Block Question Design

The block design is a question type available on Methodify which allows you to group questions or elements together and apply logic to the group. It is useful for situations where you want to reduce order bias by ensuring that respondents are not exposed to questions or elements in a block in the same order.

When you are using the block question design on Methodify, you have three options for displaying the elements in the block:

1. Display elements in order –  all respondents will answer the elements in the block in the order that you have programmed them

2. Randomize elements – the elements in the block will be presented in random order to respondents

3. Rotate elements – the elements will be systematically rotated between respondents. The first respondent will see the elements in the order you have programmed them, the second will start with the second element and end with the first one, the third will start with the third element, and so on

You can apply these options to both questions within a block and to blocks within blocks. In the example below, Blocks 2 and 3 are nested within Block 1. If you choose Display Order and then Randomize within the Block 1 menu, then Blocks 2 and 3 will be presented to respondents in random order – some respondents will be asked about winter first, and some will be asked about summer first.

Then, if you wanted the questions in Blocks 2 and 3 to be presented in a different order from respondent to respondent, you would make that selection in the drop down menu associated with those blocks.

As a word of caution, you should be careful applying skip logic in a block where elements are not displayed in order as your skip logic may not work as intended, since the questions or elements will be presented in a different order each time.

Methodify also has Sequential Monadic and Monadic Block types which can be particularly useful for situations where you want to compare concepts or ideas.

Click here to learn more about Sequential Monadic design

Click here to learn more about Monadic design