EFS Survey

Globalpark Enterprise Feedback Suite
EFS Survey 8.0
Version: Date:
1.1 07.06.2011
2011 Globalpark AG, Globalpark UK Ltd., Globalpark Inc., USA, Globalpark sterreich GmbH The information contained in this publication is the property of Globalpark AG and its subsidiaries. Passing on and reproduction of this publication or any parts of it is only permitted with the express written approval of Globalpark AG or its subsidiaries. This publication is issued without any guarantee whatsoever. Information contained herein can be changed without prior notification. In addition Globalpark accepts no guarantee as to the exactness or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links and other items in this publication. This publication is a preliminary version, which is not subject to any valid licence agreement or other agreements with Globalpark. The software products offered by Globalpark AG, its subsidiaries and/or its distributors may contain software components of other software manufacturers. All products may show country-specific differences. Globalpark, Enterprise Feedback Suite, EFS, EFS Survey, EFS Panel, EFS Employee and EFS Leadership, other Globalpark products and services mentioned in the text and their corresponding logos are trademarks and can be registered trademarks of Globalpark AG and/or its subsidiaries in Germany and other countries worldwide. All other names of products and services are trademarks of their respective companies.
Germany: Globalpark AG (headquarters) Kalscheurener Strae 19a 50354 Cologne-Huerth
Great Britain: Globalpark UK LTD. 19-21 Great Tower Street, 1st Floor London, EC3R 5AR
United States of America: Globalpark, Inc. 299 Broadway, 19th Floor New York, NY 10007
Austria: Globalpark sterreich GmbH Wassergasse 25 1030 Wien
Contents
Contents
0 Introduction
0.1 ............................................................. 17 19 21 23 23 23 24 24 26 27 28 29 30 30 33 36 37 39 43 44 46 48 48 49 50 51 51 53 55 56 56 56 56 56 57 57 58 59
About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 Navigating in EFS Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1 EFS Survey as a Web Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Technical Requirements for Using the Admin Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 Worth Knowing when Working with a Web Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Login Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Logging In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Security Criteria for Account Names and Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Security Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Start Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Screen Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Online Help Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Integrated Feedback System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
2 Introduction: The First Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.1 2.2 Creating an Anonymous Project (Step 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entering Questions (Step 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Creating the First Questionnaire Page of Your Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Creating a Question with a Single Response List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Creating a Question with a Multiple Response List and Other Field . . . . . 2.2.4 Creating a Matrix Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 Creating the Final Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.6 Creating a Layout with the Standard Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activating the Project (Step 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inviting the Participants (Step 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monitoring the Survey (Step 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exporting Data (Step 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................................
2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
3 Creating and Managing Projects

3.1
Project Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Anonymous Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Personalized Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Employee Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.4 Panel Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.5 Master Data Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.6 Forum Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Copying Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2
Contents
3.2.3 3.2.4 3.3 3.4 3.5
Exporting and Importing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing the Project Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
60 62 62 63 63 63 64 64 65 65 65 67 68 68 69 71 72 72 77 78 79 79 80 81 82 83 83 88 89 91 92 98 100 103 105 106 108 109 109 110 111 113 115 115 116 117 119 121
Compiling Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linking Different Projects: External Survey Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.1 The Project List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.2 Modifying Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.3 Searching for Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.4 Finding the Most Recently Edited Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.5 Marking Important Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.6 Organizing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.7 Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.8 Granting Access Rights to Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opening a Project and Getting an Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.1 Project Information in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Determining Framework Data for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.1 Configuring Survey Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.2 Overview of Survey Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.3 Changing the URL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.4 Defining the Field Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.5 Automatically Submitting Questionnaire Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.6 Showing and Hiding Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.7 Checking for JavaScript and Flash before the Start of the Survey . . . . . . . . 3.7.8 Determining Participant Hostnames and IP Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.9 Letting All Panelists Participate in a Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.10 Allowing Repeated Participation in a Master Data or Panel Survey . . . . . . . . 3.7.11 Defining Login Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.12 Setting the Session Validity Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.13 Using URL Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.14 Using User-Defined Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.15 Editing Survey Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.16 Managing Survey Messages in the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.17 Setting Up the Right Character Set for Your Survey Language . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.18 Permitting only a Limited Number of Participations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.19 Controlling the Survey Display on the Panel Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.20 Highlighting Surveys in the Project List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Automating Frequently Required Work Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.1 Managing Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.2 Creating Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.3 Creating a New Macro and Selecting Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.4 Configuring Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.5 Macro Actions in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.6 Granting Access Rights to Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.7 Using Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.8 Checking the Application of Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................
3.6 3.7
3.8
4 Questionnaire Structure: Pages, Questions, Routing

