Carrying forward multiple pieces of information across in a longitudinal study | XM Community
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I am attempting to create a longitudinal study that will ask participants similar questions at each time point (7 total time points). I would prefer to link participants by having them enter their email in the first study and have this create a contact list from which subsequent studies will pull entered information from. So in order for them to get into the next study (time 2) they would need to enter their email at an authorization screen and then if it matched then they would be able to access the study and would have their prior information carried forward into the current one.



More specifically, in the study I am asking participants to list their number of friends (max of 10) and have set up the survey to display logic questions based on this number. For each friend I want them to list the name of their friend and answer other questions about their friend (e.g. how close they are to this friend). I am having difficulty carrying forward the names of the friend(s) they listed as well as the information from the questions that they answered about the friend to subsequent surveys and questions (e.g. Last month you rated [carry forward a listed name of a person they listed as a friend in a previous question]on closeness as a 5 out of 10. How close are you to them now?). I have read the help screens about longitudinal data, and survey 2 will only allow me to enter it if I am using an established email from survey 1, but it is not carrying the information that I want to the second study even though I have attempted to pipe this information forward.



This is where I am currently stuck, but for the entire project I also want to have each rating be carried over to the next time point (i.e. carry forward info from time point 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3 and so on). While the Qualtrics support system has been helpful in helping me with some aspects of this, I am feeling somewhat disheartened as I think I may just be confusing myself in my own trial and error trouble shooting attempts. Any help would be appreciated.

-RuminatinginReno
I do this using a Contact List Trigger and Embedded Data. I have a survey where we ask participants to write in some goals, and then in a survey a few months later, we give them those same goals back and ask them to measure their progress.



In the first survey, I add all the goal responses as embedded data in the Survey Flow, so like:



* Goal1 = ${Piped Value from Goal 1 Question}

* Goal2 = ${Piped Value from Goal 2 Question}

....and so on.

(I find it easiest to call the embedded data what you will call it in the mailing list)



I add a Contact List Trigger that updates responses in the same mailing list (make sure "Update Existing List Members" is checked).



Then under "add additional fields" I have:

* Goal1 = [Embedded Data] Goal1

* Goal2 = [Embedded Data] Goal2

...and so on.

(Note the first Goal1 is the what the field is/will be called in your mailing list, the second is the name of the embedded data field you set up in the first step. If they are the same, you can avoid caring about which is which)





Then in the second survey, use an Authenticator linked to the same contact list. In the Survey Flow for this, choose to "Set Embedded Data" and write in the names of each data you want to bring in, while picking option to set from the contact list. In my case it is:



* Goal1 {Value will be set from Panel or URL} (and so on)



Then in whatever question you want to ask them about, pipe in this embedded data field. In my case, it looks like



* ${e://Field/Goal1}



Whatever got saved there in the first survey should show up for the participant.



(Note: If they have the option to not fill in any of the values you want to pipe forward, then make sure you include display logic to accommodate this fact otherwise you'll be showing them blank questions)
My guess is you may be missing the step where @ashdavis said



In the Survey Flow for this, choose to "Set Embedded Data" and write in the names of each data you want to bring in, while picking option to set from the contact list.



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

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