How counting and screening work.
This is the article to read before you trust the numbers. Cells built from questions and cells built from tags count by different rules.
Two kinds of cell
Question cells (an interlocked grid built from Q1, Q2, Q3) are counted with new counters created for that quota. They count only responses arriving on the plan's own channels, only while Quota enforcement is on, and only from the moment the quota is saved. They reset when you create a new plan.
Tag rows in a separate quota (a variable built from existing tags: markets, family segments) read the survey's live tag counts. They count matching responses from every channel in the survey, whether or not it is in the plan, they keep counting while enforcement is off, and they include responses collected before the quota existed. They are the same in every plan and do not reset. A tag variable used inside an interlocked grid is different: its combination cells get new counters and follow the question-cell rules above.
In short: use question variables when the count should belong to this plan's channels, and tag variables when you want a survey-wide number, such as an overall market cap.
Three rules worth memorising
- Leave enforcement on for the whole field. Switching it off pauses question-cell counting, and responses collected during the gap can never be counted in afterwards.
- To count without screening, keep enforcement on and leave targets empty. Empty cells never screen anyone. Clear all targets (in the quota card menu) does this in one click.
- New quotas start from now. Question cells cannot see responses collected before they were saved. Glow warns you when this applies.
How screening decides
- Across quotas: a respondent must pass every quota in the plan, so each quota you add can only screen out more people.
- Within one quota: a respondent who matches several cells gets in if any one has room, and every cell they matched counts, which is how a cell can pass its target and turn amber.
Screened respondents are shown a closing page mid-survey and are recorded on the channel card as over-quota. They are not counted as responses, and they do not add to any quota counts.
Read next: Interlocked and separate quotas. Setting targets in the grid.