4.1 4.2
The Structure of the Questionnaire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Planning the Structure of the Questionnaire (Routing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents
4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.3
The Routing Plan in the Editors Questionnaire View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orientation Aids within the Questionnaire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Finding Questions and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
122 125 127 127 128 129 130 130 131 132 133 133 134 134 134 135 135 136 139 140 143 143 147 148 153 154 156 156 158 159 160 160 160 161 161 161 163 164 166 170 170 171 171 173 175 175 176
Working with the Alternative Drag&Drop Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Using the Drag&Drop Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Undoing Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating and Editing Questionnaire Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Overview of Page Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Standard Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Overview of the Properties of Standard Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Defining Page-Specific JavaScript Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3 Automatically Submitting a Completed Questionnaire Page . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.4 Automatically Submitting a Page after a Defined Period of Time . . . . . . . . . 4.5.5 Hiding the Submit Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.6 Inserting a Cancel Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.7 Assigning a Differing Character Set to a Specific Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.8 Customizing a Specific Page with JavaScript or CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.9 Creating a Static Start Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.10 Editing Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mixed-External Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.1 Example: Routing Selected Participants into a Questionnaire Branch . . . . 4.7.2 Possible Filter Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.3 Defining Conditions for Filters and Other Dynamic Features . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.4 Viewing the Filters of a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.5 Testing Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.6 Identifying Structural Problems in a Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.7 Entering Condition Code Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.8 Using LUA for Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Random Selection of Questionnaire Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.1 Repeating the Random Selection on Re-load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.2 Selecting m out of n Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.3 Filters in Random Select Branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Random Rotation of Survey Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating and Editing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.1 Creating a New Question and Selecting the Question Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.2 Editing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.3 Showing and Hiding Question Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.4 Overview of the Functions in the Question View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.1 Viewing Runtime Error Messages in Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.2 Displaying Items Hidden in the Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.3 Jumping to Other Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4 4.5
4.6 4.7
4.8
4.9 4.10
4.11
5 Question Types and Advanced Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5.1 Question Types with a Single Response List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Single Response List (Vertical) (Type 111) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Single Response List (Horizontal) (Types 112, 113) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents
5.1.3 5.1.4 5.1.5 5.1.6 5.2
Closed Response List (Type 131) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Example: Using Self-Programmed JavaScript Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Response List (Type 132) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ranking Question (Type 411) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
177 178 180 180 183 183 185 185 185 186 187 189 189 191 191 194 195 196 197 198 200 202 203 206 208 208 210 215 216 216 216 217 217 217 218 219 219 219 220 226 227 228 229 230 230 231 231 232
Question Types with a Multiple Response List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Multiple Response List (Vertical) (Type 121) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Multiple Response List (Horizontal) (Type 122) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Question Types for Open-Ended Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 Text Field (Single Row) (Type 141) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Text Field (Multiple Rows) (Type 142) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 Text Field Matrix (Vertical / Horizontal) (Type 143, 144) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matrix Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.1 Standard Matrix 1 (Type 311) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.2 Other Standard and Scale Matrices (Types 312, 313, 321, 322) . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.3 Semantic Differential (Type 340) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.4 Double-Scale Matrix (Type 351) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.5 Select Matrix (Type 361, 364) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.6 Checkbox Matrix (Type 362) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.7 Text Field Matrix (Type 363) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.8 Archiving Scales in the Scale Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5.1 Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . User-Defined Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text and HTML Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multimedia Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8.1 Multimedia (Type 999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8.2 Single and Multiple Response Lists with Images (511, 521) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8.3 Multiple Response List (Horizontally Ordered Images) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Structuring Answer Options Clearly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9.1 Grouping Answer Options Using Inside Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9.2 Combining Inside Titles and Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Other Text Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.10.1 Combining Answer Options and Other Text Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.10.2 Adding Text Entry Fields in Surrounding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randomly Changing the Sequence of Questions, Answers and Scale Items . . . . . . . . . . 5.11.1 Randomly Switching the Position of Questions on a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11.2 Randomly Switching Answer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11.3 Randomly Switching Scale Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11.4 Randomly Switching the Position of Answer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11.5 Mirroring Answer Options on the Centerline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enforcing Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.12.1 Demanding Questions to be Answered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.12.2 Enforcing Answers to Individual Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.12.3 Forcing a Text Field Entry for Combination Fields and dac . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Checkboxes Exclusive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Validating the Plausibility of Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.14.1 Plausibility Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.14.2 Planning the Use of Plausibility Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3
5.4
5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13 5.14
Contents
5.14.3 5.14.4 5.14.5 5.14.6 5.14.7 5.14.8 5.14.9 5.15
Example: Plausibility Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Predefined Plausibility Checks (Plausibility Check Types) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Including Data from Participant Administration and from the User and Master Data Tables in Plausibility Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 PHP Plausibility Checks and JavaScript Plausibility Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Adjusting the Plausibility Check Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 The Pro Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 The OPST Meta Language (OML) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 247 247 248 249 249 250 251 252 255 257 258 259 259 265 267 267 268 269 272 273 273 275 276 276 279 280 281 283 285 286 287 288 291 293 293 295 295
Validating Open-Ended Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.15.1 Considerations before Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.15.2 Choosing the Entry Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hiding Questions and Answer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.16.1 Hiding Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.16.2 Hiding Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integrating Multimedia Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.1 Incorporating Multimedia Elements in the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.2 The Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.3 Managing Multimedia Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.4 Using Directories to Manage Multimedia Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.5 Downloading the Content of the Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17.6 Protecting Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................
5.16
5.17
6 Working Effectively with the Editor

6.1
Importing Questions from a Template Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.1 Formatting Questions for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 Performing a Question Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Importing Answer Options as Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Importing Pages into Another Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Invoking the Page Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Performing a Page Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Storing Frequently Used Questions in the Question Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 The Question Library Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 Working with the Question Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Referencing Questions from Several Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Questionnaires Externally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.1 Exporting, Editing and Importing Text Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.2 Editing Externally with MS Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.3 Translating Externally with SDLX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.4 Using the Version Control Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Page, Question and Trigger Names Externally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Search and Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...............................
6.2 6.3
6.4
6.5 6.6
6.7 6.8
7 Dynamic Elements in the Questionnaire

7.1
Using Wildcards to Output Predefined Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Defining and Managing Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 Using Wildcards in the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.3 Example: Using Wildcards to Incorporate Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents
7.2 7.3
Using Wildcards to Output Dynamic Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Inserting Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Creating Dynamic Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Creating Static Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.3 Incorporating Static and Dynamic Lists into Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.4 Configuring the Output of the List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.5 In Detail: Extended Random Selection of List Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.6 Outputting Lists in the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.7 Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.1 Creating and Configuring a Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 Creating a Looped Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.3 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.4 Filtering on Loop Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.5 EFS Features with Limited or No Functionality in Loop Projects . . . . . . . . 7.4.6 Exporting and Evaluating Loop Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Initiating Actions with Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.1 Example: Using a Trigger for Sending Feedback Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.2 Triggers in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.3 The Mail Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.4 The Page Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.5 The Logout Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.6 The Sample Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.7 The Reinvitation Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.8 The Variable Split Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.9 The Recoding Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.10 The Random Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.11 The List Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.12 The Bonus Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.13 Panel Group Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transferring Answers from Another Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................
297 297 299 301 306 308 310 312 313 314 314 316 317 319 321 322 323 325 325 329 332 333 334 334 335 336 338 342 343 345 346 346 349 351 352 353 354 355 355 358 363 364 366 368 368 370 372 373
7.4
7.5
7.6
8 Layout Designing Surveys

8.1 8.2 8.3
Which Layout Options are There? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Standard Editor: Changing the Standard Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.1 The Standard Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 Inserting Logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.3 Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.4 Form Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.5 Changing Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.6 Progress Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.7 Configuring Plausibility Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Pro Editor: Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.1 Page Structure and Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.2 Using Templates to Edit the Page Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.3 Editing CSS Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.4 Debugging Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.4
Contents
8.4.5 8.4.6 8.4.7 8.5
Uploading Layout Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking and Correcting the Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
373 374 374 375 375 375 375 376 377 378 379 379 380 381 381 382 382 382 382 385 387 388 390 391 393 394 394 396 397 397 398 398 399 399 401 402 402 402 405 407 407 407 408 410
Functions for Advanced Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.1 Creating a Page with a Deviating Border Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.2 Creating a Question with a Deviating Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.3 Editing the Layout of Special Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.4 Re-Defining Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.5 Modifying the Progress Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.6 Modifying the Plausibility Check Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.7 Detecting Specific Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.8 Making Surveys Appear in a Frameset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.9 Creating Language-dependent Survey Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How are Survey Layouts Generated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6.1 Technical Background Information on the Template System . . . . . . . . . . . Saving and Re-Using Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7.1 Saving Settings as a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7.2 Loading Saved Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exporting and Importing Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.6 8.7
8.8
9 Testing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.1 9.2 Checking the Completion Status of a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Simulated Test Sessions to Identify Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Producing Test Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Interpreting Test Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 Deleting Test Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking Conditions for Logical Consistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking Media Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Skipping Checks During Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing the Language During Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switching to Language Editor During Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking Filters, Quotas and Triggers in the Course of the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8.1 Viewing Runtime Error Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8.2 Subscribing to Notification Mail for Runtime Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing the To-Dos of the Project Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capturing Pretest Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10.1 Activating the Pretest Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10.2 Changing the Labels of the Pretest Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10.3 Viewing and Managing Pretest Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................................
9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8
9.9 9.10
10 Recruiting and Inviting Participants

