Question Types
Unsupported question type
Description
If a question is of a type that is not compatible with the current interviewing mode (CAPI or CAWI), then the user will see the message “Unsupported question type” and will not be able to interact with that question (enter, clear, or modify the answer). This may appear on the screen like the following:
Any value that has been entered earlier is retained (for example, if a geography question was answered during a CAPI session, and then interviewing was switched to CAWI mode) and the question is considered answered or not answered accordingly.
August 4, 2022Overview: Categorical question types
| # | Selection | Presentation | Linked | Ordered | Cascading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | ||||||
| 1 | Single | radio-buttons | To select from a small number of categories, such as Yes/No/Don’t know, or Urban/Rural. | |||
| 2 | Single | combobox | To select from a large number of categories, such as favorite dish, or name of the village where the person was born. | |||
| 3 | Single | radio-buttons | linked | To select one of the values listed earlier, such as "Who is the head of the household?" | ||
| 4 | Single | combobox | linked | NOT IMPLEMENTED | ||
| 5 | Single | radio-buttons | cascading | To create cascading selections (implement a hierarchical choice), such as select a province, then select a district within that province, then a locality within that district. (when each level has a small number of choices given the earlier made selections) | ||
| 6 | Single | combobox | cascading | To create cascading selections (implement a hierarchical choice), such as select a province, then select a district within that province, then a locality within that district. (when some levels may have a large number of choices given the earlier made selections) | ||
| Multiple | ||||||
| 1 | Multiple | checkboxes | To capture spontaneous answers, such as "In which days of the week do you typically work?" (we expect the respondent to know the days of the week: Monday, Tuesday,..., and the interviewer doesn’t usually have to read the options) | |||
| 2 | Multiple | yes/no buttons | To capture answers where the list of items must be read and status of each item established, such as "Tell me please which durable assets do you own?" (we do not expect that the respondent clearly knows what we consider a 'durable asset', hence it is better to read-out: a refrigerator, a microwave, a dishwasher,...) | |||
| 3 | Multiple | combobox | To select multiple items from a large number of selections, such as for example: "Which crops do you cultivate at your plot?" (the universe of possible values is large, but the number of actual selections will be small, though there can be more than one crop). | |||
| 4 | Multiple | checkboxes | linked | To capture multiple selections of the items from an earlier compiled list, such as "Tell me please which members of the household attend any school currently?" (we choose from the list of the household members entered earlier) | ||
| 5 | Multiple | yes/no buttons | linked | NOT IMPLEMENTED | ||
| 6 | Multiple | combobox | linked | NOT IMPLEMENTED | ||
| 7 | Multiple | checkboxes | ordered | To capture spontaneous answers, such as in questions like "In which months do you make most of your profits? Name the months in order of profitability starting from the most profitable first." (we expect the respondent to know the months of the year: January, February,...) | ||
| 8 | Multiple | yes/no buttons | ordered | (Rare) NB: Only the positive selections are numbered as choices. Negative selections are not numbered and it is not evident from the answer in which sequence the negative answers were given in relation to the positive ones. To capture answers where the list of items must be read and both status and importance of each item established, such as "Tell me please which sources of water do you use? Indicate the most important sources of water first!" (can be used in CAWI surveys where the respondent will see all choices.) | ||
| 9 | Multiple | combobox | ordered | NOT IMPLEMENTED (NB: multiple-select combobox records answers in order of selection regardless of whether the 'ordered' option has been specified or not) | ||
| 10 | Multiple | checkboxes | linked | ordered | To capture multiple selections of the items from an earlier compiled list in order of some of their attribute, such as "Tell me please which of the products you produce are profitable? (please, start from the most profitable first)" | |
| 11 | Multiple | yes/no buttons | linked | ordered | NOT IMPLEMENTED | |
| 12 | Multiple | combobox | linked | ordered | NOT IMPLEMENTED | |
Please note:
All categories in categorical questions must have distinct numeric integer codes (may be negative or positive or include 0).
