You may have seen certain questions more frequently than others and wondered why that happens. They are probably backstop questions.
The poll unit loads news/pop culture questions first, followed by one or two value questions, and then a profile question. If a question is pinned to the page, it is loaded first. If there is no pinned question, an engagement question from a feed is served first.
If a respondent stays on the page answering questions repeatedly, they may reach the end of the available news/pop culture questions. A backstop news/pop culture question will be asked in that case. (Backstop questions are news/pop culture questions; they're simply lower priority than others.) If there are no backstop questions either, a value question is served.
Backstop questions can be re-asked at varying intervals from 0 to 30 days.
Examples of backstop questions include:
- How are you feeling today?
- Do you subscribe to a print newspaper?
- Would you say you've seen something you deem to be 'fake news' / 'fake media' this week?