10.1
Recruiting and Inviting Participants to Anonymous Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.1 Inviting Participants Via a Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.2 Inviting Participants via QR Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.3 Inviting Participants Via a Pop-up Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.4 Inviting the Nth Visitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents
10.1.5 10.2
Restricting Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
411 411 412 419 421 421 422 423 424 428 429 429 431 432 432 432 433 434 436
Managing Participants in Personalized Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.1 Editing Participant Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.2 The List of Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.3 Display and Search Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.4 Search Functions in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.5 Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.6 Adding Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.7 Importing Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.8 Formatting of the Import File in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.9 Changing Participant Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.10 Bulk Editing Participant Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.11 Downloading Participant Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.12 Allowing Duplicate Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.13 Selecting Participants via Their E-Mail Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.14 Dispatching Reminders and Deactivating Accounts Automatically . . . . . . . . 10.2.15 Sending E-Mails to Participants of Personalized Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.16 Testing Personalized Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.17 Walking Participants through the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10.3
Drawing Samples for Panel and Master Data Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 10.3.1 Example: Drawing a Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 10.3.2 Managing Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 10.3.3 Editing a Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 10.3.4 Limiting the Basic Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 10.3.5 Controlling the Attribute Distribution Within the Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 10.3.6 Checking the Composition of the Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 10.3.7 Viewing and Managing the Participants of a Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 10.3.8 Inviting and Reminding Sample Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 10.3.9 Managing Personalized Links for External Survey Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 10.3.10 Testing Panel Surveys and Master Data Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 10.3.11 Viewing and Managing Participants Who Were Added Automatically to the Survey 452 10.3.12 Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Defining the Distribution of Specific Characteristics in a Participant Group with Quotas 10.4.1 Work Steps for Creating a Quota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.2 Basics: The Quota Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.3 Basics: Internal and External Quotas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.4 Basics: Quota Timetable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.5 Basics: The Most Important Quota Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.6 Managing Quotas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.7 Configuration Options for the Quota Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.8 Selecting a Suitable Point in the Questionnaire for Checking Internal Quotas 10.4.9 Screening out Unsuitable Respondents by Quota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.10 Viewing the Quota Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.11 Using Quota Data for Routing and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4.12 Reactivating Participants when Increasing Size of an External Quota . . . . . 10.4.13 Recalculating Quotas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................ 453 454 454 455 455 456 457 458 460 461 462 463 464 464 465 467
10.4
11 Writing and Sending E-Mail

11.1
Example: Sending Invitation Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
Contents
11.2
The EFS Mail Form in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.1 Using Mail Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.2 Configuring Advanced Mail Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.3 Editing Mail Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.4 Additional Functions for Personalizing E-Mail Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.5 Setting the Dispatch Date, Dispatch Period and Status of E-Mails . . . . . . . . 11.2.6 Checking Finished E-Mails and Saving Them as Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Ready-made Mail Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3.1 Managing Mail Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3.2 Properties of Mail Templates in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining Senders Addresses for Mail Dispatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4.1 Managing Sender Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Mail Dispatch Process in EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5.1 Limiting the Mail Volume per Mail Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5.2 Defining the Number of Repeats for Dispatch Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5.3 Using Installation-specific Mail Headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5.4 Controlling Dispatch Processes and Intervening in Processes . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing Archived Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6.1 Viewing Project-specific Dispatch Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6.2 Viewing Project-specific Dispatch Processes Installation-wide . . . . . . . . . . .
470 470 470 474 477 480 481 483 483 484 486 486 487 488 488 488 488 489 489 491 493 495 496 497 498 498 501 503 504 504 505 505 506 507 507 507 507 507 508 508 509 509 510 510 511 511 511
11.3
11.4 11.5
11.6
12 Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12.1 12.2 12.3 Field Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reporting and Statistic Tools for Individual Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Field Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.1 Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.2 The Field Report in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.3 Disposition Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.4 Allocating Code 20 to either Gross or Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.5 Restricting the Field Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.6 Splitting the Field Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.7 Exporting the Field Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.8 Setting a Variable Page Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Online Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4.1 Restricting the Online Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4.2 Splitting the Online Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open-ended Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5.1 Restricting the Open-Ended Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Individual Participant Records Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.1 Access Restrictions for Accessing Data Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.2 Overview of Data Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.3 Viewing Individual Data Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.4 Editing Individual Data Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.5 Deleting Individual Data Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deleting Result Data Selectively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Protecting the Results of Selected Questions from Unauthorized Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . 12.8.1 protect_questions ACL Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.8.2 Marking Questions as Protected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12.4
12.5 12.6
12.7 12.8
11
Contents
12.8.3 12.9
Effects of Protection on the Result Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
513 513 514 515 516 516 519 522 522 522 525 526 526 526 527 527 527 527 528 528 529 530 530 530 530 531 531 531 531 532 533 533 536
Enabling Customers to View Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12.10 Creating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.11 Importing Data from Other Sources for Evaluation in EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.11.1 Performing a Project Data Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.11.2 Formatting of the Import File in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.1 13.2 General Tips and Tricks on Exporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Detailed Description of Result, Master and Address Data Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.1 Selecting the Appropriate File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.2 Compressing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.3 Selecting an Export Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.4 Restricting Export to Individual Panel Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.5 Selecting the Language and Charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.6 User-Defined Missing Values in Exported Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.7 Removing Line Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.8 Replacing Codes with Labels in Excel Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.9 Restricting the Range of Exported Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.10 Excel Export with Long Variable Names and Meta Information . . . . . . . . . . Exporting Participant and Status Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exporting Answers to Open Questions for Quantum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special Functions for SAS Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5.1 Notes on SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5.2 Making Default Settings for the Further Processing of the SAS Files . . . . . . 13.5.3 Exporting and Opening SAS Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special Functions for Fixed Format Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.6.1 Adjusting Column Widths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.6.2 Downloading the Export Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special Features for the Evaluation in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.7.1 Excursion: Merging Records in SPSS (Matching) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What do the Exported Result Data Reveal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.8.1 Overview of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.8.2 Overview of Variable Preallocations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.3 13.4 13.5
13.6
13.7 13.8
13.9
EFS Survey Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 13.9.1 Overview of the Various Variable Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 13.9.2 Maximum Available Number of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 13.9.3 Generating and Editing Project Variables and Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 13.9.4 Preset and User-Defined Names for Project Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 13.9.5 Viewing and Editing User-Defined Variable Names in the Questionnaire Editor 539 13.9.6 Options for Centralized Editing of Variable Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 541 541 541 543 543 544
13.10 Defining Export Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.10.1 Overview of Existing Export Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.10.2 Viewing User-defined Templates and Sorting Their Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.10.3 Creating a User-defined Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.10.4 Downloading and Uploading Export Templates and Editing Them Externally 13.10.5 Editing a User-defined Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
Contents
13.11 Data Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.11.1 Activating Automatic Data Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.11.2 Triggering Data Cleaning for the Entire Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.11.3 Viewing Details and Editing Records Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.11.4 Identifying Cleaned Data in the Export Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.12 Quality Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.12.1 Triggering Quality Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.12.2 Viewing the Quality Index in the Export Data Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.13 RelevantID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.13.1 The RelevantID Checking Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.13.2 Check Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.13.3 Configuring the RelevantID Check for a Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
544 545 545 546 549 549 549 550 550 551 552 553 555 557 557 558 559 559 561 561 562 562 562 563 563 564 564 565 567 571 571 572 572 573 574 574 574 575 576 578 578 578 579 582 583 585
14 Documenting and Archiving Projects

