Blocks and compounds are used to group questions simply for presentation or organizational purposes. Unlike grids and loops, blocks and compounds do not define a hierarchy in the case data, although they do appear as expandable items in the Variables pane.
A block is used to group a list of questions. For example, a block called Demographics might be used to group the demographic questions in a questionnaire. Three blocks (Respondent, DataCollection, DataCleaning) are used to group the system variables.
A compound is used to group a number of questions that share a category list. Compounds are typically used in paper questionnaires. Here is an example:
You can see the variables that are nested inside a block or compound by clicking to expand it in the Variables pane. You can use the variables inside a block or compound in your tables in the normal way.