The Impact of Using the 'Back' Button in Interviews

Overview

This How-To will explain what is the impact of using the ‘Back’ button in interviews.

Example

A survey has 3 questions. 
The first question has a jump rule:

• “If my answer is 1, I need to jump to question 3″.
  

 

Consider the following scenario:

A respondent answers Question 1 by selecting Answer 2, which leads them to Question 2. They answer Question 2 and proceed to Question 3. From Question 3, they use the Back button to return to Question 1 and change their response to Answer 1. Based on this new answer, the survey logic now skips Question 2 and takes the respondent directly to Question 3.

This creates an ambiguity. Question 2 was originally answered, but according to the updated survey path, it should have been skipped. Should the response to Question 2 still be considered valid? Should it be treated as missing data? Or should it be ignored because the question was no longer relevant?

To handle situations like this, the system assigns a status called Null Response.

As a result, when viewing the interview in the Operations Console, Question 2 will appear as having no response rather than displaying the answer that was originally provided before the Back button was used.

Similarly, if you export the data, the response to Question 2 will not be included in the exported results.

A Null Response is essentially a status assigned to questions that have been skipped, allowing the system to determine how those questions should be handled during data export.

The use of the Back button can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. If surveyors use it incorrectly, a significant amount of data may appear to be missing in the exported results, even though responses were originally provided.

Fortunately, the original values may still be available in the question's internal data.

To view these values, open the result in the Results window and double-click the relevant question. In the question details window, click the Internal Data button. If the question had been answered before it received a Null Response status, the original response will be displayed there.

For example, if Question 2 was answered with the value 2 before the respondent used the Back button and changed the survey path, the exported data would show a Null Response for Question 2, but the Internal Data would still contain the original answer of 2.

If you need to restore the original response and remove the Null Response status, you can do so manually by following these steps:

1. In the Operations Console, change the result to a Read & Write status, such as Requires Approval.

2. Open the relevant question in the result details.

3. Clear the Null Response checkbox.

4. Enter or restore the appropriate value in the answer field, and save the changes.

If you want to prevent this situation from occurring in future interviews, you can disable the Back button so that surveyors cannot return to previous questions and alter the survey path.

To do this, open the Survey Properties tab and navigate to the Display section, where you can configure the Back button settings.

Advanced Note: Instead of reviewing each question individually, you can examine the interview's log to identify the actions and survey flow changes that resulted in the Null Responses. This can help you quickly determine which behavior—such as the use of the Back button or script-driven skips—caused the affected questions to receive a Null Response status.