Enforce a different response pattern for each row in matrix? | XM Community
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What's a good general, validation-approach to enforce a different response pattern for each row in a matrix?
A have a multiple-choice matrix question that includes four columns and six statements (six rows). Respondents are asked to select exactly two columns in each row while not repeating their selection pattern across the rows. For example, if for Row 1 they choose Columns 1 and 2, they should not choose those same two columns on any other row. If they do, they should receive a validation error message. I've tried to implement this with custom validation. But so far, the rules appear to be too complex for custom validation to handle. Any ideas about what direction I should go in, to try to solve this problem?

https://community.qualtrics.com/XMcommunity/discussion/23284/enforce-a-different-response-pattern-for-each-row-in-matrixAs per your use-case of choosing 2 columns in a 4*6 matrix, there will only be these combinations of choices(users can move it up n down), correct me if I am wrong.
image.pngWhich would mean 3 per column.
You can include a custom validation of scale point count is less than or equal to 3 and greater than 0 for each of the 4 scale points and show the error accordingly.
Hope it helps!

Thanks. That's a good start. But notice that if, in the 4th row, we move the checkmark from Column 1 to Column 2, and in the 5th row we move the checkmark from Column 2 to Column 1, the counts are still correct but there are duplicates cross the rows.
I ended up having to write a LOT of validation code, checking to see if each response pair equals what was selected Row 1, or Row 2, or Row 3, etc. (and I had to read-up on how Qualtrics validation handles combinations of "and"s and "or"s).

Hi R100 ,
Please try this below logic.
image.pngDon't forget to enable force response option.
Hope it helps.
I want to thank HULK0596 for his assistance.

Hi. Thanks, but counting isn't sufficient. In the image, below, the counts are fine, but Row 4 still duplicates Row 2, and Row 6 duplicates Row 5.
CountingIsNotEnough.png

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