We are pleased to add an easy-to-use interface for variations. These allow you to randomly rotate between different phrasings of the same question. This technique is used to address potential ordering bias by putting different options first, or for other methodological reasons.

Our interface makes it easy to add a random variation. When editing your poll, just click on the new “variation” button, and a dialog pops up letting you provide an alternate phrasing. You may map between the variation’s options to the original answers (e.g. pressing “1″ in the original survey means “520 Bridge”, whereas pressing “2″ in a random variation might mean “520 bridge”). When you call in to record your survey, we will prompt you to record a variation just like any other question, e.g. “Please record question 2 with variation 1 at the beep..”

When someone takes a poll, we automatically pick between the original question and any random variations. For example, if a question has two random variations, one third of people will hear the original verison; one third will hear variation #1, and one third will hear variation #2. Later, when you dump your raw results, we will tell you who heard which variation.