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Virtual Questions: Open Ended

An Open ended Virtual Question (VQ) brings the verbatim responses from one or more open-ended questions together in a single block. 

This type of VQ is helpful when you want to keep the open ends from several questions in one place (each row is expanded and viewed on its own), or when you want to aggregate responses from multiple open-ended questions into a single row with one combined word cloud.

Learn more about Virtual Questions in the Lighthouse Academy!

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In This Article

Using Optional Presets

A preset sets up an Open ended VQ when it's based on a survey logic group whose first question is open-ended. These presets are listed under a Group {n}: header and labeled with the group's question references (e.g., Q12, Q13).

  1. Click the OPTIONAL PRESETS drop-down.
  2. Under the relevant Group {n}: header, select the entry for your open-ended questions.
  3. Click Generate visualization. Each question in the group appears as its own row under Expand answers.

⚠️ Note: If your survey has no logic group that starts with an open-ended question, no Open ended preset will be listed. Configure the VQ manually instead, as described in Configuring Open Ended VQs.

💡 Tip: A text custom variable with 15 or more distinct values also appears as an Open ended preset.

optional presets.png 

Configuring Open Ended VQs

  1. Click the variant drop-down and select Open ended.
  2. Click the Q1 drop-down and select an open-ended question, or a question with an answer that includes an open-ended field. Click Add Second Question and select the source for the new row. Repeat for each additional open-ended question you want to include.
  3. Once the VQ has two or more rows, a Please type a label… field appears on each row. Type or paste a label for each one. The label is shown next to the row's A{n}: heading in the results.
  4. To reorder rows, click and hold a row's handle, then drag it into a new position. To delete a row, hover over it and click the X that appears.
  5. Click Generate visualization. See Reading the Results for how to view the responses.

⚠️ Note: Labels are cleared if you remove rows until only one is left. Double-clicking a row's handle creates a copy of that row—use click-and-drag to move rows.

openended 1-5.png

Updating the visualization

After the VQ has been generated, the button changes to Update visualization. Click it to refresh the results after you change the variant, a row's question or pattern, a row's Base, or the number of rows.

Reading the Results

Results are listed as collapsed rows under Expand answers. Note that rows are numbered differently in the editor and in the results: the row you set up as Q1. appears as A1:, Q2. as A2:, and so on.

  1. Expand a row. It opens on Quote tiles, which show the raw verbatim responses.
  2. Use that row's view selector to switch to another view: Sentiments, Codebooks, or Wordcloud.
  3. In the Wordcloud view, the word cloud is accompanied by a list of the top 15 words.

Each row is expanded and switched separately, so repeat these steps for every row you want to review.

 

Aggregating Open Ends into a Single VQ

You can also combine responses from multiple open-ended questions or answer options into a single row, which produces one combined word cloud.

  1. Select your first question in Q1.
  2. Click switch to advanced mode above the pattern field. After the first question reference, type or, followed by the reference of the next open-ended question. Repeat for each question you want to combine.
  3. Click Generate visualization. A single row appears under Expand answers. Expand it and switch to Wordcloud to see the combined word cloud.

⚠️ Note: The pattern also decides which respondents are included. With or, the row collects responses from anyone who answered any of the referenced questions—usually what you want when aggregating. With and, only respondents who answered every referenced question are included, which is the most common cause of a blank result. If you get a blank result, check your pattern for and, or reach out to our Customer Engagement team for assistance.

wordcloud.png