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Chapter 6 - Survey Setup
Survey Instruments
Survey Instruments Setup
Depending on the nature of the survey (longitudinal, one-time) and the design of the survey structure, there may be multiple instruments in the field, multiple modules within each instrument, and so on. The figure below "Exploring - Demo" shows the default Win_surv directory that contains four instruments: Big, Demo, etc.
The Survey locates the instruments and instrument directories Big, Demo, etc. by using information in the Capi.ini file, sections [INSTRUMENTS] AND [INSTRUMENT DIRECTORIES]. When an instrument is chosen from the survey menu the program opens instrument directory and looks for the <instrument.ini> file. The <instrument.ini> defines the boot files, the starting or re-starting question, instrument-specific language file locations In order for the Survey program to locate and open files in a directory, e.g., Demo, it must know what the files' names are and . Sample Directory
The sample directory Demo contains folders (subdirectories) and files that were imported from the Manager program. It contains the same folders as Big: one Archive, one Crashes, one Hold, one Infsheet, one Rosters, and it contains one alternate language folder but it may contain more than one.
The supervisor must set up one file, the <instrument>.ini file, and make the necessary items correspond with the Capi.ini file. The <instrument>.ini file will take the name of the directory. In the example below it is called Demo.ini.
The <instrument>.ini file defines each instrument’s structure. It may be configured so that some desired effects take place during the testing phase and others during the actual execution of the instrument in the field. A discussion of the <instrument>.ini file follows below.
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The Archive and Hold directories contain completed cases and interrupted cases, respectively.
The Crashes folder contains information about an aborted run of the Survey software. This information is useful during the testing phase for the field instruments.
The Infsheet folder contains the information sheets (or case definitions) for the current instrument. These are the *.inf files of the individual cases to be started for each respondent in the survey. These files may be created by hand for testing purpose or from rosters of previous rounds.
The Rosters folder contains all Manager output files (.dbf) for each roster used in this instrument.
The French, German, and Spanish folders contain alternate language indices and text files for the questions, pick lists, etc.
The *.dbf, *.fpt, and *.ndx files in the root directory of the instrument are the survey versions of the database files created by the Manager program. Each Manager file is now comprised of two Survey files.
In order to setup the directory structure in the above figure, the Capi.ini file in the Win_surv directory would have to be modified to look like sample on the right.
The [DEFAULT] structure can remain the same.
The
[INSTRUMENTS],
[INSTRUMENT DIRECTORIES], and
[INSTRUMENT TITLES] sections
would declare, name the instruments/directories, and entitle each instrument's display, respectively.
The [CASE SIZE PER INSTRUMENT] estimates the upper limit of the number of cases in each folder. What is the default if the folder's name is not listed __??
The [PATCH FILE NAMES PREFIX] may reflect the file name or directory for the multiple instruments that need patching. If no patch is needed, it need not be specified here.
The [INTERVIEW MODE TYPE] toggles access to the part of the Survey program that handles the stated type of interview, In Person (CAPI), On Phone (CATI), SAQ (Self-Administered Questionnaire with audio), etc.
Note: The existence of alternate languages is not defined in the Capi.ini file. Each instrument may use different languages or none at all. Therefore, alternate language links are established in the <instrument's>.ini file. See below.
The figure below "Demo.ini - Notepad" illustrates a sample configuration of the instrument.ini for an instrument named DEMO. Each instrument must have a correctly configured instrument.ini in its directory. The file is divided into sections: [BOOT FILES], [START QUESTION], etc. briefly, discussed below.
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[START QUESTION]
is the name of the first question in the file.
[RESTART POSITION]
is the position where to start an interrupted interview. LAST is the last question visited.
[LANGUAGE SPECIFICATIONS]
specify the paths and filenames of alternate language files that may be selected from the Alternate Language button on the Survey's Main Menu screen.
[SCREEN INITIALIZATION]
contains the toggles to specify what data entry question types require screen initialization, i.e., the ê key must be pressed before data entry may begin.
[INITIAL OPTIONS]
toggle to specify initial screen environments will be set to ‘on’.
[OTHER SPECIFY TEXT]
indicates text of alternate lanugages that will trigger the Other (SPECIFY) dialogue box when this option is selected by the interviewer from a Pick List.
LANGUAGE1 = (SPECIFY)
LANGUAGE2 = (ESPECIFIQUE)
LANGUAGE3 = (SPECIFIEZ)
LANGUAGE4 = (SPEZIFIZIEREN)
(etc.)
The order of the LANGUAGEn= statements must be the same as in the above [LANGUAGE SPECIFICATIONS] section.
Case Information File
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The Infsheet folder contains the information sheets (or case definitions) for the current instrument. These are the *.inf files of the individual cases to be started for each respondent in the survey. These files may be created by hand for testing purpose or from rosters and questions from previous rounds.
The Keyword Code, INFOSHEET, is available to be used to create information sheet files at the end of previous rounds.The supervisor, designer, or project administrator must determine the contents of the case information files. Symbol and Roster field names used in the Manager must be coordinated and standardized with the KEYWORDS used in the case information file, <case-id>.inf
The syntactical structure of the file is:
| is one of nine (1-9) data formats used in the Format field of a question record to define the format of the response. Both numerical values (ID) or the following literals INTEGER | LONG | REAL | DATE | TIME | CHAR | DOUBLE | MMYYYY may be used. The Formats table of the Manager program that contains the data formats is displayed to the right. The information sheet file may contain a mixture of both numbers or literals in the DATA TYPE. Literals are not case sensitive. |
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TIP: To transfer the case information into the new questionnaire, use the Keyword Codes question type in the Manager program and specify the keyword code INFOSHEET to move the data.
When the Survey program is started for a case, before it brings up the first question, it takes that information sheet and loads all of the information in it into the symbols list. So, if there's an entry like KEY.AGE=20=1, the Survey program puts up a symbol called KEY.AGE with an integer value of 20.
At the same time, the Survey program also goes through those information sheet symbols and sees if it can find any symbols that are roster elements. So, an entry like: HHI.AGE(1)=20=INT, goes into the symbol list as HHI.AGE(1) and also gets loaded into the HHI roster. In effect, the survey program searches for symbols which follow the "roster_name.field_name(index)" format where the "roster_name" matches a roster name defined for that instrument.
Next Step
Run the Survey program.
instruments-setup.html
