Quotas

About Quotas

Quotas allow you to keep track of how many respondents meet a condition in your survey. You can also specify what will happen to your respondents once a quota has been met, such as ending the survey prematurely or deleting the extra responses.

The purpose of a quota is to make sure that you gather only the exact amount of data required for your study.

Creating Quotas

1. In the Survey tab, click Survey options.
   
2. Select Quotas.
3. Click either Add A Quota or Add Quota.
   
4. Click the New Quota text to rename your quota.
   
5. Next, you may be asked to choose between a simple logic and cross logic quota. If you don’t have a choice, then that means you only have simple logic quotas.
   • Simple Logic Quota: Define when a respondent meets your quota. The quota count will be incremented each time a respondent comes into the survey who meets the conditions you set. Despite the name, you can actually build quite complex conditions, if you need to; however, simple logic quotas won’t have the percentage-based capabilities of the cross logic quota.
   • Cross Logic Quota: Use percentages to define how respondents are distributed in your quota. Specify which percentage of respondents should match each criteria, and then Qualtrics will do the heavy lifting of figuring out how many respondents are needed for each combination of conditions.
6. Set your quota conditions according to simple logic or cross logic.
   
7. Determine what will happen when the quota is met. See the linked section for more details.
8. Set the quota limit, determining the maximum number of people you want to meet the conditions you set. See the linked section for more details.
9. Click Save.

Qtip: You can organize your quotas into groups. To create a new group, click Add Group at the bottom-left. You cannot move existing quotas into new groups; you have to rebuild them inside the new group.

Setting Quota Counts and Limits

Next to every quota, you’ll see a pair of numbers – for example, 0/100. The number on the left of the slash (e.g., 0) is the quota count. The number on the right (e.g., 100) is the quota limit.

Quota Limits

To ensure that you gather only the exact amount of data you require for your study, it is important to set a number limit for your quota. The quota limit is the maximum number of respondents you want to take your survey who fulfill the quota conditions.

To set the quota limit, all you need to do is click the current quota limit and change it.

Quota Count

The quota count is the number that indicates how many respondents have taken your survey and met the conditions for the quota. This number automatically changes as new respondents take your survey and meet the specified conditions.

You can also manually adjust the quota count. This can be useful in circumstances where the quota was added after you already started collecting responses, or where the quota was created before launching the survey, but it was set up incorrectly. You might also use this option to reset your quotas to zero before starting another round of your study.

To change the quota count:

1. Click Reset to bring the current quota count back down to zero.
   
2. If desired, click Set Count to specify the new current quota count.
   
3. Fill out the new count in the dialogue box, then click OK.
   
4. Your new count is set, and will increment whenever a new respondent who fulfills the quota completes the survey. For example, the next man to answer the survey would change the quota to 43/1000.
   

You can also automatically reset your quotas after a certain amount of time. This can be useful if, for example, you need to collect a specific number of responses each month.

To schedule an automatic Quota reset

You can schedule when your quota resets its count to zero. This can be useful for studies where you send the same survey and plan to use the same quotas over and over again.

1. Click on the dropdown arrow to the right of your quota name and select Scheduled Quota.
   
2. Select the frequency of the reset, the start date, and the number of months the automatic reset should end after.
   
   Qtip: Quotas will reset at midnight on this date according to the timezone set in your account.
3. Click Save.
   

Qtip: You can change your scheduled quota counts by clicking Set Count below your quota count. The Default Quota refers to the quota count outside the parameters of your scheduled quota. In the below image, the scheduled quota is set to end on September 30. Starting October 1, the quota count will begin at 40.

Setting Quota Conditions

The next step in setting up a quota is to specify conditions that must be true for a respondent to increment the quota. Your quota will be incremented when a respondent meets the condition(s) you have set and finishes the survey.

In the example above, only female respondents will increment the quota count.

