When one item in a survey is conditional on a previous item, a number of types patterns of can result.
Linear Skip Pattern: The items in the survey are generally in a linear order, but 1 to n items in the sequence may be skipped depending on the previous item. The following diagrams show this pattern for 1, 2, and 4 items skipped.
Linear Branch Pattern: The items in the survey are generally in a linear order, but alternative branches of 1 to n items are presented depending on the previous item. The following diagrams show this pattern for branches of length 1, 2, and 4.
Hierarchical Pattern: The alternative answers to items in the survey may lead down different routes in a hierarchical structure. This is shown in the following diagram:
Skips and branches may occur once in a while or very frequently. The following diagram shows a frequent branch of one item.
Conditional branches can be implemented in different ways on the WWW. In this study we will compare form based displays in which all of the items are shown and the respondent has to follow the jumps and item based displays which automatically skip items.
Two alternatives surveys illustrate this for single items skips:
Two more surveys illustrate this for hierarchical skips: