Glossary
A reference guide to the terminology used throughout Survey Shaper.
Action Command
Section titled “Action Command”An automated instruction that enters responses based on previous answers, system variables, or specified conditions. Action commands work behind the scenes on hidden questions to capture data without asking respondents directly. Types include COMBINE, CONCATENATE, DATEDIFF, DATEPART, GET, MATHS, QUERY, QUERYAPI, RANDOM, RECODE, and SET.
Add to Survey Toolbar
Section titled “Add to Survey Toolbar”In Survey Editor (Beta), the row of cards below the header, one for each question type plus Question Set and Import. Drag a card into the flowchart to add a question, or click it to add the question at the end. It replaces the Toolbox in Survey Editor (Legacy).
Answer Code
Section titled “Answer Code”A unique numeric identifier assigned to each answer option in a question. Answer codes are used in filters, action commands, and data exports to reference specific responses.
Answer Filter
Section titled “Answer Filter”A filter applied to individual answer options within a question, controlling which respondents see specific choices based on their previous responses.
Answer Property
Section titled “Answer Property”A setting that controls the behavior or appearance of an individual answer option. Examples include Sort Order, Code Filter, and display settings.
Archive
Section titled “Archive”The process of removing a completed survey from the active content table while preserving it for future reference. Archived surveys can be viewed and duplicated but are hidden from the main Survey Shaper view.
Conditional Text
Section titled “Conditional Text”Also known as: Piping, Text piping, Dynamic text
Dynamic text that changes based on a respondent’s previous answers. Implemented using the @VariableName syntax to insert values from other questions or system variables into question text.
Content Table
Section titled “Content Table”The main interface in Survey Shaper that displays all Survey Shaper content in a list format, showing status, ownership, and providing access to survey actions via the more menu.
Create New Version
Section titled “Create New Version”In Survey Editor (Beta), the header button that copies a published version into a new version you can edit. See also Save As.
Data Store
Section titled “Data Store”The database where survey responses are stored. Each survey has an associated data store that can be accessed by HumanListening applications like Data Wrangler, Data Explorer, and Dashboard Publisher for analysis. See Survey data stores.
Designer Pane
Section titled “Designer Pane”The main workspace area in Survey Editor (Legacy) where you build and edit your survey flowchart by adding and arranging question objects. In Survey Editor (Beta), this is the Flowchart pane.
Display Options
Section titled “Display Options”In Survey Editor (Beta), the dialog that controls what the flowchart shows, such as filters, page groups and skip lines. Opened from the icon at the top of the Flowchart pane. In Survey Editor (Legacy), these settings are under Preferences.
eDM (Electronic Direct Mail)
Section titled “eDM (Electronic Direct Mail)”An email template used to send survey invitations and reminders to respondents. eDM templates are created in the Build eDM section of Sample Management.
Editing Session
Section titled “Editing Session”In Survey Editor (Beta), only one person can edit a survey at a time. Opening a survey starts your editing session; anyone else who opens it sees it read-only until you finish. See One editor at a time.
A conversational AI question type that can be embedded within a survey to conduct natural language interviews with respondents.
Filter
Section titled “Filter”Also known as: Display logic, Skip logic, Branching logic
A condition that controls which respondents see a question or answer based on their previous responses. Filters use Boolean logic with the @VariableName syntax to reference other questions.
Filter Builder
Section titled “Filter Builder”A visual tool for creating filter conditions without manually typing syntax. In Survey Editor (Legacy), it opens from the ellipsis icon next to the Define Filter property. In Survey Editor (Beta), click Open rule builder next to the filter.
Finish Action
Section titled “Finish Action”A question property that determines how the survey ends when a respondent reaches that point. Options include Finished Successfully, Finished Quota Full, Finished Exclusion, and Finished Expired.
Finish Marker
Section titled “Finish Marker”A tag applied to survey responses indicating how the respondent completed (or exited) the survey. Used for filtering data exports and analysis.
Flowchart
Section titled “Flowchart”The visual representation of your survey structure in the Designer Pane (Survey Editor (Legacy)) or the Flowchart pane (Survey Editor (Beta)), showing the sequence of questions and the logical flow between them including skips and loops.
Also known as: Matrix, Matrix table
A question type that presents multiple items in a matrix format, allowing respondents to rate or evaluate several items using the same scale. Can be configured as single response or multi response per row.
GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)
Section titled “GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)”A unique alphanumeric code assigned to each survey and other content items in HumanListening. The GUID is used internally to identify content across the platform and is displayed in the Content GUID column in the content table when the Show Content ID toggle is enabled.
