XM Essentials 3: Stir Up Your Questions

Editing Project Dogfood

Moksh and Naman used a few common words (like 50 cents and 2 dollars) in an important multiple-choice question. I suggested switching to a currency format, like $0.50 and $2. I added, “We can even add a few new pricing alternatives like $1.50.”  They agreed, but asked, “How do you change things after Qualtrics saves?”

“It’s easy,” I said. “I’ll show you six simple skills that will have you editing surveys like a professional.” And with that, we started to clean the survey up a bit.

Try It!

Exercise D: Deleting, Editing, & Adding Choice Text

1. Click into each answer field. Highlight the choice text, delete it, and replace the values as follows:
   
   • Change the Click to write Choice 1 to I don’t like lemonade.
   • Change the Click to write Choice 2 to $0.50.
   • Change the Click to write Choice 3 to $1.
   • Change the Click to write Choice 4 to $2.
2. Click the plus sign ( + ) under Choices in the question editing pane to increase the number of choices from 4 to 5.
   
3. Enter $ 1.50 in the new answer field.

Exercise E: Moving & Removing Choices

1. Click the dropdown to the right of the $1.50 answer field and choose Move Up from the menu.
   
2. Click the $0.50 field and simply delete the text (or click the dropdown next to the field and select Remove Choice).
   
3. Click the dropdown to the right of the “I don’t like lemonade” answer field and choose Move Down from the menu. Click this until the choice appears at the bottom of the list.
   

Liven Things Up

The boys think their survey will get more traction if the questions have some pop and color. You can add images, highlight text, insert tables, and modify font colors, sizes, and types using the Rich Content Editor.

Try It!

Exercise F: Formatting Text with the Rich Content Editor 

1. Click into the question text box.
   
2. Click the Rich Content Editor button.
3. Select your text and apply any formatting you wish.
   
   Qtip: Add simple effects from the toolbar, such as changing the font or font size, or adding bolding or italics.
4. Click the More button to reveal a second toolbar and add additional effects (e.g., changing font colors, adding bullets, inserting tables, adding links, or shifting the justification to the left, right, or center).
5. Click the clear text formatting button ( Tx ) to strip your formatting; for example, if you’ve made a mess of things and need to return to the default font and start over.
   
6. Apply rich text to any answer choice by clicking the down arrow next to each choice and picking Rich Content Editor from the menu.
   

Exercise G: Adding a Demographic Question with Automatic Choices

1. Add another question by clicking the green plus (+) sign or selecting the Create a New Question button.
   
2. Enter How old are you? in the question text box.
   
3. Check the Automatic Choices box and the default choices will be added.
   
4. To change the choice text wording, click the dropdown arrow and scroll down the options. Choose Age. (Default demographic age groups will be applied automatically.)
   

Exercise H: Copying Questions & Changing Automatic Options

1. Click the question you want to copy (e.g., the age question from Exercise G).
   
2.  Choose Copy Question from the question editing pane.
3. Click Automatic Choices and change the number next to Automatic Choices to 5.
   
4. Click the dropdown menu next to the automatic choices and choose Unhappy – Happy. (This will populate your choices from Extremely happy to Extremely unhappy.)
   
5. In the copied question, change the question text to the following: How happy are you with your current summertime drink choices?

Continue to play with the Automatic Choices, moving the number of answer choices up to 7 to see how the automatic choice options change. Now try to move the choices down to 3. Notice how the question defaults to 5 choices, minimum.

Exercise I: Moving Questions Up & Down

1. Move question 3 above question 1 (i.e., to the top of the survey) by clicking the question and using the gray arrows on the left side of the question to nudge the question into position.
   
2. To move questions in a longer survey without repeatedly clicking the arrows, select the question and choose Move Question from the editing pane.
3. When the instructions appear as seen below, move your mouse to the spot where you want the question to appear and click in the space when finished.
   

What’s Next?

1. Read more about Moksh & Naman’s Lemonade Stand.
2. Continue to XM Essentials 4: Bring a Smile!