Add An Other Option With A Text Box
In a Multiple Choice or Dropdown question, type an answer label followed by [specify]. Domandata removes the suffix and turns that answer into a text-enabled Other option.
Block Builder: Answer Options
For example:
Other [specify]creates an option labeled “Other” with a text box.Something else [specify]creates the same kind of option with a custom label.
The text box appears to respondents when they select that option. Typing only “Other” creates a normal closed answer option unless you accept a text-field suggestion shown by the editor.
Use The Other Option Shortcut
You can also press Alt+Enter while editing the answer options to append a text-enabled Other option. This shortcut must be enabled under Settings → Advanced → Keyboard shortcuts.
Settings: Keyboard Shortcuts
Use an Other field when the answer list may not be exhaustive and the write-in responses will be useful during analysis. For sensitive or potentially exhaustive categories, consider adding a separate “Prefer not to answer” option rather than treating nonresponse as Other.
Enter And Edit Options Faster
- Paste a list: Copy newline-separated answers from a document or spreadsheet and paste them into one option field. Domandata creates one option per line.
- Press Enter: Insert a new option after the current one. If the cursor is in the middle of an option, the text after the cursor moves into the new option.
- Press Backspace in an empty option: Remove that option and return to the previous one.
- Press Tab on ghost text: Accept the suggested answer. A suggestion marked “+ text field” becomes a text-enabled Other option.
- Press Cmd+N or Ctrl+N: Add a new question while editing an option, when the builder shortcut is enabled.
Block Builder: Edit Answer Options
Pull In Answers From Previous Questions
Multiple Choice, Dropdown, Drag to Order, Constant Sum, MaxDiff, Card Sort, and Grid Matrix questions can reuse answers from earlier questions. Open the question's options panel, turn on Pull in answers from previous questions, then pick the Source Question and Which Answers to bring in. Use Add Another Question to pull from more than one question, each with its own choice of answers. An answer that's already in your own options, or already pulled in by an earlier source, isn't repeated.
What you can pull depends on the source question:
- Multiple Choice or Dropdown: the answers the respondent selected, the ones they were shown or not shown, the ones they didn't select, or all of them.
- Drag to Order: the items the respondent ranked, best first (set Top Ranked Only to take just the top few), the items they left unranked, or all items.
- Constant Sum: the items the respondent gave more than 0 points, the ones they gave none, or all items.
- Card Sort: the cards the respondent placed in a chosen Category (or in any category), the cards they didn't put there, or all cards.
Pulled answers go into the question's answer list. For a Grid Matrix, they become rows (statements). For a Card Sort, use Pull Into to choose whether they become cards or categories.
Each source shows up in the answer list as one row, labeled with the question it comes from. Drag that row above or below your own options to choose where the pulled-in answers appear. In Constant Sum, MaxDiff, and Card Sort (for both cards and categories), use the row's up and down arrows instead. In a Grid Matrix, the row shows up among your statements in both the list and table views. When the question shuffles or flips its options, the row also has an Anchor button that keeps the pulled-in answers together in that spot. For example, you can keep a "None of these" option below them.
While pulling is on, you can delete every option you wrote so the question shows only the pulled-in answers. If a respondent ends up with no answers to show (for example, they skipped the source question or selected nothing), the question is skipped for them instead of appearing empty.
Because each respondent can see a different list, exports give a question that pulls answers in one column for every answer anyone could have pulled. Each respondent's answers go under the matching column, so columns line up across respondents.
For Drag to Order with partial ranking, you can set the minimum and maximum ranked up to the total number of items the sources could supply. Each respondent is capped at the number of items they actually see, so no one is asked to rank more items than they were shown.
After editing a live survey, review recodes, branching conditions, quotas, and translations that depend on the changed answers. Preview the survey before publishing the new version.
Review Features That Use The Options
Changing an answer label can affect other parts of a survey that refer to that answer. After adding, renaming, reordering, or removing options, check:
- Recodes: Confirm each answer still has the intended exported value.
- Flow and follow-ups: Review conditions that show a follow-up, route to another block, or end the survey based on a selected answer.
- Quotas and experimental assignment: Confirm category and allocation rules still target the intended option.
- Translations: Add or revise the translated label for every survey language.
- Published surveys: Preview and publish again when the participant-facing version should receive the changes.
Flow: Review Option-Based Conditions
Avoid changing answer definitions after data collection begins unless your research protocol accounts for the change. Existing responses may use earlier labels or codes, so document mid-field changes in the codebook and analysis notes.