head

Experiments Surveys & forms In surveys, head is the question text; on instructions and feedback screens it is the heading, replacing any title value.

head is the headline text of a trial. It is used in three places:

1. Form trials (type=form): it becomes the question title. It is a per-question title, not a section header; each form row has its own head.
2. Instructions screens (trials with no recognizable stimFormat): head is shown in the title area.
3. Feedback display: after title, the trial’s head is displayed in the same title area while feedback is shown.

Mobile layout also reads it: on mobile, instructions trials whose content overflows the screen height are laid out differently depending on whether title or head is set.

Syntax

Write the headline text directly in the cell, e.g. How satisfied are you?.

Two dynamic mechanisms apply before display:

• %variable% placeholders (%response%, %rt%, %correct%, %responseCode%, indexed/aggregate forms, participant fields, user variables) are substituted, both in forms and on instructions screens.
• Dynamic list expansion applies in forms only: a dynamic list in head is NOT expanded on instructions screens.

Rendering:

• In forms, inline Markdown (bold, italics, links) and raw HTML both work; block-level Markdown such as # Heading does not.
• On instructions and feedback screens HTML works; Markdown does not.

Options

No enumerated values. Any string is display text.

Defaults & missing values

When the column is absent or the cell is left blank:

• Forms: no title row is rendered for the question.
• Instructions/feedback screens: the title area keeps whatever title put there.

Works with

• title/content: on instructions screens title is shown first, then head is shown in the same spot. A non-empty head overwrites title; a blank head leaves title visible. Same pattern on feedback screens.
• body: the companion column; in forms head is the question title and body is the smaller description text under it.
• responseRows: with rows, head becomes the title of the containing panel or matrix while each row label comes from responseRows.
• required: the required marker renders next to the title; with an empty head the title row is hidden entirely.
• JSON forms selected with the form column do not read head.

Examples

type	head	body	responseType	responseOptions
form	**How satisfied are you?**	Think about the last 7 days.	radio	Low;Medium;High

The head renders bold (inline Markdown) as the question title, with the body as smaller description text under it.

type	head	body	button1
	Welcome!	<p>Press the button to begin.</p>	Start

No stimFormat, so the trial renders as an instructions screen: head in the title area, body as HTML content.

type	head	responseType	responseOptions
form	Your last answer was %response%	box

%response% is replaced with the previous recorded response before display.

Tips & gotchas

• head is per question. To create a visual section header across several questions, give the first question of the section a head (or use an interleaved display-only form row); there is no grouping mechanism attached to this column.
• In forms, only inline Markdown works: a literal # Section stays as the text # Section.
• On feedback screens the trial’s own head reappears above the feedback text, which surprises people who expected head to be form-only.

Caution

Defining both title and head on an instructions trial silently discards title: head overwrites it in the same spot.

Common combinations

head appears in these worked recipes:

• Likert block in random order: Present a block of likert questions in a fresh random order per participant, with the answer options in a fixed order.
• Factorial vignette study: Show each participant one version of a scenario from a factorial design, then have everyone rate it on the same questions.
• Likert scale with scored options: Sum a block of likert items into a named scale total by attaching points to each answer option.
• Matrix question battery: Ask one set of items on a shared rating scale as a single matrix question, with the item order randomised per participant.
• Opening demographics page: Open the study with one required demographics page combining a numeric age box, a gender choice and an education dropdown.