tablets). In addition to a basic PC preview, you have an option of a survey preview for mobile phones and tablets. More >>

THE OPTION FOR SWITCHING OFF THE ADJUSTMENTS FOR MOBILE DEVICES

All of the mentioned adjustments are automatically turned on; this way we can allow the optimal display of the questionnaire to those who use their mobile devices. In tab 'EDIT' – 'Settings' – 'Mobile settings' you can change these adjustments, which we dissuade. When you turn off the mobile adjustments the crossed-out mobile phone icon will appear in the menu line on the upper right corner (beside the icon for turning on comments in the questionnaire).

In case when 'Mobile friendly' display is turned on, you can separately turn off the display of images on mobile phones (if your questionnaire contains pictures that are not suitable for mobile devices) and adjust tables on the mobile phones.

When editing a survey in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab, you have the option to preview the survey before the survey is activated. To open the preview, click on the 'Preview' button at the top of the page. This allows you to check the order of the questions, the functioning of the conditions and warnings, etc. In preview mode, no data is saved.

To preview the survey in the basic view, select 'Computer'. If your survey will also be answered on mobile devices, there is also a preview for mobiles and tablets.

Regardless of the preview device you choose, you can switch between devices within the preview page by selecting the device you want from the menu on the right.

Additional settings are also available in the preview for easier viewing:

• Disable verification of conditions and alerts;
• Display conditions and blocks above questions;
• Display variable names.

In the case of longer surveys where you have a large number of pages, you can also use the 'Jump to page' option, where you can select the page you want to see in the preview.

Example of a survey in a preview mode >>

In the 'EDIT' – 'Questionnaire'' tab, in the settings of the 'Single answer table' question type, you can select the option to customise the table, which means that you can set each sub-question in the table to be displayed separately to the respondent. The respondent will automatically move to the next sub-question by selecting an answer for the current sub-question. Alternatively, the respondent can scroll through the sub-questions themselves (depending on the customisation choice).  

To enable this option, select the desired customisation of the table on the computer and on the mobile device in the settings of the 'Single answer table' question type, on the right-hand side, in the 'Advanced' tab, under 'Properties'. In addition to the default setting, you can choose between the following customisation modes: Grid, Scroll, Unfolding and Horizontal Unfolding.

This option is recommended especially in the case of respondents completing the survey via mobile devices. If you keep the default settings, the question will be automatically adapted to the 'Scroll' format when respondents answer it via mobile devices.

The link below shows examples of all types of customisation of a table question type:

Example of a survey with different options of step by step survey completing >>

The functionality is available for users of the 2KA and 3KA packages for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.