If you are looking for participants to allocate a number (this could be points, a monetary value, level of importance etc.) to several variables within one question, a constant sum question allows them to distribute a set total across the variables.
To add a constant sum question, you can follow these steps:
- Access the Back Room > Research Tools > SurveyMR 2.0
- Select your survey or click ‘Add Survey 2.0’ in the top right corner
- In the surveys' build tab, add a new question by first clicking and dragging the 'form' box from the left of the page onto the canvas or edit an existing form by clicking on the edit icon in the top right corner of the form
- Open the drop-down menu, and choose “Constant Sum Question”.
- Add your question text within the question box provided.
- Add your variables in the sub-questions box provided. If more boxes are needed, click ‘Add sub-question’
- Enter the highest value you want participants to assign to any one sub-question in the ‘Max answer’ box.
- Use the drop-down menu to set the rule for your sum total. You can either set a minimum total (click ‘greater than’), maximum total (click ‘less than’), or a total the sum must equal (click ‘equal to’) then enter the number.
- If your number requires a symbol (e.g. £ or %) enter this in the “Symbol” box and select whether this appears before or after the number.
- As with other questions in SurveyMR 2.0, you can also select the button for ‘Randomise the sub-questions’ and/or ‘Require Answers’ if you would like this question to be compulsory before proceeding further in the survey.
- Click ‘Submit’.