Using on-page routing

Step 1: Creating a simple questionnaire with routing

Create the Snap WebHost questionnaire shown in the graphic. This has one multi-choice question followed by an other question, then two single-response questions and a thank-you note.

(You can download a finished questionnaire from here.)

You are going to create a routing rule so the space for describing the other food is only visible if the respondent selects Other.

1. Select the Please enter... question by clicking anywhere on it to highlight it.
2. Click on the questionnaire window toolbar to open the routing rules dialog.

   

3. Click [Add] to add a routing rule

   

4. Select Conditionally Ask Question as the Type and click [OK].
5. Type q1=4 into the If field. This tells Snap to ask the question only if the Other box (code 4) has been selected.

   

6. Click [OK] to add the rule to the questionnaire.
7. Click on the questionnaire toolbar to save the questionnaire.

Step 2: Preview the routing in your questionnaire

1. Select File|Publish or click [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [W] to publish your questionnaire.
2. Select Preview only as the publish Method and click [Publish].
3. Enable the active content in your browser if it is not already enabled.
4. All the numbered questions should be displayed, but the Please enter question should not be visible.

   

5. Select Other. The Please enter question should appear.

   

6. Close the preview window and return to Snap.

Step 3. Add routing to make the questions appear in response to answers

If someone does not select Meat, you do not want them to see the question about which meat they like. If someone does select Meat, you don't want to ask them if they're a vegetarian.

You might think that it would be a good idea to put routing after each of the selections, so that if they select Grains and vegetables, they jump straight to Q3, and if they answer Q2, they go straight to the end of the survey.

However, this has two problems:

• Someone who selects Grains and vegetables and Meat will skip the meat question and go straight to the vegetarian question
• This puts two sets of routing on Q1. The responses are used to jump to a different question and to decide whether to display the Please enter question (Q1.a)

This causes Snap to insert a page break between the Other response and the Please enter question.

It is better to ask questions Q2 and Q3 conditionally, according to how people reply to Q1. This simplifies the routing, and ensures that it can all stay on the same page.

1. Select Q2, and click on the questionnaire window toolbar to open the routing rules dialog.
2. Click [Add] to add a routing rule
3. Select Conditionally Ask Question as the Type and click [OK].
4. Type q1=(3,4) into the If field. This tells Snap to ask the question only if the Meat (code 3) or the Other box (code 4) has been selected.
5. Click [OK].
6. Select Q3, and click on the questionnaire window toolbar to open the routing rules dialog.
7. Click [Add] to add a routing rule
8. Select Conditionally Ask Question as the Type and click [OK].
9. Type q1=(1,2) and not q1=(3) into the If field. This tells Snap to ask the question only if the Grains and vegetables or the Dairy options have been selected and the Meat (code 3) has not been selected. This ignores the Other responses, as you can't be sure what they will be.

   

10. Click [OK].
11. Click to save the questionnaire.

Step 4: Preview the new routing in your questionnaire

1. Select File|Publish or click [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [W] to publish your questionnaire.
2. Select Preview only as the publish Method and click [Publish].
3. Enable the active content in your browser if it is not already enabled.
4. Only Q1 should be displayed. The other questions appear according to what selections you make in Q1.

   

You can see how Q2 takes the place of Q3 as you change the answers to Q1. This is one of the reasons why it can be advisable to insert page breaks when using routing.

The question numbers have been left in to help show what is happening. Removing them for a real survey with routing is described in the worksheet: Hiding question numbers in web surveys.

Step 3: Add dynamic text to your questionnaire

You can make the text in Q3 more precise by including dynamic text substitution.

1. Ensure that Font is selected in the toolbar topics list so the [Insert] button is visible on the questionnaire toolbar.
2. Delete the text do not eat meat. in Q3 and type eat followed by a space.
3. Click [Insert] and select Variable Field from the list that appears.

   

4. The New variable field dialog appears.

   

5. Select Q1 in the Variable list.
6. Set Aspect to Reply (this means that the response will be used).
7. Set Modify case to lower case (as you use the words inside a sentence) and click [OK]. The variable will appear within the question.

   

8. Click to save the questionnaire.
9. Select File|Publish or click [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [W] to publish your questionnaire.
10. Select Preview only as the publish Method and click [Publish].
11. Enable the active content in your browser if it is not already enabled.
12. Check the options for Grains and vegetables and Dairy.
13. Although the front page still appears the same, when you first look at the survey, checking Grains and vegetables will no longer result in Q3 being displayed on the same page.
14. Click [Next] to move to the next page of the survey.
15. Q3 is displayed and the reply to Q1 has been substituted into the question text.