14.1
..................................
Printing the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.1 Preparing the Print Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.2 Displaying Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking up Variables and Encodings in the Codebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.1 Viewing the Codebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.2 Displaying Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.3 Selecting the Language of Text Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.4 Editing Variable Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.5 Printing and Exporting Codebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking Changes of the Project Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Logging Changes to the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Archiving Survey Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.5.1 Archiving Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.5.2 Viewing, Downloading and Deleting Archived Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.5.3 Reactivating Archived Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14.2
14.3 14.4 14.5
15 Multilingual Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15.1 Tips for Your Project Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.1 Tips for Project Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.2 Recommendations on Project Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specifying and Editing General Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.1 Overview of Existing Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.2 Uniquely Characterizing Languages with a Language Identifier . . . . . . . . . 15.2.3 Creating Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.4 Copying Language Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.5 Setting the Active Default Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.6 Setting the Output Language Via a Language Selection Variable . . . . . . . . . 15.2.7 Tracing Changes Made in Language Administration via the Log . . . . . . . . . Centrally Editing Text Elements and Logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.1 Overview of the Translation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.2 The Text Element Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.3 Editing Survey Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.4 Logos and Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting Up a Language Selection Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15.2
15.3
15.4
13
Contents
15.5 15.6
E-Mail Dispatch from Participant Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6.1 Exporting Result Data for Evaluation in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6.2 Exporting Result Data for Open-ended Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evaluation of Multilingual Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.7.1 Narrowing the Field Report, Online Statistics and Open-Ended Answers by Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.7.2 Selecting the Language for Online Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.7.3 Selecting the Print Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tips, Tricks and FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.1 How can I incorporate language-specific variations into the questionnaire? 15.8.2 How can I preview multilingual questionnaires? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.3 Language mix in the preview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.4 Be careful when comparing strings in plausibility checks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.5 Using wildcards in multilingual projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.6 How can I create multilingual buttons? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.7 Can I create language-specific layouts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8.8 Is it possible to transfer text elements from one language to another? . . . . . 15.8.9 Can I access the ID of the current language from the questionnaire or from templates? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................................
586 587 587 587 587 587 588 588 588 588 588 589 589 589 589 589 590 590 591 593 593 594 595 605 605 605 606 606 607 610 610 610 610 612 613 614 615 615 615 617 617 617 623 625 625
15.7
15.8
16 Administrating Staff
16.1
The EFS Rights System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1.1 Controlling the Access Options of Staff via Team Affiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1.2 Configuring Access Options Precisely Using ACL and Object Rights . . . . . . 16.1.3 Overview of ACL Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1.4 Importing and Exporting Rights Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating and Managing Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.1 List of Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.2 Statuses of Team Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.3 Creating Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.4 Editing Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.5 Viewing and Changing the ACL Rights of a Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.6 Granting Read Rights to a Specific Team to Other Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting up and Managing Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.1 Staff List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.2 Creating Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.3 Importing Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.4 Temporal Limitation of Validity on Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.5 Changing Staff Account Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.6 Sending a Link for Resetting the Password by E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.7 Checking Staff Accounts for Brute Force Suspension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.8 Delegating the Administration of Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing Own Account Data and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.4.1 Tweaking Your Own Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................
16.2
16.3
16.4
17 Maintaining an EFS Installation

17.1
Limiting the Server Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1.1 Setting the Threshold for the Server Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
Contents
17.1.2 17.1.3 17.2
Editing the Message for Rejected Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing the Number of Rejected Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
626 626 626 626 627 627 627 627 628 628 629 630 631 632 634 634 634 635 639 641 641 641 642 642 642 642 642 643 644 645 651
Limiting the Number of Respondents Participating Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.1 Participation Limits in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.2 System-wide Activation and Deactivation of Participation Limits . . . . . . . . 17.2.3 Project-specific Activation and Deactivation of Participation Limits . . . . . . 17.2.4 Editing the Rejection Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.5 Viewing the Number of Rejected Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monitoring the Status of the Installation in the Platform Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.1 Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.2 Database Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.3 Login Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.4 Admin Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.5 OSPE Watchdog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.6 Interview Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.7 Installation Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Subscribing to the Daily Database Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.1 The Content of the Database Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................................
17.3
17.4
18 Appendix
18.1
Technical Requirements for Using EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.1 Admin Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.2 Questionnaire Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.3 Portal Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.1 Navigating via the Keyboard in a Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.2 Readability of EFS Questionnaires in Screen Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.3 Clickable Areas of Various Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Session, Session IDs and Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Firefox Plugins for Working in EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of the Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................................................
18.2
18.3 18.4 18.5
Index
15
Contents
16
0 Introduction
0.1 About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
17
18
0.1 About this Manual
Introduction
In EFS 8.0, a layout overhaul of the entire admin area underscores the modernization of the Enterprise Feedback Suite. The completely revamped layout provides a maximum of clarity and consistency and will make working with it a pleasant experience for you. An overview on all novelties in EFS 8.0 is available from the customer center at http://my.globalpark.com. EFS Survey is Globalparks web-based software solution for organizing, implementing and evaluating online questionnaires. Its range of functionalities, however, extends far beyond the mere creation and publication of web-based questionnaires: EFS Survey is an efficient project management software application for online feedback processes which allows you to process survey projects of all levels of complexity quickly and effectively.
0.1 About this Manual

This manual can be used both by users of EFS Survey and by users of other products of the Enterprise Feedback Suite. If you are working with EFS Survey, the manual provides a complete documentation of the functionalities. Users of EFS Panel and EFS Employee find all those functionalities in this manual that are identical for all products of the Enterprise Feedback Suite, such as questionnaire editor and staff administration. Features and tools that have been developed specifically for EFS Panel or EFS Employee are presented in dedicated manuals, which are available for download in the customer center. The Enterprise Feedback Suite contains a range of functional extensions and accessory tools some of which are included in the standard version and others which you may optionally lease. For most of these extensions, separate supplementary manuals are available: Flash question types: Included in the standard version of EFS Survey . A dedicated manual is available from the customer center. Reporting for EFS Survey: Included in the standard version of EFS Survey. A manual is available from the customer center. Additionally, from release 8.0, EFS Reporting + will be optionally available. EFS Reporting + is Globalparks new complete solution for the evaluation of results of EFS Survey and EFS Panel projects. If you are interested, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information. EFS Qualitative Analysis: Globalparks optionally available new solution for the evaluation of qualitative data. The manual is available from the customer center. If you are interested, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information. EFS Translator Interface: Separate area of EFS that supports the translation of questionnaires, particularly in large multilingual projects. Translators can log in to EFS Translator Interface and access all translation functions of EFS for their work. Optionally leasable, for more detailed information please contact
19
0 Introduction
your Globalpark sales representative. A manual for translators is available from customer center. EFS Conjoint Extension: Optionally leasable functional extension. A manual is available in the customer center. EFS Mobile Extension: Optionally leasable functional extension. Supports the delivery of online questionnaires on mobile devices. An introduction is available from customer center. For more detailed information please contact your Globalpark sales representative. EFS SMS Extension: Optionally leasable functional extension, enabling you to send SMS messages. An introduction is available from customer center. For more detailed information please contact your Globalpark sales representative. EFS Survey Status: Optionally leasable accessory tool. In the customer center, you can download a manual for project managers and a dedicated manual for customers to whom you might provide this platform. EFS Secure Exchange: Optionally leasable accessory tool. A manual is available in the customer center. EFS Web Services: Optionally leasable supplementary service. An English language introduction is available from the customer center. Action Planner: Optionally leasable tool for EFS Employee, which is used for managing follow-up processes of employee surveys. A manual is available from the customer center.
With the exception of the Flash question types and the traditional EFS Survey reporting, which are included in the standard version of EFS Survey, the accessory tools are available as options. If you are interested in these solutions, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information.
Versioning
The products of the Enterprise Feedback Suite are developed in parallel. Therefore, the numbering of the releases is identical for all products. If differences between releases are mentioned in the manual, the version numbering will always be as follows: EFS major version.minor version (e.g. EFS 8.0). Globalpark customers can download the most recent version of the EFS Survey manual from the customer center http://my.globalpark.com.
Organization of the manual

The structure of the manual is such that at the beginning of each text unit, an overview will explain the purpose of a function and thus make the functionality understandable. This is followed by a brief and concise description of how you can implement the respective functionality. Only after that will all options be explained in a detail section. All the functions you can click on, such as modules, menu items, tabs and links, are highlighted by a corresponding format in the text. Notes are marked by text boxes with a gray background. Notes are enclosed in text boxes such as this one.
20
1 Navigating in EFS Survey

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 EFS Survey as a Web Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Login Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Start Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Screen Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Online Help Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Integrated Feedback System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 24 28 29 30 30
21
22
1.1 EFS Survey as a Web Application
Navigating in EFS Survey
1.1 EFS Survey as a Web Application

EFS Survey is an advanced Web application that can be operated from anywhere with any commercially available browser. Therefore, the user does not necessarily need to install a software on their computer, but can create, change or monitor surveys via any Internet access. The use of commercially available browsers as human interfaces has the invaluable advantage that virtually everyone worldwide who is familiar with the Internet will be able to operate EFS Survey. Globalpark strictly follows the platform concept, i.e. all functionalities required to successfully conduct electronic, Internetbased survey research are available in one place. You will find the tools for both sending mails and creating surveys as well as for processing results in a single place. This facilitates smooth performance of personalized surveys and, in anonymous surveys, allows you to draw on-the-fly samples for future surveys and initiate feedback loops with respondents.
1.1.1
Technical Requirements for Using the Admin Area

To allow usage of the admin area, the following prerequisites should be met: Minimum resolution of 1024x768 JavaScript enabled The cookie set by the admin area must be accepted. In the admin area of EFS 8.0, the following browsers are supported: Firefox 3.6 for Windows IE 7.0 and 8.0 for Windows. Please note: Internet Explorer is known for prematurely aborting processes that take longer (e.g. copying projects, export). We therefore recommend that you use Firefox.
If you access the admin area via proxy server, e.g. from inside a company network, the access should not be restricted by time limitations. Furthermore, intermediary proxy servers should not manipulate any requests.
1.1.2
Worth Knowing when Working with a Web Application

Using EFS Survey functions instead of browser functions
To navigate in the admin area of EFS Survey, there are menus, buttons, links and breadcrumb navigation at your disposal. Using browser buttons (forward, backward, refresh) when working with a web application is not recommended: information on work processes already carried out could be unintentionally lost or work steps be executed twice, due to the fact that browser functions are carried out without a callback to the server.
Saving at the end of every work process

Your entries will be sent to the web server and saved, only after you have expressly confirmed with the Save button. If you make a selection or an entry in a menu, but then leave the menu without pressing Save, your data will not be saved.
23
An exception is a range of newly introduced features based on AJAX technology, including in particular, the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor (Chapter 4.3, p. 127): Changes do not need to be expressly saved with these features.
Navigating in the admin area with the keyboard

You can use different keyboard combinations in the admin area of EFS Survey. Here are the most important rules in brief: Forms are sent with <ALT>+<s>. With the tab button <Tab> you can jump from function field to function field including menu items and buttons. With a function that is defined by selecting a radio button or an option in a drop-down list, the cursor will jump to the first radio button, the next <Tab> click will switch you to the next function. With functions in multiple response lists, <Tab> will direct you from one checkbox to the next. With <Shift>+<Tab> you can navigate backwards. With the up/down arrow buttons you can switch in functions with a simple response list from one radio button or element of a drop-down list to the next. In select boxes you can navigate by typing the first letter of the desired term and then, if required, with the help of the arrow buttons jump forward or backward. You can open the online help and logout with the help of access keys. In Firefox, online help is opened with <Alt>+<Shift>+<h> and logout is initiated with <Alt>+<Shift>+<l>. In Internet Explorer <Alt>+<h>+<Return> is used to access online help and <Alt>+<l>+<Return> for logout. Chapter 18.2.1, p. 642 lists the keyboard combinations which can be used by respondents in the questionnaire.
1.2 The Login Process

