The Tools button on the Main Menu window allows the user to perform the auxillary functions listed below on the currently selected module. To go to a discussion of a specific function left-click on the function in the list below.

Clean Instrument Fields

When the Clean Instrument function is chosen, the Manager displays the window to the right. By default all of the functions listed are checked and will be performed when the Clean Instrument button is pressed. To skip the performance of a function, uncheck the box. When the clean functions are performed there is no user interface; a red highlight bar scrolls down through the functions as each is carried out.

ReSequence Questions

This function allows the designer to change the Sequence of questions in a file, change the Names of questions in a file, and add or delete ‘Keys’ that are to be appended or ignored. The figure to the right shows the initial window to appear when the Tools ReSequence Questions function is selected.

The Keep field is used to keep the old sequence number for those record that have an 'x' in the check box. Individual records may be selected to skip in the re-sequencing and re-naming process. To select a record to skip, place an 'x' checkmark box by clicking twice slowly in the box. Note the records selected to 'keep' their old sequence number in the figure below have sequence numbers that are duplicated by the questions preceding them. Because no records may have duplicate sequence, i.e., record postion (RecPos) numbers; this keeps them from being assigned new record position numbers.

The Limit To field allows the user to specify a name or string of characters to match and limit the list of question names displayed to those containing that name or string of characters. An asterisk (*) must be used if the string is truncated. Left and right truncation or both is allowed, if the asterisk is used. Thus, in the figure to the right, if *EMO-1* were entered in the Limit To field, the results would be limited to DEMO-1, DEMO-10, DEMO-11...DEMO-100, DEMO-101, etc.

The Refresh button executes the limit to operation.

The Shuffle button reshuffles the list of question names according to the New Sequence field. Used if the sequence of individual questions is manually changed in the New Sequence field.

The Find field allows the user to specify what pattern to find.

The Find First button and

The Find Next button execute the find on the pattern specified.

The Pattern field lets the user specify a new, general pattern to the sequence field. The reason for changing a pattern may be to add more numbers to the question table or to add a more mneumonic pattern for recognition. For example, an original pattern of ‘R000’ might be changed to ‘R00000’ in order to add more potential records to the table. Another modification might be to change the 'R000' to 'RecSeq-00000 to add records and a mneumonic device.

• The Test button checks to see if the Pattern is valid (i.e., not already used or not a system character) and if it is changes the Sample field to match the pattern specified with the first occurrence of the proposed pattern. If it is not valid, a message will appear. When a message appears, try this, change the Sample field to the desired 'pattern' and press Create.

The Sample field reflects the pattern and first number in the sequence.

• The Create button changes the Pattern field to match the Sample field but as general example (i.e., no specific number) and if the tested pattern was invalid, it corrects this fault by placing a backslash '\' in front of the pattern. In the above example, TR-00000, is not valid so this button would correct the pattern to \TR-00000. The backslash is 'invisible' in the actual records

The Start At field specifies the first number in the sequence.

The Skip By field allows the user to specify how may integers to skip between each number in the pattern sequence. Used to allow for insertion of additional questions.

The Compute button creates the pattern-sample with the Skip By parameter in the New Sequence column.

The Assign button then writes the computed values to the records in the file.

Delete Records

This function allows the user to delete records in the five database tables of the Manager that are associated with the currently selected instrument and module. It provides an efficient way to view the whole table and delete multiple records at once. Records may be also deleted one by one from within the tables during the Design process by using the Trash Can icon.

When the Delete Records subfucntion is selected the window to the right will appear and default to the Questions table. The records appear by Name and Partial Text.

To view information in another table, click on the appropriate tab for that table type. To select records for deletion, left-click in the left-most column to move the arrow () to that question.

To select a contiguous block of records,

Click in the left column of the first record in the block; then use

<Shift> + Click in the left column of the last record in the block.

To select multiple, individual records, use

• <Ctrl> + Click, in the left-most column for each individual record.

When the records to be deleted have been selected, press the Delete Selected Records button.

