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Skipper Autocode Overview

Emily Kelley
  • Updated

Skipper Autocode uses AI to find the themes in your open-ended responses, build a codebook, and code each response. It can also code responses with a codebook you wrote yourself, or use your codebook as a starting point and build a new one from it.

In This Article

Enabling Skipper Autocode

Before launch, in the Survey Editor

If your survey has an Open ended, Forms, Conversation AI, or AI Chat Simulator question, the Skipper Autocode (for all open-ended responses) add-on appears at the bottom of the Survey Editor, just above the checkout button. The price is shown next to it. The box is checked by default. Leave it checked to include Autocode with your survey.

The Skipper Autocode add-on checkbox at the bottom of the Survey Editor

When fielding finishes, Skipper automatically autocodes up to seven open-ended items, in this order:

  1. Question groups
  2. Open ended, Forms, Conversation AI, and AI Chat Simulator questions
  3. Heatmap comments
  4. "Other, please specify" fields on choice questions
  5. Open-ended fields inside matrix questions

You can run Autocode yourself on any other open-ended item, as many times as you like.

⚠️ Note: The add-on is offered only when the survey has at least one of the four question types above. If your only open-ended fields are "Other, please specify" options, you won't see it.

After launch, on the Results page

If you didn't add Autocode before launch, you can buy it once the survey is live:

  1. On the Results page, click the Coding tab in the left sidebar.
  2. Under Skipper autocoding, click Unlock Autocoding (the button shows the price). You'll go to the checkout page.
  3. Complete the purchase. Autocode is now unlocked for this survey. If fielding has already finished, Skipper also starts the automatic run described above.

The Unlock Autocoding button in the Coding tab of the Results page

⚠️ Note: Only users who can edit the survey see the Unlock Autocoding button. It isn't shown in shared or client views, on Xpert surveys, or once Autocode has been bought for the survey.

Using Skipper Autocode

To have Skipper build a codebook from scratch, open the Coding tab in the left sidebar of the Results page.

  1. Under Skipper autocoding, open the first dropdown and select a question. The list has two sections:
    • Groups: question groups from your survey logic. Pick one to code all of its questions together.
    • Questions: individual questions and their open-ended fields.
  2. In the second dropdown, select Autocode.
  3. Click Run autocode. The button turns into a progress bar. You can switch to other tabs while it runs.

Skipper reads every response to the question, creates a new codebook, gives it a name, and assigns codes to the responses:

  • The codebook has up to 10 codes (up to 5 when an open-ended question has fewer than 50 responses).
  • Responses that don't fit any code are coded Other.
  • When three or more codes each cover less than 3% of responses, those small codes are merged into Other.

You can review and edit every code afterward.

⚠️ Note: For Conversation AI and AI Chat Simulator questions, you can't select the question itself in the dropdown. Select one of the numbered rows listed under it (for example, Q5A1).

💡 Tip: Autocode is tuned for English. It can read responses in other languages, and it will usually name the codes in English. For multilingual surveys, consider translating the responses first with Verbatim Skipper Translation.

Running Skipper Autocode from the Coding tab

Applying Your Own Codebook

If you already know the codes you want, write the codebook yourself and let Skipper assign the codes.

  1. In the Coding tab, click Add a new codebook below your codebooks, type a name, and click Ok. Then add your codes to it.
  2. Under Skipper autocoding, select the question in the first dropdown.
  3. In the second dropdown, select Apply codebook. This option appears once at least one of your codebooks has codes in it.
  4. In the third dropdown, select your codebook.
  5. Click Apply codebook.

How Skipper applies a codebook:

  • It uses only your codes. It never adds new ones.
  • It uses the codebook's name to decide which responses are relevant, and codes only those. Responses on other topics are left uncoded, so give the codebook a clear, descriptive name.
  • If your codebook has a catch-all code (such as "Other"), Skipper puts relevant responses that match none of your other codes there. If it doesn't have one, those responses stay uncoded.

You can also start a run from the codebook itself: click its gear icon and select Apply codebook to Q#. See Editing Codebooks and Codes.

⚠️ Note: The question you choose under Skipper autocoding only tells Skipper what to code. It doesn't change which question the Verbatims page shows. Use the question dropdown at the top of the Verbatims page for that.

Applying an existing codebook with Skipper Autocode

Guided Autocode

Use Guided autocode to explore one theme in depth, or to have Skipper improve a codebook you've started. Your codebook can be just a name with no codes yet.

  1. Under Skipper autocoding, select the question in the first dropdown.
  2. In the second dropdown, select Guided autocode. This option appears once you have at least one codebook.
  3. In the third dropdown, select the codebook to start from.
  4. Click Run guided autocode.

Skipper treats the codebook's name as the theme and keeps only the responses about that theme. It then reviews your codes against those responses and creates a new codebook. The new codebook can keep, rename, drop, or add codes, up to 10, plus Other.

⚠️ Note: Skipper may change or remove some of your codes. If you need your exact codes applied as written, use Apply codebook instead.

Running Guided Autocode on a codebook

Editing Codebooks and Codes

Click the gear icon to the right of any codebook or code to manage it.

