vLookup not working as expected

Question

Now my formula for this may be wrong, but I am trying to collect data in google docs based on a sheet which contains responses from a google sheets survey.

The link to the google spreadsheet is here.

The first sheet of the document contains the responses. There are four columns, the first being time, the second being name, the third being which size of sweatshirt, and the fourth being which type (crew/hoodie).

The second sheet contains the formulas I am having problems with. I have all the names already listed (those are the only people who will be able to order a sweatshirt) and I want to correlate the name with the type of sweatshirt they are getting. I know this data seems repetitive from the first sheet, but just ignore that if you would.

The formula that I am using currently is =VLOOKUP(A2,'Form Responses 1'!B$2:D,3) where A2 is the name of the person, Form Responses B$2:D refers to the first sheet, and 3 being the column where the Hoodle/Crew information is stored.

The function is not returning correct values for all of the names. Some names which do appear on sheet 1 are showing up as having nothing and even some names are showing the wrong type (crew instead of hoodie).

Can anyone see a problem in my vLookup formula? Sorry if its a simple mistake, I just cant seem to identify the problem.

Thanks!

Answer 1

VLOOKUP can take up to 4 parameters, with the 4th being the match type.

By default, the match type is TRUE (or 1) meaning 'approximate' match. This is what is messing up your results.

You need to specify the match type of FALSE (or 0) for the formula to perform exact matches:

=VLOOKUP(A2,'Form Responses 1'!B$2:D,3,0)

Or,

=VLOOKUP(A2,'Form Responses 1'!B$2:D,3,FALSE)