This section will discuss setting conditions for basic quotas. Your account might also include the option to create what is called a cross logic quota. Refer to the cross logic quotas section below for information on setting logic for this type of quota.

To set Quota conditions

1. Select whether you want to base your quota off of answers to survey questions, embedded data, or other quotas from the first dropdown menu.
2. Then fill out the menus that follow with your specific criteria.
   Example: We want to limit how many women come into the survey. So first, we choose the question where we ask the respondent’s gender, Q1. Then the next fields specify that if “Female” is the gender the respondent “Selected,” they will count towards the female quota.
3. If desired, click the green plus sign ( + ) to the right of the condition to add another condition.

Specifying What Happens When a Quota is Met

A quota action specifies what should happen to your respondents once your quota has been met. The option to set a quota action is found directly underneath your quota conditions. The available actions are described below.

End Current Survey

“End Current Survey” does exactly what its name tells you. If a respondent meets the conditions for a quota and that quota has already been filled, the respondent will immediately be directed out of the survey.

You can set a customized end of survey experience for respondents who leave the survey because a quota is full. For example, you could show a message that says something like, “Thanks for your willingness to participate. Unfortunately, we have already filled our target response limit.”

To specify your termination settings, click Customize below “End Current Survey.” This menu gives you the same options  available in an end of survey element.

Although there are many termination settings available, there are two settings in particular that you may want to consider as you are using this quota action:

• Do not increment quota counts: By default, a respondent who is terminated from the survey due to the quota being full will still cause the quota to increment. Check this box to prevent over-quota respondents from incrementing quota counts.
• Do not record survey response: Selecting this option will prevent all over-quota responses from being recorded in your data, potentially saving you from using up unwanted responses. For more information on screening out respondents, see our Screen-Out Management page.

Prevent All New Survey Sessions

Prevent All New Survey Sessions prohibits new respondents from entering the survey once the quota is filled. You can select Show custom inactive survey message to adjust what message is shown to respondents trying to enter the survey.

You can add a new message in this window, or you can create a message in your library with the message type set to Inactive Survey.

Do Not Display a Question

The “Do Not Display a Question” option allows you to hide a question once the quota has been filled. You can hide this question for all respondents or check the box to only hide it for those that meet the quota condition.

Do Not Display a Block

“Do Not Display a Block” allows you to hide a question block once the quota has been filled. You can hide this block for all respondents or check the box to only hide it for those that meet the quota condition.

Trigger Web Service

“Trigger Web Service” causes the survey to access a web service URL as soon as the quota has been filled. For more information on web services, visit our Web Services page.

None (For Skip Logic or Survey Flow)

If “None” is selected, no preset action will occur when the quota is filled. This option is designed to let you use branch logic, skip logic, or display logic to create your own actions once the quota is filled.

The most common use for this setting is in a situation where you need to mimic the behavior of the “End Current Survey” or “Prevent All New Survey Sessions” actions but would also like to record embedded data in the response.

We are screening out respondents who meet our demographics conditions once the quota has been filled. Normally, “End Current Survey” would meet this need, but in this case we want to record embedded data about the response.

Website / App Feedback Actions

This option will only be available to a user if they have access to the Website / App Feedback project type. For more information, visit the Survey Quotas section in the Website / App Feedback pages.

Over quota options

In addition to specifying what happens when your quota is met, you also get a chance to specify what should happen to over quota responses. Over quota responses are responses that meet the requirements of your quota after it has been filled. You can either keep and record these responses, or delete them. This allows you to be more efficient when setting up branch logic for your quotas.

“Over quota options” appear for all possible quota outcomes except “End Current Survey.” This feature is available to any users with access to quotas.

Using Quotas in Other Parts of Qualtrics

In addition to specifying what happens to respondents in the quota editor, you can also use quotas in other contexts.

• As a condition in your branch logic.
  
  Example: If the demographics quota has been met and the respondent qualifies for that quota, then end the survey for that respondent and tag the response with a special embedded data field.
• As a condition in your display logic.
  
