Text Response Survey Questions

Text Response questions collect open text, numeric entries, and brief free responses in academic survey software. Use them when a closed list would lose detail, when participants need to explain a choice, or when the study requires a typed number such as age, income, estimate, probability, or count.

Text Response is also useful for qualitative coding, manipulation explanations, recall tasks, comprehension checks, and open-ended outcome measures.

• Open-ended text captures language that researchers can code later.
• Length limits keep responses comparable across participants.
• Numeric validation helps collect cleaner integer or decimal values.
• Format validation (email, phone number, zip code, or date) rejects malformed entries before the respondent can advance. Date fields accept common typed formats, then convert a valid date to the format you selected; an optional calendar uses the survey theme.
• Contains validation can check for required words or exclude disallowed text.
• Python validation supports advanced custom checks when a protocol needs them.
• A configurable character counter can appear once the answer nears a set percentage of the limit, or stay hidden until a respondent's first failed attempt to advance.
• Three resizing modes use one three-point control: Rigid keeps the authored height, Participant Resize shows a two-line grip in the bottom-right corner that participants can drag, and Grow With Content increases the height automatically as they type. Participant Resize is the default for fields taller than one line; Rigid is the default for one-line fields.
• Field size can be set to one line for brief answers or made taller for longer responses, and validation never overrides the size you chose. One-line fields keep full text padding without an unnecessary scrollbar; if entered text genuinely needs scrolling, the field uses Domandata's themed scrollbar instead of the browser default.
• Typing-timing tracking (opt-in) records keystroke count, typing duration, and longest pause, surfacing a "No Typing Detected" response-quality flag when a substantial answer arrived with zero recorded keystrokes — a low-confidence signal, since dictation and other assistive input produce the same shape.

1. Step 1: Open Block Builder. Open the survey and select the block where the typed response belongs.

   Step 1: Open Block Builder

2. Step 2: Add a Text Response question. Choose Text Response from the question type selector.

   Step 2: Choose Text Response question type

3. Step 3: Write the prompt. State the desired response format, such as a sentence, number, or short explanation.

   Step 3: Write the prompt

4. Step 4: Add a helpful placeholder. Use placeholder text only when it clarifies the expected answer.

   Step 4: Add placeholder

5. Step 5: Add length rules. Set minimum or maximum length when response length matters for data quality or coding.

   Step 5: Add length rules

6. Step 6: Add validation. Choose integer, number, email, phone number, zip code, date (with a configurable YYYY-MM-DD, MM/DD/YYYY, or DD/MM/YYYY format), text contains, or Python validation when the response must follow a rule. A date field shows the selected format as its default example, accepts other recognizable date formats and corrects them when the respondent leaves the field, and can offer a themed calendar picker.

   Step 6: Add validation

7. Step 7: Choose how the field grows. In the question options, cycle Response field resizing between Rigid, Participant Resize, and Grow With Content. Multi-line fields start in Participant Resize; one-line fields start in Rigid.

   Step 7: Text Response options

8. Step 8: Preview invalid and valid answers. Use Preview to make sure the validation message helps respondents recover and the resize behavior feels right on desktop and mobile.

   Step 8: Preview validation

Text Response exports the respondent text or validated numeric entry. Length limits are measured in what a respondent actually sees as one character (so a single emoji or an accented/composed character counts as one, not several) rather than raw code units. If you plan to use the answer for by-variable assignment, range rules, or quota-driven rerouting, keep validation tight enough that the downstream flow can classify respondents reliably.

When exporting responses, each Text Response column can be kept, set to Redact PII (scrubs email-, phone number-, and SSN-shaped text before it leaves the app), masked, or dropped. A Text Response that asks for a name, email, or phone number, or uses email or phone validation, is flagged as an identifier, so exports meant for other people drop it or replace it with a coded ID. Set the question's Personal Info option to make that your decision rather than detection's; Instrument Review points out identifying-looking questions that aren't marked — see Export Research Survey Responses.

• Grid Matrix Survey Questions for repeated structured measures
• Text Chat Survey Questions for conversational qualitative prompts
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• Create Your First Academic Research Survey