1.2.1 Logging In
The applications administration area is protected by a personal login. You will usually find this at the following URL: http://wwww.your-domain.com/www/. You can only log in with a valid account name and the corresponding password.
24
Figure 1.1
EFS login
The admin area login is protected by the ACL right area_www. You and your staff need write rights in order to log in.
Changing the password regularly

Changing your password regularly protects your account from unauthorized access. The security criteria for passwords are explained in Chapter 1.2.2, p. 26. On initial login you are automatically prompted to change the password (see Chapter 1.2.2, p. 26) and to provide a security question (see Chapter 1.2.3, p. 27). Passwords expire every 28 days. The time remaining is displayed in a notice bar after each login. If you log in after the expiry date you will be asked on the screen to change the password. You can change your password anytime in the Staff->Own account->Password menu.
Requesting forgotten data

If you have forgotten your password or account name you can access automated help functions. On inputting a false password or account name you will be asked on the login screen to click a special link. Then follow the on-screen instructions.
25
Figure 1.2
Asking for help if you forget your password
Please note: EFS Survey has brute force protection, i.e. only a limited number of false password entries is possible. Thereafter the staff member account is deactivated for a specified period (by default suspension occurs after the sixth false entry and the waiting time is 30 minutes). Therefore please use the help offered on the login screen if you have forgotten your password. Further information regarding brute force protection can be found in Chapter 16.3.7, p. 615.
Renewing expired accounts

Staff accounts in EFS installations always have an expiration date after which they will be automatically deactivated. This date is usually the same as the expiration date of the renting contract. If your account has expired, please get in touch with your Globalpark sales contact or with Globalpark Support.
1.2.2
Security Criteria for Account Names and Passwords

The following security criteria apply for account names and passwords: The password must be changed after the first login and then expires every 28 days. If the user logs in after the expiry date the screen requests that the password be changed. Alternating upper and lower case is permissible for account names. Alternating upper and lower case is not permissible for passwords. The password must have a minimum of 6 characters. The password must contain characters from at least two of the following four groups: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, other keyboard ASCII characters. The password may not contain any spaces.
26
A dictionary check can be optionally activated, i.e. a check is made as to whether the password will withstand a dictionary attack. On new installations this check is disabled by default. When changing password after the first login or on expiry of one month the same password may not be used again. Whether a password meets default security criteria is checked during entry and dynamically displayed.
Figure 1.3
Password security display on monthly password change
The admin area can optionally be operated in High Security Mode. In addition to EFS standard security features, supplementary protective measures that meet advanced requirements for web application security are activated in this operation mode. These include, in particular, stricter security criteria for the passwords of staff members. A special documentation providing detailed information on the High Security Mode is available for download from our customer center.
1.2.3
Security Question
The function for sending a forgotten password is protected by a security question. This security question is defined at the first login: You can select the desired question from a list of suggestions or enter it yourself, and must enter the answer yourself. You can subsequently edit the security question in the Staff->Own account menu.
27
Figure 1.4
Entering security question on initial login
See Chapter 16.4, p. 617, for further information on how to change the settings for your own account.
1.3 The Start Page

After logging in, you will see the start page providing an overview of the projects in progress: In EFS Survey installations, a list of the projects that were last edited in the admin area will be displayed at the top of the screen. Via this list, you can switch directly to where you are currently working in EFS Survey. Below, you will find a table containing the projects that are currently in the field. In EFS Panel installations, the topmost section, titled Panel status will show an overview of the number of panel members and their respective status. Below, theres a shortcut to the panel website: if you have selected a standard panelist account for your staff account, you can log in directly using this panelists data (Chapter 16.17). At the bottom, as in EFS Survey installations, you will find a table containing the projects that were last edited in the admin area and a list of the projects that are currently in the field. The information for the start page is held in cache memory for performance reasons. It is displayed with an approximately 15 minute time lag from the actual status of the installation.
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1.4 Screen Layout
1.4 Screen Layout

Navigation bar
In the navigation bar at the top of the screen, you will find basic functions that will be constantly displayed while you work in the admin area: Links to the various main modules. In EFS Survey installations, these are the Status, Projects, Staff and Options modules. EFS Panel installations with panels have the Panel, Projects, Website, Staff and Options modules. Links you can use to change the language, to invoke the online help and the feedback form (Chapter 1.6, p. 30), or to log out.
Login data
On the left hand side below the menu the display shows the account you are logged on with and which other users are active. Clock time is also displayed. Login: The name of the logged-in staff member Users online user(s) online: Number of staff members logged in the admin area. For EFS Panel installations only: user(s) online: The number of panelists logged onto the panel website . respondent(s) online: Number of survey participants. The numbers are calculated in 30 second intervals and include users who performed an operation within the last 10 minutes.
Date (GMT): Server time. EFS Survey installations always use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)/UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) and this setting cannot be altered. Local date: Date and time setting you may select for your account. See Table 16.15, p. 617. For EFS Panel installations only: Panel date. Date and time set for panel installation. The login to the customer center is located below the login data. As a Globalpark customer, this link allows you to switch directly from the admin area to the customer center.
Modules and menus

The various EFS Survey functions are presented in a hierarchical structure: Functions that are required for the same work process will be grouped under the respective common heading. The main work areas, such as project and staff administration, are grouped together in the above-mentioned modules, which can be found in the navigation bar. To navigate within the modules, use the menus which are always located on the lefthand side of the screen. They are subdivided into main menus and submenus.
Content area
The actual work is performed in the central content area in the middle of the screen. Clicking on tabs allows you to switch between different subtopics and then trigger actions or make entries using dialogs, icons, pop-up windows or links.
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Standard dialogs
The layout of the user dialogs follows a consistent pattern: The Submit button is always located in the bottom right corner. Checkboxes you can tick and drop-down lists from which you can select options are also be placed in the right-hand part of the screen.
1.5 The Online Help Feature

By clicking the Help link, which is constantly present on the right-hand side of the navigation bar while working in the admin area, you can open the online help. It contains the EFS Survey manual as well as the manuals for EFS Panel and EFS Employee. On the Download tab, the manuals are available in PDF format, just as in the customer center. Via the Search tab, you can search a specific manual or all three manuals. On other tabs, you can access the manuals inside the Help window. Documentation for optionally available tools is available in the customer center at http://my.globalpark.com.
1.6 The Integrated Feedback System

