Internet Survey Machine Version 4.0 - Reference Manual

Copyright © Marketing Masters 1991-2002   All Rights Reserved

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CHAPTER 6


Using The Internet Survey Creator


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.

  1. When the main window appears, click on the Start button to begin the authentication process.
  2. In the User Authentication form, type in your User Name (case sensitive on some servers)
  3. Click on OK, and if the user name you entered has an existing profile, the Password form will appear
  4. Enter the appropriate password for this User and if correct the Internet Survey Creator will display
    the Username in the first button on the bottom left corner and the second button Open a Survey

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.

Creating a New Survey

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.

  1. Start the internet Survey Creator program
  2. Authenticate yourself using your Username and Password
  3. Click Open a Survey button on the main form
  4. Type in the name of the new survey you want create
  5. Answer Yes to the message box that asks if you want to create it
  6. Click on the Text option on the top menu bar and select Size desired
  7. Click on the Align option on the top menu bar and select Alignment desired
    Text alignment works for the Java 2 applet only and not Java 1.1 or HTML
  8. Click on Edit and select Address to set the company address and click OK
  9. Click on Add from the Survey Question Options box (bottom right)
  10. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
  11. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
  12. Type the question into the large text box on top of form
  13. Type answer labels in the answer text box if applicable
  14. Type question keyword in small upper text box (Required)
  15. Click on OK in the Add box
  16. Repeat steps 8-14 for remaining questions
Important: The Text and Align options should be set when the survey is initially created. Although it can be changed at any time, the large text size setting supports 1 line less of viewable text. Changing to the large text size may cause some text to not be visible for lengthy stated questions. The Internet Survey Respondent (AWT Edition) does not support centered or right justified question text.

Developing And Maintaining Questions


To Add a Question To An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Add button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  3. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
  4. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
  5. Type question in the large text box at top of screen
  6. Type answer labels in the answer text box
  7. Type question keyword in small upper text box
  8. Click on OK in the Add box to confirm adding the question

To Insert a Question Into An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position,
    or Slide scroll bar to question number for insertion point
  3. Click on the Insert button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  4. Pull down the Question Type bar and choose question type
  5. Pull down the Possible Answers bar and choose number of answers
  6. Type question in the large text box at top of screen
  7. Type answer labels in the answer text box
  8. Type question keyword in small upper text box
  9. Click on OK in the Insert box (bottom right of Creator)

To Duplicate a Question In An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position,
    or Slide scroll bar to display the question to be Duplicated
  3. Click on Duplicate button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  4. Notice the question will get added to the end of the file
  5. Make the appropriate changes for the question
  6. Click on OK in the Duplicate box to confirm duplication

To Modify a Question In An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position,
    or Slide scroll bar to display the question to be modified
  3. Click on the Modify button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  4. Make the appropriate changes for the question
  5. Click on OK in the Modify box to confirm changes made

To Clear a Question In An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position,
    or Slide scroll bar to display the question to be cleared
  3. Click on the Clear button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  4. Click on OK in the Clear box to confirm clearing text

To Delete a Question From An Existing Survey:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Previous-Question-Next scroll bar to position,
    or Slide scroll bar to display the question to be Deleted
  3. Click on the Delete button on the (bottom right of Creator)
  4. Click on OK in the Delete box to confirm question deletion

Setting Survey Address

To add, modify or delete a company name and address:
  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Edit menu option and select Address
  3. Type in name and address changes

Setting Survey Titles

To change the Survey Titles
  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Pull down the Edit bar and click on Options
  3. Type in new title or make changes

Setting the Survey Options

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:

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Edit menu option and select Options
  3. Set or change options as desired

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.

Defining Survey Skip Patterns

  1. Open or Create a survey with the Internet Survey Creator
  2. Click on the Edit menu option and select Skip Patterns
  3. Select the question keyword in the "From Question" list box
  4. Select the response in the "From Answer" list box
  5. Select the go to question in the "To Question" list box

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.

Defining Question Matrix Groups

  1. Run the Survey Creator program
  2. Choose Open a Survey from the File menu
  3. Select the file to be opened and click OK
  4. Click on the Edit menu option and select Define Matrix
  5. Select the questions to be grouped together in a "Matrix"
  6. Questions can be de-selected by clicking once highlighted
The Matrix feature allows grouping questions together to form a Grid. This "grid" or matrix of questions allows several questions and their respective answers to be presented as a grid. This is similar to rows and columns in a spread sheet. Survey Said implements this feature in a very powerful way which allows different question types to play together in the same grid. To set up a matrix of questions:

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.

Making the Survey available on the Internet

Generate HTML and JAVA Surveys

                     
Create HTML Survey        Create JAVA Survey

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.

Deleting Old Survey Files on the Web Server

Deleting Files Dialog Box

Deleting Files

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

Copyright © Marketing Masters 1991-2002