How to use the Seed function when randomizing response options?

I have looked through the community posts and the Kobotoolbox help info, and I can’t find anything which explains why you would use the “Seed” function when randomizing answer choices. Can someone please clarify:

  1. What does the Seed function actually do?
  2. What values can be put in there / how do we correctly reference a valid ‘Seed’? Every time I’ve put a number or a reference to a response option, it gives an error, so it’s not clear how this works.

Thanks!

Thanks for the quick reply and for sharing the links. The community forum pages don’t get at why one would use the seed function - just how to resolve the errors that come up with it. The ‘getodk’ page you sent tries to explain what the seed function is, but it is very technical. I still don’t know what number I would put there and why it’s useful:
“The optional seed argument performs a (reproducible) shuffle using the same algorithm with a seeded Park Miller Pseudo Number Generator.” ??

I can’t be the only one not understanding what this field is for?

Welcome back to the community, @jperry! Have you gone through this page. It should help you solve your query.