Globalparks aim is to develop products that are optimally tailored to the specific application needs of its customers: from individual surveys as part of an academic research project to employee surveys at large companies. All users of Enterprise Feedback Suite are invited to contribute their ideas. Via a feedback form, which can be called up from anywhere within the admin area, you may submit comments that will be forwarded to the Globalpark staff.
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1.6 The Integrated Feedback System
Figure 1.5 The feedback form
To offer your praise, criticism, or suggestions regarding specific functions you are currently working with, please proceed as follows: Open the pop-up window containing the feedback form by clicking on the Feedback link in the upper right-hand corner. Information regarding the context of your comment, such as installation, menu, or currently executed action, is gathered automatically; i. e. you do not have to enter this information in detail. If you are willing to answer further questions, please activate the respective checkbox.
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2 Introduction: The First Survey

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Creating an Anonymous Project (Step 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entering Questions (Step 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activating the Project (Step 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inviting the Participants (Step 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monitoring the Survey (Step 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exporting Data (Step 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 37 49 50 51 51
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Introduction: The First Survey

This chapter offers a practically oriented introduction to working with EFS Survey: Creating a small sample project, you will go through all the work steps required to successfully conduct an online survey. In doing so, you will learn about the most important functions of the software. References to detailed descriptions later on in the manual give you an insight into the versatility and power of the software.
Figure 2.1
Sequence of operations necessary to set up a survey
Considerations before starting

Before you begin drafting a questionnaire, you should consider the following issues: Which decisions are to be supported by the survey? Which information is to be collected from the target group? Which target group is to be addressed in the survey? Which technical equipment is available to the target group? How can the target population be motivated to give answers with a good quality? Detail planning of a questionnaire requires making further decisions: First you have to determine subject and target group of the survey. In the demo survey created in this Chapter Internet users will be asked to evaluate a specific website. You have to select an appropriate survey type. As we do not have any data of the participants in our demo survey we choose to conduct an anonymous survey. In order to create a questionnaire you need to be familiar with the different question types and tools of EFS: which question type is best suited for a specific question? which page of the questionnaire should contain which questions, sub titles and multimedia elements?
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where to put a specific filter (i.e. which pages should only be visible to specific participants)? Which questions and answer items should only be visible to specific participants?
2.1 Creating an Anonymous Project (Step 1)

Enter the Projects module. The menu of this module offers access to important sub menus such as Create project or Project import. In the content area you will find the Project list. It provides information about the project type and the status of the projects. To deactivate or end projects, change rights or delete a project, use either the icons in the Actions column, or the checkboxes and the drop-down list below the table.
Figure 2.2
The menu of the module Projects and the list of projects
To create an anonymous survey, please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Create project menu item. 2. The entry dialog for new projects is opened.
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2.2 Entering Questions (Step 2)
Figure 2.3
Creating a project
3. Enter the following project details: project type: anonymous survey title, description, author and co-authors staff teams which are allowed to have access to the project survey messages (e.g. button labels, login messages and system messages): a default set can be selected in various languages. Additionally users can define their own sets. Please select Standard survey messages for English language (en_GB).
Chapter 3.1, p. 55, introduces the various survey types you can realize using EFS Survey, EFS Panel and EFS Employee. 4. In the Advanced options section, keep the default settings unchanged. 5. Confirm your entries by clicking on the Create button. 6. The message Project has been created successfully. will be displayed on a green bar. Click on the To project link in the message.

The Survey menu is opened. It is the central starting point for editing your project. On the left side of the screen, you can find all relevant submenus.
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Figure 2.4
The Survey menu
To create the questionnaire, click on the Questionnaire editor menu item. The questionnaire editor is opened.
Figure 2.5
The questionnaire editor
For your sample project only the final page has been created automatically so far. You will soon create all other pages yourself.
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The three levels of the questionnaire editor

Before we are going to work with the questionnaire editor we should have a close look at its structure. As you can see in the following chart the questionnaire editor has three levels: the questionnaire view, the page view and the question view.
Figure 2.6
Youre presently on level 1, the questionnaire view. It shows a list of the different pages of the questionnaire. If you click on a page title in the questionnaire view you get to level 2, the page view. The questions on a questionnaire page are listed. If you click on a question title in the page view you get to level 3, the question view. You will see the text elements and all other relevant settings for a specific question.
2.2.1
Creating the First Questionnaire Page of Your Survey

At the beginning of the survey you want to welcome the participants. Therefore the first page does not contain any questions but a welcome text.
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1. Steps to create the first questionnaire page:

You have already entered the questionnaire view via the Questionnaire editor menu item. Cick on the Create new page or filter tab.
Figure 2.7
Creating the start page of the project
1. Enter Start as a title of the page. Select the page type Standard. 2. Confirm with Create. 3. The new page is created and displayed in the automatically opened questionnaire view.
2. Steps to create the first question

1. Click on the title of the first page Start in the questionnaire view. 2. You get to the page view where you find an entry form to create new questions on this page.
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Figure 2.8
Adding the title of the first question
3. The title of the first question has been automatically preset with the page title Start. Keep this title. 4. You have to choose an appropriate question type. Click the Show available question types icon. (As soon as you have familiarized yourself with the question types of EFS Survey, you can use the drop-down list instead: Selecting a group of questions opens a list of the corresponding question types with schemas.) 5. A list of all question types with schemata is shown.
Figure 2.9
Extract of the detail view of the EFS Survey question types
Detailed explanations on the question types are given in Chapter 5, p. 175. 6. For the welcome text you do not need any question elements, just normal text and a little bit of HTML. Therefore, select the question type Text and HTML code (998). 7. Confirm with Create. You get to the third level of the questionnaire editor, the question view, where you will see an entry form to enter texts.
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Figure 2.10
The question Start in the questionnaire editor
8. Enter the text. You can either add HTML tags yourself or use the formatting features. 9. Confirm with Save. 10. Click on the Preview question tab. In a pop-up window, you can see the question from a future respondents point of view. 11. Click on the Questionnaire tab to get back to the questionnaire view.
Figure 2.11
Actions to edit a questionnaire page in the structure view
12. The icons in the Actions column offer a variety of options to edit the newlycreated standard page: Preview, Create new page or filter, Copy, Search / replace, Edit page, Page tree import under page X and Delete. 13. Click on the Preview icon to view the complete starting page.
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If you want to change the text of the Forward button, click on Back to survey menu. Open the Project properties menu. In the Survey messages submenu you can edit the text of the buttons and other important survey messages.
2.2.2
Creating a Question with a Single Response List

