How to count frequency of paths taken?

Question

Hello! I want to build a survey where respondents can make multiple choices which lead to different branches and result in different overall paths. I was wondering if there was an automatic way to count the frequency of each possible path that was taken by the respondents. So, I'm trying to find out the ratio of each overall path which was taken, not just the ratio of each choice. I hope my explanation is understandable. I appreciate any help!

Markus · Accepted Answer

Update in case someone is looking to also analyze the frequency of different paths. I ended up not using scores as just adding up point values would not give me a description of which option was selected for each choice. So, instead I used embedded data to set a variable for each choice (e.g., for the first choice it would be: choice1 = 1A when option A was chosen and choice1 = 1B when option B was chosen). Then I created a new field (which I called "path") in the data section by concatenating all the choice variables. This way I would get a string of characters (e.g., path = 1A | 2B | 3B | 4A...) which uniquely describes the path taken by each respondent. Lastly, I can then use this path variable to determine the frequency of each possible path taken.

ClairJ · Answer

Hi Markus a couple ideas come to mind. You could use scoring to create a score for each possible path, based on the values of the questions they would see. For example, you could assign a point value of 1 to all the questions seen in Path 1, so that anyone who followed Path 1 should have a final Path 1 score of 8 (for example). Similarly, you could create embedded data fields that sum up questions in any given path.Scoring: https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-tools/scoring/Math Operations: https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/editing-questions/piped-text/math-operations/I'm not sure if you want to use this info in the Qualtrics platform, but I would just be inclined to do this in Excel.

Sign up

Login to the Community

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded