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Rename & hide/show modalities

Modality management allows you to customize how question answers (modalities) appear in your reporting dashboards. You can rename modalities for better readability, hide irrelevant options, and apply these changes across all reporting configurations for consistent data presentation.

Definition​

Modalities are the answer options for a question in your survey (e.g., "Yes," "No," "Don't know" for a yes/no question, or "Very satisfied," "Satisfied," "Neutral," etc. for a satisfaction scale). Managing modalities allows you to:

  • Rename: Change how modality labels appear in reports without affecting the raw data
  • Hide/Show: Control which modalities are visible in your reporting views
  • Apply globally: Propagate changes across all reporting configurations for consistency

These customizations only affect the reporting layer—your original survey data remains unchanged.

When to use​

Use modality management when you need to:

  • Simplify labels: Shorten or clarify modality names for cleaner visualizations (e.g., "Extremely satisfied" → "Very satisfied")
  • Standardize terminology: Ensure consistent naming across different reports or dashboards
  • Focus analysis: Hide modalities with insufficient responses or irrelevant options (e.g., "Other," "Prefer not to say")
  • Localize reports: Translate or adapt modality names for different audiences
  • Remove noise: Exclude test responses or invalid data points from reporting views

Key behaviors & constraints​

  • Renaming modalities only affects display labels in reports; raw data remains unchanged
  • Hidden modalities are excluded from charts and calculations but remain in the dataset
  • Each question's modalities are managed independently
  • Showing a previously hidden modality restores it to all visualizations
  • Modality management is preserved when duplicating configurations

Rename question answers (modalities)​

Renaming modalities allows you to improve readability and standardize terminology across your reports without modifying the original survey data.

How to rename modalities​

  1. Navigate to the reporting dashboard
  2. Click on the modality management button
  3. In the modalities dialog, you'll see a list of all answer options
  4. Click on the modality you want to rename.
  5. Enter the new label in the text field.
  6. Click "Save" to confirm the change.

What happens when you rename​

  • The new label appears immediately in all charts, tables, and visualizations for the current configuration
  • The original data value remains unchanged in your database
  • Other configurations are also affected

Best practices for renaming​

  • Keep it concise: Shorter labels work better in charts and tables
  • Be consistent: Use the same terminology across similar questions
  • Preserve meaning: Ensure the new label accurately represents the original answer
  • Consider context: Think about how the label will appear in different visualization types
  • Document changes: Keep a record of renamed modalities for reference

Examples​

Before renaming:

  • "1 - Not at all satisfied"
  • "2 - Not very satisfied"
  • "3 - Somewhat satisfied"
  • "4 - Very satisfied"
  • "5 - Extremely satisfied"

After renaming:

  • "Not satisfied"
  • "Slightly satisfied"
  • "Satisfied"
  • "Very satisfied"
  • "Extremely satisfied"

Before renaming:

  • "Yes, definitely"
  • "Yes, probably"
  • "No, probably not"
  • "No, definitely not"
  • "I don't know"

After renaming:

  • "Yes"
  • "Likely"
  • "Unlikely"
  • "No"
  • "Unsure"

Hide and show modalities​

Hiding modalities allows you to exclude specific answer options from your reporting views, helping you focus on relevant data and reduce visual clutter. Hidden modalities remain in your dataset but are excluded from visualizations.

How to hide modalities​

  1. Open the modality management dialog
  2. Find the modality you want to hide in the list
  3. Click the visibility icon (typically an eye icon) or toggle the visibility switch next to the modality
  4. The modality is immediately hidden from all charts
  5. Click "Save" confirm your changes

How to show hidden modalities​

  1. Open the modality management dialog for the question
  2. Look for hidden modalities (usually indicated with a crossed-out eye icon or marked as "Hidden")
  3. Click the visibility icon or toggle the switch to show the modality.
  4. The modality reappears in all visualizations immediately
  5. Click "Save" confirm

What happens when you hide a modality​

  • The modality is removed from all charts, graphs, and tables
  • The original data remains intact and can be restored by showing the modality again
  • Filters and crossover variables are automatically updated to reflect visible modalities only

When to hide modalities​

Low response rates: Hide options with very few responses that create noise in visualizations:

  • "Other (please specify)" with only 2-3 responses out of 1,000
  • Test responses or invalid entries

Focus on key segments: Exclude less relevant groups to emphasize important comparisons:

  • Hide "Prefer not to say" to focus analysis on demographic segments
  • Remove "Not applicable" when analyzing specific user groups

Simplify presentations: Create cleaner visualizations for stakeholder reports:

  • Hide granular age ranges and show only broad categories
  • Remove intermediate satisfaction levels to focus on "Satisfied" vs "Not satisfied"

Iterative analysis: Temporarily hide modalities to test different analysis scenarios:

  • Compare results with and without certain response options
  • Identify outliers or anomalies by selectively showing/hiding data

Examples​

Example 1: Cleaning satisfaction data

Original modalities:

  • Very satisfied (45%)
  • Satisfied (30%)
  • Neutral (15%)
  • Unsatisfied (7%)
  • Very unsatisfied (2%)
  • Prefer not to say (1%)

Hidden modalities:

  • "Prefer not to say" (too few responses)

Result: Cleaner percentage distribution focusing on actual sentiment.

Example 2: Geographic analysis

Original modalities:

  • North America (40%)
  • Europe (30%)
  • Asia (20%)
  • Other regions (5%)
  • Not specified (5%)

Hidden modalities:

  • "Other regions" (insufficient data for meaningful analysis)
  • "Not specified" (incomplete data)

Result: Focus on three main regions with robust sample sizes.

Example 3: Product preference

Original modalities:

  • Product A (35%)
  • Product B (30%)
  • Product C (25%)
  • None of these (8%)
  • Test response (2%)

Hidden modalities:

  • "Test response" (data quality issue)

Result: Valid product preference distribution for decision-making.

Apply to all reporting configurations​

When you make changes to modality names or visibility, changes are propagated across all reporting configurations. This ensures consistency across different analysis views and saves time when managing multiple dashboards.

Why apply to all configurations​

  • Consistency: Ensure the same modality labels and visibility rules across all reports
  • Efficiency: Make changes once instead of updating each configuration individually
  • Standardization: Maintain uniform reporting standards across teams and projects
  • Error reduction: Avoid discrepancies between different configuration views

What gets applied​

When you choose to apply changes to all configurations, the following are propagated:

  • Renamed modalities: New labels appear in all configurations
  • Hidden modalities: Modalities hidden in one configuration are hidden in all
  • Shown modalities: Modalities made visible are restored in all configurations

Example workflow​

Scenario: You've conducted a customer satisfaction survey and need to standardize modality labels across all reporting configurations.

  1. Initial state: You have 5 reporting configurations (Monthly, Quarterly, Executive, Team A, Team B), each showing modalities like "1 - Strongly disagree," "2 - Disagree," etc.

  2. Make changes: Open the modality management dialog and rename:

    • "1 - Strongly disagree" → "Strongly disagree"
    • "2 - Disagree" → "Disagree"
    • "3 - Neutral" → "Neutral"
    • "4 - Agree" → "Agree"
    • "5 - Strongly agree" → "Strongly agree"

  3. Hide irrelevant data: Hide "Test response" modality (used during survey testing)

  4. Result: All 5 configurations now show clean labels without numeric prefixes, and test responses are hidden in every dashboard

This ensures that whether you're viewing the Monthly report or the Executive summary, the data presentation is consistent and professional.

Tips and recommendations​

General best practices​

  • Document naming conventions: Maintain a style guide for modality labels to ensure consistency
  • Consider stakeholders: Think about how different audiences will interpret renamed or hidden modalities
  • Preserve data integrity: Remember that these are display-only changes; raw data remains unchanged

Common pitfalls to avoid​

  • Over-simplifying: Don't rename modalities to the point where meaning is lost
  • Hiding too much: Avoid hiding so many modalities that the remaining data loses context
  • Inconsistent standards: Mixing different naming conventions across similar questions
  • Forgetting context: Not considering how labels appear in different chart types (bar, pie, table)

Workflow recommendations​

  1. Validate visualizations: Check how renamed/hidden modalities appear in different chart types
  2. Document changes: Keep a change log of modality management actions for future reference

By effectively managing modalities through renaming, hiding, and global application, you can create cleaner, more professional reports that focus on relevant data and use consistent terminology across all your survey analysis dashboards.