| Compatibility: | IdSurvey 7 | IdSurvey 8 |
| √ | √ |
IdSurvey processes pages sequentially: by answering questions on the first page and clicking on the “Next” button, you will be directed to second page and so on. With skip conditions you can change and customize this flow according to a specific answer.
When selecting an answer linked to a skip condition and clicking “Next”, IdSurvey will ignore the standard flow and display immediately the question specified in the condition. You can skip to a single question or a sequence of questions. Questions sequence can also be randomized.
Skip conditions can only be enabled in answer options. When you select the answer with skip condition set, IdSurvey will then display the question, page or element specified.
Skip condition may land in: questions, group of questions, pages, sections.
Types
Skip conditions can be divided into 4 types.
Simple skip
GoTo (Q15)
IdSurvey displays question specified. Then the normal questionnaire flow will be followed and next page proposed.
Nota
- Possible answers to questions skipped will be deleted. If the skip condition lands in a previous question, the data won’t be deleted.
Skip with sequence
GoTo (Q15,Q17,Q21)
IdSurvey displays questions in the exact order specified in the sequence. Then the normal questionnaire flow will be followed and next page proposed.
Note
- You can use a skip with sequence to create a simple skip without clearing the skipped questions. You need to indicate the first page where you want to land and using ” (two single quotes) instead of another page code
GoTo (Q15,'')
Random skip
GoToRnd (P18,P19,P20,P21)
IdSurvey randomly displays pages specified between inverted commas.
The last code is the code of the page where the standard flow will be restored.
Skip with condition
if(Q1==3) GoTo (P32)
When the answer with this skip condition is selected, IdSurvey will check if at question Q1 option 3 was selected. If this condition is true then you will skip to page P32.
You can similarly insert also more complex condition. If you need help with condition syntax please check related article.
Notes
- You can use skip conditions to land on previous or following objects. A
GoTodirected to a previous question is useful to force the respondent to correct a contradictory answer. You can learn more on this in the article “How to set a control page”. - IdSurvey processes one sequence at a time. If, during the flux of a skip condition, IdSurvey finds another skip condition, the first will be ignored and from that point onward, the flux of the second condition will be followed instead.
- When you are using a lot of skip and display conditions in a questionnaire you have to be careful not to cause loops or clashes. We suggest to always test the questionnaire carefully before starting the survey.
IdSurvey processes pages sequentially: by answering questions on the first page and clicking the “Next” button, you will be directed to the second page and so on.
You can change the standard flow by using Skip or Display conditions, or both at the same time.
Standard behaviour
Skip condition
When you select an answer with a skip condition set, IdSurvey will display the question specified in its condition, ignoring the standard questionnaire flow.
Display condition
Display condition is used to display an object only if a specific condition is true. For example: I don’t want to display a specific page if I answered with a certain option to a previous question.
A common error
Even if you can use both conditions in your questionnaire, it’s important to understand when to use one or the other.
It’s not rare for beginners to swap the two functionalities, expecially if they’re used to pen-&-paper interviews. Let’s see an example.
We have a question on gender: male or female. Then we have two other questions: one only for males and the other only for females. A common error would be setting two skip conditions in the two answers of question one: if the answer is male skip to question 2, if the answer is female skip to question 3.
This raises an issue: if the respondent answers “male”, he will correctly skip to question 2 when he clicks on “Next”, but he will then proceed to question 3 anyway. This is not an error, because in questionnaire flows and with IdSurvey standard sequential behavior, question 3 is right after question 2.
To avoid this issue we could exclude from standard sequential flow the two pages, by turning off the “Sequential” switch under the “Page Settings” cogwheel button. So if the answer is male, the skip condition will lead to question 2, and question 3 would be ignored.
But…there’s a much better and coherent solution.
The best solution is to use display conditionson question 2 and question 3 without setting skip conditions on question 1:
question 2 will appear only if you answered male to first question.
domanda 3 will appear only if you answered female to first question.
Since these two conditions can’t be both true at once, each respondent will see only one of them, according to what he (or she) answered to question 1.
This way, you will be sure that questionnaire flow will be correct, and questionnaire programming will be easier and faster.
Please remember that skip conditions can be really useful in other situations and that it can be combined with display conditions to create really complex flows.