Is it a good/acceptable practice to combine checkboxes with radio buttons for one question?

Question

I work on a form, in which there are questions allowing either multiple choices or selecting just one. An example:

Which of the sweeties do you like:

• [ ] chocolate
• [ ] lollipops
• [ ] cookies
• ( ) none

In the above, [ ] represent checkboxes and ( ) represents radiobuttons. User can select multiple sweeties, but upon selecting "none" all the checkbox fields should be cleared, and vice versa: when "none" is selected, selecting any of the checkboxes should clear the radio in "none".

From UX perspective, is it ok to follow this way?

Edit:

Just to clarify: "None" does not mean "none of the above". Instead, it means that user does not like sweeties at all. In other words: the options included as checkboxes are just a subset of all possible sweeties. User can choose one/multiple of the sweeties or select "none". One conclusion is that the form does not cover a situation when user likes other sweeties than the ones listed as options, so definitely the form should also include "Other, please specify:" field as well.

Edit:

Ha! After 2 years I found it here:

So at least I am not alone in my belief that this is the right way to do it.

Answer 1

There should never be just one radio button, as it breaks the user's expectations on how they work. Radio buttons are meant to allow selection of one and only one item from a set of several radio buttons.

If you really want to use radio buttons, you could either go with this approach:

() I like the following sweeties:
  [] chocolate
  [] lollipops
  [] cookies
() I don't like sweeties.

Or you can change the "none" radio button to a "clear selections" button.

Answer 2

The current option of check boxes and radio button in that layout is not a good choice. It looks confusing. There are a few ways you can handle this:

• Split it into two questions: 1. Do you like sweeties? and if yes, then 2. What kind of sweeties do you like? If no, then move on to the next question.

• Turn it into a dynamic/interactive question.

Do you like sweeties?

( ) Yes

( ) No

When the user clicks on Yes, you can have an accordion reveal or just pop down the subsequent options.

...

Do you like sweeties?

( ) Yes

...[ ] chocolate

...[ ] lollipops

...[ ] cookies

( ) No

Answer 3

Ask yourself if the none option is really needed. Without it a user simply checks the sweeties he/she likes, or check none. To clear he/she unchecks them.

The wording could be Please check the sweeties you like.

A good thing of this solution is that it works also when javascript is disabled.

Answer 4

Trying some lateral thinking here, you say that "none" in your case really means "none of the above, and no others either". If so, couldn't you just invert the logic, getting rid of the "none" option and replacing with a checkbox labelled "other" (or even "other, please specify:", with a text field for free-form entry), like this:

Which sweeties do you like?
    [ ] chocolate
    [ ] lollipops
    [ ] cookies
    [ ] other: ____________________

Answer 5

All the other answers are suggesting you shouldn't do this. I have a counter-argument:

I have been a member in five different survey companies: one worldwide, three Nordic/Scandinavic and one local. Almost every single one of the surveys contains this kind of questions, a mix of checkboxes and radio buttons.

For example, advertising is one of the most popular topics in surveys, and the questions would be like this:

In last month, have you seen advertising for following brands?

• [] Brand 1

• [] Brand 2
  ...

• [] Brand 20

• () None of the above
• () Don't want to answer

In general, None of the above, Don't want to answer, Not applicable, Don't know, are the most common radio button additions in all kinds of checkbox question sets.

In comparison to opening the actual question set (as per rk):

• If you see yes/no, you might not remember any specific brand, it's an open-ended question without suggestions, so you'll get a greater percentage of no clicks then you would otherwise.
• If you see the brand name, it might remind you that you indeed saw an ad from that company.

If this style is confusing, I doubt it would be so widely adopted.

Answer 6

Having no checkboxes checked does not convey information - you can't tell whether the user simply missed the question entirely or not. If you must have an answer, then the two level approach (2 radio buttons, with checkboxes under one of them) is the only thing that will work.

Also, you can have only one radio button, it is just that it is irrevocable, which is exactly what you want in some cases! For example: click here if you read this notice. ( )" (They can't un-read it.)