CHAPTER 6

Using The Survey Creator

The Survey Creator program is used to manage your questions in Surveys. It is used to facilitate all aspects of creating surveys and setting survey options. When the Survey Creator is used to create or open a Survey, additional survey parameters are available including; setting survey specific Options, setting Grid / Matrix style questions and defining Skip Patterns.

A Survey may be navigated one question at a time by clicking on the scroll bar arrows, using the Page Up and Page Down keys, or using the F7/F8 keys. The Previous - Question - Next scroll bar option allows one to move through the survey in large jumps by moving the scroll bar slider. The question number display updates as the slider is moved.

The Survey Creator is used to create Surveys directly without having to create a library of questions. The Survey Creator can even import questions from other Surveys to create new Surveys.

Run the SURVEY CREATOR to create a survey. When creating a new survey the "Create Survey" form requires a file name be entered. The file name must be a valid MS-DOS file name. Once the Survey has been created, use the Add button to enter new questions into the survey. The SURVEY CREATOR assigns a file extension of SDB to all surveys created. An example might be SERVICE.SDB for a service related survey. You only need to enter a valid DOS file name (8 characters maximum) preceded by optionally specifying the disk drive and path name.

Using Question Keywords
Question keywords are abbreviations or short summaries of questions which are used to recognize them at a glance. For the question "How did you select company XYZ?" the keywords might be "Select-How". Every question is required to have an associated keyword which facilitates question recognition for table, graph and printed reports. Question keywords are also very useful when viewing frequency, banner and cross table analysis. Question keywords may be up to 32 characters in length, but because of the limited space on the graphics screen, we recommend you keep keywords short and concise.

Creating a New Survey

Run the SURVEY CREATOR to create a new survey. There are three ways to create a survey. The following step by step instructions detail each method.

1st Method - Manual Question Entry

2nd Method - Merging Existing Questions

1st Method Create a new survey from the File menu and begin to Add each question directly into the survey.

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose New Survey from the File menu
3. Note: The Survey Title is entered later using the Edit - Options form
4. Type in valid MS-DOS file name up to 8 characters and click OK
5. Click on the Text option on the top menu bar and select Size desired
6. Click on the Align option on the top menu bar and select Alignment desired
7. Click on Edit and select Address to set the company address and click OK
8. Click on Add from the Survey Question Options box (bottom right)
9. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
10. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
11. Type the question into the large text box on top of form
12. Type answer labels in the answer text box if applicable
13. Type question keyword in small upper text box (Required)
14. Click on OK in the Add box
15. Repeat steps 8-14 for remaining questions

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose New Survey from the File menu
3. Note: The Survey Title is entered later using the Edit - Options form
4. Type in valid MS-DOS file name up to 8 characters and click OK
5. Click on the Text option on the top menu bar and select Size desired
6. Click on the Align option on the top menu bar and select Alignment desired
7. Click on Edit and select Address to set the company address and click OK
8. Click on the Merge menu bar and select either:
   · Merge Questions from a Survey
9. Select the file to be merged and click on OK

• Default Text Size - question text attributes are the same as the answers text
• Small Text Size - small font allowing more text for question Large Text Size - easier to read questions but less allowable text
• DOS Compatibility - allows centering of text as it will appear on the screen of the Survey Respondent using the mail diskette option with version 4.5 only Align Text Left - aligns text to the left in question text box
• Align Text Right - aligns text to the right in question text box
• Align Text Center - centers text in question text box

Developing And Maintaining Questions

To Add a Question To An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Add button on the (bottom right of Creator)
5. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
6. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
7. Type question in the large text box at top of screen
8. Type answer labels in the answer text box
9. Type question keyword in small upper text box
10. Click on OK in the Add box to confirm adding the question

To Insert a Question Into An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position, or
5. Slide scroll bar to question number for insertion point
6. Click on the Insert button on the (bottom right of Creator)
7. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
8. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
9. Type question in the large text box at top of screen
10. Type answer labels in the answer text box
11. Type question keyword in small upper text box
12. Click on OK in the Insert box (bottom right of Creator)

To Duplicate a Question In An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position, or
5. Slide scroll bar to the question that is to be duplicated
6. Click on Duplicate button on the (bottom right of Creator)
7. Notice the question will get added to the end of the file
8. Make the appropriate changes for the question
9. Click on OK in the Duplicate box to confirm duplication

To Modify a Question In An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position, or
5. Slide scroll bar to the question number to be modified
6. Click on the Modify button on the (bottom right of Creator)
7. Make the appropriate changes for the question
8. Click on OK in the Modify box to confirm changes made

To Clear a Question In An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on Previous - Question - Next scroll bar to position, or
5. Slide scroll bar to the question which is to be cleared
6. Click on the Clear button on the (bottom right of Creator)
7. Click on OK in the Clear box to confirm clearing text
   

To Delete a Question From An Existing Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the Survey to be opened and click OK
4. Click on Previous - Question - Next scroll bar to position, or
5. Slide scroll bar to the question which is to be deleted
6. Click on the Delete button on the (bottom right of Creator)
7. Click on OK in the Delete box to confirm question deletion

Printing a Survey Form

The main screen Print command allows questions in the survey to be output to a printer. Surveys can be printed by opening the appropriate survey file and selecting the Print Survey Option. Initial printer selection and setup is chosen under the File menu option Printer Selection. To print a survey form:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on File menu and select Print Questions or Print Survey
5. Choose the range of questions to print
6. Select Font Name and Size
7. Set margins by clicking on the scroll bars
8. Choose questions layout and any other options
9. Click on OK to print or Cancel to exit printing

Additional Information

1. The Print Range is initially set to all questions
2. The Font Name and Size can be set to any supported by your computer and printer
3. The margins may be set to accommodate paper with letterhead or borders
4. Paper size and orientation are the main settings on the MS-Windows Control Panel that affect the question report.
5. If your computer has the MonoType Sorts font loaded and the printer is capable of printing the font
6. Survey Said will print out shaded circles and squares for appropriate answer types on survey form.
7. The Question Report Status form displays the question number that is currently being formatted for printing. If Cancel Report is chosen all questions up to this point will be printed.

Export Questions to a File

Survey questions may be output to a file in text format. The questions may then be imported into other packages like word processors for specialized survey formatting. The questions may also be imported into other survey packages like telephone interviewing software for specialized applications. To export survey questions:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Pull down the File bar and click on Open
3. Select the desired survey to be exported and click on OK
4. Pull down the File bar and click on Export Questions
5. Set options
6. Click on OK

Finding a Question

The search facility allows questions to be located by keyword or by typing in a partial keyword or phrase. The question’s text, answer text and/or question’s keywords text can be searched, simply by checking the appropriate check boxes on the search form.

To search an existing Survey for a question:

1. Run the Survey program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Find
5. Type in keyword and click on Find
6. View the first question matched
7. Click on Find Next to locate any additional matches
8. Click on Done to complete the search
9. Choose the File bar and click on Close Survey

Setting Survey Address

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Address
5. Type in name and address changes

Setting Survey Titles

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Pull down the Edit bar and click on Title
5. Type in new title or make changes

Setting the Survey Options

The Edit Option feature allows the administrator to set or change survey options. Comments, Respondent ID and Categories are typically not changed once a survey has begun. The Kiosk timer allows a time out timer to be enabled. If enabled, the program resets the survey if no response is received within the duration specified. The duration can be set from 1 to 60 minutes. This feature is useful in cases where the respondent walks away from the survey without finishing. Any answered questions are discarded if the timer expires and resets the survey. A warning is issued if the timer expires and allows the respondent 15 seconds to acknowledge a request for additional time. The Kiosk Keyboard option presents a pseudo keyboard for open ended questions. This allows a respondent to answer open ended questions on a touch screen without having to type on a real keyboard. Skip patterns must be enabled in addition to being defined. See Creating Skip Patterns for more information. The Automatic Advance option if set to yes, automatically presents the next question on the screen once a single choice question is answered. This feature is very helpful for telephone type interviewing or data entry for printed surveys. Automatic Advance is not recommended for surveys where respondents are entering their answers directly using the Survey Respondent program.

The three options at the bottom of the form, allow for customization of the Survey Respondent program. These options are valid for the stand alone respondent, network respondent and mail diskette packages. The first check box allows the respondent to print a copy of the survey with their answers. The second check box allows the respondent to backup through the survey by clicking on the Previous Question command. The third check box allows the respondent to see which question they are answering and how many questions there are in the total survey.

Survey Access Code - Allows a password to be required to answer a survey when using the, Survey Respondent program (Network and Standalone Entry Station, the Mail Diskette or the Java Internet Respondent). For HTML surveys the access code is check during import processing, not after submission.

Survey Options Form

The three options at the bottom of the form, allow for customization of the Survey Respondent program. These options are valid for the stand alone, network and mail diskette packages. The first check box allows the respondent to print a copy of the survey with their answers. The second check box allows the respondent to backup through the survey by clicking on the Previous Question command. The third check box allows the respondent to see which question they are answering and how many questions there are in the total survey.

Editing The Survey Options:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Options
5. Set or change options as desired

Additional Information

1. Comments are implemented on a per survey basis. The comment feature allows a text area into which respondents’ comments can be recorded. Comments are not associated with a specific question. On a printed survey, the comments section appears at the very end of the survey. On an electronically presented survey, the Enter Comments command appears on the Survey Respondent screen. This command can be selected by the respondent at any time during the survey. 2. Respondent ID may be used in conjunction with or independent of categories. For example a main category might be city with a sub category of TV station and a Respondent ID of TV personality. The Respondent ID may also be, for example, a test subject in a product testing situation. While categories are predefined by the survey administrator, the Respondent ID is a free format text field input at the time the survey is answered.

Defining Survey Skip Patterns

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Skip Patterns
5. Select the question keyword in the "From Question" listbox
6. Select the response in the "From Answer" listbox
7. Select the go to question in the "To Question" listbox

Define Skip Patterns Screen

Additional Information

1. If a "skip to question" is left blank, the next question in the survey is displayed when answering the survey. Therefore it is not necessary to define a "skip to question" for every possible answer. It is only necessary to define a "skip to question" when the next question in the survey is not the question you want the respondent to answer based on how they answered the current question.

2. The "If not answered skip to" prompt can be set to it’s own question number. This forces the respondent to answer the question or the Survey Respondent program will not advance to the next question, the respondent receives a message that says Answer Required.

Defining Question Matrix Groups

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Define Matrix
5. Select the questions to be grouped together in a "Matrix"
6. Questions can be de-selected by clicking once highlighted

Define Matrix Screen

Additional Information

1. Matrix questions are grouped by highlighting a group of questions (keywords in the listbox). The first question in the group can be a Block Text type of question. When the HTML form is created it will span the width of the form. The questions that are grouped under it will become part of the Matrix.

2. A matrix of questions is separated by a question that is not part of a contiguous highlighted group or keywords in the listbox. If you need to logically separate blocks that would normally run together, you will need to insert a question in between the groups. An example might be something like:

That concludes part 1 of this survey. The next section regards your satisfaction with our services.

Reordering Questions in a File

The questions in a survey can be reordered. The reordering option is useful to group questions in a different fashion or to reclaim space in a survey where questions have been cleared. When a survey is reordered, it is locked for exclusive use. Other administrators will not be able to access the survey until the process is complete.

To reorder a question Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select Re-Order and then Re-Order Questions from top menu bar
4. Use the Pervious - Question - Next scroll bar to navigate to the
5. question that is to become the 1st question in the reordered file
6. Click on Add Question - which will place it into the listbox
7. This will become the 1st question in the reordered survey)
8. Select second survey question and repeat this process
9. Insert questions by:
   · Sliding scroll bar to the question to be inserted
   · Clicking on the question below the question to be inserted
   · Clicking on Insert Question
   
10. Delete questions by highlighting question and clicking on Delete Question
11. Click on ReOrder when question selection and order is completed

Merging Questions from Surveys

The Merge option allows questions to be "Copied" from one survey to another survey. To merge or "add" questions from one survey said file to another, simply open the survey that is to receive the "Merged" questions from another survey. The merged questions will be added to the end of the file already opened. If the original file should be left intact, then create a new survey that is to become a superset of questions by merging multiple surveys into the new survey. The questions in the new survey will be numbered in the order in which they are merged. By using the Merge Survey and the Reorder Survey features, custom surveys can be built and tailored to meet specific requirements. When a survey is Reordered, it is possible to eliminate questions by not selecting them (placing them in the Questions Selected listbox). If fewer questions are selected for reordering than are in the file, they will effectively be "trimmed" from the new file.

