Multi-Criteria Ranking

Compare items against multiple criteria, for example skills and education, impact, cost or sustainability. The outcome is a ranked list that combines all the criteria. There are also many ready-made templates based on well-known models, for example ICE, policy selection and Balanced Scorecard.

Setting up

Session type. Choose Individual to answer on your own; you can start straight away once the session is set up. Choose Group to collect answers from other people. Group also shows the Advanced options.
Setup. Enter a title for the session. If it is for a group, also enter the name of the group or team. Then press Save & Continue. This creates the session and a session number, so you can come back and edit it later.
Options to compare. Choose Text to compare words or Images to compare pictures (for example "Which is the better logo?"). Then enter the items you want to rank.
Criteria. For each criterion, enter its name, an optional description for respondents, and the question participants answer, for example "Which is cheaper?" Press Add Criteria to add another.
Set Up Session. Press Set Up Session to save the session, or to start comparing straight away (Individual sessions only).

Advanced options

These switches appear when the session type is Group.

Right

Respondent mode. Choose Asynchronous, where respondents answer in their own time, or Workshop mode, where you run the session live. The panel shows how many respondents you can have.
Closing date. Stops accepting responses after a date you set.
Response notifications. Decide whether you want to be told when responses come in.

Left

Introduction page. Add an introduction or welcome for respondents, for example explaining the purpose of the ranking.
Customise weighting. Set how much each criterion counts towards the final ranking.
Participant data. Asks participants for details such as name or team before they begin, so results can be broken down by them.
Turning this on adds a Participant Data Entry Screen to the form. Participants fill it in before they begin.

Every field can be edited, including the ready-made ones: rename it, change or add its options, or remove it. There are two exceptions. Country uses a fixed list of countries. Once a session has responses, existing options can't be changed or removed, but you can still add new ones. In Workshop mode they stay editable, and renaming an option moves the answers given under it.
- Heading and Body. The title and short text participants see on that screen, for example "Before you start" and "Please enter the following information".
- Data type. Press + on a field to add it: Name, Email, Gender, Organisation, Org Type, Team or Dept, or Country. A tick shows it has been added.
- Custom Field. Press + on Custom Field to ask for anything not in that list, then type its name. Participants type their answer.
Each field you add gets its own row:
- Choose, Choose or type, or Type. Choose gives participants a list to pick from, which you fill using Add Option. Choose or type adds "Not listed — enter your own" to the end of that list, and anything typed there shows as its own group in the results. Type gives them a box to type in. Only Choose and Choose or type fields can be used to break down results.
- Required. Participants must fill the field in before they can start.
- Track. Shows who on your list hasn't responded yet, on the Manage page.
- Use once. Each option can be picked by only one participant. Options already taken show as "✓ Already chosen". When every option on every Use once field has been taken, new participants see "All responses are in" instead of the form. A Choose or type field is never used up, because participants can still enter their own.
- Drag the handle on the left to reorder fields, and press × to remove one. On a phone the handle is not shown, so fields can't be reordered there.
Track and Use once appear only on Choose and Choose or type fields.
Enable comments. Lets participants add a comment as they compare.
Enable skip comparison. Allows participants to skip a comparison.
Enable ties. Lets participants mark two items as equal.
Completion message. Add a completion message for participants, for example next steps.

Under each criterion

Add end question(s). Add questions at the end of the comparisons, for example "Do you have any other comments?"

Set Up Session