Is it possible to loop and merge based on a free text response? | XM Community
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I'm drafting a survey to send to managers at a company that will ask each manger to fill in data about only the employees who directly report to them.



I'm currently using a matrix question (with each row representing a direct report) that loops and merges based on who the manager is. I used the guidance supplied in this forum: https://www.qualtrics.com/community/discussion/comment/12807#Comment_12807



The loop and merge is currently based on the answer selected in the manager drop-down question (e.g., question = "Which manager are you?"; answer choices = "Manager A", "Manager B", etc.). However, I don't want to allow Manager B to intentionally or accidentally select "Manager A" and then be able to see Manager A's direct reports. Ideally, each manager would start by only seeing their direct reports (if I could somehow connect the loop and merge to the unique survey URL attached to each respondent). If that's not possible, another idea is to email each manager with a hard to guess passcode (e.g., "X2Q73CH"), which they'll type in and the loop and merge will be based on their free text response. However, I'm only seeing loop & merge options for numbers (1 through 😵 and drop-down lists. Is there a way to base a loop and merge on a free text response (assuming I'd enter each of the unique passcodes into Field 1 in the loop & merge table)?



For context, I'll be reaching out to ~200 managers - each will have a handful of direct reports (none with >10 reports) to answer Qs about.



Thank you in advance!
We van loop and merge based on numeric text entry like your first question is "How many people directly reports to?" with range 1 to 10. Using this answer you can loop as many time the number entered.
Thanks for the response! I forgot to mention that I also want to pre-populate data on e.g., the hire date of each employee based on our current records. So the flow would be like:



1) Question: "Which manager are you?" Answer: "Manager A" _[in our records we know that Manager A supervises Jane Doe]_

2) Question: "Our records indicate that your direct report, Jane Doe, was hired on 12/1/2017. Please indicate below if their hire date was different."



So I still need to connect the loop & merge to the name of the Manager taking the survey because I need to present them with data on their specific direct reports (which they will correct if needed). If I just asked them how many people report to them, and they answer e.g., 3 people, I could ask them to fill in data for 3 rows / people, but I wouldn't be able to populate the hire date for those 3 people without knowing who those people are.



Any thoughts given this other requirement?

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