Introduction

You can use the Slider question type as a more interactive alternative to the Matrix Table question. Rather than simply selecting a scale point, respondents drag a bar to indicate their preference level.

Variations

The Slider question includes three variations: Bars, Sliders, and Stars.

Bars

With the Bars variation, respondents drag a bar to indicate their preference level.

Sliders

With the Sliders variation, respondents drag a slider handle to indicate their preference level. This variation functions much the same as the bars.

Stars

With the Stars variation, respondents choose a star rating in each row. Stars are most commonly used in satisfaction questions.

The Interaction options in the question Editing Pane let you choose whether the rating scale is discrete (respondents can only select whole stars), half step (respondents can select whole or half star ratings), or continuous (respondent can select any portion of a star).

Additional Slider Settings

Depending on the variation you’ve selected, you will see some of the following options for your Slider question in the question Editing Pane.

Labels

For some questions, having additional labels on top of your slider scale points can help respondents choose an appropriate answer.

When adding labels, you can use the Center Labels option (further down in the question Editing Pane) to give your labels better positioning above your scale.

Grid Lines

You can use the Grid Lines option to specify how many grid lines are displayed on your Slider question. With Snap to Grid selected, respondents’ selections must fall on a gridline.

Min, Max, and Decimals

Use Min Value and Max Value to determine the endpoints for your scale. If desired, you can also use Number of Decimals to determine the level of precision respondents have when answering your question.

Show Value

With Show Value selected, the value the respondent has selected will be displayed next to the scale.

Custom Start Position

To help eliminate survey bias, you can specify a default value for each scale rather than have each start with 0 selected. With Custom Start Position selected, you’ll simply drag the bars into place in the question editor. The bar placement you specify will be used when respondents take the survey.

Not Applicable

With this option, respondents can opt out of answering certain rows on your Slider question, even when Force Response is turned on.

Mobile Friendly

Slider questions on mobile devices may not display very well by default. With Mobile Friendly selected, the slider question will reformat on mobile screens so that all the necessary information fits.

For more information on Mobile Compatibility for your surveys, visit our Mobile Survey Optimization support page.

Force Response

With Force Response turned on, respondents must answer each row of the Slider question. Note that regardless of starting position, respondents will need to move each slider bar at least slightly for the question to count as answered.

Data Analysis

Once your responses have been collected, Qualtrics offers various methods to create reports both in and out of the platform. From the Reports module, you can view aggregate data with pre-made reports as well as create your own. From the Data & Analysis module, you can view and manipulate your survey responses on an individual basis.

Visualizations

There are two visualization types available for Slider questions: Statistics Table, and Gauge Chart. For more information on these visualizations please visit the linked visualization support pages.

Downloaded Data Format

In the downloaded data set, a column will be included for each slider bar provided within your question. For each row in the column, the value will either be the number they selected, or blank if they skipped the question. If you included a “Not Applicable” option on the question, participants who selected this will have a value of “NA”.