Multiple Select Box: Question Creation and Modification

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Note:To simplify the survey question creation process, question creation has been separated from the addition of answer choices. When you have finished creating the question, see Multiple Select Box: Add Answer Choices and Modification.

A Multiple Select Box question displays all of the answers for the user to read. However, should you choose the check box type, the user is allowed to select multiple responses. Once this type is selected, another option, Number of Answers, appears that you can configure. This allows you to optionally force the user to fill in a fixed number of answer boxes, at least number of boxes, at most number of boxes.

Access Edit Questions Interface

The first thing you need to do in order to create questions for your survey is to access it through the Survey Editor. Click on the Survey Editor tab:

From the Choose a Survey portion of the Survey Editor interface, find your survey from the Select Survey drop down menu. Then, click the Edit Question button.

You will then receive the Edit Questions interface.

At the top of the page will be the name of the survey and a current list of questions for this survey.

Below the List of Questions, you will find a form that can be used to add a new question.

Create Multiple Select Box Question

In order to add a Multiple Select Box question to your survey, fill out the following fields in the Add/Modify a Question portion of the interface:

  • Interface: One of the big weaknesses of the Multiple Select Box question type is that even though it gives the user the opportunity to select multiple answer choices, it does not give them instructions on how to do so.

    Thus, the Advanced interface is recommended solely because it allows you to provide instructions on how users can make multiple selections. For more information about this please contact either Dale David or Debbie Faires.

    For this tutorial, we shall use the Advanced interface (highlighted in red in the top-right portion of the image below).
     
  • Question: Type in the text of your Multiple Select Box question
     
  • Type: Make sure Multiple Select Box is selected from the drop down menu
     
  • Required?: If this field is set to Yes, the user completing the survey will be forced to supply a valid answer for this question before they can move on to the next page or submit the survey. If you wish to make a certain question optional, simply set the Required? field for that question to No.
     
  • Select Size: When the Multiple Select Box question type is selected, you can enter the size of the multiple select form element. Enter an integer greater than 1 to increase the number of answers the user will see at any given time. The number entered corresponds directly to the number of answers the user will see without scrolling within the multiple select field.

    Thus, in the example above users will be able to see 3 of the answer choices without having to scroll.
     
  • Instruction Text: In some cases, you may wish to have question-specific survey instructions appear in a paragraph of its own right above the question.

    This option is only available from the Advanced interface.

    Thus, the instructional text for this question is, “In order to select more than one item on the list below, hold down the Control key (or Apple key for Mac users) while mouse-clicking on the item(s).”


     
  • Display in Summary?: On the survey results page, after selecting a survey, you will be presented with a list of all completed surveys submitted so far. Included in this list will be the date and time of submissions as well as either the IP or Email address of the user who completed the survey.

    Setting the Display in Summary? field to Yes for an individual question will cause the answer to that question to appear in the list of completed surveys. Since each survey in the list appears on one line, you should be selective about which questions you have displayed in the summary so that you do not run out of room.

    For this tutorial, we are setting the Display in Summary? to No:

Ignore Answer Choices to Multiple Select Box Question

To simplify the Multiple Select Box question creation process, question creation has been separated from the addition of answer choices. Ignore this for now and continue with this tutorial. When you have finished creating the question, see Multiple Select Box: Add Answer Choices and Modification.

Ignore Answer Input Style, Answer Text Style, Text Input Style, Text Input Attributes of Multiple Select Box Question

These advanced features allow you to stylize certain aspects of your question, but knowledge of HTML and CSS is required. If you need more information about these fields, please contact either Dale David or Debbie Faires.

Click Add Question button

Click on the Add Question button to add this question to your survey:

Upon clicking the Add Question button, the Multiple Select Box question will be added to the List of Questions for your survey:

Now, your Multiple Select Box question will be ready for answer addition.

Modify Multiple Select Box Question

To modify the text and parameters of your Multiple Select Box question, click on your question, which is located in your List of Questions. From there, click the Edit button:

Modifiable Fields
Select which fields you want to modify in the Add/Modify a Question portion of the interface:

  • Question: Type in the revised text of your Multiple Select Box question
     
  • Type: When modifying a question, do not change the question type. It is best to simply create a new question.
     
  • Required?: If this field is set to Yes, the user completing the survey will be forced to supply a valid answer for this question before they can move on to the next page or submit the survey. If you wish to make a certain question optional, simply set the Required? field for that question to No.
     
  • Instruction Text: In some cases, you may wish to have question-specific survey instructions appear in a paragraph of its own right above the question.

    This option is only available from the Advanced interface.

    Thus, the instructional text for this question is, “In order to select more than one item on the list below, hold down the Control key (or Apple key for Mac users) while mouse-clicking on the item(s).”


     
  • Display in Summary?: On the survey results page, after selecting a survey, you will be presented with a list of all completed surveys submitted so far. Included in this list will be the date and time of submissions as well as either the IP or Email address of the user who completed the survey.

    Setting the Display in Summary? field to Yes for an individual question will cause the answer to that question to appear in the list of completed surveys. Since each survey in the list appears on one line, you should be selective about which questions you have displayed in the summary so that you do not run out of room.

Ignore Answer Choices to Multiple Select Box Question

Ignore this for now and continue with this tutorial. When you have finished modifying the question, see Multiple Select Box: Add Answer Choices and Modification.

Ignore Answer Input Style, Answer Text Style, Text Input Style, Text Input Attributes of Multiple Select Box Question

These advanced features allow you to stylize certain aspects of your question, but knowledge of HTML and CSS is required. If you need more information about these fields, please contact either Dale David or Debbie Faires.

Click Modify Question button

Click the Modify Question button to enable your question modifications.

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