Randomization in SurveyToGo

Overview

 

SurveyToGo: has complete randomization support for the following:

• Randomize Sub-Chapters
• Randomize Questions
• Randomize Topics / Answers
• Randomize Iterations

In this article we will see how to achieve each one.

A. Randomize Sub-Chapters

There are two ways to implement Sub-Chapters randomization:

1. Random order (determined by the system)

See the example below: 

Chapter indexes 2, 3 and 4, are Sub-Chapters of chapter index 1 (the "Parent Chapter").

To set a random order for those Sub-Chapters:

1. 1. 1. Go to the Parent Chapter's "Advanced" tab
      2. Under the "Randomization" section:
         1. enable the "Randomize Sub-Chapters" checkbox:

 

2. Given order (based on your own logic)

Randomizing sub-chapters in a given order requires some more advanced scripting technique. 

Retrieve the sub-chapter random order:

To retrieve the randomization order for the Answers use this function:
GetChaptersRandomOrder(int inChapterIndex)

 

B. Randomize Questions

There are two ways to randomize questions:

1. Random order (determined by the system)

See the example questions below: 

To randomize the order of the questions shown:

1. 1. 1. 1. Select the Chapter and switch to the “Advanced” tab:
         2. Check the “Randomized chapters questions” box:

 

NOTE: If you need to have the questions randomized in a “Cyclic” method, you can check the “Cyclic” box. 

“Cyclic” definition - While the first question is selected at random, the next questions will be the ones after the first as set in the original order.

 

Excluding a question: 

If you need to exclude one or more questions from of the randomization:

Select the relevant question and click the “Advanced” tab. Then, check the “Do not random (as part of chapter)” box:

Retrieving the random questions order:

To retrieve the randomized order of questions within a chapter, use the following function:

GetQuestionsRandomOrder(inQuesIndex)

Because the randomization order is shared across all questions in the randomized chapter,you only need to call this function once from any question within that chapter.

There is no need to add the code to every randomized question.

 

2. Given order (based on your own logic)

Randomizing questions in a specific order requires more advanced scripting.

To do this, place each question in its own sub-chapter.

Then use the chapter execution order technique described above to control the order in which the randomized questions are shown.

C. Randomize Topics / Answers

Randomize all (or some) answers of a question

Answers randomization can be achieved with a Random order or a Given order.

1. Random order (determined by the system) 

There are two ways to set a random order for answers:

1. 1. Configuration-Based

      1. Using the question settings:

         1. Open the question and switch to the Advanced tab

         2. At the bottom of the tab, enable the Randomized answers/topics order option
         3. Once enabled, the answers or topics will be displayed in a different random order for each interview.
      2. Excluding an Answer from Randomization
         1. In some cases, you may want to randomize most answers while keeping a specific answer fixed in its original position.
         2. A common example is leaving an option such as "None of the above" or "Other (Specify)"as the last answer.
         3. To do this:
            1. Follow the steps above to enable answer randomization.
            2. In the question's tab, click Answer Properties
            3. In the Answer Properties window, scroll to the right until you locate the Do not Random column.
            4. 
            6. Select the Do not Random checkbox for the answer you want to exclude from randomization.
            7. Click OK to save your changes.
               1. The selected answer will remain in its original position, while all other answers continue to be randomized.
      3. Retrieving the Randomized Answer Order
         1. If you need to determine the order in which answers were displayed during the interview, use the following function:
            1. `GetQuestionAnswersRandomOrder(inQuesIndex)`
         2. This function returns the randomized order of the answers for the specified question.
         3. For additional information and examples, refer to the documentation for GetQuestionAnswersRandomOrder.
      4. Randomizing Answer Groups
         1. SurveyToGo also supports more advanced randomization scenarios, including randomizing predefined groups of answers while preserving the order of answers within each group.

   2. Script-Based

      1. Using this function with UL code4 in the question's Start script to randomize its answers:

         1. RandomizeAnswers(CurrQues)

2. Given order (based on your own logic) 

You can randomize answers based on a given order you create.

1. 1. This can be done with an overload of the RandomizeAnswers function, by sending it:
      1. 1.  the question index
         2. and an array of the answers indexes (in the random order needed) .  
         3. For example, if I have 5 answers in the questions
            1. this can be a valid array: [3,4,1,5,2].

NOTE: In order for the Given order randomization to work, the array must contain ALL the answers indexes that are in the question.

Keeping the same given order in multiple questions:

When randomizing answers with a given order, you can use the exact same given order in several different questions. 

 

D. Randomize Topics of a Grid question

Topics randomization set-up is very similar to Answers randomization set-up.

1. 1. Configuration-Based

      1. This is the same as shown above, through the question's Advanced tab.
      2. In the case of Grid questions, where you have a set of topics and a set of answers, the "Randomize answers/topics order" checkbox will randomize ONLY the TOPICS.

   2. Script-Based

      1. Use this function to randomize topics through the script:
         1. RandomizeTopics(inQuesIndex)
      2. Retrieve the random Topics order:
         1. To retrieve the randomization order for the Topics use this function:
            1. GetQuestionTopicsRandomOrder(inQuesIndex)

D. Randomize Iterations

Given order (based on your own logic)

You can also control the iterations execution order through code with a given order of your own.