  Example: Using our quota as a condition in display logic, we can specify that this question only displays if our survey’s quota hasn’t been met yet.
• As a way to limit the number of total responses for your survey. See the Limiting Total Responses to a Survey section.
• As a way to show a current quota count to your respondents via piped text.
  
  Example: The Total Visitors quota count is serving as our respondent counter. This number will be displayed to the respondent so they know how many other visitors the survey has had.

Limiting Total Responses to a Survey

Quotas can be used to limit the total number of individuals who respond to your survey. This may be helpful if your account has a response limit. In the below example, we set a quota for a survey that can only have 100 responses, regardless of the respondents’ demographics or how they answered the other questions in the survey.

1. In the Survey tab, select Survey options.
   
2. Select Quotas.
3. Click either Add A Quota or Add Quota.
   
4. Click the New Quota text to rename your quota. For example, Total Response Limit.
   
5. If asked to choose, select Simple Logic Quota.
   Qtip: If you are not given a choice between simple logic and cross-logic, then you are working with simple logic quotas.
6. In the first field of the Quota Condition, select Question.
   
7. In the next field, select a question that everybody in the survey will see. It is best to use a question that requires a response or a descriptive text question used for an introduction.
8. Select any answer choice.
9. Select Is Displayed. By using a statement that will always be true, you can ensure the quota with increment correctly.
   Qtip: Quotas are incremented upon survey submission. Although unlikely, it is possible to over-quota. This may occur if two individuals submit their survey at the exact same time.
10. Select Prevent All New Survey Sessions. This will prevent anyone else from taking your survey once the quota has been met.
11. Quotas are incremented upon survey submission. Although unlikely, it is possible to over-quota. This may occur if two individuals submit their survey at the exact same time. In this event, decide whether you want to record or delete the over quota response.
12. Click Save.

Creating a Public Quota Dashboard

There may be situations where you wish to allow others to keep track of your quota counts. Public quota dashboards are webpages that display your quotas’ progress. You can link anyone to this page, regardless of whether they have a Qualtrics account.

To create a Public Quota Dashboard

Each group of quotas can have its own public quota dashboard.

1. Once you’ve opened the quotas page, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the quota group.
   
2. Select Public Quota Dashboard.

As soon as this is selected, your public quota dashboard has been activated. You do not even need to save the quotas page to view this change.

To access a Public Quota Dashboard

1. In the Survey tab, select Survey options.
   
2. Select Quotas.
3. Select Click here to access Public Quota Dashboard.
   
4. Copy the URL in the new browser tab that opens and send it to others so they can access this dashboard.
   

The public quota dashboard displays a series of gauge charts. The gauge chart changes color as the quota gets closer to being fulfilled. To use the images above as an example, the “Dallas Location” only has 15 responses out of 100, so it is red. Because the “No High School/GED” has 19 out of 20 and is nearly complete, it is green.

Simple and Cross-Logic quotas are shown in separate sections on the dashboard.

Using Advanced Quota Options

The following features are only included with Advanced Quotas:

• Creating Multiple Quotas: Allows you to create multiple quotas at the same time, using the answer choices of the selected question.
• Cross Logic Quotas: Use advanced logic based on percentages when setting up your Quota.
• Multiple Match Handling: Specify how your quotas should be incremented if a respondent meets the conditions of multiple quotas.
• Scheduled Quotas: You can schedule quotas to automatically reset after a certain period of time. See the To Schedule an Automatic Quota Reset heading under the Setting Quota Counts and Limits section.

Creating Multiple Quotas

Have you ever wished you could create all your demographic quotas at once? Or while building a cross-logic quota, wished you could favor some subcategories more than others? Our Creating Multiple Quotas tool allows you to do just that. The below steps detail how to create multiple quotas at the same time.

