Randomization

Randomization shuffles your answer codes so each respondent sees them in a different order. This helps prevent order bias—the tendency for people to favor the first or last options they see.

By default, answers appear in the order you enter them in the Quick Update Box. If you don’t randomize, respondents might always see them in alphabetical order (or whatever order you happened to type them). You can control presentation order using the Sort Order answer property. To randomize answers, just give them all the same Sort Order value—Survey Shaper handles the rest.

Randomize answers

To randomize all answers in a question:

Click the question in the flowchart
In the Properties Pane, check the Randomize property
In Survey Editor (Legacy), confirm randomization by clicking Yes. Survey Editor (Beta) applies it straight away.

This groups all answers together and sets their Sort Order to 1. In Survey Editor (Beta), it also turns off the Rotate property, and the Answers tab shows “Randomised: answers with the same Sort Order shuffle.” Want to keep certain answers (like “Other” or “Don’t Know”) at the bottom? You can exclude them by manually editing the Sort Order for those specific answers in the Answers Tab.

Exclude answer from randomized set

Sometimes you want most answers randomized but need certain options—like “Other,” “None,” “Refused,” or “Don’t Know”—to always appear at the bottom. Nobody wants “Don’t Know” randomly popping up in the middle of their answer list.

To exclude an answer after checking the Randomize property:

Click the Answers Tab in the Properties Pane
Select the answer you want to exclude (e.g., “Don’t Know”) and change its Sort Order to a number higher than 1—pro tip: use the answer Code number so Code and Sort Order match
Repeat for any other answers you want to exclude
Save and preview

Randomization of new answers

Added new answer codes after already checking the Randomize box? They won’t automatically join the randomized set—you’ll need to manually set their Sort Order to 1.

Quicker option: Just uncheck the Randomize property and check it again. This resets everything and includes all answers in the randomized set.

Randomize block of answers

Need to randomize answers in separate groups? Give the first block Sort Order 1, the second block Sort Order 2, and so on.

The first block will display in randomized order, followed by the second block in its own randomized order. Think of it as creating separate “shuffled decks” that stay in sequence relative to each other.

Randomize within a grid

Grids can be randomized too—both rows and columns.

Randomize rows

Select the question in the flowchart
In the Properties Pane, check the Randomize Rows box. In Survey Editor (Legacy), click OK when asked to confirm. This sets Sort Order to 1 for every row
If certain rows should stay put, click the Rows Tab in the Properties Pane and manually edit their Sort Order
Save and preview

Randomize columns

Select the question in the flowchart
In the Properties Pane, check the Randomize Column box. In Survey Editor (Legacy), click OK when asked to confirm. This sets Sort Order to 1 for every column
If certain columns should stay put, click the Columns Tab in the Properties Pane and manually edit their Sort Order
Save and preview

Remove randomization

Changed your mind about randomization? Just uncheck the Randomize, Randomize Rows, or Randomize Column property. In Survey Editor (Legacy), click OK when prompted, and Sort Order values will reset to their defaults. In Survey Editor (Beta), there’s no prompt, and the answers (or rows) are numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on, in the order they’re listed.

Rotate answers

Rotate is an alternative to randomizing. The answers stay in the same sequence, but each respondent starts at a different point in the list. For example, one respondent sees B, C, D, A and the next sees C, D, A, B.

To rotate answers:

Click the question in the flowchart
In the Properties Pane, check the Rotate property
Select the first answer to rotate in Start Rotation, and the last in End Rotation. Answers outside this range keep their place.
Save and preview

Grids have matching Rotate Row and Rotate Column properties, with Start Rotation Row / End Rotation Row and Start Rotation Column / End Rotation Column.

In Survey Editor (Beta), checking Randomize turns Rotate off, so you can’t accidentally use both on the same list.