Use a Number question when the answer is a quantitative value you want to compare or analyse later, such as years of experience, employee count, training hours, product quantities, weight, or monetary values.
If the digits are used only as an identifier—such as a phone number, ZIP code, ID number, account number, or card number—use a Short Text question instead. These values may contain numbers, but they are identifiers rather than quantities intended for statistical analysis.
You can add a Number question whenever you need to collect structured quantitative data with the Porsline online survey and form builder.
How to add a Number question
Open your survey from My Surveys and go to the Create phase.
Select Number from the available question types, then click it to add the question or drag and drop it into the required position.
Enter your question in Label and make it clear what numerical value respondents should provide.
Instead of:
How many?
use a more specific question, such as:
How many hours of training have you completed in the past three months?
or:
How many employees currently work in your team?
If respondents need to use a particular unit or consider a specific time period, include that information in the Label or Description.
You can also type @ to insert an answer from a previous question or a Custom Variable.
For example, if respondents selected their office earlier in the survey, a later question could ask:
How many employees currently work at [Office]?
This lets you use information already available in the survey without asking respondents to enter it again.
How to use Description
Use Description when respondents need additional context or instructions that do not belong in the main Label.
For example:
Label:
What is your average monthly advertising spend?
Description:
Enter the average amount for the past three months.
Or, in an employee survey:
Label:
How many training hours have you completed this year?
Description:
Include completed training only. Do not count courses that are still in progress.
You can also type @ in Description to insert a previous answer or a Custom Variable when it helps clarify the question.
How to set the minimum and maximum value
Use Minimum and Maximum Number when the accepted response must remain within a defined range.
For example, if a registration allows between 1 and 10 attendees per booking, you could ask:
How many people would you like to register?
and set:
Min: 1
Max: 10
The question settings then control the accepted range instead of relying only on written instructions.
You do not need to set Min and Max for every Number question. Use them when the value genuinely has an acceptable lower or upper limit.
How to allow decimal values
By default, a Number question accepts whole numbers. Enable Allow decimals when the answer may include a decimal value.
For example:
How many hours did the task take?
Possible answer: 7.5
or:
What is the shipment weight in kilograms?
Possible answer: 12.75
For counts such as employees, attendees, visits, or products, whole numbers will usually be more appropriate.
How to make large numbers easier to read
Enable Thousands separator when respondents may enter large numerical values.
For example:
250000
is easier to read when displayed with a thousands separator.
This setting is particularly useful for monetary amounts, quantities, and other values containing several digits.
How to make the question required or hide its number
Enable Required when respondents must provide the numerical value before submitting the survey.
If a required question is left unanswered, respondents can return to incomplete required questions during the review step.
Enable Hide question number when you do not want the question number to appear to respondents.
This changes only the presentation of the question and does not affect the numerical value collected.
How to add an image or video
Enable Image or Video when respondents need visual information before entering a number.
Add an image
- Select Image.
- Click Choose.
- Select the file from your device.
You can upload JPG, PNG, or GIF images up to 2 MB.
For example, you could show a product image and ask:
How many units of this product do you need?
Add a video
Select Video, then enter the relevant video link in the field provided.
After adding an image, use Layout to control how it appears separately on Mobile and Desktop.
If the visual is important for understanding the question, preview both layouts before publishing.
How to view, export, and analyse Number responses
Once responses start coming in, go to the Report phase and open the Results Table to review the numerical values submitted by respondents.
Use Export when you need the data in Excel or CSV format.
Because Number questions collect quantitative data, you can also analyse the responses using available chart types and statistical measures including:
- Mean
- Variance
- Standard deviation
For example, suppose you ask employees:
How many hours of training did you complete last quarter?
The mean gives you an overall view of training hours, while variance and standard deviation help show whether employees' responses are relatively similar or more widely spread.
When to use Number instead of Short Text
The distinction comes down to one question:
Is this number a quantitative value you want to analyse, or an identifier you only need to record?
Use Number for values such as:
- Age
- Employee count
- Quantity
- Hours
- Weight
- Monetary or other numerical amounts
Use a Short Text question for phone numbers, ZIP codes, ID numbers, account numbers, card numbers, and similar identifiers.
Short Text lets you control the expected input format without treating the digits as quantitative data.
For an overview of the other available question formats, review the Guide to Question Types in Porsline Forms, Surveys, and Quizzes.
If you need help setting up a Number question or choosing the right question type for your data, contact us at [email protected].