Start Loop&Merge on a selected loop based on previous selected choice | XM Community
Question

Start Loop&Merge on a selected loop based on previous selected choice

  • 24 April 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 9 views

What do I want to archive?
I would like to implement a staircase procedure. I have 11 images of abstract shapes, that vary in the amount of curvature introduced in the shape. The variations go from 1=maximum curved to 11=maximum angular. I will ask people: is the shape curved? There is no right or wrong answer, and I am interested in measuring the subjective threshold for each person, e.g. some people might say that image 5 is angular while someone will say it at image 8. Once they answer ‘angular’, I want them to proceed backward: e.g. if my participant says ‘angular’ at the image 8, I want them to then see image 7, not 9. And I want to repeat this for three times.
The ideal scenario:
The ideal way of doing this would be with a 2 blocks, one with a Loop&Merge Field that shows images in ascending order (from 1 to 11) and another one that shows them in descending order (from 11 to 1). The problem here is that I would want people to start the block in descending order based on the question they provided in block 1: e.g. participant says that image 1 to 4 is curved, but image 5 is angular. Then I will skip to the end of block1 and I ideally I would want block 2 to start from image 4 and proceed in descending order (3, 2, 1). This until the participant says that the image is curved again. In this case, I will go back to showing the images in ascending order: e.g. participant says that 3 is curved, then the next image should be 4, 5, 6... and so on.
What have I done?
In the second block, I created 11 Loop&Merge fields, each starting from each of the 11 numbers in descending order (see below). I also added a display logic, so that if participants answered ‘angular’ to image 8 at block1, they will be redirected to the question that displays field7, with image 7 in block 2.
Screenshot 2020-04-24 at 19.37.49.pngThe problem with this is that I will have a series of empty rows that will make the Loop&Merge impractical, as for example field5 will have 5 empty rows, that will not have an image to show to participants!
Question:
Is there a way I could make Loop&Merge start from a selected row based on the answer they gave in a previous question? Or is there a way I could skip blank rows? Could embedded data be playing a role in this?
I could not find anything like this in the Forum, so any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you guys!


3 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

We cannot do this using loop merge, I would recommend to use JS and store all the required data in ED or hidden questions.

rondev thank you very much for your reply. I am not familiar with javascript at all, do you think you could suggest some examples for the kind of code I will need to achieve my Goal? And will it work with images saved in my Qualtrics library with ED?
Thanks again for the quick reply!

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Yes, it will work with images saved in your Qualtrics library and ED. You need to create an array of all the image URL, and a custom button. On click of any choice increment the array counter, and show that image. Based on condition decrement the counter and show that image. Capture the image index in embedded data on which the choice changes.

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