The Kish Grid is a method for randomly selecting members within a household to be interviewed. This method is used when there is a need to manually choose the random household member so to not have the surveyor impacting the selection of the respondent but have a method that would select the respondent more or less randomly without the surveyor impacting the selection.  

Since SurveyToGo: has the ability to automatically randomize the selection (using the Random function) without any input from the surveyor, it is not necessary to use the Kish Grid in SurveyToGo: surveys.

Attached is an example of a survey that automatically chooses a random member from a household.

• The random selection is scripted in Q11 (A7).

 

Creating a Kish Grid Model

If you require a Kish Grid model, see the steps below: 

1. Download the Kish Grid Demo Survey
   
2. Create the survey using the following structure.

Chapter 1: "Kish Template” 

Single Choice Question: "Kish Grid” 

Chapter 2: "Main Survey” 

Numeric Question: "How many adults aged 18 and above are currently living here?” 

Empty Question: "Firstly, I need to decide whom I should interview from this household. Can you give me the first names and ages of all adults aged 18 and above who are currently living here?” 

Chapter 3: "Adults Details” 

Free Text Question: "@_@ITERNAME@@ Adult name” 

Numeric Question: "{0}'s Age:” 

Chapter 4: "Kish Calculation” 

Expression Question: "Dummy: Selected adult index based on Kish Grid” 

Chapter 5: "Continue” 

Empty Question: The selected adult is {0}

Continue building the rest of the survey after this point.

Configure the Questions and Scripts

Question 1: Kish Grid

Create a Single Choice question and add the Kish Grid values as the answer list:

1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,2
1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3,1
1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2
4,5,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3
4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,3,1
3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5
3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4
2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,2
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1

Scripts: None

Configuration: Open the question's Advanced tab and set the question to be hidden from the surveyor.

Question 2: Number of Adults

Create a Numeric question asking how many adults aged 18 and above are currently living in the household.

Scripts: None

Question 3: Household Introduction Text

Create an Empty question with the interviewer instruction text.

Scripts: None

Chapter 3: Adults Details

Before configuring the loop, create an answer scale from the survey root:

1. 1. Select the survey root.

   2. Open the Advanced tab.

   3. Click Edit Answer Scales.

   4. Create an answer scale representing the possible adult indexes.

Then configure Chapter 3 as a loop:

1. 1. Open the chapter's Loops tab.

   2. Set the chapter to iterate according to the answer scale created above.

   3. Enable Use Entrance Rule.

Add the following logic to the Iteration Entrance Rule:

IterationIndex <= Answer(2)

This rule checks whether the current iteration index is less than or equal to the number of adults entered in Question 2.

For example, if the respondent reports 3 adults, the loop will run for iterations 1, 2, and 3. Once the iteration index is greater than the number of adults, the loop stops asking for additional adult names and ages.

Question 4: Adult Name

Create a Free Text question to capture the adult's name.

Scripts: None

Question 5: Adult Age

Create a Numeric question to capture the adult's age.

Start Script:

SetTextFormat(CurrQues, Answer(CurrQues - 1));

This pipes the adult name entered in Question 4 into the {0} placeholder in the question text.

Question text example:

{0}'s Age:

End Script:

if (IterationIndex == Answer(2))
{
    var NumOfAdults = Answer(2);

    var kishLineString = AnswerText(1, NumOfAdults);

    var kishLineArray = StringToIntArray(kishLineString);

    var curInterviewID = DeviceIndex;

    var lastDigitOfInterview = curInterviewID.ToString().substring(
        curInterviewID.ToString().length - 1,
        curInterviewID.ToString().length
    );

    var finalOneBasedIndex = lastDigitOfInterview == 0 ? 10 : lastDigitOfInterview;

    var kishIdx = kishLineArray[finalOneBasedIndex - 1];

    Prompt(kishIdx);

    SetAnswer(6, kishIdx);
}

End Script Explanation

The script runs only on the final adult iteration.

Line 1 checks whether the current iteration is equal to the number of adults entered in Question 2.

Line 2 stores the number of adults in a variable.

Line 3 retrieves the Kish Grid row that corresponds to the number of adults. For example, if there are 2 adults, the selected row is:

2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,2

Line 4 converts the Kish Grid row from text into an integer array.

Line 5 retrieves the current interview ID using DeviceIndex.

Line 6 extracts the last digit of the interview ID.

Line 7 converts a last digit of 0 to position 10, so it can be used as a one-based index.

Line 8 uses that index to select the adult number from the Kish Grid row.

Line 9 saves the selected adult index into Question 6, the expression question.

Chapter 4: Kish Calculation

Question 6: Selected Adult Index

Create an Expression question named:

Dummy: Selected adult index based on Kish Grid

In the question's Answers tab, enter the following script:

return (Answer(CurrQues));

This returns the selected adult index stored by the previous script.

Chapter 5: Continue

Question 7: Selected Adult Display

Create an Empty question with the following text:

The selected adult is {0}

Add the following Start Script:

SetTextFormat(CurrQues, AnswerIter(4, Answer(6)).ToString());

This pipes the selected adult's name into the {0} placeholder by retrieving the name from Question 4 at the selected adult iteration.

Continue building the rest of the survey after this question.