Programming Iterations/Loops

Overview

Loops are a powerful feature in SurveyToGo that help simplify survey programming. They allow you to create a set of questions once and repeat that same set as many times as needed, eliminating the need to duplicate questions throughout the survey.

Loops are configured at the chapter level. Once a chapter is set up as a loop, all questions within that chapter are automatically repeated according to the loop configuration.

This approach reduces script maintenance, keeps surveys organized, and makes it easier to build dynamic questionnaires that collect information for multiple items, respondents, brands, products, or any other repeated entities.

In the article, you will find 2 examples of common looping scenarios and how to configure them:

1. Example 1: Looping for X number of times according to a numeric question
2. Example 2: Looping for X number of times according to a multi select question

 

Configuring Loops

1. Add the questions you would like to loop (making sure to put them under a chapter) 
2. Configure the loop options of the chapter.

Step 1: Add the questions you would like to loop

Add a chapter and then add all the questions you wish to include in the loop under that chapter.

To add a chapter, either right click the Root Chapter and select “Add sub-chapter”:

Or select the “Add chapter” from the toolbar menu:

Add questions under that chapter. 

Step 2: Configure the loop options of the chapter

Click on the chapter that contains them and select the “Loops” tab:

The loop tab contains the following iteration options:

Option	Description
No Iterations	Do not loop this chapter
Iteration Maximum number of times	Loop this chapter based on a maximum number of times
Iterate By scale	Loop this chapter through the items present in a pre-configured scale – see Chapter 12 for scale reference
Include in Chapter Locator	Include all the loops of this chapter in the chapter locator if the chapter locator is enabled.
Randomize Iterations	Loop this chapter each time using a different order. Specifically useful when used with scales.
Print only one	When printing the survey using the “Survey > Print” action, print only the first iteration.

The tab also contains the following code sections:

Section	Description
Iteration Break Rule	If this expression is true, the loop will end.
Iteration Start Script	This script will be run at the start of each iteration of the loop.
Iteration End script	This script will be run at the end of each iteration of the loop.
Iteration Entrance Rule	If the entrance rule evaluates to false, the specific iteration will be skipped.

Example 1: Looping Based on a Numeric Question

Suppose you need to ask the same set of questions for each room in an apartment. In this scenario, you would first ask the respondent how many rooms the apartment contains, and then repeat the room-related questions once for each room.

To implement this example:

1. Create a Numeric Question that asks for the number of rooms in the apartment.

2. Create a chapter containing all the questions that should be asked for each room.

3. Configure the chapter as a loop and set the number of iterations to be based on the answer provided in the numeric question.

Once configured, the chapter will automatically repeat the room-related questions for the specified number of rooms, eliminating the need to duplicate questions manually.

Step 1: Add the numeric “how many rooms” question.

Step 2: Configure the looping

We will assume there are a maximum of 8 rooms in the apartment and will there for set the “Maximum Iterations” to 8:

We will then configure the break rule to stop the rule when we hit the number of rooms that was specified in Q1:

Note the use of the new “IterationIndex” value that specifies the current iteration number. The code above checks the answer to Q1 and when the current loop reaches that number, the loop will break.

You can now run the survey and see how it works.

Example 2: Looping Based on a Multi-Selection Question

Suppose you need to ask a set of follow-up questions for each brand recognized by the respondent. Instead of asking about every available brand, you can loop only through the brands selected by the respondent.

To implement this scenario:

1. Create a Multi-Selection Question that asks, for example, "Which brands do you recognize?"

2. Create a chapter containing the follow-up questions that should be asked for each selected brand.

3. Create and configure an Answer Scale to simplify the loop configuration.

4. Configure the chapter to loop according to the answers selected in the multi-selection question.

5. Display the current brand name within the loop questions so respondents know which brand they are evaluating.

With this setup, the chapter will only iterate through the brands selected by the respondent, making the interview more efficient and relevant.

 

Step 1: Add the multiple selection questions

Step 2: Configure an answer scale for easier looping configuration

To quickly create a scale out of a question answers, you can right click on the question and select the “Make into scale” option:

You will now be able to reuse this scale throughout the survey and also in the Loops tab as you will see below. Please refer to Chapter 12 for more information about scales.

Step 3: Configure the looping

We will use the newly created scale when configuring the looping parameters:

This configuration instructs the survey to iterate through all brands defined in the answer scale.

To ensure that the loop only runs for brands selected in Q1, enable the Use Entrance Rule option in the chapter's Loops tab.

Next, add an Iteration Entrance Rule that checks whether the current brand was selected in Q1. If the brand was selected, the loop iteration will run. If it was not selected, the iteration will be skipped automatically.

Important: Make sure the code is entered in the Iteration Entrance Rule section, not in the chapter's regular Entrance Rule.

Since the chapter loops through the scale that is also used with Q1, this rule checks if the user has selected in Q1 the current iteration item.

You can now run the survey and see how it works.

 

Step 4: Show the brand name in the first question

You can make use of “IterationName” value to show the name of the brand anywhere you need to. Let’s configure the first question of the loop chapter to show the current brand name for which we will ask questions.

Notice the {0} at the end that is used for text substitution:

Now, let’s add a start script to this question that will replace the {0} with the current brand name:

Notice the use of the “IterationName” value to specify the current iteration name. Please note that since we are iterating through a predefined scale, the IterationName equals the name of the answer from the scale which in our case is the brand name.

 

Exporting iteration data:

Exported iteration names depends on the type of the loop chapter

1. Loop chapters that are iterating by a scale:

The name for each question inside the loop chapter will start with the name of the answer in the scale and then the name of the question as it is defined to be exported.

Example: If the loop is iterating by a scale which has an answer called "Brand 1" and inside the loop chapter I have a single choice question with a variable name: Q_1 then the exported iteration data for this question will have this name: Brand 1_Q_1

2. Loop chapters that are iterating a maximum amount of times: 

The column name for each question inside the loop chapter will start with the iteration index - "I_NumOfIteration" and then the name of the question as it is defined to be exported.

Example: If the loop is iterating a maximum of two iteration and inside the loop chapter I have a single choice question with a variable name: Q_1 then the exported iteration data for this question will have these two names: I_1_Q_1 and I_2_Q_1

 

Note: you can choose to export the iterations with their coding format, to have the codes of the scale's items (if running by max iterations, the codes would be the same as the iterations indexes), by enabling the 'Use Coding Format For Iteration Export' in the survey properties: