Using skip logic for qualifying or disqualifying when per-answer logic isn't enough

In the study editor, you can turn on qualifying logic for several question types that lets you select three states for every answer (Disqualify, Qualify, & Neutral). This is the simplest approach for most qualifying needs and looks like this:

When to use skip logic instead

Per-answer qualify/neutral/disqualify settings work great when a single answer choice should decide the outcome on its own. But some screening logic depends on the whole answer, not just one selected option, for example a multi-select question where only certain combinations of answers should qualify someone.

When that's the case, per-answer logic isn't enough. Skip logic rules let you write a condition against the full answer to a question, then route the participant based on whether that condition is true, including marking them Qualified or Disqualified directly from the rule.

Example

Say you're screening for teachers who are responsible for 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, out of a "select all that apply" list of grades. A teacher could select multiple grades, and you want to qualify anyone whose selection touches any of the three target grades, while disqualifying anyone whose selection doesn't.

Here's how that's built with two rules on the same question:

Rule #1

• If the answer includes any of: 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade
• Then skip to: the next relevant question (continue the screener as normal)

Rule #2

• If the answer is present (i.e., they answered the question at all, but didn't match Rule #1)
• Then skip to: Skip to End, as Disqualified

Rules are evaluated in order. Anyone who matches Rule #1 continues on. Everyone else falls through to Rule #2 and is disqualified. Because the condition in Rule #1 is evaluated against the entire answer selection rather than each option individually, this correctly handles cases like someone selecting both a matching grade and a non-matching one.

The operators, and what each one means

Note: includes any of replaced the older in operator. It works the same way, checking whether the participant's selection overlaps with your list, but the new name is meant to make that membership behavior clearer at a glance.

Step by step

1. Open the question you want to add skip logic to in the Study Editor.
2. Click into Skip logic for that question.
3. Build Rule #1: choose your operator, set the value(s) to match against, and set "Then skip to" for the case where the condition is true.
4. Add Rule #2 (and more, if needed) to handle the remaining cases, using Add condition or Add group if a rule needs more than one condition.
5. For any rule that should end the screener, set "Then skip to" to Skip to End, and set the qualification outcome (Qualified / Disqualified) in the dropdown next to it.
6. Test your logic by submitting the screener yourself with a few different answer combinations before publishing.

A note on combining conditions

If a single rule needs more than one condition (for example, "grade is X" and "subject is Y"), use Add condition within that rule. A dropdown appears between conditions letting you choose AND or OR, so you control exactly how they combine rather than it being fixed to one or the other.

A note on multiple rules

If a question has more than one rule, they're checked top to bottom, and the first one that matches wins. If a respondent doesn't match any rule, they simply continue to the next question as normal.

Checking Exclusive group on a rule hides that rule's target from the other rules, useful if you want to guarantee only one specific rule can ever apply to a given respondent.