Randomize all items

In the interview, all items are displayed in random order. No configuration needed in this mode.

Randomize items within groups

In the interview, the groups are displayed in ascending order, and the items in each individual group are displayed in random order.
After activating this mode, you can set the group for each item by clicking on its icon and choosing the color code from the palette.

Randomize subgroups of fixed or random items

This mode adds another layer to random by allowing subgroups to be set.
Subgroups can be fixed or random, that is, the items contained in the subgroup can be in fixed position or in random order.

In this mode, the groups are always shown in ascending order in the interview.
In contrast, the order of the subgroups is always random while the items contained in the subgroups can be fixed or random, depending on the type selected.

To choose the type of subgroup click on the subgroup icon then on the color code from one of the two palettes (Subgroups of fixed elements and Subgroups of random elements).

Display only N random items

This mode allows you to specify the number of items displayed in the interview. The items are randomly selected from your list.
After selecting this mode, you need to set the number of items you want to display in the interview.

Please note

• Display conditions have priority over the “Show only N random items” function. This means that the items will be picked from those with a true display condition or with no display condition set.

Clone sorting from other random object

It allows cloning items’ sorting as shown in another object with the random function active. It is important to note that the “clone from other object” function does not copy the settings of the random feature but proposes to the respondent the same order of the items shown in the original object, e.g., the order of the answer choices from a previous question.

After selecting this mode from the drop-down, you have to specify the code of the source object to clone the sorting.

Please note

• The number of items in the object with “Clone sorting from other random object” must be equal to (or less than) the number of items in the source object.
• Any display conditions in the source object may result in fewer randomized items. Therefore, it is a good idea to carry over the same filters to the target object as well (when appropriate) or otherwise make sure that the number of items shown in the target object is always equal to or less than the number of items in the source object.
• When you clone the sorting for the columns of a 3D matrix or matrix, you must prefix R: to the code.
When you have to clone the sorting of columns of a matrix question to any other type of object, you must put C: before the code.


Randomize the answer options of a question by leaving the last option “Other – specify” fixed

Activate random on the question. Then choose the “Randomize items within groups” mode.
Set a different randomization group for the text answer, making sure it has a higher group number than the group that contains the other answers.

Keep the first three options fixed and randomize the remaining answer options

There are two strategies to achieve this.
Turn on random on the question, then choose the “Randomize subgroups of fixed or random items” mode.
Set the same group for each of the three answers you intend to appear first, e.g. G1.
Set a group with a higher code for the remaining options (e.g. G2).
Now set a subgroup of type fixed elements in all three options to fix them, e.g. F1.
Finally, set a random subgroup for the remaining options (e.g. R1).

Another strategy is to set the “Randomize items within groups” mode, then assign groups G1, G2, and G3 to the options to show first and in order, then set another group (e.g. G4) to all remaining options.

Randomly show only one page of a section

Make sure that the pages are included in a section. To create a section, click on “Edit Pages” and drag one page on top of another. At this point, you created a section, and you can add more pages by simply dragging them into it.
Click on the section gear button, then click on the gear again and activate random by choosing the “Show only N random items” mode.
Type 1 on the input “Number of items to show” so that only one of the section’s pages is shown randomly during the interview.

Only show 2 answers of a question randomly

Click on the question gear and activate random by choosing the “Show only N random items” mode.
Type 2 on the input “Number of items to show” so that only two answers will randomly be displayed in the interview.

Randomize sets of answers while leaving the order of options within each set unchanged

Turn on random on the question, then choose the mode “Randomize subgroups of fixed or random items.”
Leave the same randomization group to all the options (e.g. G0), then set a different fixed subgroup to each set of answer choices.
In this example, we have 9 items divided into 3 different subgroups. Answer options are fixed within them, so F1, F2, and F3.
The order of the 3 subgroups will be random, but the options within them will remain fixed.

Create multiple sets of randomization with some items fixed and others randomized

Activate random on the question, then choose the “Randomize subgroups of fixed or random items” mode.
In this example, we have a question with 9 options. We create 3 subgroups, 2 of which will show the answers in random order, while another subgroup will present the three options always in the set order.
Leave the same randomization group to all options, e.g. G0, then set a different subgroup to the 3 sets of answer options. Two subgroups will then be random (e.g. R1 and R2), while the other subgroup’s position will be fixed, (e.g. F1).
The order of the 3 subgroups will be random. The options within 2 subgroups will be proposed in random order, while those in the other subgroup will remain in the original order.

Activate random from IdCode

Write /R 1 to the right of the container object code to activate random from IdCode, e.g. after the question code to randomize its answer choices.

Use the same syntax described above to activate random in the rows of a 3D matrix or matrix. It is necessary to write /RC 1 to activate the random of the columns.
You must activate both randoms, e.g., Q12 /R 1 /RC 1 to activate the random of both the columns and rows of a 3D matrix or matrix.

Set groups and subgroups from IdCode

You have to write /RG (random group) followed by an identifying number to the right of the answer text to assign a group to the answers (or any child items of the object where the random is activated).
If no random group is specified in one or more answer choices, the system interprets it as /RG 0 by default.

You have to write /RF (random fixed) followed by an identifying number after the group code to assign a fixed subgroup to the answers.
It is necessary to write /RR (random random) followed by an identifying number after the group code to assign a random subgroup to the answers.
If you set the subgroup /RF 1 without specifying any random group, the system interprets it as /RG 0 by default.

Set “Show only N random items” from IdCode

Write /RSO (random show only) followed by the number of items you want to be displayed after the question code and the random trigger string (e.g. Q1 /R 1 /RSO 2) to set the “Show only N random items” mode.

Set “Clone from other random object” from IdCode

It is necessary to add /RL (random like) to the right of the random trigger string followed by the code of the object from which to clone the order of the elements to set the “Clone from other random object” mode, e.g. Q34 /R 1 /RL Q19.

If you intend to clone the sorting of columns of a matrix or 3D matrix into another object type or vice versa, the syntax is slightly different, and there are more possible cases.

1. Clone sorting of columns of a matrix to a different object
Add C: (column) before the code, e.g. Q4 /R 1 /RL C:Q3.

2. Clone sorting of items of any object in the columns of a 3D matrix or matrix
Specify that the clone option should impact matrix columns with the /RCL (random column like) command and specify that the object to be cloned is of a different type by adding R: (row) before the code, e.g. Q5 /R 1 /RCL R:Q3.

3. Clone sorting of columns from one matrix to another.
Specify that the clone option should impact the columns of a matrix with the /RCL command and then write the code of the source question (e.g. Q2 /R 1 /RCL Q1). In this case, there is no need to specify “C:” since both objects are considered column types by default.