Allowing Participants to Skip Questions

Last updated: June 26, 2026

By default, Outset's AI moderator will continue probing when a participant does not answer a question or provides an incomplete response. This helps ensure researchers collect sufficient context and detail.

In some cases, however, you may want participants to have the option to skip a question entirely. Outset allows you to make both Screener and Guide questions optional, giving participants the flexibility to move on without providing a response.

This can be particularly useful for sensitive topics, questions participants may not know the answer to, or situations where reducing participant friction can improve completion rates and overall interview experience.

Make a Question Optional

You can enable skipping on a question-by-question basis.

For Screener Questions

  1. Open your Screener.

  2. Select the question you want to make optional.

  3. Under Screener Settings, toggle Optional to On.

For Guide Questions

  1. Open your Interview Guide.

  2. Select the question you want to make optional.

  3. Under Question Settings, toggle Optional to On.

Once enabled, participants will see a Skip button when answering that question.

Note: Consent questions cannot be made optional.

Participant Experience

When a question is marked as optional, participants can choose to answer it or click Skip.

If they choose to skip:

  1. They are not required to provide a response.

  2. The AI moderator immediately moves to the next question.

  3. No confirmation step is required.

Participants can also skip during AI-generated follow-up probing. For example, if a participant begins answering an optional question and the AI asks follow-up questions, the participant can still choose to skip and continue to the next question.

Once a participant skips a question and moves on, they cannot return to answer it later.

This behavior is available across all participant interview experiences.

How Skipped Questions Appear in Results

Skipping is treated as a first-class participant action throughout Outset.

You can identify skipped questions in several places:

Results Table

Skipped responses are displayed as:

(Skipped)

CSV Exports

Skipped questions appear as empty values in exported CSV files.

Interview Transcripts

Transcripts include a system-generated entry:

"Participant skipped this question"

This makes it easy to distinguish between a participant intentionally skipping a question and a missing response.

Reporting and Analysis

Skipped questions are treated as if no response was provided.

As a result:

  1. They do not contribute content to summaries, themes, or AI-generated insights.

  2. They do not affect analysis of participant responses.

  3. The question is simply treated as having no answer.

Common Use Cases

Researchers often make questions optional when:

  1. Asking for sensitive or personal information.

  2. Participants may not know the answer.

  3. The question is useful but not essential to the research objective.

  4. Reducing interview abandonment is a priority.

  5. Improving participant comfort and overall interview experience.

Giving participants the ability to skip selected questions can help maintain engagement while still collecting valuable feedback throughout the rest of the interview.

Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please reach out to our team at support@outset.ai or via chat.