Internet
Survey Machine Version 4.0 - Reference Manual
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The Internet Survey Creator program is used to manage all aspects of creating surveys and setting survey options including: setting survey behavioral Options, defining Grid / Matrix style questions and defining Skip Patterns.
A Survey may be navigated one question at a time by clicking on the scroll bar in the lower left hand corner of the screen. The scroll bar option allows one to move through the survey in large jumps by moving the scroll bar slider. The question number display updates as the slider is moved.
You can access a question directly by dragging the slider on the scroll bar or by using the drop down list box in the top left corner of the Survey Creator program. Using the drop down list box is a convenient method of locating a question quickly by its Keyword Description.
Run the Internet Survey Creator to create a survey. This is accomplished by accessing a web page with the Internet Survey Creator applet tag and parameters defined in it. The page, as initially supplied by Marketing Masters is, StartCreator.html and should be available on your webserver. If you are not sure of the correct web page location (i.e. URL) to type into your browser, contact your webmaster. Note: the Internet Survey Creator requires a browser that implements a Java 2 virtual machine.
Survey Creator Main Program Startup Screen
Once the StartCreator.html web page is accessed, the Java 2 VM should
start running and the Internet Survey Creator Java applet transferred to
it. When the applet is completely loaded, a button with the caption Start
the Survey Creator (or something similar if modified by your survey
administrator) will appear on the page. If you are using a dial up line
to access the Internet, it could take two to three minutes to load the Internet
Survey Creator applet. When the button appears, click it to display the
Survey Creator's main window.
Click on Open a Survey to either create a new survey or open an existing survey. To create a new survey, type in the name for the new survey. To open an existing survey type in the name of the survey or to get a directory of existing surveys click on the update button next to the drop down list box. Once the Survey has been created, use the Add button to enter new questions into the survey.
Using Question Keywords
Question keywords are abbreviations or short summaries of questions which
are used to recognize them at a glance. For the question "How did you select
company XYZ?" the keywords might be "Select How". Every question is required
to have an associated keyword which facilitates question recognition for
table, graph and printed reports. Question keywords are also very useful
when viewing frequency, banner and cross table analysis. Question keywords
may be up to 32 characters in length, but because of the limited space on
the graphics screen, we recommend you keep keywords short and concise.
Run the Internet Survey Creator to create a new survey. The following step by step instructions detail the process.
Create a new survey from the File menu and begin to Add each question directly into the survey.
The Edit Option feature allows the administrator to set or change survey options. The Kiosk timer allows a time out timer to be enabled. If enabled, the program resets the survey if no response is received within the duration specified. The duration can be set from 1 to 60 minutes. This feature is useful in cases where the respondent walks away from the survey without finishing. Any answered questions are discarded if the timer expires and resets the survey. A warning is issued if the timer expires and allows the respondent 15 seconds to acknowledge a request for additional time. The Kiosk timer feature is not currently implemented in the HTML or Java versions. Skip patterns must be enabled in addition to being defined. See Creating Skip Patterns for more information. The Automatic Advance option if set to yes, automatically presents the next question on the screen once a single choice question is answered. This feature is very helpful for telephone type interviewing or data entry for printed surveys. Automatic Advance is not currently implemented in the HTML or Java versions.
The three options at the bottom of the form, allow for customization of the Survey Respondent program. These options are valid for the stand alone respondent, network respondent and mail diskette packages. The first check box allows the respondent to print a copy of the survey with their answers. The second check box allows the respondent to backup through the survey by clicking on the Previous Question command. The third check box allows the respondent to see which question they are answering and how many questions there are in the total survey.
Survey Access Code - Specifies a password is required to answer a survey when using the, Survey Respondent program (Network and Standalone Entry Station, the Mail Diskette or the Java Internet Respondent). For HTML surveys the access code is checked during the import processing of the pos file, not during the submission by the respondent.
Survey Options Form
The three options at the bottom of the form, allow for customization of the Survey Respondent program. These options are valid for the stand alone, network and mail diskette packages. The first check box allows the respondent to print a copy of the survey with their answers. The second check box allows the respondent to backup through the survey by clicking on the Previous Question command. The third check box allows the respondent to see which question they are answering and how many questions there are in the total survey.