Duplicate Range

This function is used to duplicate blocks of question records in the currently selected Instrument and Module. This feature may be useful if similar blocks of records (e.g., similar loops) are used in the same module and need only minor changes to be reused. The duplicated records are added to the file at the newly assigned record positions. Some caution may be necessary when assigning record positions. This function cannot be used to re-name or re-position records in the file.

TIP: Assign record positions that cause the records to be appended to the end of the question table. Then make the necessary edits to the records. Finally, change the RecPos field, to insert the records where they belong.

The four tabs in the right half of the window, assist in the Copy process. When selected, the display on the right changes according to the functions they perform. Below is a brief description of those general functions. Click on the function name to go to a complete description.

Name Field Tab

The Name Field tab displays the diverse actions that may be performed on the records to be copied.

The following buttons perform the following actions for the Name Field.

Copy Names	copies the original Source Name into the New Name column. To alter the new names use the Find/Replace button.
Copy RecPos	copies the original RecPos values in the NewRecPos column. To alter the new RecPos values use the Find/Replace button.
Assign Names	creates sequential new names in the New Name column according to the Pattern and Skip specified.
Assign RecPos	assigns sequential values in the NewRecPos column according to the Pattern and Skip specified under the Record Position tab.
Reinitialize the Question List	clears the New Name and New RecPos columns.
Check for Conflicts	check for any existing conflicts in the specifications and places those found in a new column to the right.
Copy Records	creates new copies of the records according to the specifications made under the three tabs and the branch check box.
Show Src Pos	when checked changes the column display in the left box to include the source record positions (RecPos field).
Rename Branches	when checked renames all references (NextQ, Cond. And Jumps) in the records to the new names.
Delete Unmarked
Delete Marked

The Record Position tab displays the same actions as under the Name Field tab except it allows a Pattern and Skip to be specified for sequence (RecPos field) of the new records to be copied.

The Copy RecPos button places the original RecPos values in the NewRecPos column.

Assign RecPos assigns the values in the NewRecPos column according to the Pattern and Skip specified in the Record Position tab.

The Subsets tab displays the actions that may be performed to find subsets of records to be copied. All the button functions are the same as above.

This tab allows the user to set up conditions to search for in the existing record names.

A character string is placed in the Name LIKE field. The position in the Source Name to perform the search can be specified using the radio buttons Start of String, Anywhere (default), or End of String.

The Select Matching Names button carries out the above strategy and displays the results.

The Show Entire List button returns the display to the entire list of Source Names.

The Find/Replace tab allows the user to perform a find and, if applicable, replace occurences of character strings. The Find AND Replace can be used only with the new names and record positions. The Find but NOT Replace may be used will all of the categories. Select the appropriate radio button (radio-button.bmp) by left-clicking on it. Only one find/replace may be performed at a time.

To find a string, place the cursor in the Find box and type in the character string. Then press the Find Next button. To replace that string, make sure the new character string appears in the Replace box and press the Replace button.

By checking the Replace All check box, the user may elect to replace all occurences of the find-string with the replace-string (in the new names and record postions only) when the Replace button is pressed. By checking the Confirm check box the user may elect to have each virtual replace action signaled by an "Are you sure?" message.

In the above figure all occurences of MO-1 in the New Names table were replaced with MI-1.

Assign Names	creates sequential new names in the New Name column according to the Pattern and Skip specified.
Assign RecPos	assigns sequential values in the NewRecPos column according to the Pattern and Skip specified under the Record Position tab.
Copy Records	creates new copies of the records according to the specifications made under the three tabs and the branch check box.

Assign Sections

This function allows the designer to assign new section to multiple question records in the question table. As records are created with the Design/Questionnaire function, a section name must be assigned. The new section to be assigned must appear in the Section Name list and it must be selected (highlighted) by left-clicking on the name in the list. If it is not in the list, use the Design/Sections function to create a new section name.

When the section to be assigned is highlighted, the questions to which it will be assign must also be selected (highlighted). In the figure below, the questions highlighted in blue are selected for section re-assignment.

