Qualifying questions let you screen respondents into or out of your survey based on how they answer. You can also add answer quotas to qualifying questions to set a minimum target for how much of your sample should select specific answers.
This is useful when you want to make sure certain groups are represented in your results, without having to run separate surveys.
What are qualifying answer quotas?
Answer quotas on qualifying questions allow you to set a minimum percentage of your total sample for specific answers.
For example, if you want at least 30% of your respondents to be people who shop online weekly, you can set a 30% quota on that qualifying answer.
Quotas are minimum targets rather than fixed allocations. Depending on how easy it is to find respondents with certain characteristics, and how your survey fills, the final achieved percentage may vary slightly.
Across one qualifying question, answer quotas can add up to a maximum of 100%.
Why use answer quotas?
Setting answer quotas can help you:
Ensure key segments are sufficiently represented in your results
Avoid underrepresented groups that limit analysis
Keep everything within a single survey rather than splitting your sample
Plan ahead for comparisons between groups
They are particularly useful when you know in advance that some answers may be less common in the general population.
How to set up answer quotas on qualifying questions
Create or select a single choice or multiple choice question in your survey draft.
Click Qualify respondents on the question card.
Turn on Allow qualifying for the answer options you want to use for screening.
Click Activate to enable quota setup for those qualifying answers.
For each qualifying answer, enter the percentage you would like to set as a minimum target.
Review your quotas in the Review stage and under Targeting in the results view.
Remember that these percentages represent minimum targets. The actual split may differ slightly depending on how your audience responds and how the survey fills.
Editing or removing quotas after launch
You can update quotas after your survey has gone live.
Go to the Manage page of your survey.
Select the wave you want to adjust.
Click the three dots next to the qualifying criteria and choose Edit.
Update the percentage or remove the quota.
The total percentage across qualifying answers on the same question must not exceed 100%.
Changing qualifying options on a live survey
You can turn an answer into a qualifying option after launch if you need to adjust your screening criteria.
However, you cannot add a quota to a newly qualifying answer once the survey is already live. If you need quotas on additional answers, this must be set up before launch or in a new wave.
Things to note about quotas
You can set quotas for as many qualifying answers as you like, or just for one or two. It is completely up to you, as long as the total of the answer quotas on each question does not exceed 100%. Any qualifying answers without a quota will naturally fall out.
What do we mean by ‘minimum’?
Answer quotas are minimum targets. In most cases, your set percentages will be met or slightly exceeded. In rare situations, where your chosen percentage does not divide into a whole number within your total sample size, we round down to the nearest whole respondent. This can result in a quota being missed by a very small margin. This approach ensures your survey can continue filling smoothly without requiring more respondents than your total sample allows.
Answer quotas and demographic quotas work independently. Setting an answer quota does not control how demographic groups are distributed within those answers. In practice, answer quotas usually fill on a first come, first served basis, so the demographic make up within each answer may vary.
The percentages shown on qualifying questions in the Results include all respondents, including those who did not qualify into the survey.
Demographic quotas, set on the Audience page, are hard quotas. Answer quotas use minimum percentages to allow for flexibility, particularly when applied to multiple choice questions.