Documentation, Design, and Different Question Types

Question Types
CAPI Designer	Manager
Dummy	Dummy
Select One	Select One
Select All	Select All
Text Entry	Text Entry
Numeric Entry	Numeric Entry
Date Entry	Date Entry
Time Entry	Time Entry
Internal Function	Functions
	*Evaluate Expression
Roster Pick One Entry
Roster Pick All Entry
Roster Edit Line	*Roster Edit
Roster Add Line
Roster Delete Line
Slider Entry
Matrix Entry
	*Multiple Fields
	*Special Codes

Design and Documentation in One Phase

In addition in the Manager, question records in the Design phase and the Documentation phase were treated as two separate question types. There was a design question type for the design phase and a documentation question type for the documentation phase. Often they were the same question type, but in some instances, a design question type was used in the survey, and a different documentation type was used in the codebook. Thus, it was possible, and frequently happened, that a question was collected in the survey as a Function question yet documented as a Select One with a pick list. This is no longer the case.

In the CAPI Designer, one question type serves both the design phase and documentation phase. Whatever the question type that is used in the survey to collect the datum, is now the same one used for documentation in the codebook.

When converting a Manager instrument to a CAPI Designer instrument, one must consider the differences in question types and one must choose a single question type from possibly two previous ones. This reduction in question types led to the need for establishing a criterion in order to choose a single question type. The criterion became: "whether the instrument was used by the codebook program for the Investigator". If the instrument was used by the codebook program for the Investigator, then the question type chosen for conversion was the documentation question type, and the design question type was ignored. Otherwise, the question type chosen for conversion was the design question type, and the documentation question type was ignored.

Any converted instrument will probably NOT work after initial conversion in the survey program. Some record cleanup will be necessary due to the above mentioned question types issues, the six new Roster question types, and the following nuances in how Select All, Date, and Matrix question types are documented.

Select All, Date, and Matix question types will have multiple documentation records in the Designer, unlike in the Manager which had only one documentation record per question record, no matter what.

This means each element of a date: the day, month, and year (or just month and year if masked that way) will now have their own documentation records and thus can have their own security settings __??, long titles (formerly "kwic titles"), etc. The same documentation procedure applies for each element of a Select All -- each has it's own documentation record based on the pick list selected for that question type. Thus, a Select All with the pick list (1=Columbus, 2=Cincinnati, 3=Cleveland) will have 3 doc records, one for each of the picks. A Matrix question will have a pick list for the rows (questions) and a pick list for the columns (responses); each row will be documented as a question with the column categories as responses.

Multiple Fields

FIELDS=(%1stname1%=char=20="First name:",%midname1%=char=20="Middle name:", %lastname1%=char=20="Last name:", %stradr101%=char=32="Street address line 1:", %stradr102%=char=32="Street address line 2:", %city1%=char=32="City:", %state1%=LOC-STATE2=32="State:",%zip1%=char=13="Zip code:", %county1%=char=32="County:", %country1%=LOC-CNTRY=32="Country:")

This syntax was parsed out at run time and used to display multiple boxes on the screen.

The question type has been replaced by linking contiguous question records together so that they can be displayed on a single CAPI survey screen. By using fields in the contiguous records, a series of multiple questions may appear on-screen as one question with multiple input fields. Simply put, the first question record's text is displayed, subsequent question's texts are suppressed and replaced by the contents of a special 'prompt' field, and finally the last question in the series is identified by a checkbox that tells the parsing program to end the 'illusion' of a single question and return to the default of one question per screen. For a detailed explanation, see the Display Qtext and the End Display checkboxes and the the Prompt field. In this manner, each element in the series is created as a separate question and remains a separate question with its own documentation record.

Select One -- Record Verbatim

Now, this special option is designed to be two separate questions flagged to appear on one screen with the Display Qtext and the End Display checkboxes and the the Prompt __?? field.