Loop and Merge | Qualtrics University

Loop and Merge allows you to loop through a block of questions, showing them multiple times with slight variations to the respondent.

Step-By-Step

There are two different loop and merge methods you can utilize. The most popular is the “Loop based upon selected answer choices” method. With this method, the respondent will view a multiple choice question, select their answers from the list, and then the system will loop through a block of questions for each answer choice they selected.

For example, if you are asking participants which books from a list they have read, and you would like to ask the same follow-up questions for each book selected, you could set up the Loop and Merge and it will show the block of follow-up questions repeatedly for each book selected.

The second loop and merge method you can utilize is the “Loop based upon numeric response” method. With this method, you can ask a respondent to enter in a number and the system will then loop through a block of questions as many times as the respondent has specified with their number.

For example, if you are asking a participant how many cell phones they have owned in their lifetime and you would like them to give the details for each cell phone they have owned, they could enter that they owned three cell phones, and the system would loop through the loop and merge block three times.

Below are step-by-step guides for both methods.

Loop based upon selected answer choices

Before setting up this Loop and Merge, you’ll need at least two question blocks in your survey. The first block should contain a Multiple Choice-multiple answer type question that will determine which loops to show to the participant. The second block will be the looped block.

Select Block Options on the block that is to be looped through.
Choose Loop and Merge from the Block Options menu.
Click Turn On Loop and Merge to enable looping.
Select to Automatically bring in Field 1 from a question.
Select the Question which will determine the loop.
Choose whether to loop through All Choices, Selected Choices, or Unselected Choices.
Click Save.

Include the name of the currently looped item within a question

Click the text of any question in the looped block that you would like to insert the name into.
Click the blue Piped Text tab, and select to pipe Field 1 from a Loop and Merge Field. A code will be generated that will pull in the name of the item currently being looped through.

Loop based upon numeric response

Before setting up this Loop and Merge, you will need to have a block with a text entry question in it and a separate block of questions you would like to loop through.

To set up the Loop and Merge from numeric response:

First follow steps 1-5 from the above Loop and Merge from selected answer choices instructions.
After you have selected which question you would like to loop based upon, you will click on the Select Choice drop-down and select the Numeric Response option.

If needed, enter in a number of Max Loops.
If you would like the looping block to have headings showing the respondent which loop they are on, you can do so by entering in the headers into the Field 2 column in the loop and merge table. Keeping with the phone example, if the respondent said they had three phones, and you are looping through the block for each phone, you will put “Phone 1, Phone 2, and Phone 3″ into the Field 2 column.
Save the Loop and Merge.
The final step is to pipe in the headings you created for the blocks. To do this, go to the piped text tab of the first question in your block. Select to pipe from a Loop and Merge field. Select Field 2. The system will generate the code in the question text box. Take this code and place it where you would like the “Phone 1, Phone 2, and Phone 3″ headings to show up when the respondent loops through the block.

More Information

Qtips

If you need everyone to see the same set of items when they loop, rather than a customized set of items based on what they have answered, then you will set up a Static Loop and Merge. When in the Loop and Merge menu, deselect the box for Automatically bring in Field 1 from a question, and type your own values into the Field 1 table. When respondents reach the loop and merge block they will look through the blocks one time for each item in your list. You can also customize with a second and third field as needed, so that multiple unique items can be used in each loop.
In the Loop and Merge menu, check the box for Randomize Loop Order to randomize your loops. You can also choose to only show a limited amount of the total available loops.
If you base a loop and merge upon a question that has randomization enabled on its answer choices, the order of the loops will be the same order as the random presentation.
When viewing your results, each loop is treated as a separate set of questions. If you have 5 possible loops, you will see the looped questions repeated 5 times in the results.
Using Loop and Merge can increase the size of your data export greatly because the questions are being repeated. If you are having trouble downloading a large data file, try downloading the data in segments rather than the entire survey at once.