Questionnaire Components
Variable names
A variable name (an identifier) must be assigned to every question, calculated variable, and roster in Survey Solutions. Additionally it must also be assigned to the whole questionnaire, and may be assigned to sections and subsections. Variable names are used for: referring to questions in the C# syntax expressions; naming the data columns in the export data files; referring to the origin of event in paradata events, errors and comments files.
October 6, 2022Special Section: Cover Page
Every questionnaire in Survey Solutions shall have a special section called ‘Cover’ or it’s equivalent in the translation. The cover page may contain some of the information that is present on an actual cover page of a paper prototype (if it exists) and may also contain other information. The objective of the cover page is to include identifying information that helps distinguish one interview from another; helps the field staff reach the respondent.
July 20, 2020Tabular presentation of rosters
Questionnaires of surveys administered in CAWI mode (web interviews) may include rosters that will be presented in table mode for compact overview of the information being collected, so that the questions become columns in the table and persons (or other roster items) form the rows of the table. Here is an example: Rosters can be presented in tabular view only in CAWI mode and not on the tablet, must satisfy some design requirements and will have some functionality limitations.
June 3, 2019Question bank
Description The question bank allows users to search for questions in the question bank and, with a click, add them to their questionnaire. To do this, Click on SEARCH FOR QUESTION to open the question bank window Search the question bank via filters and/or full-text search Click on ADD to copy the selected question–as well as any associated enablement, validation, or filter conditions–from the question bank The question bank consists of all questions found in any public questionnaire.
February 5, 2019Classifications library
Description The classification library allows users to draw from a library of public and/or private classifications (answer options). More than a convenience feature, the classification library aids with standardization of classifications–that is, alignment with intenational best practices and/or consistency with internal practices. How to search classifications From within the question design pane Click on SEARCH FOR CLASSIFICATIONS to open the classification library window Search classifications using the group filter, search field, and/or classification preview The group filter restricts search to the thematic group of interest.
February 5, 2019Questionnaire hyperlinks
Survey Solutions questionnaires may include hyperlinks to permit the interviewer to jump to a particular question or section in the questionnaire. A typical use of the hyperlinks is in the error messages to allow the interviewer to jump to an earlier question in the questionnaire, the answer to which may conflict with the current question being validated. For example, when we validate the age versus the date of birth. Hence the error message may be something like “Error!
January 14, 2019Plain mode roster
A plain mode roster is a presentation of the roster without buttons leading to a deeper level, but rather showing all the roster questions repeated in the same scrollable area. This is especially convenient when there are only a handful of questions in the roster, such as price-quantity-unit for many items, and going behind the button and back is very time consuming for the interviewers. In the example below a roster of expenditures on utilities containing questions on the amount and frequency for each utility consumed is presented in plain mode.
January 14, 2019Questionnaire variable
Questionnaire variable field is a new mandatory field for questionnaires in Designer. Previously, the Questionnaire name field dictated the name of both the questionnaire and its main export file. Now, the questionnaires have two fields in Designer: the Questionnaire name field is a human-readable name that can contain any characters you wish, in any language, and can be rather large. The Questionnaire variable field is an identifier that will be utilized by Survey Solutions during export of the data for naming the main data file and should follow the same rules as applied to variable names and roster names.
October 19, 2018Rosters
Roster concept A roster is a group of questions and subsections that are repeated for a collection of similar items. The collection can be contained within that roster (Fixed roster) or it can be derived from a different question in the same questionnaire (numeric, list, or multi-select question), which is called a trigger-question. The type of the trigger question defines the type of the roster. When we say ’numeric roster’ we mean in fact ‘roster triggered by a numeric question’.
June 21, 2016Static Text
Description A stat ic-text is not a question but a text that can also be accompanied by a photo. A static-text cannot be modified by the enumerator, and is not intended to capture data but to communicate information to the enumerator or the interviewee. The text can be comprised of alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), basic punctuation symbols and spaces. You may also use text substitution to reference questions and user-defined or system-defined variables in the text.
June 21, 2016