Topic: Survey setup
A semantic differential question is a type of question in which participants rate pairs of characteristics related to a topic on a scale to gauge their positive or negative perceptions.
It is particularly well-suited for measuring nuanced opinions, attitudes, or impressions, and can be formatted for statistical analysis in Excel, CSV, or SPSS using internal values.
Settings and options of the semantic differential question type:
Number of rating levels
Here, you specify how many rating levels participants should have available between each pair of attributes.
Required question
This option allows you to designate the question as required. The participant must answer the question before proceeding to the next page of the survey.
Help Icon (Tooltip)
This allows you to display help text or additional information behind a help icon next to the question title. Randomize If you enable this option, the attribute pairs will be displayed to each participant in random order.
Additional text field below the question
This option allows you to provide a text field for comments directly below the question. The width and height (number of lines) can be set freely.
“No Answer” Option
This option is particularly useful if the question has been defined as a required question. It allows the participant to “answer” the question even if they do not wish to provide a substantive response, and to continue with the survey.
Internal Value
You can assign an internal value to each rating level.
This allows you to replace participants’ responses in the export (Excel, CSV, or SPSS) with custom values to facilitate further data processing.
An example:
For the participant, the following rating scales are available for the attribute pairs:
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3
Since these values make it difficult to distinguish between positive and negative ratings later in Excel or SPSS, you can assign internal values:
In the export, the numbers will then appear instead of the original response options. You can assign an internal value at any time — when creating the question or afterward to optimize the export data.
Upload an image
You can place an image directly within the question.
Advantage: The image can be displayed between the question and the answer options, in addition to the standard image upload in the questionnaire.
Additionally, you can adjust the image’s orientation, set its position (above or below the question title), and assign an ALT attribute, which is important for survey accessibility.
Semantic differential
A semantic differential question is a type of question in which participants rate pairs of characteristics related to a topic on a scale to gauge their positive or negative perceptions.
It is particularly well-suited for measuring nuanced opinions, attitudes, or impressions, and can be formatted for statistical analysis in Excel, CSV, or SPSS using internal values.
Settings and options of the semantic differential question type:
Number of rating levels
Here, you specify how many rating levels participants should have available between each pair of attributes.
Required question
This option allows you to designate the question as required. The participant must answer the question before proceeding to the next page of the survey.
Help Icon (Tooltip)
This allows you to display help text or additional information behind a help icon next to the question title. Randomize If you enable this option, the attribute pairs will be displayed to each participant in random order.
Additional text field below the question
This option allows you to provide a text field for comments directly below the question. The width and height (number of lines) can be set freely.
“No Answer” Option
This option is particularly useful if the question has been defined as a required question. It allows the participant to “answer” the question even if they do not wish to provide a substantive response, and to continue with the survey.
Internal Value
You can assign an internal value to each rating level.
This allows you to replace participants’ responses in the export (Excel, CSV, or SPSS) with custom values to facilitate further data processing.
An example:
For the participant, the following rating scales are available for the attribute pairs:
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3
Since these values make it difficult to distinguish between positive and negative ratings later in Excel or SPSS, you can assign internal values:
- 3 → 3
- 2 → 2
- 1 → 1
- 0 → 0
- 1 → -1
- 2 → -2
- 3 → -3
In the export, the numbers will then appear instead of the original response options. You can assign an internal value at any time — when creating the question or afterward to optimize the export data.
Upload an image
You can place an image directly within the question.
Advantage: The image can be displayed between the question and the answer options, in addition to the standard image upload in the questionnaire.
Additionally, you can adjust the image’s orientation, set its position (above or below the question title), and assign an ALT attribute, which is important for survey accessibility.