Editing The Survey Options:
Additional Information
1. Comments are implemented on a per survey basis. The comment feature allows a text area into which respondents’ comments can be recorded. Comments are not associated with a specific question. On a printed survey, the comments section appears at the very end of the survey. On an electronically presented survey, the Enter Comments command appears on the Survey Respondent screen. This command can be selected by the respondent at any time during the survey.
Define Skip Patterns Screen
Additional Information
1. If a "skip to question" is left blank, the next question in the survey is displayed when answering the survey. Therefore it is not necessary to define a "skip to question" for every possible answer. It is only necessary to define a "skip to question" when the next question in the survey is not the question you want the respondent to answer based on how they answered the current question.
2. The "If not answered skip to" prompt can be set to it’s own question number. This forces the respondent to answer the question or the Survey Respondent program will not advance to the next question, the respondent receives a message that says Answer Required.
Define Matrix Screen
Additional Information
1. Matrix questions are grouped by highlighting a group of questions (keywords in the list box). The first question in the group can be a Block Text type of question. When the HTML form is created it will span the width of the form. The questions that are grouped under it will become part of the Matrix.
2. A matrix of questions is separated by a question that is not part of a contiguous highlighted group or keywords in the list box. If you need to logically separate blocks that would normally run together, you will need to insert a question in between the groups. An example might be something like:
That concludes part 1 of this survey. The next section regards your satisfaction with our services.
The Generate HTML Survey and the Generate JAVA Survey automatically
generates the necessary files to administer a survey created with the Internet
Survey Creator as either a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) form, the standard
Internet file format or using the Internet Respondent (a JAVA applet), the
standard Internet programming language.
You can use the Generate HTML Survey and Generate Java Survey option at any time during the survey creation process to see what the survey looks like at that point in development. Be sure however, to generate the survey one last time upon completion of any final changes to the survey options or questions.
The HTML and JAVA survey generation forms are very similar, and include an automatically generated Form Action line (that typically should not be changed). The Internet Survey Creator automatically generates this line based on your system type and profile structure. Any of the other parameters can be changed to suit your needs.
Use caution setting colors for links when generating an HTML form survey. New Links and Visited Links are used for skip patterns (if any have been defined). Be sure the colors used are compatible (enough contrast) with the Question text background color AND the Question text background color. If there is not enough contrast between the two colors, the skip patterns may NOT be distinguishable and therefore readable.
Very Important: any HTML links you specify that includes images, audio etc. must be fully qualified URLs and include the complete path. An example would be:
http://www.surveysaid.com/marketing_masters/ssimage/airline.gif
The reason fully qualified URLs must be specified, is the location of the HTML survey file, which is not off the web server's public root. Consequently, pathing must be absolute. Relative pathing cannot be used.
After completing the Generate HTML or Java dialog box, click on OK and answer any questions about saving the settings appropriately. After the HTML survey form or the Java survey load page is generated, the main form will display a text box with the URL to access the survey. This URL can be copied by highlighting it and typing a Ctrl-C. Then, in your Internet browser, click on the Location/Address field and paste the URL (Ctrl-V) view the HTML survey or Internet Survey Respondent startup page.
After logging into your survey profile, the Open Survey and Manage Files buttons will appear on the Survey Creator's main screen. To delete old survey files click on the Manage Files button. You will be prompted to enter your password.
The Delete Survey Files dialog box will appear after successfully entering your password. To get a current directory of all files, click on the Browse button. If you know the name of the file you want to delete, type it in the Delete File textbook. After using the Drop down list box or typing in the file name to specify the file to be deleted, click on the Delete button to remove the file from the web server.
Important: File names are case sensitive on many web servers. If the web server hosting your access to the Internet Survey Machine is case sensitive, enter the file name with the proper matching case.
Once a file is deleted, it cannot be restored (unless it has been backed up by your webmaster/system administrator). The Internet Survey Machine creates several different files for a survey in addition to the Survey Said question database (the JDB file) and the file that is used to collect respondents answers (the POS file). These files are defined in the Files that get created on the webserver by the Internet Survey Creator