1. In the Survey tab, select Survey options.
   
2. Select Quotas.
3. Click Create Multiple Quotas.
   
4. Click the green Add a Question button to select a question.
   
5. Click Add a Question to add another question to your quotas.
   
   Qtip: Adding another question to your quotas allows you to specify what subcategories you’re most interested in. For example, let’s say your survey asks for both marital status and gender. You can use the “Multiple Quotas” feature to specify that you want more married women in your sample than married men.
6. Under Please select a logic type for your batch, choose whether the multiple questions will be joined by an AND or an OR. For example, the Yes-Male quota pictured above will apply to those who are of Hispanic/Latino descent AND are male.
   
7. Click the X next to a question to remove it from the quota.
8. Under the Count column, specify the number of people you want to fit each quota. You can set a Default value at the top.
9. Name your quotas.
10. Under the dropdown for Quota Met Action, decide what happens when each quota is met. See our Specifying Quota Actions section for more information on these options.
11. Depending on the “Quota Met Action” you chose, you may have to determine what happens to responses that meet the quota after the quota has been met. You can keep and record them or delete them.
12. Check the box next to those subcategories you wish to Exclude, or not create a quota for.
13. Click on the green Create Quota(s) button.
14. Feel free to select each quota and double-check their settings. Once you are satisfied, click Save.
    

Setting Conditions in Cross Logic Quotas

Unlike a simple logic quota, a cross logic quota uses percentages to define how respondents are distributed in your quota. This quota type is ideal when you have multiple groups of conditions. With cross logic quotas, you simply specify which percentage of respondents should match each criteria, and then Qualtrics will do the heavy lifting of figuring out how many respondents are needed for each combination of conditions.

To create a Cross Logic Quota

1. Create a new quota and select Cross Logic Quota.
   
2. Create a set of conditions for your quota. To add conditions, click the plus sign ( + ) to the right of each condition.
   
   Example: Let’s start off with adding two conditions in our first set: Male and Female.
3. Set the percentages to reflect how you would like the respondents to be distributed.
   Example: In this case, 50% of the total respondents for this quota will end up being male and 50% will be female.
4. Select Add Logic Set to create another set of conditions.
   
5. Use condition sets to create groups of conditions that are mutually exclusive from other groups of conditions. You  can
   
   Example: We’ve added another set focusing just on age groupings. In keeping with our earlier example, we would also want to create another set of conditions for just marital statuses.
6. Add as many conditions and logic sets as you need for your survey.

At the bottom of your logic is a distribution table showing how many respondents each combination of conditions gives you, based on the total quota limit and the percentages set above.

Setting Up Multiple Match Handling

Sometimes your respondents may meet the conditions for multiple quotas. By default, a respondent will increase the count for all of the quotas they meet the conditions for. Multiple match handling can adjust how Qualtrics handles these multiple-match respondents.

To change how multiple matches are handled

1. Click the dropdown arrow to the right of the quota group (not the quota itself) on the main quota window.
   
2. Select Multiple Match Handling.
   
3. Select how you would like the system to handle respondents who meet the conditions for multiple quotas.
   
4. Click out of the menu to exit and select Save to finish.
   

Troubleshooting Quotas

We’ve designed this section for those who have read the material covered in this page and are still having issues with their quotas. Even though quotas can seem complicated, most problems can be diagnosed by checking a few basic things.

• Make sure that the current quota count and limit are set to the correct number.
• Check that the conditions are set up to record the correct respondents.
  • The Using Logic page has a comprehensive guide to building conditions.
    Qtip: Anyone can use this guide. You don’t need access to Advanced Quotas / cross logic quotas to build the condition sets described on the Using Logic page.
  • When working wit multiple conditions joined by AND / OR, keep in mind the order of operations.
  • If testing your quotas, remember you can delete test responses to de-increment quotas, and that you can manually reset or edit your quota counts.
• Double-check your quota actions. If you chose “None,” you need to have additional customization set up elsewhere in the survey before anything will happen.
• Review branch logic and display logic that use your quotas in their conditions.

FAQs