CAPI Designer Modes

The CAPI Designer can be switched between two modes during the input process. The first mode is the Input mode, in which the designer constructs the elements of each question by selecting type and filling in the blanks. The second mode, the Preview/Summary mode, is one in which the designer can "preview" the finished question as it will appear in the Survey program and review the non-displayed fields.

The Preview/Summary mode enables the designer to pre-view the question in its 'finished display' as the interviewer would see it and, thereby, foresee any display problems. This mode also summarizes all the 'hidden' (or non-displayed) properties of the question in a summary table so that the designer can double check the question's Properties and their corresponding Values such as Language of the question, the responses Mask, the defaults Next quetion and conditional Jumps, symbols, comments, etc. The designer may not edit Values in Summary mode. However, by clicking on the summary table in Summary mode, the software automatically changes to input mode so that editing can take place.

The CAPI Designer indicates which mode is being used by displaying either a red "I" or "S" in the tool bar. To switch from one mode to the other, click on the "I" or "S" in the tool bar to switch to the opposite mode. The CAPI Designer will remain in the selected mode until the survey designer changes the mode explicitly.

Clicking on the summary table will also switch to input mode -- this assumes the user would like to "edit" the input data. Currently, the user must double-click any place in the summary table, but depending on the feedback from the testers, this may change to a single-click.

If the CAPI Designer cannot preview a question, an error message to the effect: "Error Generating Preview" will appear in the Preview box (upper half) on the screen . Previews are done on a question-by-question basis (in real time), so when an error message appear, it indicates that the program failed to generate a preview for "that particular question" due to syntax errors, range errors, and incorrect formats (such as the mask). There may be a high probability of failure on converted instruments, so pay close attention to the Preview/Summary mode after an instrument is first converted.

Input mode

This mode is used by the survey designer to select the question type and input the elements of the corresponding question record, thereby creating the survey's logic and assigning values to the question's properties.

Preview/Summary mode

 This mode is used by the survey designer to preview the question as the interviewer would see it. The previewed question appears in the upper half of the screen. With this feature the designer can foresee display problems and correct them before the survey is in the field. At the same time, in the bottom half of the screen, this mode presents a summary table of non-displayed properties of the question so that the designer can double check all the properties used and their values such as conditional Jumps.