To select a contiguous block of records,

Click in the left column of the first record in the block; then use

<Shift> + Click in the left column of the last record in the block.

To select multiple, individual records, use

• <Ctrl> + Click, in the left-most column for each individual record.

When the questions for section reassignment have been selected, press the Apply Section button. When the Apply Section button is pressed, the user will receive a message box confirming,

"You are applying the '<Section_Name>' to the selected questions. Correct?"

Assign RNum

This function allows the designer to use a window to assign values to the RNum field associated with question records. The RNum field contains a second, unique identifier (like the question name) for each question. It can be used in a longitudinal survey to link together variables from multiple, previous rounds. Individual records may be selected for assignment, a limited group of records may be selected, or a pattern may be set up and the Manager will assign the RNumbers accordingly.

The Limit To field allows the user to specify a name or string of characters to match and limit the list of question names displayed to those containing that name or string of characters. An asterisk (*) must be used if the string is truncated. Left and right truncation or both is allowed, if the asterisk is used. Thus, in the figure to the right, if *EMO-1* were entered in the Limit To field, the results would be limited to DEMO-1, DEMO-10, DEMO-11...DEMO-100, DEMO-101, etc. If the check box is used, the 'Limit To' field describes the condition.

• The Refresh button executes the 'limit to' operation and refreshes the display to that limit.

• The Find First button and
• The Find Next button execute the find on the pattern specified.

• The Test button creates a Sample from the pattern and the Start At values specified.

C-000 = 12/31/1899-000 D-000 = 31-000 E-000 = "invalid call or procedure" H-000 = 0-000 M-000 = 12-000 N-000 = 0-000 Q-000 = 4-000

S-000 = 0-000 T-000 = "invalid call or procedure" W-000 = 1-000 Y-000 = 365-000

#-000 = -001 @-000 = 1-000 <-000 = -0001 (extra 0 AFTER -) >-000 = -0001 (extra 0 AFTER -) .-000 = 1.-000 !-000 = -0001

• The Create button creates a Pattern from the pattern specified such that no system conflicts take place, e.g., a sample of SST-0001 will yield a pattern of \S\S\T-0000 because the use of 'S', 'T' and several other characters are reserved in Visual Basics for special formats such as 'seconds' and 'time'. See above.

The Start At and the Skip fields specify, respecively, the first number in the RNum sequence to start with and the increment to use in the sequence.

The Create RNum button creates the RNumbers in the RNum field from the values specified in the Pattern, the Start At, and the Skip fields.

The Clear All button first displays a message to the effect "You are about to clear the RNumber field for all records. Continue? Yes, No, Cancel" and clears all data in the RNum field if the user response is 'Yes'. The Clear All will in no way effect the original RNumbers if they exist..

SPSS Cards

This function allows the user to set format specifications for SPSS 'cards' so that statistical analyses can be run on the cases, questions, and responses. The specifications include a setup for the number of iterations of dynamic loops. A dynamic loop in one in which the number of iterations is established via a symbolic counter. The value of a symbolic counter cannot be determined beforehand but is usually set during the execution of the instrument in the field as the response to a previous question in the survey. When the SPSS function is selected the window below will appear with 5 tabs: Loop List, Loop Index, Crosswalk, SPSS Cards, SAS. Click on the tab's names to jump to a discussion of their functions.

Loop List

When the SPSS function is chosen the Manager will default to the window and tab below. To identify any loops in the current module, press the Match Loop Begin/End Question. If there are loops, the beginning and ending names of the questions in the loops will appear in the appropriate columns along with the symbol used as the loop's couunter. The Count column allows the user to specify the desired number of iterations in a loop for which SPSS cards will be created. In the figure below the the desired number of iterations has been edited to 4 for the "PS-20-LOOP-BEGIN -- PS-31-LOOP-END" loop. To complete this edit, the cursor must be moved to a different row so that the "edit pencil" in the left most column disappears.

The Select column permits the user to include/exclude the entire loop in the creation of SPSS cards. The default is include (checkmark in the column) all loops.

