A survey asked me how many kids I have
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (43074)
Staten Island, New York
September 21, 2020 6:06pm CST
I was trying to do a survey just now and they asked me a question that went something like this:
Do you have any kids? If so, how many do you have?
The options were 1, 2, and 3 or more. There was no option that said 0, none, no kids, or the like. I have no kids so none of the available options fit.
I didn't select anything and clicked to proceed further into the survey. That didn't work and I was brought back to the same page where I was asked to select an answer. I tried again without selecting anything and was booted out of the survey. Whoever created this survey clearly didn't look it over. If an answer is required for a question all the options should be available.
19 people like this
18 responses
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
Sounds like you wanted to tell me something but then changed your mind. 
1 person likes this
@JimBo452020 (42629)
• United Kingdom
22 Sep 20
@lovebuglena
Well not really.
I was going to say that would it have made a difference if you had said you had children.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Sep 20
@JimBo452020 If I had selected one of the choices I'd have proceeded further into the survey but doesn't mean I would've been able to finish it.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
24 Sep 20
@lovebuglena Sure they do help. Just not my kind of thing.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
25 Sep 20
@toniganzon Sometimes surveys can be annoying. Or frustrating when you get kicked out in the middle (or toward the end) of them.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I didn't do them before but for the past number of years I do because it's extra income. Not a lot but every little bit helps.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (57636)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
21 Sep 20
That seems to be a standard question many of them have. They are looking for certian demegraphics for serveys, so they ask the same questions over and over again. You're right though, usually there's a 0 or "none" option. So, whoever creaed it didn't know what they ere doing. It's good you got booted. If they aren't going to pay attention on how they write them, it's not worth your time or energy.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
21 Sep 20
Exactly. And I didn't wanna select 1 if I don't have any just to proceed further into the survey, with no guarantee of completion.
@kaylachan (57636)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
21 Sep 20
@lovebuglena ...and of course the servey won't allow you to move forward. I imagine that's a bug or trick question. Occassionally, when I do one of hose, I'll get a trick question designed to ensure I'm actually paying attention and not selecting random stuff. Maybe they waned you to select a particular answer, even if it wasn't the "right" answer. Who knows.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
21 Sep 20
@kaylachan I've had those but in that case it tells you to ignore the question asked and just select whatever they tell you to select. This was not one of these.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
You know, maybe this survey was only for those with kids. But even if it was, the first question should have been "do you have any kids?" with a yes/no options. If someone answered "yes" it should have proceeded further to ask how many or give some options to choose from. If someone answered "no" they should have kicked the person out of the survey.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458008)
• Switzerland
23 Sep 20
@lovebuglena If they only wanted people with kids, they should have stated even before starting asking questions. Some programmers really do not know how to do things.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Sep 20
@LadyDuck They should've done that.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
21 Sep 20
I didn't wanna pretend I got a kid just to proceed further. 
Sometimes you can get booted out in the middle of a survey or even towards the end. Both happened to me.
Sometimes you can get booted out in the middle of a survey or even towards the end. Both happened to me.1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
21 Sep 20
If there was an error this early one I bet there were other errors as you got further into the survey.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156080)
• United States
22 Sep 20
That happens occasionally when the survey writer doesn't put in all options. Sorry it happened to you.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
Makes me wonder how the rest of the survey is gonna be. People are supposed to double check or even triple check to make sure everything is the way it should be.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
25 Sep 20
@LindaOHio 
That's crazy.
That's crazy.1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156080)
• United States
24 Sep 20
@lovebuglena Sometimes they will ask if I have a smartphone, I answer "no"; and then they start asking smartphone questions.
@RebeccasFarm (86757)
• United States
21 Sep 20
It seems to me that if you had been dishonest, they would have been just fine with it and not booted you out.
@RebeccasFarm (86757)
• United States
22 Sep 20
@lovebuglena Oh yes I know what you mean Lena
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
21 Sep 20
Maybe but I didn't wanna do that. And there is never a guarantee that you will be able to finish a survey without getting disqualified when you start one.
1 person likes this
@rakski (112925)
• Philippines
22 Sep 20
@lovebuglena oh yes that is true. Annoying
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I hate when the question requires an answer to proceed further but not all the options are available.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325759)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Sep 20
I've come across this too. Or you say you have no mobile phone and they carry on with questions about mobiles.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
Or you say you don't work but they keep asking you questions about the company you work for...
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (85274)
• Bangalore, India
22 Sep 20
I have faced a similar situation in one of the surveys. It was not about kids but about a disease. I had none in the list and there was no none or others in the list.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I vaguely remember facing this as well. I would never select that I have something when I don't.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Sep 20
Bad quality control. They should've double checked everything before uploading the survey.
@florelway (23135)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
26 Sep 20
i have encountered that several times when the option applicable to me is not among the choices.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
27 Sep 20
I was trying a survey a few days ago. It asked me where I work. I currently don't. I selected I don't work option. But then the next questions that followed were about me working. How many employees in the company, what my position is there, etc.
1 person likes this
@florelway (23135)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
28 Sep 20
@lovebuglena I surmise that maybe there are instance that they let you fill in a box not applicable to you but because it's the answer they need.
1 person likes this
@jvicentevalera (13671)
• Santiago, Chile
22 Sep 20
I am on a survey site and they ask the same, but there's always the "none" when they ask me if I have children.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I was surprised when I didn't see "none" or 0 or "have no kids" as answer option. I even scrolled down further thinking maybe that is available somewhere toward the end of the page. Nothing was there. Would have been great if I could just skip this answer and continue but didn't allow me to do that.
1 person likes this
@jvicentevalera (13671)
• Santiago, Chile
23 Sep 20
@lovebuglena yeah I dare to say all surveys don't allow you to go forward if the question isn't answered. In my opinion if it happens again, you can screenshot the screen and send an email to the website so they can follow up next time.
1 person likes this
@Roviansyah (257)
• Indonesia
22 Sep 20
every time I take a survey I always say that I have 2 children. in fact i'm not married and don't have kids lol but the most important thing for me is to finish it
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I would never do that for this question. And if I did a survey that asked which illnesses I have I'd never select any if there was no option for "none" or "no illnesses."
1 person likes this
@Roviansyah (257)
• Indonesia
23 Sep 20
@lovebuglena yeah me too sometimes, but sometimes I just answer everything even though I don't have any disease
1 person likes this
@psanasangma (5884)
• India
22 Sep 20
Being a single and opting for none of this, disqualified the survey every time.. 
I think I am a honest participants
I think I am a honest participants @lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
Sometimes I know or have this feeling that if I choose a certain option I will get disqualified but I select it anyway as I am an honest person.
@moffittjc (118435)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Sep 20
You should have just answered that you have one child...your husband! lol
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
Sometimes it feels that way. You cook for him, clean up after him, wash his dirty clothes, etc... that's what mom's do for their kids.1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Sep 20
And the frustrating thing is that you can't continue in the survey until you select an answer.
@Lavanya15 (12888)
• Chennai, India
22 Sep 20
In surveys those questions are very common, also ask birth and gender too. If you fish to continue give any random answer and continue it, another wise skip it.
@lovebuglena (43074)
• Staten Island, New York
22 Sep 20
I could not skip that answer. Survey did not proceed further unless I selected something. And I didn't want to select any of the choices as I had no kids. And actually in most surveys (if not all of them) you can't proceed further in the survey until an answer is selected from a list or typed into the text box. They do not allow questions to be skipped.
