How to Use Single Matrix Questions

Are you creating a survey to gather multiple answers for a single question - say, getting various feedback on a program that was implemented; or, measuring the level of awareness on policy implementation; or, getting a range of numerical answers to understand how frequently a community member availed a program service? You can do this efficiently and in a way that will not overwhelm your survey respondents using the Single Matrix question type in ImpactMapper.

A Single Matrix question is composed of multiple-choice questions organized into a grid format. The row represents the question and the columns display the pre-defined answer to the question.

In ImpactMapper, you can design your single matrix question in various ways to tailor to your survey goals!

This how-to guide will explain how to create single matrix questions and explore the different types available. To give you an idea on how you can maximize this feature, the article also includes examples of the kinds of questions you can create for each type.

To create a single matrix question, go to Design, and click Single Matrix.

The single matrix question box appears. From here, you can select various types of single matrix questions, depending on the response you like to collect: short text, numerical, financial, and single choice.

After selecting the type of single matrix question, enter the row labels (question), by clicking Add Rows .

Click the plus sign for additional rows (or questions).

For a single matrix question that gathers short text, numerical, and financial responses - you can set the question as a single column or multi-column. Multi-columns allow for more robust data collection. To set this, enable the multi-column option which will make the Add Column option visible.

Meanwhile, single-choice questions would automatically be multi-column (with both rows and columns).

Once you entered your questions and pre-defined responses in rows and columns, click the Create button.

This will ultimately create your single matrix question, as seen in the next section.

The discussion below covers the types of single matrix questions you can use for your survey.

This allows your respondent to select only one answer among a selection of pre-defined responses. This type of question is useful when gathering preferences or opinions, asking for demographic information, and implementing satisfaction surveys.

When a single-choice question is created, it will present options as radio buttons, as in the examples below:

For single-choice questions with more than 5 pre-defined choices, the responses will be presented as a drop-down.

This type of single matrix question gathers text responses. You can set it as a single-column or multi-column.

Below is a sample short text response with a single column. The question below seeks to get feedback on the services of a mobile health clinic. The rows represent the question which is the type of services, and the column is where the respondent will enter his/her response.

Meanwhile, this will be how a short text response looks like if you set it as multi-column. You can see that the rows represent types of mobile health services, and there are now several columns that display the pre-defined answers to the question. In this example, the columns aim to gather more detailed feedback like what worked well, what could be improved, and if the respondent has additional comments.

Use numerical response if you like to gather frequencies, hours, numerical ratings, currency, year, percentages, and similar information.

In ImpactMapper, there are three types of numerical responses you can utilize for your surveys: Unit, Year, and Percentage.

Below are sample questions by type of numerical response:

Use this to gather financial data.

Financial, multi-column

With the flexibility of the Single Matrix question type, you can streamline data collection while keeping your survey clear and engaging for respondents. Start creating your own matrix questions today and gather the insights you need with ease!