To Merge Survey Files:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open or Create, Survey
3. If open, Select survey to be opened
4. Click on the Merge menu bar and select either:
   · Merge Questions from a Survey
5. Select the file to be merged and click on OK
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all files are merged

Clone A Survey

The Clone survey feature allows the administrator to open an existing Survey Said survey and create a new one either "just like it" or to use a "subset of the existing questions" to create a new survey that is similar to it.

To Clone a Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Choose Open Survey from the File menu
3. Select Clone and then A New Survey using these Questions
4. Use the Pervious - Question - Next scroll bar to navigate to the
5. question that is to become the 1st question in the cloned survey
6. Click on Add Question - which will place it into the listbox
7. (This will become the 1st question in the cloned Survey.)
8. Select second survey question and repeat this process
9. Insert questions by:
   · Sliding scroll bar to the question to be inserted
   · Clicking on the question below the question to be inserted
   · Clicking on Insert Question
   
10. Delete questions by highlighting question and clicking on Delete Question
11. Click on Create when question selection and order is completed

Distribute (Network Entry, Standalone/Kiosk, Mail Diskette)

The Distribute option is used to move a survey from the administrator's survey directory, to the respondent's directory or to a diskette that can then be copied to a Standalone PC or a network file server where the PC LAN Respondent or Network Entry Station is installed. It can also be used to create a complete working Mail Diskette also known as "Survey by Diskette". The Distribute option always creates an unanswered copy of a survey. The resulting survey files are created in either the administrator specified directory or on diskette in drive A or B. Any associated BMP files are also transferred. For the Standalone option the survey administrator needs to copy the answered survey files to a diskette or backup device and bring them back to the PC that has the administrators copy of Survey Said on it. These files can be copied directly to the administrator's Survey Said directory, or, the data can be imported into a consolidation survey file if multiple Standalone PCs were collecting survey data. The Mail Diskette option requires the individual diskettes to be processed and imported by the Survey Analyzer program.

Generating a Distribution Survey:

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Select File and Open the survey to be distributed
3. Select Distribute and then the appropriate destination

Copy distribution files to the respondent's directory (Standalone Option)
The respondent’s directory name will vary depending on where the respondent software was installed. By default, the Standalone Respondent option is installed on drive C: and in a directory named SURVEYS. The Network Entry Station is installed on a Network Server drive in a directory also named SURVEYS by default.

1. Run the Survey Creator program
2. Select File and Open the survey to be distributed
3. Select Distribute and then Standalone / Kiosk -> Drive A or B

1. Run the File Manager or the Windows Explorer.
2. Locate the directory that contains the Survey Respondent software
3. Copy the survey files from the Survey Respondent directory to drive A or B
4. Insert the diskette into the administrator's PC and run the Survey Analyzer Program
5. Open the Survey on the administrator's PC that is to receive the answers contained on the diskette. This will typically be the original survey the administrator created.
6. Click on Import and select Import Survey Data. Select drive A or B, and select the appropriate survey. If the Surveys are compatible, a merge form will appear. Click on OK to merge. You could also select Import Mail Diskette A or B as well because they are Survey Said databases.

Mail Diskette (Optional Package)

Create Mail Diskette Survey

The Mail Diskette option allows surveys to be answered through the mail on a diskette and then returned for analysis. The Export Mail Disk A or B menu item provides the means for transferring a copy of the survey to a diskette. The Mail Disk A or B items are chosen based on the disk drive which is to receive the survey. If you have purchased the Mail Diskette option please refer to the Chapter - Using the Mail Diskette Option.

Internet (Optional Package)

Generate HTML and JAVA Survey

The Generate HTML Survey and the Generate JAVA Survey automatically generates the necessary files to administer either Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the standard Internet file format or JAVA survey file, the standard Internet programming language. If you have purchased either of these Internet Web options, please see the Chapter - Using the Internet Web Package.