Adding An Additional Question/Text Column in "Side-by-Side" Table | XM Community
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Hey! We are conducting a study involving multiple rounds, which is already in progress. We mostly utilized the "side-by-side" question format and so are trying our best to keep it consistent. In the side-by-side format, one could add _answer_ columns quite easily, but the only column you could insert _question_ text into is the left-most default column.

Thus leads to the following side-by-side format questions: is it possible to add an additional 1-2 column(s) for _question_ text? And is it possible to control where the column will sit in the question? It will need to accommodate piped text/embedded data, which seems to be the default for question boxes in our current version of Qualtrics (but not the open ended _answer_ boxes!).

We appreciably have 0 computer literacy skills regarding coding, but if there is some sort of Java/CMS customization-type thing, I'll do my best to figure it out!


I cannot attach a screenshot of the actual study, but I quickly drew a rough emulation to help illustrate what were working with. See the attached screenshot. We essentially want additional columns identical to the blue arrow one.

!

Thanks in advance for your time!
Abby
Hi Abby, I'm not sure of a way to create additional question columns and I'll be honest in saying it's hard for me to picture without imagining something that would be confusing to your participants. It could just be that my imagination is limited though!

If your end goal is to group your statements into clusters, you can do that by adding groups.
Hey Abby,
I'm not sure what this would look like without a more detailed diagram depicting what you're after, but we use JavaScript to add piped text into our surveys. For us, we want to display the previous years' data in certain cases so the user can see what their answer to a question was the last year they took the survey. We add this text in blue so it's easily distinguished and eye-catching.

In your use case above, can you give an example of the text you'd like to put in between the statements and the first column?

Hi Abby - I had a similar need to the one you described, and I learned of a workaround! If you add a column to your side-by-side question, and make it a text entry box for the question type, you can actually pipe text directly into the text boxes. For the example photo I share below, I embedded the beginning of semester confidence ratings into my contact list, and then piped the corresponding embedded data into each of the open-response boxes. You can also move this column so it sits where you want it to in the side-by-side question.
This is similar to Jeremy's suggestion, but the embedded data sits in its own column, instead of the question column. The one drawback is that it is possible to edit the response because it is a text box, but as long as you are clear in your instructions why you are including the information in the column (i.e. for reference only), I don't think this will be an issue. I share in case others are also looking for a similar solution.
I would love to see the option to add question text columns as a future feature for the side-by-side question, but for now, this option definitely works.
p.s. Thanks Qualtrics Support for helping me figure this out!
Side-by-side.PNG

Hi @spose - would you be able to share how you embedded the data into the second column? I am looking to do something similar in one of my questionnaires but am unsure where to start. Any links or instructions appreciated. 

For the question, it is a side-by-side, and I made the column where I wanted to display the text a text field - so ordinarily a respondent would use this space to type in a response. To customize the text that is shown, you go to the option, “Default choices” and add the text to the open response field. I preloaded all of the initial survey responses into their own embedded data fields (i.e. prerating1, prerating2, etc.) in the contact list I was using, and typed this as piped text in the side-by-side open response field so that each respondent would see the value they had initially selected.

 

The help pages on embedded data and piped text cover the technical details on implementing those aspects of the question:

 

https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-flow/standard-elements/embedded-data/

https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/editing-questions/piped-text/piped-text-overview/

 

I also recommend testing it out before you go live, as even a small error with the way you type in the piped text will mean the text won’t display correctly. 

@spose - brilliant, thank you. I will have a go with that and see if I can get it to work. 

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