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The question type determines the shape of every stored answer. It also controls which validation, logic, chart, and export options are available later. Select the type chip on a question card to change it while the study is editable.
Question type picker showing built-in types and the Templates section

The type picker lists the built-in question types and standard research templates.

Before you start

Define what each question must measure and how its answer will be analyzed. Choose the type before collecting live responses.

Select a built-in type

MaxDiff is not available in the Screening section.

Configure settings shared across types

Use Add help text for participant instructions that belong directly under the question. Type @ in question text, help text, or an option label to insert an earlier answer or variable. Open ⋯ to configure logic, answer validation, media, display settings, or a custom renderer. The Templates group in the type picker can create NPS, eNPS, CSAT, or CES wording and scales. Applying a template replaces the current question configuration after confirmation. In a French survey, a space typed before ?, !, ; or :, or inside « », is displayed as a no-break space in question and help text, so the punctuation never wraps alone onto a new line. The stored text is unchanged.

Enter answer lists from the keyboard

In an answer option, scale option, matrix row, or MaxDiff item, press Enter to add the next item directly after it with the cursor in it. Press Backspace in an empty item to delete it and return to the previous one. Add Option and Add Row also place the cursor in the new field. A new option starts empty; its placeholder shows its position, such as Option 4.

Configure Open-ended questions

Set the number of Follow-up questions from none to five. Follow-up instructions can focus the assistant on specific parts of the participant’s response. Use format validation for an email address, phone number, postal code, date, number, letters-only response, or a character range. Write the correction message the participant should see when the response does not pass. Preferred input type controls whether the question follows the study default or requests Audio, Video, or Text. The study-level Response Mode takes precedence: Open-ended answers advance according to the participant response flow. If participants need to correct an earlier answer, enable the study’s back-navigation setting and verify it in a test link.

Configure Multiple Choice questions

Add options individually, reorder them, or insert option groups as non-selectable headers.
  • Multi-select allows several choices.
  • The up to field beside Multi-select limits how many options a participant can pick, from 1 to the number of options.
  • Add “Other” adds a write-in option labelled in the survey’s language, for example Autre (précisez) in a French survey; Require typed text makes its text mandatory.
  • Randomize Order changes the option order per participant.
  • The display-count setting draws only the specified number of randomized options.
Each option’s settings can make it exclusive, turn it into a group header, add a condition, or attach media. An exclusive option clears other selections and is suitable for choices such as “None of these.”
Morning, Afternoon, and Evening options with Multi-select enabled

Configure Multi-select before testing the choices.

Configure Matrix questions

Enter the items to evaluate as rows and the shared answer scale as columns. Choose categorical Selection cells or Numbers. Numeric matrices can set a range, show totals, and require each row or column to add to a defined amount. Categorical matrices can permit several selections per row. The scale can be entered directly or piped from an earlier Allocation or Multi-Numeric question. Piped numeric values can be limited with Top N or Greater than. Rows can also be randomized or drawn as a subset.
Matrix settings with three feature rows and three importance columns

The feature rows share one three-point importance scale.

Completed three-row matrix with Next enabled

Choose one importance level in every required row, then check that Next is available.

Configure Numeric and Multi-Numeric questions

For Numeric, set Scale Min and Scale Max when the value must fall inside a range. Choose a Number field for precise entry or Slider for selection along a bounded scale. Ask for currency adds a currency selector. The participant can change the suggested currency, and an amount given in another currency is converted to the Question currency after completion. To ask every amount in one currency, set the Question currency without Ask for currency: the participant sees its symbol next to the field and no selector. Both settings apply to numeric question types and are removed if the question changes to an incompatible type. Multi-Numeric uses the same range for a list of items and can display their total. Use Allocation instead when the values must add to a fixed amount.
Multi-Numeric question with three occasions, limits of zero and ten, and Show totals selected

Each occasion accepts 0–10 bottles; Show totals adds the sum.

Configure Ranking and Allocation questions

Ranking can require all items or only the top N. It can randomize the starting list and include an Other item. Allocation requires a Budget and a unit such as percent, dollars, points, hours, or a custom unit. The participant sees the amount used and remaining, and cannot continue with an invalid total.
Allocation settings showing Taste, Price, Packaging, and a 100-point budget

The three purchase priorities must share a budget of 100 points.

Completed allocation of 50, 30, and 20 points with a green total and Next enabled

The participant can continue when the allocations total the required 100 points.

Configure MaxDiff

Add the items, then set Items per question and Number of appearances per item. DeepField calculates the resulting number of tasks. Use at least four items. The total number of item appearances must divide evenly by the number of items shown in each task. Adjust appearances or task size until the configuration passes validation.
MaxDiff task with one green Most selection and a different red Least selection

Choose different items for Most and Least before continuing to the next task.

Build a custom question interface

Use a custom interface when built-in settings cannot express the participant task. The underlying question type still determines validation, analysis, and typed exports. Follow Build a custom question interface to define inputs, test the stored value, and save it.

Ask the assistant to build the renderer

See the custom-interface procedure.

Open the renderer editor

See the custom-interface procedure.

Edit the component

See the custom-interface procedure.

Match the answer contract

See the custom-interface procedure.

Add earlier answers and translatable text

See the custom-interface procedure.

Test and save the renderer

See the custom-interface procedure.

Understand analysis and export behavior

See the custom-interface procedure.

Return to the built-in interface

See the custom-interface procedure.

Troubleshoot a renderer

See the custom-interface procedure.

Check the result

Save the questionnaire. Test typical, boundary, and incomplete answers for each configured type, then inspect the stored answers in Responses. Check mobile rendering and any dependent routing or piping. For a numeric matrix allocation, choose a total across an axis with several cells. An axis with one cell would force that answer to equal the total; its allocation control is therefore hidden. On a multiple-select matrix, an exclusive option excludes other selections in its row, not in every row.

Choose a concept, heatmap or external task

Use concept testing for repeated concepts, A vs B and side-by-side comparisons. Heatmap questions collect image marks, text highlights or find-task outcomes. External tasks send participants to another tool and record its returned outcome. Picture cards are a display style for compatible choice questions and matrices. Set numeric whole-number validation when decimals would be invalid. For recorded open answers, configure and test the minimum recording length alongside the response mode; follow-up answers retain their source question’s length checks.