Responses with fixed positions in the response list
If a response list contains responses such as “None of these” or any of the special responses NA, DK, REF, and Other Specify, they normally appear at the end of the list after the predefined responses, and you probably want them to remain there even if the order of the predefined responses changes. To do this, append the fix keyword to the response’s definition in the metadata section, as follows:
<question_name> "<text>" categorical [<number_of_responses>] {
<sorted_responses>,
<fixed_responses> fix
} <order_keyword>;
The following example displays the list of tea types in random order, but None of these is always at the end of the list:
Groups "Which of these groups have you become more connected to
through the Internet? (Please check all that apply)"
categorical [1..]
{
Polical "People who share my political interests",
Hobbies "People who share my hobbies/recreational activities",
Religion "People who share my religion",
Profession "People in my profession",
Family "People in my family",
LifeSituations "People in similar life situations",
OtherGroups "Other groups" fix,
NoGroups "None" exclusive fix
} ran;
A response list can contain any number of fixed responses at any positions in the list. This means that you can, for example, always display a certain response at the top of the list. If the list contains a fixed response in the middle of the list, the other responses are reordered around the fixed response as appropriate. So, if the fixed response is the third in the list, it stays there, and other responses are sorted around it according to the ordering keyword you have used.
See also