September 13, 2021
Offline GIS Functionality Expansion
- Question type earlier called area is now renamed to geography and supports capture of various geographic information:
- area (polygons),
- paths (polylines),
- single (point) and
- multiple (multipoint)
on offline maps. Each selection is exported as vectors of points. This question type is now accessible from the syntax to be used in conditional and validation expressions. The following properties can be used in the syntax:
- double geography.Area
- double geography.Length
- int geography.PointsCount
In addition, the IsAnswered() function also supports this question type now. For example, we can ask to show the secondary parcel if the primary parcel has been already indicated:
September 27, 2018Validation warnings
Validation rules are an essential mechanism of improving the quality of data in CAPI surveys. However, not in all situations a check may point to a definitive problem with the data. In some cases the check may only request attention of the interviewer. In this case we are talking about warnings, rather than errors.
Consider, for example, the following validation rules:
In this case we are specifying that the wage must be positive, otherwise we should show an error to the interviewer. However, we are less sure about how high the possible wages are, so we will show a warning for the interviewer if it is above 100.0 USD per hour. To achieve this, we set the “is warning” flag in the Designer for this validation rule (first).
April 2, 2018Special values for numeric questions
Numeric questions may be enhanced with special values. For example, a numeric wage question may contain in addition to a numeric input, a selection of “minimum wage” and “last month’s wage” categories. They can be set up in the Designer by entering integer numeric codes and corresponding value labels:
On a tablet, either a value should be entered, or one of the provided
options may be selected (but not both):
Capturing signatures with a picture question
A picture type question can be used to capture signatures on a tablet. For this, the flag “use signature pad” should be set in the questionnaire Designer.
On the tablet, a person will be able to leave a signature by writing
directly on the screen:
To store the signature, click the “Store signature” button.
In the web mode interviews an image of the signature (picture file) can be uploaded as a file. Signatures are exported as images. For more information about picture questions, see the Picture question article.
April 2, 2018Audio Question
Description
Audio question records sound using the tablet’s microphone. This can be
used in surveys where the
recording of the
respondent’s voice may serve quality control purposes or be directly of
interest to the researchers.
Creating a audio question
In Questionnaire Designer,
- Click on the Question Type text box.
- Select Audio from the list displayed.
How an audio question works on a tablet
To answer the question the enumerator has to:
October 12, 2017Geography Question
Description
A question of geography-type can capture various geographical information. For example, it can be used to define the exact location of the dwelling and the area of a land plot.
Geography-type questions are available only on mobile devices. In web interviews the question will appear as unsupported.
Geography-type questions are available only in the version of the Interviewer App with ESRI map support.
While it may be possible to answer the geography questions without using the base layer imagery, for example, with the automatic mode, the work is considerably more convenient for the interviewers when a base layer is provided. The map should be uploaded to the server first (see maps management), assigned to the interviewer, and the interviewer must synchronize the maps on the mobile device with the server.
October 12, 2017Categorical: Multi-Select Question
Description
A categorical: multi-select **** question
expects one or more answers to be selected from a list of possible
answers (categories). The list of possible answers can either be defined
before the interview or it can be created during the interview. If you
are defining the categories prior to the interview you can add the
categories in the design phase one at a time or by copying and pasting
them from a document. On the other hand, if you want to create the
categories during the interview you would need to link the question to a
previous question or roster, so that the categories of the former are
the answers given to the latter.
Categorical: Single-Select Question
Description
A categorical: single-select question expects
one answer to be selected from a list of possible answers (categories).
This list can either be defined before the interview or it can be
created during the interview. To define the categories beforehand, you
can add them one at a time, copy and paste them from a
document, or upload them from a tab-delimited
file in Questionnaire Designer.
To create the categories during the interview, the categorical: single-select question must belinked to a previous question (text, numeric, date) in a roster or to a roster. For example, some surveys ask about the respondent and expect the enumerator to type the respondent’s name. However, instead of typing the respondent’s name the enumerator can select it from a list containing the names of the household members. To do this, the question “Which of the household members is the respondent?” needs to be linked to a previous question, such as “Name each household member”.
June 20, 2016