Slider Question Type

A description of the slider question type, and what "upgrading" from the old slider means

In SMART-TRIAL 2022.4 the new and improved slider is introduced. All existing sliders will have the option to be upgraded in building or amendment mode. Please section "Upgrade slider" for more info.

Building a slider

This section details how to setup a slider, and what the different configurations mean. Do note that re-creating a slider first made on paper can be tricky, as the sliders look tend to be quite unique. You are always welcome to contact support@smart-trial.com for any questions and suggestions for improvement.

The sliders default orientation/direction is "horizontal".

As you build your slider, the slider preview will change, so you can see how the different settings affects your slider look and feel in real time. The preview is NOT the true size of the slider, as that depends on the screen size and is only presented in "fill out mode", or when "previewing" the form.

Scale

The three settings under 'Scale' defines the range and granularity of the slider. The slider has a range from -100 to 100 both min. and max. can be a positive or negative value.

Minimum: The minimum value on the slider, must be less than the maximum value.

Maximum: The maximum value on the slider, must be more than the minimum value.

Step size: Defines how granular i.e. 'precise', the slider is, and how big each step on the slider is.  There are 6 available step sizes:

• 0.1
• 0.2
• 0.5
• 1
• 2
• 5

A slider with minimum = 1, maximum = 5, step size =1. Can have the values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Decrease the step size to 0.5 and it can have the values: 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3.. etc.

If you have a slider from 0-100, with step size 0.1, you will have 1000 total steps on the slider, which we do not recommend, as it is near impossible for a subject to drag the slider that accurately.

Should you need any additional step sizes to create your slider, please contact us via support@smart-trial.com

Numeric Labels

Numeric labels are the labels that show the numeric range of the slider

Placement: Select if the labels should be placed on top of the slider, or below, or if they should be hidden. For vertical sliders labels are placed to the left or right.

Spacing: Defines how many steps there should be between the numeric labels. Decrease the spacing to have MORE labels shown, and increase it to have LESS labels shown. Please see the examples below.

Low spacing example - results in many numeric labels

 

High spacing example - results in few numeric labels.

Verbal end labels

The two labels at each end of the slider, left/right for horizontal sliders, and top/bottom for vertical sliders. These labels are optional.

We suggest keeping the label length below 20 characters, as more may compromise the layout of the slider. The length also depends on the screen size that will be used to answer the slider.

Custom labels

You can add up to 10 custom labels to the slider. Should you choose to do so, please consider the label placement, and length of the labels.

Value

Where the label should be anchored. Must use a value that can be selected on the slider, so this depends on the min/max and step size of the slider.

Label

The actual label that will be shown on the slider, can be translated to all the languages available in the study under the "Translation" menu. The labels are centered around the specified value and accept HTML to manipulate the text.

Placement

On horizontal scales the labels can be placed either on top, or below the slider. Each label can be placed independently of the others. 

We suggest alternating the labels in case you have many.

 

Slider settings

Orientation

The slider will default to be 'Horizontal', but there is the options of making it 'Vertical'. Should you change the orientation of the slider, after you have defined labels etc, please give them a review to ensure they are placed where they should be.

Vertical sliders are great for sliders with long labels that have to be filled out on mobile phones.

Keep in mind that the slider orientation potentially can bias your data collection if you are using a validated scale that is originally horizontal. 

Mark Style

Defines if the slider should be "smooth" or have 90 degree lines going across the slider.

Edit slider value

Toggle to allow subjects the option to type in or edit their answer via a numeric input field.

Can be beneficial for mobile data collection on very granular scales, as the finger size of subjects can be it difficult to pinpoint a specific value.

Pressing the input field on a mobile, will bring up the key pad with numbers.

Skip question

Will add a checkbox along with some text, allow the question to be 'skipped'.

Can be beneficial in case your scale contains options the subject might not have experienced.

The text can be what ever you would like, and can be translated to all supported languages in the study via the "Translation" menu.

In the export a question that has been skipped will be noted as ".na"

Fill out

Right-To-Left (RTL) support

The slider supports RTL languages, and will be be inverted for horizontal sliders. All labels can be manually translated by enabling our Translation menu and adding additional languages.

Vertical sliders will remain as they are, with min value at the bottom and max value at the top.

 

Mobile device considerations.

To be displayed properly horizontal sliders must be viewed on a screen that is at minimum 640px wide. If a subject views their questionnaire with horizontal slider on a screen that is less than 640px wide they will get instructions to rotate their phone/device to horizontal position before the slider can be presented.

Be very considerate when creating creating a slider that should be responded to via mobile. This goes for both the amount of labels, and the granularity of your slider (step size). 

Due to the varying human finger size, it can be very difficult for some subjects to pinpoint exact values.

To counter that, we suggest toggling the "Edit slider value in "Slider Settings", allowing subjects to use their keypad to enter the value.

Skip

If enabled, subjects can skip a slider question, in case the situation they are asked to rate is not applicable.

Ensure the skip text has been translated, if applicable, before sending a questionnaire to subjects.

If the subject has already entered a value, the skip will ask the subject to confirm, as the data is removed. Upon skipping a question the "value dot" will be removed from the slider, and it will appear in-active.

Upgrade from Legacy to New slider

Amending a form, or importing a form from your profile that contains an old slider, will prompt you to update the slider.  We recommend updating your slider, to take full advantage of the new sliders capabilities. Simply press the button!

We will attempt to re-create the slider the best we can, but we recommend you check the custom labels, as the older slider did not have labels set at specific values, we may miss the mark.

The older slider:

Migrated to the new slider:

So long as you do not change the min/max and step size, already collected data will NOT be affected. Should you change either of these, it may result in existing data becoming invalid.

To save a form with invalid slider answers, these will have to be corrected.