XM Essentials 4: Bring a Smile!
What's on This Page:
Spicing Up Project Dogfood
Multiple-choice questions are very effective, but were a bit boring for the boys. So we commissioned some artwork of Moksh and Naman to be used in their survey. Then, we livened things up with a variety of question types, including a smiley-faced slider.
Changing Question Types
There are two ways to pick a new question type:
Four Categories of Questions
Questions types are broken into four categories:
Question Types | |
Static Content Questions | Includes Descriptive Text and Graphic question types. |
Standard Questions | Groups the most commonly used question types: Multiple Choice, Text Entry, Rank Order, Matrix Table, Slider, and Side by Side. |
Specialty Questions | Specialized research techniques inspired these question types: Constant Sum, Hot Spot, Graphic Slider, Drill Down, Pick Group and Rank, Heat Map, Net Promoter® Score (or NPS®), Highlight, and Signature. |
Advanced Questions | Provides detailed data about respondents and their interactions with your survey, often without requiring action from the respondents, and include: Timing, File Upload, Screen Capture, Captcha Verification, and Meta Info. |
Adding Images with Welcoming Text
Static questions are often used for welcome messages and instructions. Here we’ll add an image and text to a static Descriptive Text question.
Try it!
Exercise J: Creating a Static Question with a Graphic
Qtip: Practice by right-clicking the image below and saving it, or substitute an image of your own. You’ll learn to upload the image to your Qualtrics Library in the steps below so it can be used in a survey.
- Click Create a New Question.
- Change the question type to Descriptive Text.
- Enter the following text: Please help us by taking our simple survey!
- Open the Rich Content Editor.
- Move your cursor below your text. You may need to press Enter on your keyboard to create a new line.
- Choose the Insert Graphic button.
- To select a graphic for this question, you’ll be taken to your Qualtrics library. If your image has not already been uploaded, you’ll need to do so by choosing Upload a New Graphic.
- Pick Choose File to add an image to your library.
- Click Save.
- Click the graphic and it will be added into your question.
- Edit your text (e.g., bold or change colors or justification).
- Stop editing by clicking outside of the Rich Content Editor.
- Move this question to the top of your survey. (Review Exercise I: Moving Questions Up & Down.)
- Note that a survey proceeds in the order in which you position your questions. Though this question is labeled as Q5, it will be the first one seen by your survey participants.
Variations on Standard Question Types
There are literally hundreds of variations you can add to a given question. For example, Multiple Choice questions come in a wide variety of flavors:
- Single Answer
- Multiple Answer
- Dropdown List
- Select Box
- Multi Select Box
Moksh and Naman are asking neighbors about their favorite summertime drinks; they know their neighbors may have more than one favorite (After all, a respondent may love lemonade AND soda. Who doesn’t?), so they changed a Multiple Choice question into a Multiple Answer question. They also added an “Other” option with an open-ended text entry box so customers can enter any drinks that the boys didn’t list.
They also added a Graphic Slider question to gauge neighborhood satisfaction with their current drink choices. Let’s start with that just because it’s fun.
Try it!
Exercise K: Adding a Smile
- Find the question Are you happy with your summertime drink choices?
- Click the dropdown arrow next to the Change Question Type button.
- Find Graphic Slider in the list. Click the arrow beside it and pick Text Above.
- In the Gauges section, pick Smile.
Exercise L: Gathering Multiple Answers with a Text Box
Now we’ll show you how we made our drink preference question so our respondents can select multiple answers. We also asked them to provide another favorite summertime drink, by offering an “Other” option to account for popular products we didn’t list.
- Create a new question and choose Multiple Choice.
- In the question text box, enter: What summertime drinks do you prefer? (Pick as many answers as you like.)
- Add the following text responses:
- Lemonade [Enter]
- Sugary soda [Enter]
- Diet soda [Enter]
- Mango lassi [Enter]
- Choose Multiple Answer from the Answers section of the editing pane. Notice that the radio buttons have turned into checkboxes.
- For the last answer choice option, type Other.
- Click the dropdown arrow next to Other and pick Allow Text Entry from the list.
Extra Credit: Advanced Questions
Advanced Questions reveal detailed data about respondents and their interaction with your survey, often without requiring an action from the respondent. Advanced questions include Timing, File Upload, Screen Capture, Captcha Verification, and Meta Info questions.
For example, the Timing question keeps track of how long participants view a survey page without the respondent seeing a timer.
What’s Next?
- Read more about Moksh & Naman’s Lemonade Stand.
- Continue to XM Essentials 5: Location,Location, Location.