Question Types

iJoomla Surveys allows you to use a number of different question types to obtain the information you need:

Please click here for live examples for each question type.

Choice - One Answer

Restricts respondents to choose just one answer.

For example: "Gender? Man or woman."

There are three ways to present a "Choice - One Answer" question:

Choice - One Answer (Vertical)

The answer choices will be displayed vertically. Works best with between two and eight answer choices.

Choice - One Answer (Horizontal)

The answer choices will be displayed horizontally. Not suitable for questions with more than four answer choices.

Choice - One Answer (Menu)

Answer choices will be display as a menu. Although perfect for questions with many possible responses, such as those requiring respondents to enter their country or occupation, drop-down menus require three mouse actions instead of one, and can therefore increase the drop-out rate.

Choice - Multiple Answers

Allows respondents to select more than one answer.

For example: "What type of credit card do you own? Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club."

In general, receiving multiple answers can make data analysis difficult so only use this option when strictly appropriate.

There are two methods of displaying Choice - Multiple Answers questions:

Choice - Multiple Answers (Vertical) Answer choices will be displayed vertically. Works best with between two and six answer choices.

Choice - Multiple Answers (Horizontal)

Answer choices will be displayed horizontally. Works best with a limited number of answers.

Matrix

Matrix questions allow you to collect cross information between two scaled parameters. Questions about frequency or degree of preference are perfect for this type of question.

For example, a survey about eating habits could ask: "How often do you eat the following foods: Meat, Vegetables, Fish, Dairy" and offer the following columns: "Frequently, Not Frequently, Never."

Matrix questions can be displayed three ways:

Matrix - One Answer Per Row

Perfect for a scale. For example, you could ask what respondents thought of a product, and create a column that allowed them to score it from 1 to 10 or Excellent to Poor etc.

Matrix - Multiple Answers Per Row

Allows respondents to choose more than one answer in each row.

Matrix - Multiple Answers Per Row (Menus)

This method allows respondents to choose from a menu with multiple answer choices. Ideal when you want respondents to state their opinion of different attributes in each row.

Open Ended

Open Ended questions allow you to collect actual sentences. Although they demand more from respondents, they're perfect if you want to collect feedback, ideas, stories or anything else you can't include in a variable.

There are four ways to ask Open Ended questions:

Open Ended - One Line With Prompt

This method will display a simple text box in which people can enter a short answer. For example: "What is your favorite name for a dog?"

Open Ended - One Or More Lines With Prompt

This method will display a text box next to each of the answer choices, allowing them to enter a short answer for each field. For example, "Enter your favorite name for baby girl; baby boy."

Open Ended - Essay

This method will display a large text area. Ideal for feedback, testimonials, ideas and stories etc.

Open Ended - Constant Sum

Respondents can enter a figure from 1-100 in each field. The sum of all the numbers they enter should be exactly 100. For example, a survey for teachers might ask, "Please assign a number from 1-100 to describe the amount of time you spend on: teaching; quizzes; marking; attending meetings."

Open Ended - Date And/Or Time

This method allows you to obtain specific dates or times. For example, a survey of university graduates might ask respondents to provide their date of graduation.

Tip: If you have more than one survey, use the filter to show only the questions for one survey instead of all the questions you've added.