dscout supports the creation of question groups as well as the ability to randomize the order in which scouts see questions within those groups. Question groups allow researchers to neatly contain sets of tasks and questions within a folder, facilitating mission design and removing order bias. At this time, question groups are only available in Express—both media surveys and usability tests.
Note: Randomization is truly random and even distribution is not guaranteed: while all scouts will see all questions in a group in a random order, it's not possible to ensure an exact percentage of scouts will see a specific question first.
Jump to any of the following sections to learn more:
Creating Question Groups
In order to create a question group, navigate to the "⨁ Add" button in the lefthand menu within the Create tab, then select "Question group" from the question menu. Question groups can be named and renamed by clicking into the name label; question group names are internal and are not visible to participants.
By default, question groups are expanded to show the set of questions it contains, but the group can be collapsed for ease of viewing and relocating via the carrot icon on the top left. Like any question type, the question group can also be dragged and dropped into any area of the existing study design.
Adding questions to question groups
Question groups added from the menu will be empty and can be populated with all question types using the nested "⨁ Add" button. Question groups support any question type or task (including power follow ups). Additionally, individual questions can be dragged into or out of question groups as needed, as well as rearranged within the question group itself.
Note: You cannot create question groups within question groups.
Duplicating, ungrouping, and deleting question groups
In order to access question group actions, click into the kebab menu on the top right of the question group.
- Duplicating a question group will copy the entire question group and its contents into another identical question group named "copy [question group name]". Question groups can be duplicated to the end of the existing study design or directly below the existing question group.
- Ungrouping question groups will delete the question group "folder" and maintain the questions or tasks it contained as separate questions within the study design, in the same order.
- Deleting a question group will delete the group and all the questions it contains. This action cannot be undone.
Randomizing questions within a group
Randomization of question groups is toggled off by default, but can be toggled on by selecting the desired question group and using the toggle on the top right of the page. This will add a "Randomized" badge to the question group. Toggling this on will randomize the order in which participants see all questions within a group.
Note: Since skip logic within question groups is not supported when randomization is enabled, this toggle will also remove any skip logic applied to questions within a group.
Skip logic & question groups
- It is not possible to use skip logic between questions within a group if there is randomization. If randomization is applied to a question group with skip logic, a confirmation modal will appear with a warning that all skip logic in the question group will be removed.
- Skip logic can be applied within question groups. As long as randomization is not toggled on, skip logic can work to skip participants to another question within the question group via the meatball menu of the individual question.
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Skip logic cannot be applied from within a question group to a specific question outside of the group. The "End of group" option can be selected to skip scouts to the end of the question group.
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A question group can be a skip logic destination. As long as the destination group is not randomized, participants can be skipped from any question to the desired question group.
Piping (recall) with question groups
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It's possible to reference a previous question in an existing question group, regardless of randomization status. If a question is part of a randomized question group, recall logic will work as usual by using the @ symbol to recall a previous question.
- If a question group is randomized, it's not possible to recall a question from within the same question group. If recall is used to reference a question within the randomized question group, a confirmation modal will appear with a warning that all recall logic in the question group will be removed.
Analyzing Question Groups
In the Analyze tab, question groups will appear in the lefthand question list. The list of questions in a group is expanded by default, and clicking the group will collapse or expand the view. Clicking on an individual question within the group will bring the desired question into view.
While it's not possible to filter by a question group, the individual questions within a group will indicate filtering options.
Tasks within a group will maintain the same task question metrics as a task outside of a group.
Appearance of randomization in analysis
In the Analyze tab, randomized questions will show up in the same order as they appear in the Create tab. The question will also include a chip indicating that it was viewed in random order.
In order to view randomized questions on a participant-by-participant basis, click into the Participants tab and select the desired participant to see questions in the order they were shown to the participant.