The Rank Order item is one of several Checkbox Survey question types (click here to view all Checkbox question types).The Rank Order item allows respondents to rank possible answer options by either assigning each item a numeric ranking, or by physically positioning items in a specific rank order. The Rank Order item offers four different display options:
- Selectable Drag & Drop
- Drag & Drop Order
- Numeric Rank Order
- Drop Down Order
This guide shows you how to configure each display option within the item editor.
The Rank Order editor consists of five editor tabs and one preview tab:
- Preview: Displays the current question set-up. The preview updates after changes are saved.
- Question: Allows you to add question text and subtext.
- Behavior: Question settings. Behavior options vary among question item types.
- Choices: Possible answer options are entered here. The Choices tab is not applicable to all question items.
- Appearance: Question label and choice appearance settings. Appearance options vary among question item types.
- Conditions: Set item conditions. Consistent among question item types.
Preview
The Preview tab shows a preview of how the question will appear in your survey.
Question Text
You can create your question text using the following methods:
- Type your question text into the HTML editor and use the HTML buttons to format the text or click the <> icon to edit the HTML directly.
- Merge in text from previous questions, User Attributes, or Response Properties using the Merge dropdown option.
- Enter subtext on the Subtext tab.
Behavior
Select the Rank Order Type from the drop down list on the Behavior tab. Options include:
- Selectable Drag and Drop
- Drag and Drop Order
- Numeric Rank Order
- Drop Down Order
Selectable Drag and Drop:
The Selectable Drag and Drop option allows respondents to rank their preference by dragging and dropping images or text from a left “bucket” to a right “bucket”. This version of the Rank Order question should be used if you don’t want respondents to have to rank all options.
- Select the Option Type. You have the ability to display possible answer options as Text or Images.
- Set the Required number of options the respondent must rank. If you leave this blank, they will be required to rank all options.
- Check ‘Randomize’ to randomly reorder the answer options for this question every time the survey is opened. Randomizing answer options can help prevent answer bias.
- Check ‘Answer is required’ to make this a required question. Respondents will not be able to proceed in the survey until an answer is selected.
Drag and Drop Order:
The Drag and Drop Order option allows respondents to rank their preference by dragging and dropping images or text in place in a single “bucket”. This version of the Rank Order question should be used if you want respondents to have to rank all options.
- Select the Option Type. You have the ability to display possible answer options as Text or Images.
- Check ‘Randomize’ to randomly reorder the answer options for this question every time the survey is opened. Randomizing answer options can help prevent answer bias.
Numeric Rank Order:
The Numeric Rank option allows respondents to enter the number of their preference for each text or image option shown. So, they would enter a “1” for their first choice, “2” for their second choice, and so on.
- Select the Option Type. You have the ability to display possible answer options as Text or Images.
- Select the required number of available options that must be ranked.
- Check ‘Randomize’ to randomly reorder the answer options for this question every time the survey is opened. Randomizing answer options can help prevent answer bias.
- Check ‘Answer is required’ to make this a required question. Respondents will not be able to proceed in the survey until an answer is selected.
Drop Down Order:
The Drop Down Order option allows respondents to choose the number of their preference from a dropdown list for each text or image option shown. So, they would choose “1” for their first choice, “2” for their second choice, and so on.
- Set the Required number of options the respondent must rank.
- Check ‘Randomize’ to randomly reorder the answer options for this question every time the survey is opened. Randomizing answer options can help prevent answer bias.
- Check ‘Answer is required’ to make this a required question. Respondents will not be able to proceed in the survey until an answer is selected.
Choices
If ‘Text’ is selected as the Option Type on the Behavior tab:
Enter possible answer options line-by-line in the Normal View on the Choices tab.
- Select the orange ‘+’ icon to add a line. Select the red ‘-‘ icon to remove a line. Select in the row to edit answer text.
- Rearrange answer choices by selecting the dotted lines and dragging the answer choice to a different position.
- Select the Default Text radio button to the left of an answer choice to have that option pre-selected in your survey.
- Create an alias for each answer choice (optional). This alias acts as alternate answer text and can be applied on reports or when exporting response data.
- Modify answer text in HTML. Merging can be applied here to insert the answer to a previous question, User Attribute, or Response Property into the answer choice field.
Optionally, you may copy and paste a list of answer choices from a text file into the Quick Entry view on the Choices tab.
If ‘Image’ is selected as the Option Type on the Behavior tab:
Select the orange Upload button to upload your first item.
To add an image, choose from the following three options:
- Upload New Image
- Use Image from Web Site
- Use Previously Uploaded Image
The uploaded image will be visible in the preview window. You will see an image URL above the preview, indicating that the image has been uploaded to your Checkbox account.
If you are satisfied with your image, select Set the Image at the bottom of the window.
The image will appear on the Choices tab.
- Create an alias for the image (required).
- Select the orange ‘+’ icon. This will add your image as a possible answer option.
- To make this image the default selection when a respondent lands on this survey page, select the radio button to the left of the image.
- Display descriptive text with the image by entering text into the Label field (optional).
Appearance
Make changes to the appearance of questions and answers here.
- Change the justification of the entire question in relation to the survey content frame. Options include left justified, right justified, or centered in the window.
- Change the position of the question text in relation to the answer choices. Options include top, bottom, left, or right.
- Change the position of the image label. NOTE: only appears when ‘Image’ is selected as the Option Type on the Behavior tab.
Conditions
Use conditional logic on survey items to ensure that a particular question will only display when certain conditions are met by the respondent. If no item conditions are set, the survey item will always* display in your survey.
* Even if no item conditions are set, if one or more page conditions are set, the entire page may or may not display depending on whether certain conditions are met by the respondent. Items are subject to the conditions (if any) set to their page.