Blocks and compounds are used to group questions for presentation or organizational purposes. Unlike grids and loops, blocks and compounds do not define a hierarchy in the case data, although they do appear as expandable items in the Variable List.

A block is used to group a list of questions. For example, a block called Demographics might be used to group the demographic questions in a questionnaire. Three blocks (Respondent, DataCollection, DataCleaning) are used to group the system variables.

A compound is used to group a number of questions that share a category list. Compounds are typically used in paper questionnaires. Here is an example:

You can see the variables that are nested inside a block or compound by clicking to expand it in the Variable List. You can use the variables inside a block or compound in your tables in the normal way.