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Building surveys

Ranking

Drag items into order of preference.

A list respondents put in order of preference or importance.

Try an answer, then check it. Turn Required off to try leaving it blank.

Try this question

Rank the topics from most to least useful.required
1
Research methods
2
Data analysis
3
Presenting results

Interactive example. Answers stay on this page and are not submitted. Reset or changing the configuration clears answers and restores Required.

All settings

Select + in the editor, choose Ranking, then select the question and open Content.

All questions also have Title and Description. Replace the starter title with your question; Description is optional and starts blank. Use it for instructions that should remain visible while answering. The defaults below are for a newly added question, not necessarily the example above. The example starts with Required on so you can try validation; real new questions default to optional.

SettingDefaultBehaviour and availability
ItemsThree example itemsEdit labels, add items and drag to set their initial order. Keep at least two.
DescriptionBlank per itemOptional explanation beneath each item label; separate from the question description.
Show Rank NumbersOnShow each item’s position alongside its label.
Randomize Initial OrderOffVary the initial arrangement; the final respondent order is the answer.
Option attributesNoneIn Advanced, attach codes or values to items. Requires Essential.
RequiredOffA ranking answer is needed; keeping the initial order is accepted.

An unchanged order is a valid answer

The question starts with all configured items in an order and records that presented order. A respondent can continue without dragging if it already matches their preference. Required does not force them to move an item or prove they considered every comparison.

The current settings do not offer “rank only the top three”, ties or an unranked pool. Explain that respondents should order the full list, and state whether first means most useful, most important or another criterion.

Use descriptions to distinguish similar items

Add a short Description to an item when its label alone could be ambiguous. Compare the standard example with the described, randomized example. Rank numbers can help make the order explicit; hiding them changes presentation, not the recorded order.

Move a known item to the top and another to the bottom. Then check a later ranking pipe or preview your summary. Randomize Initial Order affects where items begin, not which item should be treated as the respondent's final first choice.

Branching and piping

Open Advanced → Conditional Logic to route from an answer. In fields that offer { }, use piping to insert an earlier answer. Plan requirements apply to advanced logic, expressions and option attributes; these are separate from the Content settings above.