Embedded Data collects information that you can reuse in questions, Survey Flow logic, and reports. 

In this article:

• Fields and Values
• Assigning Values
• Variable Types

Fields and Values

You can capture Embedded Data from multiple sources and store millions of data bits called values. To keep all of this organized, Embedded Data values are saved in fields.

Field names describe related variables (Gender, School, Degree, Title, Color). For example, a field named “State” can have multiple values like “Massachusetts,” “California,” and “Texas.”

To set up an Embedded Data element:

1. Open your Survey Flow.
2. Click Add a New Element Here.
3. Click Embedded Data.
4. Type a descriptive Field Name into the first text box in the element.
5. Click Set a Value Now to assign a value to respondents as they take the survey.
6. To assign additional fields and values, click Add a New Field and repeat the process.

Assigning Values

Use Branches and Conditional Statements to operationalize specific Embedded Data values in your Branch Logic. For example, if you have an age question, you can redirect respondents to blocks of questions or of survey elements corresponding with their age demographic.

Notice in this image that the green Set Embedded Data element converts respondent answers into stored values that can be used later. In this case, the Embedded Data Field named, AgeGroup, now stores the age value of the respondents.

Embedded Data Variable Types

Embedded Data Variable Types tell Qualtrics how to interpret an Embedded Datafield when creating a report. For example, setting the field type “Number” will allow you to create reports that calculate the mean, median, and other summary statistics. Setting the field type to “Number Set” would allow you to create summary statistics and create a pie chart showing the different values for that field. To change the embedded data variable type:

1. Click on Options on the lower-right corner of your Embedded Data element.
   
2. Choose a variable type from the dropdown.
   
3. Click OK.

Below is a short description of the most common variable types:

• Text Set: Discrete values containing letters, numbers, or special characters. Only one value can be assigned for a Text Set variable at a time.
• Number: This is an continuous variable type. Values must be in numeric format, and reports will show a statistical summary of values that includes mean, median, and standard deviation.
• Number Set: This is a ordinal variable. Values must be in numeric format and can be used as discrete values to find counts or perform Breakouts.
• Text: The default variable type. This kind of variable is compatible with text-specific reporting visualizations, such as Paginated Tables and Word Clouds.
• Date: When values are recorded in YYYY-M-D format, this variable type allows you to access special filters based on timeframe.