The format you pick depends on what you want to achieve with your question. In this article, the standard question types are listed with brief descriptions and examples.
You can select a type of question and add it to your questionnaire with just one click:
To create a question, you will need to enter the following details:
- The question text (use the editor to include rich content such as an image or a video).
- The response options.
- Click the Add another answer button to create as many answers as you like.
- If applicable, indicate the correct response in green and indicate the score the system should give to participants who select it. Note: Point values do not support decimals.
- Click the Save button when finished.
Notes:
- Any question or answer can be hidden from participants by clicking the Pause button ("eye" icon).
- To delete a question or answer, click the Delete button (“trash” icon) to the right of the item you want to delete, then choose Save.
- Not all question types are supported in all campaigns.
You can create the following types of questions:
- Single-answer questions
- Clickable image questions (image choice)
- Multiple answers questions (checkboxes)
- Drop-down questions
- Ranking questions
- Numerical questions (short answer)
- Alphanumerical questions (short answer)
- Text comparison questions
- Text box questions (long answer)
- File upload questions
- Matrix questions (Likert rating scales)
- Date questions
- Related drop-downs questions
- Tie-breaker questions
Below are more details on the different types of questions and some guidance on when and why to use use. Ready? Let's get started!
Single-answer questions
This type of question does exactly what it says on the tin – it requires participants to choose a single answer from the available choices.
It is our most popular question type, and for good reason:
- It’s simple and quick to answer. Because the answer options are fixed, your participants have an easy, intuitive experience.
- It produces easy-to-analyse data. You get structured data to create graphs, uncover trends and segment participants into groups.
Single-answer questions come in two different formats:
- radio buttons (circle buttons representing options in a list)
- answer buttons, which are particularly great for creating binary questions (“true or false”, “yes or no”, “this or that”, “agree or disagree”, etc.)
Tip — single-answer questions work very well to open a questionnaire because they require little time and effort and therefore are easy for people to answer 👍🏼
This is what participants see when they encounter a single-answer question using radio buttons in a campaign:
While answer buttons can look like this:
Clickable image questions (image choice)
This question type allows you to use images as answer options. It works great when you want your audience to evaluate the visual qualities of something, such as a product or a logo.
It can also provide a breath of fresh air and increase engagement from participants, as it gives them a break from reading. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? 🙂
This is what participants see when they encounter an image choice question in a campaign:
Multiple answers (checkboxes)
Multi-answer questions are shown with square checkboxes. They can have more than one selected answer. In a survey, for example, they allow participants to tick off all the choices that apply to them.
🔥 Pro tip: Add an “other” answer option or comment field. That way, if participants do not find a suitable answer option for them, they can add an answer that isn’t on the list instead of randomly choosing an answer and affecting the accuracy of your results.
This is what participants see when they encounter a checkbox question in a campaign:
Drop-down questions
For the “select from list” questions, one chooses an answer from a drop-down list.
Use this question type if you have a long list of choices that do not require additional contexts such as descriptions or visuals.
🔥 Pro tip: Instead of manually adding each choice, you can import the answer choices from a spreadsheet or populate the drop-down list from your database.
This is what participants see when they encounter a drop-down question in a campaign:
Ranking questions
Rankings prompt participants to order elements by way of preference or importance.
Rankings are interactive: you drag elements and drop them at their place. Because of that, such questions can take more time to answer. Keep that in mind and use them sparingly.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter a ranking question in a campaign:
Numerical questions (short answer)
For the numerical question, participants need to add a number in the empty field to answer your question.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter a numerical question in a campaign:
Alphanumerical questions (short answer)
For the alphanumerical question, a participant should enter their answer in the empty field.
The character limit for alphanumeric fields is 255 characters.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter an alphanumerical question in a campaign:
Text comparison questions
With this question type, participants actually have to know the correct answer with no suggested options.
In the Required matching rate drop-down menu, select a precision percentage.
Note: If the percentage is 100%, in order to receive points for a correct response, participants must enter their answer exactly as you have entered it, including any spaces or capital letters.
This is what participants see when they encounter a text comparison question in a campaign:
Text box questions (long answer)
Text box questions require participants to write a somewhat longer text (the maximum number of characters that will be accepted is 4,000).
Such open-ended questions are good for getting more meaningful survey answers as participants have the opportunity to give you feedback in their own words.
That said, they also take more effort to answer and analyse — even if participants are giving similar answers, it takes time to segment users into groups.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter an essay question in a campaign:
File upload questions
You can create a question for participants that requires a file upload and can be used for documents, images, audio files and/or video files. This question type accepts one file per question.
You can make the upload field accept specific file types and reject the others (MP3; JPG; GIF; PDF; etc.) And you can add or remove file types whenever you want.
Tip: Check out the article “Can I combine a photo contest with a video contest?”
To download your participants’ submitted files, you can click the Download all files button within the campaign statistics.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter a file upload question in a campaign:
Matrix questions (Likert rating scales)
Got a bunch of questions that seem to give the same rating options? You might need a matrix question!
Matrix questions are a special type of close-ended questions that usually involve asking participants to rate concepts or agree or disagree with statements. Remember that last time you took a survey with “neither agree nor disagree” questions? That’s called a “Likert scale”.
Such questions are great for evaluating participants’ opinions, impressions and attitudes about a certain topic, measuring customer satisfaction, or finding out the frequency of an event or behaviour.
Each answer will be shown on a distinct line, while each rating option on the scale will be a distinct column.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
Matrix questions come in two different formats:
Radio grid matrix questions
This is what participants see when they encounter a radio grid matrix question in a campaign:
Slider matrix questions
Such questions are more interactive than radio grids (participants pick an answer by dragging a slider control), which makes them more fun to answer.
This is what participants see when they encounter a slider question in a campaign:
Matrix questions can really simplify your content, but it’s important to use them carefully:
- The most common number of rating options is five, as large matrices can confuse some participants.
- You can also decide to use even-numbered rating options (with four or six rating options), but keep in mind that such a scale eliminates the possibility of a neutral answer for those without strong feelings either way.
Date questions
Collect date responses hassle-free with this question type. It can be used to ask your participants for a specific date.
With a date question, all your participants will have to either
- enter the date manually in the format DD/MM/YYYY (this is the only supported date format),
- pick the date from a calendar,
- or select a day, month and year from drop-down lists.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter a date question in a campaign:
Related drop-downs questions
Learn more about creating related drop-down lists, also known as creating a “conditional” drop-down list as a subquestion depending on the first drop-down.
Note: No score will be assigned for this type of question.
This is what participants see when they encounter related drop-downs in a campaign:
Tie-breaker questions
A tie-breaker is an extra numerical question played at the end of a questionnaire when you need to break a tie. The participants who are closest to the correct answer win. Please see How to add a tie-breaker question for instructions.