How to pipe question and answers in forms and surveys?

Crafting an engaging form or survey as a data collector can be challenging in traditional survey platforms. You aim to gather valuable data, but maintaining respondent interest is crucial. This is where BlockSurvey’s piping feature comes in, allowing survey creators to design more interactive and personalized surveys that keep respondents engaged and invested.

What is Piping in Surveys?

Piping is a survey technique that enhances the respondent's experience by using their previous answers in subsequent questions and answer choices. There are two types of piping in BlockSurvey:

1. Question Piping (aka Recall information): This uses the participant’s response from one question and incorporates it into a subsequent question.
2. Answer Piping: This takes the participant’s response from one question and uses it as an answer choice in another choice or matrix-based question.

Piping can produce more precise and insightful data while greatly increasing participant engagement. It's particularly useful in market research and customer experience surveys.

Why Do We Need Piping in Forms and Surveys?

Using piping in surveys allows for a customized experience that acknowledges each respondent's unique answers. By referring to their prior replies, you show participants that you value their input, which can enhance their engagement and satisfaction.

Benefits of Piping:

• Personalization: Creates a personalized experience that feels like a natural conversation.
• Increased Engagement: Participants feel that their responses are being considered, leading to higher completion rates.
• More Accurate Data: Engaged participants are likely to provide more thoughtful and accurate responses.

How to use Question piping in BlockSurvey?

Let's learn the question piping setup with an example:

1. Add the first question: "What is your name?"
2. In the second question type or click the @ symbol. This will display the available questions, variables, and expressions.
   
   
3. Select the first question from the dropdown, and then type the rest of the second question: "What is your age, [Name]?"

Try out this survey by yourself:

How to use Answer piping in BlockSurvey?

Answer piping is useful for questions with multiple-choice or matrix answers. Both the source and target questions must be either multiple-choice or matrix questions.

Let us see the setup with an example:

• Question 1 (Multiple Choice): "Choose all the movies you have watched from the list."

Which has 10 options (The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, Fight Club, Inception, Forrest Gump, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars).

• Question 2 (Single Choice): "Pick your favorite movie from the choice of movies you have watched."

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. In Question 2 click on "Pipe Answer."
   
   
2. Select the source question as Question 1 from the dropdown menu.
3. Choose the answer option to be displayed:
   • All choices: All options from Question 1.
   • Selected choices: Only the options selected in Question 1.
   • Unselected choices: Options not selected in Question 1.
     
     

In this example, selecting "Selected choices" will display only the movies the participant has watched as answer options in the second question.

Try out the example survey:

Conclusion

In conclusion, BlockSurvey's piping feature offers a powerful solution to the challenges of traditional survey methods. By using respondents' previous answers to inform subsequent questions and answer choices, you can create a more engaging and personalized survey experience. This approach not only enhances participant satisfaction but also leads to more accurate and insightful data.