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Options, codes and scores

For a single choice, multiple choice, or scale question, each answer choice carries three things:
  • Label: the text a respondent actually sees.
  • Code: a short, stable identifier for the choice, used in skip logic and in your raw data export. The respondent never sees it, and it stays the same even if you later reword the label.
  • Score: the number that choice contributes to the indicator’s calculation, when the indicator is built from scores. The respondent never sees the score either. If the indicator instead groups answers into themes, or uses a method that doesn’t score individual choices, the score on a choice plays no part in the result.
This matters when you reorder choices for readability. Display order, code, and score are all independent of each other. If you drag “Agree” above “Neutral,” you change what a respondent sees. You do not change the choice’s code, or what it is worth in the calculation. This separation makes it safe to reorder a scale without silently changing your results or breaking a skip logic condition.

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What you need to save a question

A single choice, multiple choice, or scale question needs at least two answer options before you can save it. Fewer than that, and there is nothing for the calculation to distinguish between. An ordered scale or numeric scale also needs a unique score for each choice, so the calculation can always tell them apart.

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Skip logic

You can set a question to appear only when an earlier answer matches a condition. For example, a follow up question might only show up if a respondent said they had used a particular service. This lets a single interview guide branch naturally for different respondents. Not every respondent has to answer every question regardless of relevance. This is also part of why voi sizes a study’s length around your target completion time (see Before you move to Share). Not every respondent sees every branch. For how questions and their indicators come together into a score, see Calculation & thresholds.