Form Questions

The form question type allows you to display a form in your survey and control what respondents can enter into each field. It includes several input fields one after another, and can include validation. 

Watch this short video or keep reading to learn more!

Build

To insert a form, simply drag and drop the form icon from the sidebar into the survey editor. 

Each field is divided into two columns in the survey editor. On the left, you will want to provide a field's label, visible to respondents, to communicate what you would like them to enter. On the right, you can choose to configure a validation rule for the field. 

To add fields, click the "+" below the last field. This question type requires at least one field and can have up to 7.

 

The dropdown at the bottom allows you to add commonly used fields, like U.S. address, dates, email, and currency, and learn how validation rules work. 

To delete a field, hover to the left of the corresponding field number and click the “x” that appears. 

Every field is required by default, but you can make fields optional by toggling them on the right. 

You can also change the order in which fields appear for each respondent by turning on randomization. Even with randomization selected, you can still anchor fields in place. Simply activate the anchor icon adjacent to the desired field.

Using Validation

As you begin adding fields, blue validation rules will appear on the right side. Validation rules limit what respondents can or must enter in order to advance to the next question. If you leave it blank, any entry will be accepted. 

There are three placeholder symbols that we use in the validation rules. The pound or hashtag symbol stands for a digit, star stands for a letter, and underscore stands for any character. For example, you can limit the response to 3 digits by adding 3 hash signs in the field on the right. You may also add extra validation conditions in conjunction with underscore.

You can define letter or number ranges by separating the symbols with a hyphen and placing them in curly brackets. 

• _{1-100} indicates that the placeholder will accept any number from 1 to 100. 

If the letters or numbers you want to accept are not sequential, list them separated by commas and with no spaces in curly brackets. 

• _{A,D,H} only accepts the letters A, D, or H as an entry.

With some additional rules and square brackets, you can accommodate an even larger number of characters. Below are some additional examples:

• _[10] expects exactly 10 symbols.
• _[10-15] allows no fewer than 10 and no more than 15 symbols. 
• _[10+] allows 10 or more symbols.

Also, you can combine curly and square brackets in the same validation rule.

• _{A-F}[3] forces respondents to enter exactly 3 letters, where each letter can be A, B, C, D, E, or F. 

Some special fields, like emails and dates, are described with special codes. There are many modifications that you can use from our library. 

If you type something in the right column that our platform doesn't recognize as a validation rule, it will prefill the field with that phrase. This is useful when you want to prefill a currency or frequency and ask respondents to fill out the amount. 

In the image below, the $, /, and the word "day" remain black and won't be highlighted in the validation rule field. This indicates that they will be shown as read-only text to respondents. 

IMPORTANT REMINDER

It is against our Terms of Use to ask respondents from our panel any personally identifiable information, such as their name, email, phone number, and so on. For this reason, you’ll see fewer pre-written options in the fields library on a Panel Survey. 

Respondent View

Once a field is filled out, a respondent has a chance to change their mind, move among the fields, and make edits. In order to advance to the next question, the respondent must satisfy validations for all the fields you set up in this question. Otherwise, we’ll highlight the fields with issues and ask the respondent to correct them.