Grids are displayed with blank cells and respondents must usually enter or select a response in every cell of the grid before they can continue to the next page. In large grids where only some cells may be relevant, you can make the grid less of a chore to complete by setting a default response such as 0 or “Not applicable” for all cells. Any cells that the respondent leaves blank will be assigned the default value. This is particularly useful for repeated numeric and text questions where respondents often do not need to enter values in all cells.

Respondents do not see these default values the first time the grid is displayed, but if the grid is redisplayed for any reason (errors or snapbacks, for example) default values will be shown in all cells that the respondent previously left blank.

Another option is to define an initial value for each cell so that the grid is displayed with this value in each cell. Any cells that the respondent does not change are saved with the initial value as the data for those cells.

You can set default and initial values in either the metadata or the routing section of the interview script. If the same value applies to all cells in the grid, it is probably easiest to set the value in the metadata section, as you would for non-repeated questions, so that it is immediately obvious to anyone looking at the question’s definition. For example:

Put the following statements in the routing section: