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What it’s for

A Number question collects a number the respondent says — a postcode, a year of birth, an age, how many people live in the household, or a score from 0 to 10. Spoken numbers are turned into digits before they’re checked: “three nine four one”, “3 9 4 1” and “postcode 3941” all become 3941.

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Settings

Alongside the settings every question shares (Question settings): A Number question has no answer options and no Screen out if the question cannot be run switch.

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Format

“What a usable answer looks like. An answer of the wrong shape is not understood at all, so the agent asks again; only when the attempts run out does the question record it as invalid.” Pattern examples:
  • ^[0-9]{4}$ — any four-digit postcode.
  • ^39(3[6-9]|4[0-4])$ — postcodes 3936 to 3944 (the field’s placeholder).
  • ^(19|20)[0-9]{2}$ — a year from 1900 to 2099.
As you type, the field confirms “This is a valid regular expression.” or explains what’s wrong. Always start a pattern with ^ and end it with $. Without them, the pattern matches if it appears anywhere in the answer. An invalid pattern is a readiness blocker: ”… validation pattern is not a valid regular expression.”

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Format and Screen out are different

  • Format decides whether an answer is usable. An answer of the wrong shape is treated as not heard properly, and the interviewer asks again.
  • Screen out decides whether a usable answer qualifies. The answer is recorded either way; a non-qualifying one then ends the interview under the chosen Outcome.
For example, a survey of one council area might set Format to a four-digit pattern and list the area’s postcodes under Screen out unless the value is one of. A respondent who says “4000” has their postcode recorded, hears the closing text for the excluded outcome and the farewell, and the call ends.
The screen-out outcome needs to exist in Closing, with a closing text. Readiness warns if it’s missing (”… screens respondents out as “excluded”, which is not listed in Outcomes — they hear nothing but the farewell.”) or has no text. See Closing and outcomes.
To screen on a number, use the question’s own screen-out list rather than a rule. Other routing on the answer (jump, show, hide, set variable) works as usual; see Routing rules. If Readiness warns that a question “still stores the retired “allowed values” validation”, open the question and save it once. The list works as a screen either way.

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What the respondent hears

The ask. The voice prompt on its own — no lead-in, no hint. An answer of the wrong shape gets a clarify line with your Format hint folded in — “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch the number — could you say it again? I’m after a four-digit postcode.” When the attempts run out, the question is recorded as invalid with the last digits heard, and the interviewer moves on gently. Confirmation. With Read every answer back on, the number is read back digit by digit — “3 9 4 1 — is that right?” With it off (the default), a well-formed number is recorded straight away. There is no “did you say…?” mishearing check on numbers. Turn read-back on for postcodes, years and dollar amounts; leave it off for short scores. “I don’t know” gets one nudge — “No worries — is it one you could have a guess at?” — then the question is skipped. A refusal gets one reassuring nudge — “That’s completely fine — it’s only used with everyone else’s, never on its own. Would you be happy to give it?” — then the question is skipped. Silence, “say that again”, FAQs, busy and stop work as on any question — see Question settings.

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A 0–10 score

For a likelihood or satisfaction score out of 10, use a Number question with Range 0 to 10, and explain the scale in the prompt: “On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all likely and 10 is extremely likely, how likely are you to recommend …?” Eleven points is too many to read out as a Rating.

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What is recorded

In Results and the CSV export, the answer is stored as a number, so it can be averaged and summed. Because of this, a leading zero isn’t kept in the export — 0800 appears as 800. If leading zeros matter (Northern Territory postcodes, for example), pad them back when you analyse the export. See Responses and export.

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Next Steps