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SURVEY CREATOR - SINGLE-LINE INPUT QUESTIONS

Summary & Best Practices

In Survey Creator, the Single-Line Input question is the most flexible, open-ended tool in your Toolbox. It presents a clean, empty text box meant for short, focused answers that can be captured in a single line. Despite its simple appearance, it can be highly customized using background rules to collect specific data types like emails, dates, phone numbers, or passwords.

When to Use It
  • Short Open-Ended Text: When you need a quick textual response that cannot be predicted ahead of time (e.g., "What is your first name?" or "What company do you work for?").
  • Structured Contact Data: Ideal for capturing formatted single-line entries like email addresses, phone numbers, ZIP codes, or URLs.
  • Exact Numerical Inputs: Perfect for collecting precise digits where a scale or dropdown is impractical (e.g., entering an exact age, an ID number, or a specific price paid).
When NOT to Use It
  • Long Paragraphs or Feedback: Do not use a Single-Line Input if you are asking for open-ended feedback, suggestions, or multi-sentence stories. The narrow box will hide their text as they type, frustrating the user. Use a Long Text (Comment) box instead.
  • Predefined Options: If you already know all the possible answers (e.g., selecting a state or a condition), do not make users type it out manually. Typing introduces typos and ruins data cleanup. Use a Dropdown or Radio Button Group instead.
  • Simple True/False choices: If you need a quick confirmation (e.g., "Are you over 18?"), use a Yes/No Boolean switch instead of making them type "Yes" or "No".

Property Grid

The General properties define the question’s identity, content, behavior, and data connections. You can specify the question name (backend value), title (survey label), and description; control whether the question is visible, read-only, or required; and add a comment box for additional respondent feedback. These settings also allow you to connect the question to a Short Text Custom Variable or one of the following Study Variables:

  • ID fields (Custom, Family, Global)
  • Contact name fields
  • Address fields
  • Email
  • Phone number fields
  • Tags
  • Age at Time of Study
  • Relationship to Participant field

When connected to a Study or Custom Variable, some of the available Property Grid settings may be limited. These settings are managed by the variable itself.

Layout properties control how the question appears on the survey page. They let you place the question on a new line, hide its number, and determine whether it is collapsed or expanded. You can also adjust the alignment of the question title, description, and error messages, as well as control the question’s indentation and width. The settings also include the number of columns used to display the answer choices, allowing you to present them vertically or across multiple columns.

The Conditions properties control the question’s behavior based on survey responses or other conditions. You can determine when the question becomes visible, read-only, or required; set or reset its value; and define default values using expressions. These settings also allow you to hide the question when no choices are available and control when individual choices are visible or selectable.

The Input Mask Settings control the format of responses entered in a Single-Line Input question. When set to None, participants can enter text or numbers without a predefined format. Use an input mask when responses must follow a consistent structure, such as a phone number, date, ZIP code, or Study  ID. This can reduce formatting errors and simplify data analysis, but it should not be applied when participants need to provide open-ended responses.

Data properties manage how the question stores and uses response data. You can specify a Join identifier to connect related data, set or change the correct answer for evaluation purposes, and clear the answer when needed. The section also lets you choose whether display values should appear in dynamic text and determine whether answers to questions hidden by conditional logic should be cleared.

The Validation properties ensure that respondents provide acceptable answers. You can add validation rules to check whether responses meet specific requirements, such as a required format, value range, or maximum character limit. This section also allows you to customize the error message displayed when a required question is left unanswered.