4. Create and Translate Your Own Questions + Conditional Questions

In this article, we cover the following features in the GAIS question framework:

1. Create your own questions in GAIS – in Danish and other languages

2. Translate your questions into languages other than the primary language

3. Create conditional questions

1) Formulate your own questions in GAIS

In all GAIS survey types it is possible to add your own questions to the employees. When you create a survey, go to Questions -> Extra Questions -> Add Question. 

You should also consider whether you want the questions to be presented before or after the GAIS questions in the survey.

Define the Primary Language

When you click Add Question, if you have specified multiple participant languages in your data file, you must first select your primary language. The system will automatically display questions in this language, unless you translate the questions into other languages yourself.

For more information, see the section Translate Your Own Questions into Languages Other than the Primary Language.

Formulate Your Own Questions

What type of question do you want to ask? GAIS offers three types:

1. Multiple choice
2. Scale from 0 to 10
3. Open text

Note: To get the most useful insights from your own questions, we recommend asking about only one topic at a time; for example: "Do you feel that your manager has a supportive approach?" rather than: "Do you feel that your manager and colleagues have a supportive approach?"

a. Multiple Choice Questions

You formulate your question and optionally add a help text. You also need to define the answer options yourself, such as "Yes," "No," "Don't know," etc. You do this by entering the option in the Add Answer Options field and clicking Add.

You must also choose whether the question is mandatory and whether it should allow multiple answers.

Note: The list of answer options should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

b. 0–10 Scale Questions

When using your own 0–10 scale questions, you should formulate the question so that the answer can be given on a scale from 0 to 10. For example: "How satisfied are you with our canteen services?" You must also define what 0 and 10 correspond to—for example, "Very dissatisfied" and "Very satisfied."

The 0–10 scale is a common method in happiness research, which GAIS is based on.

You must also choose whether the question is mandatory and whether it should allow the answer "Not applicable."

Note: Scale questions are used when you want more nuance in the answers than simply "Yes" or "No."

c. Free Text Questions

When using open text questions, you can ask more open-ended questions that can be answered in a comment. You can also add a help text here, and you must choose whether the question should be mandatory.

2) Translate Your Questions into Languages Other than the Primary Language

While the GAIS standard questions are automatically translated into the languages supported by GAIS, you must translate your own questions yourself. Here’s how to do it:

a. Ensure that the desired languages are included in the language column of your data file: 

b. First, formulate the question in your primary language

c. Then click on the relevant language icons (flags), translate the question, and check the green box with a checkmark.

The checkmark indicates that you want to use the selected language in your survey. The highlighted flag shows the language version of the question you are currently editing.

This process must be repeated for each language. If a language is not checked, the question will be displayed in the selected primary language—in this case, English.

3) Create Conditional Questions

You can create so-called conditional questions. These are questions that are displayed depending on how the participant answered a previous question.

Example: If a participant answers Yes to a question about violations, they will be asked a series of follow-up questions. If the participant answers No, no further questions will be shown.

You can set conditions for both GAIS catalog questions and your own custom questions, but only within the same category. This means that a catalog question can be made conditional on another catalog question, and the same applies to custom questions.

Note: It is not possible to create conditions for mandatory standard questions.

How to Do It

a. Create a screening question (a question that helps determine who should receive additional questions).

The question can either be from the catalog or one that you formulate yourself.

In the example below, the question has the answer options Yes and No.

b. Then create a follow-up question that should only be asked to those who answered No to the question above.

c. Click on the highlighted icon next to the question you want to make conditional.

d. Set the condition so that if the participant answers No to the first question, it triggers the follow-up conditional question.

It will now appear like this to the survey participant:

• If the participant answers Yes to the screening question, the follow-up question will not be shown.
• If the participant answers No to the screening question, the follow-up question will be displayed.

From the users point, it will appear as such:

You are now ready to create your questions, translate them and use conditional questions!