Google Form Question Types and When to Use Them
Google Forms has eleven types of questions. They’re each useful for gathering different types of responses. All question types can have a description. You can mark most of them as required except Multiple choice grid and Checkbox grid, but selecting the require a response in each row option, will make those two question types required. Here’s an overview of question types:
Short Answer
Best for: Shorter freeform answers. Even though it’s called “short,” responders can enter as much text as they want unless the creator restricts the length.
Options: Validate response: Number, text, length, regular expression
Paragraph
Best for: Longer freeform answers.
Options: Validate response: Number, text, length, regular expression
Multiple Choice
Best for: Choosing one response from a short pre-selected list.
Options: Go to a section based on response, shuffle response order.
Note: If the list has more than four answers, consider using the dropdown option instead.
Checkboxes
Best for: Choosing multiple responses from a list of pre-selected answers.
Options: Go to a section based on response, shuffle response order.
Dropdown
Best for: Choosing one response from a list of pre-selected answers.
Options: Go to a section based on response, shuffle response order.
File Upload
Best for: Attaching a document, spreadsheet, or other file.
Options: Restrict file type, restrict maximum number of files, restrict maximum file size.
Note: You can also restrict the maximum size of all files uploaded by all responders. Once the level is reached, no more file uploads are allowed. If you use this question type, you can’t embed the form in a web page.
Linear Scale
Best for: Rating an item on a scale.
Options: Low end of the scale can be 0 or 1, high end of the scale can be between 2 and 10, add labels to the high and low end of the scale.
Multiple Choice Grid
Best for: Comparing multiple items on a scale, such as the usefulness of features or opinions on a list of possibilities. Each row can only have a maximum of one option selected.
Options: Require a response in each row, limit to one response per column, shuffle row order.
Note: Choosing to require a response in each row and limiting to one response per column creates a way to rank order a set of items. Additionally, the rows and columns that the responder sees are displayed as columns to the creator, so use the preview feature to ensure the final layout appears the way you want.
Checkbox Grid
Best for: Comparing multiple items on the same scale, such as the usefulness of features or opinions for a list of possibilities. Each row can have more than one option selected.
Options: Require a response in each row, limit to one response per column, shuffle row order.
Note: Choosing to require a response in each row and limiting to on response per column creates a way to rank order a set of items. Be aware that the rows and columns the responders see appear as columns to the creator, so use the preview feature to make sure the final layout meets expectations.
Date
Best for: Requesting date information, such as the best time for a meeting.
Options: Include year, include time.
Time
Best for: Requesting time information, such as when an event happened or the expected duration of a task.
Options: Time, duration.
