diff --git a/onadata/libs/renderers/renderers.py b/onadata/libs/renderers/renderers.py
index f1e9c06210..8f660c8951 100644
--- a/onadata/libs/renderers/renderers.py
+++ b/onadata/libs/renderers/renderers.py
@@ -365,6 +365,9 @@ def render(self, data, accepted_media_type=None, renderer_context=None):
         if data is None:
             return ""
 
+        if not isinstance(data, list):
+            return data
+
         stream = StringIO()
 
         xml = SimplerXMLGenerator(stream, self.charset)