The Count button allows the user to specify a value to appear in the Count column for all of the loops. In the above figure, if the Count button is pressed, the value of '5' will be assigned each cell in the count colum for all loops. In that case, SPSS cards would be created for five iterations of each loop.

The Print Loop List button will print the loop list.

The Save List button opens a standard Windows dialogue box from which the user may specify the saving location and file name. The dialogue box defaults to the Manager directory and a file name of LoopSpec.Txt.

Loop Index

This function allows the user to create an index to the loop list created so that the appropriate number of SPSS card can be created. When this tab is chosen the window will open to a blank table. To create a loop index table for the current module,

• Be sure that the Loop List has been created;
• Press the Create Loop Index Table button.

The Start column__??

The Count column__??

The Select column permits the user to include/exclude the entire loop in the creation of SPSS cards. The default is include (checkmark in the column) all loops.

The Mark Group button __??

The Print Loop List button __??

Crosswalk

This function is under development. When developed it create a crosswalk table for each question name/variable relationship and each variable/question name relationship so that correlations will be easy to find.

The Print Crosswalk button __??

SPSS Cards Tab

When this tab is chosen the window will open to the SPSS format specifications window. The Manager default specifications are shown in the window below. In this window the user is able to identify the layout position and length of data items in the answer table for the SPSS forms or spreadsheets. In addition the user may select syntax of the cards, accompanying variable and frequency information. The 'cards' that the user creates are really a formatted table with the column specifications indicating where each identification item for each 'record' begins. A record consists of the respondent's case identification number, the name of the question __?? pose, its response and any extension identifying the type of question posed. The user may edit any column beginning location but __??

To create the SPSS cards, press the SPSS Cards button. The file created will be __??

SAS Cards

This function is under development.

FlowChart

This Tools subfunction allows the designer to view the currently selected module in the form of a flowchart. When the FlowChart subfunction is selected a pop-up menu appears offering the user two option to select between: Flowchart Question and Flowchart Group.

Flowchart Question allows the user to access and view one question after another in a linear flowchart. Flowchart Group allows the user to access a list of questions; select contiguous blocks, non-contiguous questions, or a combination of both; and display two types of flowcharts for them.

Flowchart Question

The figure below displays the window that opens if the Flowchart Question subfunction is selected. Each question may be viewed with it previous question(s) and next question(s) in a linear display. To move from question to question use the right arrow () or left arrow () or click on one of the previous or next underlined (hyperlinked) question names in the linear display. A blue question name indicates the default Next Question (NextQ field) and a red one a conditional branch (Condition Jump field).

To go directly to a question select it from the drop-down menu () in the Question field and its name will appear in the central box.

The figure below displays the window that opens if the Flowchart Group subfunction is selected. This function permits the user to view a list of question names in the question table and to select a block of those questions for flowcharting.

To select a contiguous block of records,

Click on the first question name in the block; then

hold down the <Shift> key and

left Click on the last question in the block.

To select multiple, individual records, use

• <Ctrl> + Click, on the each individual question name.

When the question names have been selected chose one of the Positioning Stategy for the display.

Then press the Display FlowChart button and the display will move to the FlowChart tab and display the selected question according to the selected strategy. For diagnostic purposes the flowchart picture may be saved (Save Picture button). If the picture is saved, a standard Window's Save File dialogue box will appear in which the user can name the picture with a default extension of .bmp.

If the group of questions being flowcharted is very large, it may be difficult to locate a particular question by scrolling. To go directly to a known question name in the group, use the Locate field to find the name of the question. Place the cursor in the Locate field and left-click. A drop-down menu will appear with the question names. Scroll to the desired question anme and select it by highlighting it. The display will jump to that question with it centered in the display.

The figure below shows the same group of question flowcharted in the second Positioning Stragegy.

Create/Run Queries

This function carries out queries on the question file. Pre-established or common queries are listed under the Common Queries tab and are shared by all users; queries that are created by a user for a particular purpose are known as 'private' queries and listed under the Private Queries tab. When a query is highlighted its SQL statement may be viewed under the SQL tab. To create a private query, the user must be familiar with SQL and the Manager database structure; see the SQL statement below.

