Branching allows respondents that respond differently to questions to be routed to another sequence of questions.

For example, a patron of a restaurant may be asked about the overall quality of service received during their visit. If they respond that they were "very or extremely satisfied", we would want to branch to ask the question "What was it about this visit that made it so enjoyable to you?" However, if they indicated that the visit was less than satisfactory, we would want to ask the question "What could have been done to make your visit more enjoyable?"

Branching is accomplished using Boolean logic statements of the form:

If (question # ) (state condition:   <,  = , >,   ³,  £,  <,  ¹) (value), then (action: skip forward to the target question )
For example, If the answer on question 3 equals 1, then skip to question 5, Otherwise continue to question 4.

Note that you can only skip forward and not backward. This means that a survey with branching must be carefully charted out. Furthermore, all of your questions must be in their final order before the branching pattern is implemented. It is best to flowchart questions and order them so that you can branch through them.

Types of Branching:

Conditional Branching occurs only if the condition is met. An example of conditional branching is the statement:
"If the answer to question (3) is greater than 2, then Branch to Question (5)"

Compound Conditional Branching (compound branching means that branching is based on multiple answers, i.e., if question 3 is greater than 2 and question 1 is greater than 1) This option is not availalable in our programs, but can be developed through multiple questions are included in the instruction set that defines the branching operation. That is, if compound conditional branching is desired, it can be constructed as a series of simple conditional branches (question order would be critical for it to work correctly). For example,

"Branch to Question (5) only if: " the answer to Question (3) is, as specified by the relational operator, greater than or equal to (³) the set value(4)"
AND a previous question had a separate branch instruction that directed the respondent to Question 5

Unconditional Branching occurs as a direct statement with no conditions. For example, "Branch to question 5" is an unconditional statement. Unconditional statements can be inserted for text questions or at the end of a branch path to bring the respondent to a specific point in the main questionnaire.

Unconditional branching is the simplest form of branching, but can be used as a conditional branch if implemented correctly.

Caveats about Branching: Branching creates what are called "Opportunities for Disruption" meaning that the respondent often justifies discontinuing taking of the survey. One recent study resulted in a 25% respondent discontinuation when the survey branched to a page with a large number of questions on it. Respondent termination occurs most often when the survey task continues beyond a reasonable time, number of pages, questions, or when they are not committed to the survey (or group sponsoring the survey).