Select many question WITHOUT displaying the question

Good morning to the community. I have an issue and I need your help. In a rating-type question where the respondent has to put a preference cross in order (which candidate would he put the first cross, which second, which third, etc.), I would then like to note the crosses the respondent gave to a select many question WITHOUT displaying the question. That is, to pull the answers from the rating and check them in select many. I am attaching what I prepared. There is a way; I’m sure there is… thanks

aGT28yvXAxDXyKmdcNGDPh.xlsx (7.9 KB)

If I understood you correctly, it seems like you have a ranking question (which has the option to pick 4 options). After picking the option, you wish to automatically fill up the multiple select questions below the ranking question without the intervention of an enumerator. Is this what you are trying to do?

Correctly!
it can be one choice, or two or three, up to four

@interviewaurvey, could the community have the shared XLSForm in English version? It would be easy for the community to refer to it later on.

aGT28yvXAxDXyKmdcNGDPh (1).xlsx (8.0 KB)

English version

Hello Kal_Lam,

Is there any chance for a suggestion to my problem? it would be great to hear from you
Thank you in advance

Hello @interviewaurvey,
You could define it as read_only and use a calculation to set the values with a string (choice names, separated by space).
Update: A question type can be hidden by not setting a label or hint. So, the calculated select_multiple in the attachments can be changed to hidden by removing the label. See examples with triggers here XLSForm Docs.

Thank you for your reply! Could you apply and intergrate the solution you suggest into the attached excel ?

Why not use the Kobo rank type, instead of separate questions in your form? See XLSForm Docs

The output is unfortunately not convinient for the spss analysis. I think, your suggestion to use calculation to set the values might be a solution.

Hello @interviewaurvey
Sorry, could you explain this more, please?

@interviewaurvey
Really the best, design option would be to first ask for preferred candidates (up to 4) with a multiple_select and then continue with a filtered rank type question.
Rank01_RankType.xlsx (12.9 KB)

Update: A question type can be hidden by not setting a label or hint. So, the calculated select_multiple in the attachments can be changed to hidden by removing the label

Here are two other design options for your ranking issue.
Rank02_ChoiceFilter.xlsx (12.0 KB)
Rank03_PositionNo.xlsx (12.9 KB)
(Both tested with the Online validator)

You can find further ideas and examples with the search function of the forum, see
Search results for 'rank select' - KoboToolbox Community Forum.
For current problems with rank type, see e.g. First rank and then select from ranking - #4 by wroos.

There are further requirements to define:

  • Must the sequence be sequential and start with 1? Probably a preference 1, 3, 4 or 2, 3, 4 are invalid.
  • Probably the first answer should be mandatory, as you offer an option “Undefined”.
  • At which position is “Other” allowed? Probably only after at the end of selected preferences.
  • Is only one “Other” allowed?
  • How do you need the export structure for further analysis?

You can find related checks in the attached files.

You should also test, what will happen if a position is selected twice and the user moves back and changes or deselects the first duplicate? Kobo might not always update everything, incl. the highlighted error. So, the user would need to clean up manually (e.g. by deselecting and reselecting or by “save”).

And I would like to recommend to test the export (addressing later analysis) before finally deciding on your design option.

Dear @wroos
there are no words to express my gratitude to you for spending so much time in sovling my problem. All three design options you sent me solve my probem. Upon internal check procedures, the best option is Rank02. Also, in the file downloaded after exporting, the variables are exactly as I want them in spss.
Thank you very much once again. You are welcome anytime in Greece!!!
Kind regards
Dimitris

Dear @interviewaurvey,
good to hear and thanks for the invitation.

And meanwhile, I even found out:
A question type can be hidden by not setting a label or hint. So, the calculated select_multiple in the attachments can be changed to hidden by removing the label. See examples with triggers here XLSForm Docs.

I updated this info in two previous postings too, and added a note in the Rank02_… file…
Similar, a begin_group without label will hide the title, i.e. group header (but not the included questions)… So, you might also remove the label/title there.

Side-note: Better use the 2-letter code for the language English (en). See Help Center Adding Another Language to your XLSForm — KoboToolbox documentation international standard here Language Name and Code - #3 by wroos

@wroos
I remove the label and it works as you describe. It got even better.
Thank you for the tip as well!