Setting Up Questions

​

Overview

Safi Data supports two types of questions. Understanding when to use each type — and how to configure them — will help you get the most out of every survey.

---

​

Question Types

​

Smart Questions

Smart Questions are open-ended questions powered by AI. Rather than presenting options, they invite the respondent to answer in their own words, just like a conversation. During the survey, the AI reads each response and can follow up with probing questions to dig deeper. This makes Smart Questions ideal for qualitative research where you want to understand why, not just what. Use Smart Questions when you want to:

• Understand motivations, feelings, or experiences
• Uncover insights you didn’t anticipate
• Collect rich, nuanced responses
• Explore a topic you don’t yet fully understand

---

​

Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple Choice Questions present respondents with a fixed set of options to choose from. They are fast to answer, easy to analyze, and work well when you already know the range of possible answers. Use Multiple Choice Questions when you want to:

• Collect structured, quantifiable data
• Ask demographic questions (age, gender, location)
• Measure satisfaction on a scale
• Segment or filter respondents based on their answers

---

​

Changing Question Type

You can change a question’s type at any point before the survey goes live.

1. Click on the question you want to change
2. Click the question type selector (displayed near the top of the question card)
3. Select Smart Question or Multiple Choice

---

​

Assigning an Objective to a Question

If you set up objectives in the previous step, you can assign each question to one.

1. Open the question card
2. Click Assign Objective
3. Select the relevant objective from the dropdown

Questions without an assigned objective will appear under Unassigned in the analysis view.

---

​

Features

​

Probing (Smart Questions only)

Probing allows the AI to ask follow-up questions based on a respondent’s answer. Instead of every respondent receiving the same fixed question, the AI reads their response and asks something relevant and specific. Example:

• Survey question: “How do you feel about the quality of the product?”
• Respondent: “It’s okay but I’ve had issues with it breaking.”
• AI probe: “Can you tell me more about what broke and when that happened?”

To enable probing:

1. Open the question card
2. Toggle Probing on
3. Set probing level

---

​

Question Suggestions

Safi Data can suggest questions based on your survey objectives. This is especially useful when you’re not sure where to start. To use question suggestions:

1. Click Suggest Questions in the question builder
2. Review the list of AI-generated suggestions
3. Click Add next to any question you want to include
4. Edit the wording as needed

Suggestions are generated fresh each time you click the button, so you can run it multiple times to see different options. For every question that you write, it is also able to give you suggestions on how to improve the question according to best practices, and suggests replacement questions, prerequisite questions and follow-up questions.

---

​

Question Criteria (Smart Questions only)

Question Criteria lets you define what a valid response looks like for a Smart Question. If a respondent gives an answer that doesn’t meet the criteria, the AI will politely ask them to try again. Example criteria:

• “Response must mention a specific product name”
• “Response should be at least two sentences”
• “Response must be relevant to the topic of pricing”

To add criteria:

1. Open the Smart Question card
2. Click Add Criteria
3. Describe in plain language what a valid response looks like

---

​

Question Logic (Multiple Choice only)

Question Logic lets you show or hide questions based on a respondent’s answer to a previous Multiple Choice question. This keeps the survey relevant and avoids asking questions that don’t apply. Example:

• Question 3: “Do you own a smartphone?”
  • If Yes → show Question 4: “Which brand?”
  • If No → skip Question 4

To add logic:

1. Open the Multiple Choice question you want to apply logic to
2. Click Add Logic
3. Select the condition (e.g. “If answer to Question 3 is Yes”)
4. Choose whether to show or skip this question or end survey

---

​

What’s Next