This or That Question

When and Why to Use

Use this to ask binary forced-choice questions across multiple comparisons. It's ideal for:

Preference testing between paired items
Quick-fire brand or concept comparisons
Engaging users with fast-paced choice tasks

Supports randomization and media-based comparisons.

Chat Experience

Each pair appears as a row with two side-by-side buttons or tiles
Users select one item at a time

With images

Without images

Traditional Experience

All pairs displayed in grid format
Responsive to keyboard or remote selection
Layout adapts to show multiple pairs simultaneously

With images, mobile optimized

Without images

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Required	Default	Description
`question`	`string`	yes	-	The main prompt for the task
`row_options`	`List[List[str	MediaItem]]`	yes	-
`randomize`	`bool`	no	`False`	Shuffle the order of rows
`randomize_columns`	`bool`	no	`False`	Shuffle left/right order within each pair
`default`	`Dict[str, str]`	no	random choices	Default test responses per pair
`recodes`	`Dict[str, str]`	no	-	Map raw values to grouped outputs
`image`	`MediaItem`	no	-	Top-level image shown above the task
`image_label_field`	`str`	no	-	Label to show above any media items
`show_image_label`	`bool`	no	`True`	Whether to show labels on image tiles
`image_size`	`Tuple[int, int]`	no	-	Size of displayed images
`custom_validator`	`Callable[[Dict[str, str]], str	None]`	no	-
`tags`	s.tag()	no	-	Used for token substitution and reporting

Example Code

s.this_or_that_question( "Which of the following do you prefer?", row_options=[ ["Apples", "Oranges"], ["Coke", "Pepsi"], ["Dogs", "Cats"], ["Winter", "Summer"] ] )

With recodes:

s.this_or_that_question( "Which of the following do you prefer?", row_options=[["Netflix", "Disney+"], ["Prime", "Apple TV"]], recodes={ "Netflix": "streaming", "Disney+": "streaming", "Prime": "ecommerce", "Apple TV": "streaming" } )

With custom validator:

s.this_or_that_question( "Choose your favorite in each pair", row_options=[["Day", "Night"], ["Hot", "Cold"]], custom_validator=lambda d: "Please vary your responses" if len(set(d.values())) == 1 else None )

Notes

Each row_options entry must contain exactly two items
Randomizing column order helps reduce left/right bias
recodes simplify grouped reporting or segmentation
Use custom_validator to enforce answer patterns or detect straight-lining