Question types
Pick the type that matches the shape of the answer, not the shape of the screen. The type decides what gets stored, which validation rules are available, and whether the answer can be used in logic later.
Types respondents answer
Text — free text. Choose a layout: single line, multiple lines, essay, or password (the input is masked). Takes length and format validation, so it’s also the right type for an email address or a postcode.
Numerical — a number, optionally with stepper buttons and a label before or after the field (£, kg). Takes minimum and maximum value validation.
Choice — pick from a list. Single choice or multiple choice, shown as a list or a dropdown, with an optional “other” box for a free-text answer. Choices can carry scores. See Working with choices.
Slider — a value on a scale, horizontal or vertical, with your own minimum, maximum, step and starting position. Use it for ratings and any continuous scale where the endpoints mean something.
Matrix — a grid: the same set of answers asked across several rows. The standard shape for a battery of agree/disagree statements.
Rank — put options in order. Drag and drop, or type numbers — pick whichever your respondents will manage better on a phone.
List — collect several short entries for one question, rather than one.
Date — a calendar date.
Signature — a typed signature, stored with the answer.
Group — a repeatable set of questions, completed once per thing. See Anatomy of a survey.
Types that fill themselves in
These three collect data without the respondent answering anything, so “required”, “hidden” and “I don’t know” don’t apply to them:
Meta — details about the response itself, captured automatically.
Timing — how long the respondent spent, useful for spotting answers given too fast to be real.
Captcha — a bot check. Worth adding to any survey distributed by a public link.
Choosing well
- Choice over text wherever the set of answers is knowable — you get analysable data instead of a spelling exercise.
- Slider over choice for a genuine continuum; choice over slider where the points are named categories.
- Group over “list them all in one box” whenever you’ll want to count or compare the entries.
- Numerical over text for numbers, always — it’s the only way you get value validation and numeric comparisons in logic.
What each type can do in logic
Most types can be conditioned on. Two limits are worth knowing:
- Piping — substituting an answer into later text — needs a single flat answer, so it works on text, numerical, slider, date and single-choice questions only.
- Group questions have no answer of their own, so only display rules act on them. Condition on the questions inside instead.