Hello,

I have seen similar postings, but I still haven't been able to figure this out. I just activated a survey and started getting my first participants, and one of them got back to me saying that he cannot proceed because he's getting the following error:

"One or more questions have not been answered in a valid manner. You cannot proceed until these answers are valid"

I attached the exported survey. I don't know if you need any other info to help. Please let me know.

p.s. he got this error message at 76% right at the "Questionnaire sur le/la participant·e"

Thank you very much!

Oguzhan

I attached the exported survey. I don't know if you need any other info to help. Please let me know.

No survey attached

Did you check survey logic ?
What version did you use ?

Hi,

I just realized the attachment didn't save because it also has an extra .xml extension after .lss. It doesn't accept the attachment. But when I export the survey that seems to be a valid option.

I am using the web-based version I guess. It is my first time using LimeSurvey, so I am not sure. Sorry

I just realized the attachment didn't save because it also has an extra .xml extension after .lss.

Using a Mac? Just delete the .xml after .lss so that it becomes "yourfilename.lss" and upload it here.

I am using the web-based version I guess. It is my first time using LimeSurvey, so I am not sure. Sorry

Limesurvey is a web-based software, so all versions are "web-based'. If you are in the Limesurvey admin, look at the bottom right, you'll find the version of your installation there. Without the version of your installation it is almost impossible to help.

Yes, I am using using a Mac. I tried doing what you said earlier but apparently simply deleting it from the name of the file doesn't work. But anyways, I think I was able to add it to my original post now.

Also, thanks for pointing out where the survey version is. I found it: LimeSurvey Version 3.22.17

Thank you for bearing with me.

Best,

Oguzhan

Hi,

Though the layout and the used question types sometimes are not the best, I saw no issue.
Especially this one you should revise:
Dans quelle langue avez-vous étudié aux niveaux suivants? (Indiquez N/A si ceci ne s’applique pas à votre cas)
I have no idea how you want this to be answered.

And you can test by yourself by displaying "question by question" after you removed all not necessary groups.

This way you will find the question with your issue.

Then provide some screenshots.

Joffm

By the way:
We always ask for the lss export of the relevant questions.
So, if you know the group where the issue occurs, it is not necessary that we have to click through all your sliders for about twenty minutes till we get to the relevant group.

Hi,

To answer your question about that specific question. I want participants to check off the level of education that pertains to them and then in the box write in which language they did that. For example, a participant could have attended high school in an English medium institution and maybe college where French was the medium of instruction. If any one of them does not apply to them, say CEGEP, they will leave it unchecked and write N/A in the relevant box. I hope this clears it up.

And it goes without saying that I did test the survey myself. And as any researcher would do, we piloted the survey a couple of times. In all cases, everything went smoothly. That is why we started sharing it with people. The thing is that when we do it, everything looks OK, but two people got back to me with the same issue. That's why I asked it here, thinking someone might be familiar with the problem. I wouldn't ask it over here without checking it myself and trying to fix it on my own.

Finally, I thought .lss is for the whole survey, .lsg is for the question group, and .lsq for the question. And I thought .lss was what is required for queries such as this one. Also, I still don't know which question group is problematic. That's why.

Thanks for your help and sorry if this somehow caused resentment on your part.

Best,

Oguzhan

"One or more questions have not been answered in a valid manner. You cannot proceed until these answers are valid"

But you should know where this error message appears.

If a survey is very big, it is always better to make a copy and delete all questions that are not relevant for the problem.

Especially if the survey is very big and complicated it makes it hard for the helpers to help and stay motivated. We need to learn how your survey works, try to understand the concept. This takes a long time.

If you already know where the error message appears (in which group, for which questions), it is always good to reduce your survey to just that bit. Makes it easier for the helpers and increases the chances that someone actually takes the time to have a look at it.

By the way, the notification email still showed the first version of your post...

Hi Holch,

Thanks for your response. I completely understand that. The problem is that one participant received it with one question group and the other one with another question group. That is why I wasn't sure if there was an overarching issue that affects different survey takers differently.

And as much as I appreciate people helping one another over here, I mentioned how it is the first time I am actually using this survey and I for sure don't expect a complete stranger to spend a long time on my survey.

I guess I did not appreciate the tone in the earlier message implying that I forced someone to spend a big chunk of their day on my account. We as adults can simply choose to help or not to help. If we are choosing the former, then it is solely our decision.

I edited it because I caught myself writing with the tone that disturbed me in the first place. So, I was not trying to hide or anything. I just became aware right after and did my part to rectify it.

But anyways, really thank you all for your time. I sincerely appreciate it.

Best,

Oguzhan

We as adults can simply choose to help or not to help. If we are choosing the former, then it is solely our decision.

This is completely right. But this is basically what Joffm says: if you make it easy for us to help you, chances are a lot higher that this will actually happen.

Joffm is one of the guys who is dedicating a lot of time helping here in the forum. I am always surprised how he spends so much time on helping others. When I see very complicated issues and big surveys that require a lot of time to work through, I often skip the problem, because it would take a lot of my time.

Because it is not just clicking through a survey, it is understanding the structure, understand what you are trying to do, understand where the problem actually appears, etc. This can take a lot of time if you see a survey for the first time, without 100% how it actually should look like.

E.g. at this time of the day /night I wouldn't want to go through a long and complicated survey, because after a day of work it is just too much. But easy and simple problems, short surveys, etc. can be still done without having to put too much brain power into it.

So, what Joffm is saying: help us to help you!

Point very well made and thank you for putting it this way, Holch.

Wish you a great evening / day depending on your time zone!

Best,

Oguzhan

Hi,
in your first post you only mentioned one participant and one group.

and one of them got back to me saying that he cannot proceed because he's getting the following error:
"One or more questions have not been answered in a valid manner. You cannot proceed until these answers are valid"
...
p.s. he got this error message at 76% right at the "Questionnaire sur le/la participant·e"

Later it was:

The problem is that one participant received it with one question group and the other one with another question group.

Now I understood, that you couldn't reproduce this issues.

Usually the affected question is marked (There is the error message, red color, etc.)
So the participant gets an error message in one of the questions but doesn't know why it is displayed.
I can only think of two possible misunderstandings on the participant's side.

1. BG9:
a.

If any one of them does not apply to them, say CEGEP, they will leave it unchecked and write N/A in the relevant box.

So why should he write something into the box? Isn't it sufficient if he doesn't check?
As a participant I should think:
I have to check the level and enter the language into the box.
If I didn't study on that level I just do not check.

b. And he might think this question is only related to English and French
So if somebody was at school or university in Sweden, came to Quebec as an adult, he will not enter "swedish", but doesn't check any of the options.
And furthermore the participant doesn't realize that he has to enter at least one character in one of the text fields.
By the way: It is sufficient to check one option without entering the language. Has to be validated

2. Slider: The participant wants to give a value of 50 (the initial value), but doesn't realize that he has to move the slider a bit.
Not very probable but possible.

As you can see, I have no idea what the participants imagined.

And as you say in your tests everything was fine, only these participants are able to tell what they did, what they wanted to do.

Joffm