When the Create/Run Queries function is selected for the first time the Manager opens to a standard Windows Select File dialogue box in which the user must specify the database file where private queries will be stored. The default file name is PrivateQ.MDB. After the user accepts the default, specifies another file/location, or cancels the dialogue box, the Manager opens to the window below. Once a private query table has been established, the Manager will open to the window below and not prompt for a private database. If no private query table is present the Manager will prompt for a private database each time this function is chosen.

Common Queries

To execute a query,

• Highlight it (move the cursor to it), and
• Press the Execute Query button.

A red 'X' in the Type column indicates the results of the query will delete records! Common queries belong to the SQL Table and only a user with administrator privileges may edit them there. See Administrator button, SQL tab for a list of all queries available in the Manager. If a query is edited here under the SQL tab, it is only a local edit and will not affect the SQL Table and __?? will be erased when another option is chosen.

The window "Query: Sample Distribution Code Statistics" shows the results of the common query entitled, 'SampleDistCodeStatistics'.

The SQL statement for this query may be viewed by pressing the SQL tab. It is reproduced below as plain text:

SELECT DCodeName.DCodeName, DCodeName.DCodeExplain AS Description, Count(DCodes.DCodeNum) AS Count, Min(DCodes.DCodeValue) AS Minimum, Max(DCodes.DCodeValue) AS Maximum FROM DCodeName INNER JOIN DCodes ON DCodeName.DCodeNum = DCodes.DCodeNum GROUP BY DCodeName.DCodeName, DCodeName.DCodeExplain;

Private Queries

Private queries are those selected, created, or tailored by a user and they reside in a database table, default PrivateQ.MDB, that the user specifies. This table remains particular to a user and is not shared by other users. When this tab is selected a list of those queries established by the user will appear in the window. In the window below, only one private query has been created.

To execute this query,

• Highlight it (move the cursor to it), and
• Press the Execute Query button.

SQL

The figure to the right shows the actual structured query language (SQL) of the 'SampleDistCodeStatistics' query. To view the SQL either the name of the common Query or the private Query name must be highlighted. When the desired Query name is highlighted, press the SQL tab to see the statements structure. From this window a common query statement may be saved as a private query, it may also be edited and saved as a private query. To save a Query,

• Press the Save Query button.

Question Subsets

This function allows the designer to identify subsets of one or more records in the question file. The designer may select individual records by name, or use the Question Types box and the Data Types box to identify the records. __?? This might be useful, for example, when one wants to __?? The configurations are retained from one session to another.

The Question Types box limits the list of question names to the selected type(s) when the New Selection button is pressed. The Data Types box limits the list of question names to the selected type(s) when New Selection is pressed. The Question Types and Data Types boxes may be used in combination and more than type may be selected in both boxes.

To create a selection of records,

1. Select the records to be saved by highlighting them;
   
   • <Ctrl>+click selects multiple non-contiguous record names;
   • <Shift>+click selects blocks of multiple contiguous record names;
   or, select items from Question Types and Data Types boxes.
2. Press the New Selection button.

The Refresh button clears the Configuration field to blank.

The figure below shows a new selection of records that has not yet been saved.

To save a selection of records,

1. Highlight the records in the subset to be saved;
   • <Ctrl>+click selects multiple non-contiguous record names;
   • <Shift>+click selects blocks of multiple contiguous record names.
2. Name the file in the Configuration field.
3. Press the Save Selection button.

The figure below shows the new selection of records above to be saved as the configuration "date_time_text_qtypes".

The Load Selection button will load a configurations previously saved.

To load a configuration,

• Select its name from the drop-down menu () in the Configuration box.
• Press the Load Configuration button.

  The figure below displays the "date_time_text_qtypes" configuration that was loaded. Note that when a pre-defined configuration is loaded all of the records in the instrument/module are loaded and the highlighted records represent the saved selection.

  

   

   

   

   

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