Carry Forward Feature Update On Every Dashboard

What is the Carry Forward Feature?

Carry Forward Selected Answers is one of the features of the Every Dashboard Survey Builder that helps to build effective and efficient surveys. This feature allows us to add the answers that respondents selected in one question, to other questions that may be relevant. For example, if a respondent selects only “Nike” and “Vans” in Q1, then they will only see those two brands, along with “I have never purchased any of the above brands” in Q2 (See screenshot below). 

 

This feature allows us to ensure accurate data, as the answer options displayed to each respondent are relevant to them. If we do not use the Carry Forward feature in some instances, it may lead to questionable data. 

Examples of when we use the Carry Forward feature are:

• Funnel Questions (e.g. Awareness, Ever Bought, Most Preferred funnel), typically used in “Brand Health” surveys to come up with a funnel that looks like this:
  
• Ranking Questions 

How is this Displayed in the Data?

Pre-Feature Update

As described above, when using the carry forward feature, respondents should only see answer options that are relevant to them. What happens if a respondent has only chosen one answer option that gets carried forward?

The outcomes here can be split into 2:

1. If responses are carried forward into a multiple choice question or a similar question type
   1. If the follow-up question has an additional answer option, that was not carried forward (e.g., “None of the above”, “Others, please specify”, etc) - the respondents will still have to answer the question
      
   2. If the follow-up question has no additional answer options added, then respondents will not be shown the question. However, as a result of this, the data shown in the carry forward question will exclude those who had only selected a single answer.
      
2. If the responses are carried forward into a ranking question, the fact that the respondent has only selected one answer option means they only have one answer option to “rank”. Thus the ranking question is not applicable to these respondents, and the system allows them to skip the ranking question as a result.
   
   
   The reason for this is so that respondents who had only selected one answer option, would not need to view additional questions that are not relevant to them and improve the overall survey experience for the respondents. 

As a result of the above, the collected data looks something like the below:

1.a. If the follow-up question had an additional answer option

In the example for scenario 1.a, where we carry forward answers from Q4 (n=457) to Q5 (n=424), Q5 has an additional answer option. Only respondents who selected “None of the above” (n=33) in Q4 would skip Q5 because the question is not relevant to them. 

457 (the number of responses to Q4) 
- 33 (the number of responses who selected “None of the above in Q4) 
= 424 (the number of responses to Q5)

 

1b. If the follow-up question does not have an additional answer option

In the example for scenario 1.b, the answers are carried forward from Q13 (n=1387) to Q14 (n=1002), Q14 does not have an additional answer option. We see a significant difference between the sample for both questions. This shows that 385 respondents had only selected one answer option in Q13.

1,387 (the number of responses to Q13)
-  385 (the number of responses who selected only one answer option in Q13) 
= 1,002 (the number of responses to Q14)

 

2. If the responses are carried forward into a ranking question

In the example above, the answer options in Q10 Multiple-choice Questions are carried forward to Q12. 400 respondents had answered the Q10 MCQ, however, only 312 respondents ranked their answers in Q12. 

This tells us that, apart from the 14 respondents who answered “I’m not sure” in Q10. 74 respondents selected only 1 answer option and therefore were allowed to skip the Q12 ranking question. 

400 (the number of responses to Q10) 
- 14 (the number of responses who only selected “I’m not sure” in Q10)
- 74 (the number of responses who selected only one answer option in Q10) 
= 312 (the number of responses to Q12)

Post-Feature Update

At Vase.ai, we are constantly working on new features that will help and improve our client’s experience when conducting research studies. We received feedback from our clients using the platform, with many of them stating that the respondents that had been excluded from ranking questions in Outcome number 2 described above were being included in their data as follows. 

1. Those who selected only one answer option in a multiple-choice question would only have one answer option to rank in a follow-up ranking question using the carry forward feature. 
2. It is then concluded that these respondents would automatically have ranked their one selected answer option in first place in the ranking question.
3. Our clients, being unable to use the platform to make this calculation, were manually making calculations to add those who only selected one answer option to the ranking question. 

As we want to be of assistance to our clients, and would prefer that they are able to use our platform for their data analysis needs instead of requiring manual calculations, as of March 2024, the team has updated the Carry Forward Selected Answers feature.

 

Let’s take a look at the outcomes from the scenarios we described before!

1. If responses are carried forward into a multiple choice question or a similar question type

1. 1. If the follow-up question has an additional answer option, that was not carried forward (e.g., “None of the above”, “Others, please specify”, etc) - there is no change to the flow, and respondents will still have to answer the question and select their answer. The results will remain the same as the previous.
      
   2. If there are no additional answer options added, respondents will be allowed to skip the question, however, their previously selected single answer will be automatically calculated as a response. 
   
   BEFORE Feature Update
2. 

AFTER Feature Update

After the feature update, the sample increased to 1377 in Q14. This means that 375 respondents who had selected a single answer in Q13 were automatically calculated into Q14 results. 

The breakdown is as follows:

• Sample in Q13 = 1387. 
• This applies to both pre and post-feature update
  385 respondents had selected a single answer and were not required to answer the follow-up question.
• This is where the change takes place post-feature update
  375 respondents who selected only one answer option in Q13 will have their answers automatically filled in for the ranking question
• 10 respondents who had selected “others, please specify” as a single answer in Q13 will be excluded from the Q14 calculation; their answers are not relevant to Q14.

2. If the responses are carried forward into a ranking question - the single answer the respondent has selected will be automatically calculated into the results. 

BEFORE Feature Update

AFTER Feature Update

In the example previously shared, we can see that the sample for the ranking question is now n=380 instead of n=312. Those who had selected a single answer in Q10, are now automatically added. The breakdown is as follows:

• Sample in Q10 = 400. 
• This applies to both pre and post-feature update
  14 had selected “I’m not sure” and 6 had selected  “Other please specify” as a single answer, and as such were not required to answer the follow-up ranking question.

This is where the change takes place post-feature update
68 respondents who selected only one answer option in Q10 (that are not “Others, please specify” or “I’m not sure”) will have their answers automatically filled in for the ranking question

Moving Foward

Moving forward the feature is automatically implemented in the system and aims to help our clients with their Data Analysis and using the Analysis Tools on the Dashboard. 

This feature will not affect previously completed surveys. If you had launched a survey with us before March 2024 and had used the Carry Foward Selected Answers feature, the data shown on your Dashboard will remain as previously shown. 

If you have any questions on this feature update and how it affects your past and future surveys with us, feel free to reach out via the chat bubble below, and our experts will be happy to help!