Carry Forward Responses

[najva]

The Carry Forward feature allows you to use a participant’s responses from one question as the answer options of a later single- or multiple-answer question. This allows you to build dynamic questionnaires without asking participants to repeat information they’ve already provided.

Carry Forward involves two roles:

1. Sender Questions: The question whose responses are forwarded as answer options to another question. A sender can be:

   • A single- or multiple-answer question, only if they are not in a looped section.
   • A text, number, mass, length, VAS, calendar, image, or barcode question, only if they are in a looped section.

2. Receiver Questions: The question that displays the forwarded responses as its own answer options. A receiver must be a single- or multiple-answer question.
   The following question settings cannot be used on a receiver question. If any of them is set, the survey will report an error when you try to publish it.

   • Suggested Answers
   • Reverse Order
   • Maximum Choices
   • Random Answer Order
   • Answer Randomization
   • Exclusive Answer

[!note]
A question can hold only one of these roles at a time. A sender question cannot itself be a receiver question.

The following sections explain how to configure each type.

Carry Forward Choices from Choice-Based Questions

To carry forward responses from a single- or multiple-answer question:

1. Define two single- or multiple-answer questions as sender and receiver. They can be in the same survey or in different surveys. In this example, the sender is Q1 and the receiver is Q2.
   
   
2. Open Q2 in Edit mode and enable Carry Forward.
3. Select:
   • The survey containing Q1.
   • Q1 as the sender question.
   • Whether to forward the Selected Answer Options or the Unselected Answer Options.
     
     
     
     
     
4. Publish the survey.
5. When a participant reaches the receiver question, it displays the forwarded answer options based on the participant’s most recent response to the sender question and your selected forwarding option.

The forwarded answer options retain the same properties (such as ID and content) as the sender question’s answer options.

Carry Forward Responses from Looped Questions

To carry forward responses from a looped question:

1. Create a looped section containing the sender question (text, number, mass, length, VAS, calendar, image, or barcode) and its loop source question.
   The section’s loop source question sits outside the looped section and controls how many times the loop repeats.
   Then create your receiver question in a separate section. These questions can be in the same survey or different surveys.
   In this example:
   • Q1 is the sender.
   • Q2 is the loop source.
   • Q3 is the receiver.
     
     
2. Open Q3 in Edit mode and enable Carry Forward
3. Select:
   • the survey containing the loop.
   • Q1 as the sender question.
     
     
     
     
     
4. Publish the survey.
5. When a participant reaches the receiver question, it displays answer options based on the participant’s most recent responses to the sender question across all loop iterations.

[!note]
The receiver question must sit in a different section from the sender question. The sender and receiver questions cannot be in the same looped section.

[!note]
A forwarded answer option cannot control the availability of another question or determine which section comes next.

How Responses Are Selected

The following applies to both Carry Forward methods:

• By default, Carry Forward uses responses from the participant’s most recent completed, in-progress, or expired session (including the current session).
• If the sender question (or the entire loop containing it) appears after the receiver question in the same survey, only completed or expired sessions are considered.
• For public surveys, only the current session is considered.
• If no answer options are generated, the receiver question is not shown to the participant.

Add Custom Answer Options

You can also add your own answer options to a receiver question alongside the forwarded answer options.

After linking a sender question, add custom answer options directly to the receiver question. The available option type depends on the sender:

1. Text answer options for text-based sender questions.
2. Image answer options for image-based sender questions.

Custom answer option IDs start at 100.

You can also configure how custom answer options are displayed:

• Always Show Custom Options: Displays custom answer options even when the sender question is unanswered or generates no forwarded answer options.
• Forwarded Options Last: Displays custom answer options above or below the forwarded answer options.

When participants reach the receiver question, forwarded and custom answer options are displayed together according to these settings.
If neither forwarded nor custom answer options are available, the receiver question is not shown.

[!note]
Unlike forwarded answer options, custom answer options can still control the availability of another question and determine which section comes next.