Hide Property
Section titled “Hide Property”A question setting that makes a question invisible to respondents while still capturing data. Commonly used with action commands for behind-the-scenes data processing.
Import
Section titled “Import”A question type that allows you to import questions from another survey into your current survey, maintaining variable names and properties.
Instruction
Section titled “Instruction”Also known as: Text/Graphic element, Descriptive text, Static content
A question type used to display text, images, or multimedia without requiring a response from the respondent. Often used for welcome screens, section headers, or survey close messages.
Also known as: Loop and merge, Repeated questions, Piped loop
A feature that repeats a sequence of questions multiple times based on answers to a previous question. Used when you need to ask the same questions about multiple items (e.g., products, services, brands).
Loop Driver
Section titled “Loop Driver”The Multi Response question that controls a loop. The number of answers selected in the loop driver determines how many times the looped questions repeat.
Loop Iteration
Section titled “Loop Iteration”A single pass through the questions in a loop. If a respondent selects 3 items in the loop driver, there will be 3 loop iterations.
Loop Limit
Section titled “Loop Limit”A setting that restricts the maximum number of loop iterations, preventing respondent fatigue when the loop driver has many possible selections.
Module
Section titled “Module”A question type that defines a reusable “mini survey” that can be embedded in multiple surveys. Useful for standardized question blocks used across projects.
Multi Response
Section titled “Multi Response”Also known as: Select all that apply, Multiple answer, Checkbox question
A question type that allows respondents to select two or more answer options. Each answer is stored as a separate binary variable in the data.
Object
Section titled “Object”A building block in the Toolbox (or the Add to survey toolbar in Survey Editor (Beta)) representing a question type or structural element. Objects are dragged onto the flowchart to build surveys.
Page Group
Section titled “Page Group”A collection of questions that appear on the same page in the survey. Questions in the same page group are displayed together rather than on separate screens.
Piping
Section titled “Piping”The technique of dynamically inserting content from previous questions into later parts of the survey. This includes:
- Text piping — inserting a respondent’s previous answer into question text (e.g., “What do you like most about @Q1?”) - See also Conditional Text
- Answer piping — displaying only the answers selected (or not selected) from a previous question as answer options in a subsequent question
Preview
Section titled “Preview”A testing mode that allows you to view and navigate through your survey without saving any data. Used to check logic, appearance, and question flow before publishing.
Progress Button
Section titled “Progress Button”Navigation buttons (Next, Back, Finish) that respondents use to move through the survey. Button visibility and behavior can be controlled through question properties.
Properties Pane
Section titled “Properties Pane”The panel in Survey Shaper that displays and allows editing of settings for the currently selected question or survey element. In Survey Editor (Beta), it has Question, Answers (or Columns), Rows and JSON tabs.
Publish
Section titled “Publish”The process of making a survey version live and accessible to respondents. Only published surveys can collect real data.
Published Live Link
Section titled “Published Live Link”The URL that respondents use to access and complete a published survey. Responses submitted via this link are counted in statistics and quotas.
Published Test Link
Section titled “Published Test Link”A URL for testing a published survey that records responses but tags them as test data, excluding them from statistics and quotas.
Question Filter
Section titled “Question Filter”A filter applied to an entire question, controlling which respondents see the question based on their previous responses.
Question Format
Section titled “Question Format”A setting that determines how a question appears on screen. For example, Single Response questions can be displayed as radio buttons, dropdown lists, or scales.
Question Property
Section titled “Question Property”A setting that controls the behavior, appearance, or data capture of a question. Accessed via the Properties Pane when a question is selected.
Question Set
Section titled “Question Set”A reusable collection of frequently used questions that can be inserted into surveys. Unlike Modules, Question Sets are fully editable after insertion.
Question Type
Section titled “Question Type”The fundamental classification of a question that determines how it’s displayed and how data is captured. Types include Single Response, Multi Response, Verbatim, Grid, Rank, and others.
Quick Menu
Section titled “Quick Menu”The menu of actions for a question in the flowchart, such as creating loops, adding filters, and setting up action commands. In Survey Editor (Legacy), right-click the question to open it. In Survey Editor (Beta), click the more icon (⋮) on the question’s card.
Quick Update Box
Section titled “Quick Update Box”A dialog that appears when you double-click a question in the flowchart, allowing rapid editing of basic question properties including variable name, label, question text, and answers. In Survey Editor (Beta), it’s called Quick Update and also opens automatically when you add a question.
Also known as: Response quota, Sample quota
A target count for respondents meeting specific criteria. Quotas help ensure balanced sampling by limiting how many respondents from each demographic group can complete the survey.
Quota Exceed Target
Section titled “Quota Exceed Target”The question (typically an Instruction with a Finish Action) that respondents are sent to when their quota group is full.
