STATIC LOOP AND MERGE Performing this action is the equivalent of going into the Survey Flow and moving the block element up one spot (either by clicking and dragging Move, or by using the up/down keys on the keyboard). Suppose instead of having the respondent tell you about browsers used, you want to use the same block of questions to ask about the three leading presidential candidates. Since you know you want the questions asked about all of the presi- dential candidates, you do not need to give the respondent the opportunity to select the candidates in a multiple answer MOVE BLOCK DOWN question. Static Loop and Merge allows you to create a list of items (candidates) or topics to ask about and then loop through them. Now on the reverse, selecting this option will move the block down one spot. It actually will switch positions with the block The system loops as many times as there are items in the list. The item text is piped into the questions for the survey taker. below it. Unlike the other loop and merge, it is static because it is not based off selected choices in a previous question. Performing this action is the equivalent of going into the Survey Flow and moving the block element down one spot (either To set up a static loop and merge: by clicking and dragging Move, or by using the up/down keys on the keyboard). 1. Click Block Options and select Loop and Merge. 2. Click Turn On Loop & Merge. 3. Do not select Automatically bring in Field 1 from a question. In the Field columns, enter fields and values to pipe into your questions (Note: Four fields are referenced here, Field 1, Field 2, Field 3, Field 4, but all four are not required). Example values: Candy Bar, Mars, Snickers, Rolos. COPY BLOCK 4. Determine if you want to use randomization options. • RANDOMIZE LOOP ORDER: Displays loop elements in a random order. Copy Block creates an exact replica of the original block. A new question block is created with all of the questions copied • PRESENT ONLY _#_ OF TOTAL LOOPS: Choose a random subset of the possible fields. This is only available and placed within it. The new block is placed at the end of the Edit Survey page, below the existing blocks. when Randomize loop order is selected. 5. Click the Save button. 6. Carry out step 8 from the Question Loop and Merge instructions to pipe in the field. Q-TIP -TIP Q - T I P COPY BLOCK TO LIBRARY Q - T I P The Copy Block to Library option allows you to copy an entire block full of questions to your Question Library. You can choose which library to copy the questions to, which category to put them in (optional), and then specify a description for Data is exported as if a separate block of questions were created for each of the possible options. That is because using each question. Once you click Copy, a copy of each question appears in the selected Question Library. - T I P this option is the equivalent of setting up a specific question block for each possible response on the previous question. For this reason, using loop and merge can increase the size of your data export greatly. Typically this is only an issue when downloading raw data exports into Excel or SPSS, where there is a column limit (Excel 2003: 256 columns; Excel 2007+: 16,000 columns). If you exceed the limit of Excel, the best option is to download groups of questions at a time rather than the entire survey all at once. MOVE BLOCK UP Just as it sounds, selecting this option will move the block up one spot. It actually will switch positions with the block above it. 82 | Chapter 5: Block Options and Survey Flow Chapter 5: Block Options and Survey Flow | 83