Data types

A data type defines what values or possible set of values exist in a column.

Primitive data types

Primitive data types describe the basic data available in a column.

Data type	Description
boolean	A value that is either `true` or `false`.
number	A numeric value.
string	A unicode string of any length.
date	A date specified by year, month, and day only (for example, `2016-12-07`).
instant	A UTC timestamp (for example, `2016-12-07T23:49:06Z`).
id	A unique ID that references a value in a column.

Custom data types

Custom data types typically define the values for Single or Multiple Choice question types.

Constructor Description

identifier

Determines a member's unique identifier. Possible data type values are represented as either string or number.

enum

Allows for one value from a list of possible values that are the same type. The values themselves are represented by the string data type.

For example, a survey contains the following Single Choice question:

Do you rent or own your home?
Rent Own

In the example above, the values could be either rent or own but not both.

set

Allows for multiple values from a list of possible values. Duplicate answer IDs are not allowed, and the order of the IDs is not important.

For example, your survey contains the following Multiple Choice question:

Which social media platforms do you use? (Select all that apply)
Facebook Twitter Instagram GooglePlus YouTube

In the example above, the set value could be any combination of all of the values in the list.

Note: An empty set is a possible value for any set type. You may see an empty set when a participant does not answer a Multiple Choice Grid question because it does not apply to them. For more information see, Missing, null, or empty values in records.