Randomization
Section titled “Randomization”Also known as: Shuffling, Random rotation
The shuffling of answer options so each respondent sees them in a different order. Helps prevent order bias where respondents favor the first or last options they see.
Also known as: Ranking question, Drag and drop ranking
A question type that asks respondents to arrange items in order of preference, typically using drag-and-drop or numbered selection.
Recode
Section titled “Recode”An action command that automatically enters values based on specified rules, often used to categorize or transform responses from other questions.
Respondent
Section titled “Respondent”A person who takes a survey. Also called a participant or survey taker.
Sample
Section titled “Sample”A list of potential respondents with their contact information (email addresses, phone numbers) and any associated data fields. Uploaded to Sample Management for survey distribution.
Sample Field
Section titled “Sample Field”A data field imported from the sample file that can be displayed in questions or used in filters. Sample fields are created using the Sample question type.
Sample Management
Section titled “Sample Management”The section of Survey Shaper where you upload contact lists, build invitation templates, send survey invitations, and monitor mailout statistics. Open it with Collect Responses > Sample & Invitations in the survey’s more menu. See Open the sample page.
Save As
Section titled “Save As”The process of creating a new version of a survey while preserving the original. Required when making changes to a published survey. In Survey Editor (Beta), you can also use Create New Version.
Single Response
Section titled “Single Response”Also known as: Multiple choice (select one), Radio button question
A question type that allows respondents to select only one answer option. The most common question type for categorical data.
Also known as: Skip logic, Branch logic
A question type that sends respondents to a different point in the survey based on specified conditions, bypassing intervening questions.
A text message template used to send survey invitations and reminders to respondents’ mobile phones. Created in the Build SMS section of Sample Management.
Sort Order
Section titled “Sort Order”An answer property that controls the display sequence of answer options. Answers with the same Sort Order value are randomized within that group.
Survey Alerts
Section titled “Survey Alerts”Notifications sent when survey completion rates drop below expected levels. Useful for monitoring tracking surveys with predictable response patterns.
Survey Data Store
Section titled “Survey Data Store”See Data Store.
Survey Editor (Beta)
Section titled “Survey Editor (Beta)”The new survey editor, which opens inside Portal. See Survey Editor (Beta).
Survey Editor (Legacy)
Section titled “Survey Editor (Legacy)”The original survey editor, which opens in a new browser tab. It works on the same surveys as Survey Editor (Beta).
Survey Statistics
Section titled “Survey Statistics”A page displaying real-time metrics about survey performance, including invitations sent, surveys started, surveys completed, response rate, and median duration.
SurveyEntryID
Section titled “SurveyEntryID”A unique identifier assigned to each survey response. Used when converting specific records to test data or for data management purposes.
Template
Section titled “Template”A pre-built survey structure that can be used as a starting point for new surveys. Templates contain question configurations but typically no response data.
Test Data
Section titled “Test Data”Survey responses that have been tagged to exclude them from statistics and analysis. Used to mark test completions before launching a survey to real respondents.
Toolbox
Section titled “Toolbox”The panel in Survey Editor (Legacy) containing all available question type objects that can be dragged onto the flowchart to build surveys. In Survey Editor (Beta), this is the Add to survey toolbar.
Transfer
Section titled “Transfer”A question type that sends respondents to an external URL, typically used for redirecting to partner sites, payment pages, or third-party tools.
Translation
Section titled “Translation”A localized version of survey text for different languages. Survey Shaper supports multiple translations within a single survey project.
Unpublished Test Link
Section titled “Unpublished Test Link”A URL for testing a specific unpublished version of a survey. Records responses as test data.
Unsubscribe
Section titled “Unsubscribe”The process by which respondents opt out of receiving future survey invitations. Managed through Sample Management.
Variable Label
Section titled “Variable Label”A descriptive name for a question variable, typically the question text or a shortened version. Used in data exports and analysis tools.
Variable Name
Section titled “Variable Name”A unique identifier for a question in the data file, often following a naming convention like Q1, Q2, or more descriptive names like AGE or SATISFACTION.
Verbatim
Section titled “Verbatim”Also known as: Open-ended question, Text entry, Free text
A question type for open-ended responses where respondents type free-text answers. Stores a single text response.
Verbatims
Section titled “Verbatims”A question type that allows multiple open-ended responses, where each answer is stored as a separate text field. Used for questions like “List your top 3 suggestions.”
Version
Section titled “Version”A saved iteration of a survey. Survey Shaper maintains version history, allowing you to view and open previous versions.
Version Control
Section titled “Version Control”The system for managing multiple iterations of a survey, including saving new versions and viewing version history.