Making a question required
To make a question required, just click the required checkbox when designing that question:
Appearance of required questions on the mobile device
When questions are designated by a form designer as required they will appear on the mobile device with an asterisk (*) preceding the question prompt:
If a required question is not answered
If the data collector leaves a required question unanswered and tries to save the form, they will get an error message, and any invalid questions (such as unanswered required questions, or numeric questions with an answer outside of a required range) will have a specific error below them:
At this point, the data collector can choose to:
1 - Save Invalid — save the data in form form despite the errors. In this case the data record is saved on the phone but will not sync to the server. This is useful if a required piece of information is not available at the moment, and the data collector wishes to save the rest of the information and resume later. Saved, invalid data records appear in red text on the record list for the form, and are marked with a red circle and exclamation point:
The data collector can always tap on the invalid record to edit it and update it.
2 - Cancel and fix — this option dismisses the error message, and the data collector remains on the form, and can fix any problems. Again, any invalid answers will have a red error message below them:
If a required question is skipped
If a required question is "hidden" inside a skip pattern, it does not have to be answered. For example, in this form:
- What is the respondent's gender? Male or Female (if Male, go to Q3)
- How many times have you been pregnant (required)
- What is the respondent's age?
If the respondent is male, they do not have to (and cannot) answer the pregnancy question, even though it is "required". In this case, "required" really means "required unless it is skipped".