Codebook options:

  • Rename the codebook
  • Clone codebook
  • Copy codebook structure (only when the codebook has codes)
  • Apply codebook to Q# (only when the codebook has codes)
  • Run guided autocode on Q#
  • Delete codebook and codes from all reports (reads Delete codebook when the codebook is empty)

The two Skipper options appear only when Autocode is unlocked and a specific question is selected in the Verbatims page's question dropdown. They don't appear for Conversation AI, AI Chat Simulator, image, or video questions. For Conversation AI and AI Chat Simulator, run Autocode from the Skipper autocoding section instead.

Code options:

  • Remove code from N comments on page
  • Remove code from all N found comments
  • Rename the code
  • Assign to multiple comments (on the Verbatims page only)
  • Delete code itself from all reports

Codebook and code names must be 2–53 characters long. Codebook names can't contain " : ; < >, and code names can't contain " ; < >.

💡 Tip: When you rename a code or codebook, the new name is updated everywhere it's used in your saved reports: filters, Virtual Questions, and Correlation Finders.

Codebook and code gear menus in the Coding tab

Sentiment Analysis

With LLM-powered Sentiment Analysis, Skipper rates the sentiment of each open-ended response.

  1. On the Results page, click the Verbatims icon to see all open-ended responses. The colored band on each response shows its sentiment:
    • Green: Positive
    • Orange: Mixed
    • Red: Negative
    • Teal: Neutral
    • Gray: None
  2. Hover over a response to see its sentiment icon. Click the icon to open all five sentiments, then click one to change the response's sentiment.
  3. Click the Coding tab in the left sidebar to see your codebooks and sentiments.
  4. Expand the Sentiments folder to see each sentiment as a code.
  5. To have Skipper rate the responses again, click the gear icon on the Sentiments folder and select Rerun Sentiment Analysis. If the survey has no sentiment yet, this option reads Run Sentiment Analysis. You can still change any sentiment by hand afterward.

⚠️ Note: LLM-powered Sentiment Analysis must be turned on for your account. If you don't see the Run or Rerun option, contact your account manager.

Learn more in Open Ended Responses: Sentiment Analysis.

Sentiment bands and the Sentiments folder in the Coding tab

Autocode in Virtual Questions

You can turn any codebook into a chart with a Virtual Question, then filter or compare by it.

  1. On the Results page, click the Data Lab tab in the left sidebar.
  2. Click the Virtual Question bar to add one, or drag it into place between questions.
  3. Open the Optional Presets dropdown and scroll to the Codebooks: section. Codebooks are listed under their question, as Q#: codebook name.
  4. Select the codebook and click Generate visualization.

Each code becomes a row of the Virtual Question. Skipper adds a Not coded row at the end for respondents who didn't get any code from that codebook.

💡 Tip: If you rename a code, the Virtual Question updates automatically.

Adding a codebook preset to a Virtual Question

Autocode in Correlation Finder

Codebooks can be used as the banner or the attribute in a Correlation Finder.

  1. On the Results page, click the Data Lab tab and drag the Correlation Finder into place in your results.
  2. Click the pencil icon to rename it in the question header.
  3. Choose the test: SigTest (t/z-test) or Crosstab (chi²).
  4. Under 1. Choose a banner, select the independent variable: the factor that may drive a significant difference. Codebooks are listed in the Codebooks: section, alongside traits, groups, and questions (including Virtual Questions).
  5. Under 2. Choose an attribute, select the dependent variable you want to test for significance.
  6. Click Generate data.

💡 Tip: If you rename a code, the Correlation Finder updates automatically.

Using a codebook as a Correlation Finder banner

Logic for Codes and Codebooks

Use this syntax to reference codes and codebooks in filters and Virtual Questions. Write each code as 'codebook name: code name'. Matching ignores upper and lower case.

To find respondents who… Logic
Have a code on any question tag = 'codebook name: code name'
Have a code on Q1 tag Q1 = 'codebook name: code name'
same as Q1 tag = 'codebook name: code name'
Have a code on Q1 or Q2 tag Q1,Q2 = 'codebook name: code name'
Have a code on Q1 and Q2 tag Q1 = 'codebook name: code name' and tag Q2 = 'codebook name: code name'
Have any of several codes on Q1 tag Q1 in ('codebook name: code A', 'codebook name: code B')
Have any code from a codebook codebook = 'codebook name'
Have any code from a codebook on Q1 codebook Q1 = 'codebook name'
same as Q1 codebook = 'codebook name'
Have any code from a codebook on Q1 or Q2 codebook Q1 = 'codebook name' or codebook Q2 = 'codebook name'

⚠️ Note: With a single question, Q1 can go before or after tag or codebook. A list of questions (Q1,Q2) works only with tag, and only after it. For codebooks, join the questions with or.

Exporting Verbatim Responses

To export one question:

  1. Scroll to an open-ended question on the Results page.
  2. Click the Export icon to open the dropdown.
  3. Select Download all verbatim (CSV) or Download all verbatim with codes (CSV). The second option isn't available for Virtual Questions.

To export verbatims for the whole survey:

  1. Open the Verbatims page of your Results.
  2. Click the Export icon in the left sidebar to open the Export comments pane.
  3. Select Response level data, then choose Excel, CSV, SPSS, or JMP.

💡 Tip: Response-level exports include your codes as columns by default. To leave them out, check Exclude OE Code Columns.

Exporting verbatim responses from the Results page