Question pipes provide a means to transfer answer data automatically from a question to another element (i.e., a question or a presentation element) or to a report. Novi Survey supports two distinct types of pipes: substitution pipes and generation pipes.

Substitution pipes transfer part or all of the response to a question to another question, to a presentation element, or to a report. The purpose of substitution pipes is to show (i.e., repeat) the choice or data entered by the participant in another page of the survey or in a report. Substitution pipes are generally not appropriate for list reduction applications and generation pipes should be used instead.

Generation pipes are used to generate question elements automatically based on answers to one or more prior questions. One common use of generation pipes is for managing a list reduction work flow. In a list reduction work flow participants are asked to progressively narrow a set of choices. Generation pipes are used in this context  as a means to transfer the options selected in prior question to subsequent questions.