Creating Hierarchical Question in Web Surveys

There are times when you need respondents to pick a specific value from a very long list of values - time for a hierarchy question!

Unlimited choices, Unlimited Hierarchies

There are no limits on the number of choices or hierarchies to include.

Each hierarchy can be different

Depending on the hierarchy chosen, the number of sub-hierarchies can be different.

A hierarchical question groups similar values (eg. cars of the same brand) and allows a respondent to work their way down the hierarchy to find the value they are looking for. This makes it possible to deal with long lists of choices (often 1000 or more) in a simple way for respondents. Setting up a hierarchical question is as simple as setting up any other Choice-based question in Web Survey Creator. The only difference is that "choices" are made up of each of the hierarchical components, rather than a single description.

Step-by-step: Creating a Hierarchical Question

Setting up a hierarchical question is easy, as long as you have your list of choices for the question in the right format. The step-by-step guide below contains the necessary steps to create a hierarchical question that looks as follows:

1. Ensure you have your Hierarchical Choice List already sorted out prior to creating the question. Choice items are in the format:

Hierarchy 1@@Hierarchy 2@@ etc.

For example:

Mini Car@@1991 - 2004@@Peugeot 106 1.6

The easiest way to build a hierarchy list is to use Excel to concatenate each piece of each choice item.

2. Press the Add Content Here button on the page you wish to add the Hierarchical List.

3. You are prompted to select the Content Type to add to the Survey. Choose Choice Question and Hierarchical List.

4. Enter the question text, and then copy the items you have created in Excel and paste them into the Selection Choices list in the question.

4. By default, each drop-down list will have a generic description - "Please Select...". This description can be changed to something more specific under Hierarchical Options.

5. Save the question, and the hierarchical logic can be tested out directly in the Survey Designer.