On the next page you will create a question with a Single response list. This means that the respondent can only give one answer.
Steps:
1. In order to create the next page, click on the Create new page or filter. 2. Enter Internet use as a page title. 3. Create a new question on the page, take care to select the question type Single response list (vertical) (111) in the drop-down list.
Figure 2.12
Adding the question title and choosing the question type
4. Confirm with Save. 5. The question view is opened.
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Figure 2.13
Question view of a single response question
6. Enter the question text and the texts of the answer categories. 7. In order to delete the fifth answer category, click in the checkbox in the Delete column. 8. Save your entries. 9. Click on the Preview question tab to view the question you have just created. With the question preview you can only see the specific question. Whereas in the page preview which you have used in Chapter 2.2.1, p. 39 the whole page is shown.
2.2.3
Creating a Question with a Multiple Response List and Other Field

The respondent can give more than one answer to the following question. He can also enter a text.
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Steps:
1. Create a standard page with the title Attention. 2. Create a question with the question type Multiple response list (vertical) (121). 3. Enter the question text, the fill-in instruction and the first three answer categories (items). Activate the checkbox Delete for the answer categories which you do not need.
Figure 2.14
Question view of a multiple response question
4. Save your entries. 5. In the New row, enter the text others into the text field in the column Item text. A number for the new item is created automatically. Select Answer category + text in the drop-down list.
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Figure 2.15
Adding an answer category with additional text field
6. Save again. 7. The answer category with text area is created. Optionally you can change width and maximum length of the text.
Figure 2.16
The completed multiple response question with additional text field
2.2.4
Creating a Matrix Question

Matrix questions are used when a detailed evaluation of various aspects of an issue is required.
Steps:
1. Create a standard page with the title Evaluation. 2. Create a question of the question type Standard matrix (311).
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3. Enter the question text and the items.
Figure 2.17
Opening the section Scale options in the question view of a standard matrix
4. Save your entries. 5. To edit the scale items, open the section Scale options by clicking on the Arrow icon. 6. The entry dialog for the answer scale is opened.
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Figure 2.18
Editing the scale items
7. Enter the four items from 1=I strongly agree to 4=I absolutely disagree. 8. Define the fifth scale item No answer as a missing value. 9. Save your changes and check the result in the preview. If the left margin with the item texts is too small, change the number of pixels in the line Width of the left column with the question texts (in pixel).
2.2.5
Creating the Final Page

On the last page of the survey, you want to thank the participants for taking part in your survey. Afterwards the participants will close the survey window via a button.
Steps:
1. Click on the title of the final page in the questionnaire view and create a question of the question type Text and HTML code (998). As you have learned in Chapter 2.2.1, p. 39, you can format the text yourself. 2. Insert a Close window button: Place the cursor in the entry field and select the option Insert Close window button in the drop down list Insert code automatically. The following HTML code will be added automatically:
<br> <div align=center> <input type=button onClick=window.close() value=Close window> </div> <br>
3. Save your entries.
2.2.6
Creating a Layout with the Standard Editor

The Layout menu contains numerous functions for designing the questionnaire.
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2.3 Activating the Project (Step 3)
Choosing a layout
If there are already layouts available on the EFS Survey installation you use, you can integrate them in your questionnaire in the Layout templates menu. Choose the layout you need and click on the Select layout button to implement it in your questionnaire.
Editing standard layout

The Standard editor allows you to design the surveys layout without any knowledge of HTML and CSS. On the Logos tab you can upload the logos and the background image of your project. In order to upload a logo, please proceed as follows: Determine where you want to position the logo. Choose the file on your local pc with Browse, Click on Upload logo.
On the Format tab you can format numerous elements of a questionnaire page for the whole project. The tab contains an interactive scheme of a questionnaire page with all standard elements. If you choose an element, a popup window is opened, and you can change the layout of the element. As soon as you close the window by clicking on Accept & close window the changes will be integrated into your questionnaire. On the Form elements tab you can replace the HTML buttons by graphical form elements. After selecting the graphical form elements and clicking on the button Save you can choose from several sets of form elements and you can upload your own images. On the Progress bar tab you can activate the progress bar. After saving the selection you can choose among several designs or change the text above the bar. Detailed instructions on how to use this and other functions of the standard editor are provided in Chapter 8, p. 351. It also explains the extensive design options offered to advanced users with knowledge of HTML by the Pro editor.
2.3 Activating the Project (Step 3)

Activating the project
Now your questionnaire is complete. Before starting your survey, the basic settings of the project have to be adjusted in the Survey menu: Determine begin and end of the survey. Confirm with Save. In the line Status, you can see that the project has been created but it has not yet been activated. Click on Activate and the status will be changed into Active.
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Figure 2.19
Determining the field time and activating the survey
Testing the project

Before entering into the field, you have to test the questionnaire. Change to the Survey menu and check the survey from the point of view of a participant via the link in the line URL. Go through the questionnaire and try whether filtering, hiding conditions and plausibility checks really work. Chapter 9, p. 387, provides an overview of tools for automated tests.
Compiling the project

All data created e.g. by tests in productive mode must be deleted before the start of the survey. Click on the Compile menu item. Select Delete all survey data and click on Compile survey. Now the database is newly created and all test data deleted.
Figure 2.20
Compiling the survey
2.4 Inviting the Participants (Step 4)

As you have finished creating your online questionnaire you can now invite participants. Your demo survey is an anonymous survey which means that you do not know
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2.5 Monitoring the Survey (Step 5)
the participants data beforehand. In order to gain participants you have to direct potential participants to your survey by integrating a link to the survey in a website. by publishing a link to the survey in a newsletter. by integrating a pop-up window in a website. You can find the link of the survey in the Survey menu in the line URL (see Figure 2.19). If you are conducting a personalized survey in which participants are known in advance, you can use EFS Surveys participant administration to distribute personal invitation mails. See Chapter 10.2, p. 411, for further information.
2.5 Monitoring the Survey (Step 5)

In the Statistics menu, accessible via the Survey menu, you can monitor your survey. It contains three main sections that can be opened by selecting the respective menu items: the Field report, the Online statistics and the Open-ended answers. The Field report provides information about the number of participants and the break-off rate. At any time during the survey the Online statistics provides an overview of the data that has been collected so far. You can either get the data regarding specific questions or you can get the data concerning the whole survey. Open-ended answers lists the answers to open-ended questions.
2.6 Exporting Data (Step 6)

After the end of the survey you can export the collected data. Under Survey menu-> Export you can find a variety of options to define format and data volume. Explanations of the EFS Survey export options are given in Chapter 13, p. 521.
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52

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Project Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Compiling Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linking Different Projects: External Survey Start . . . . . . . Managing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opening a Project and Getting an Overview . . . . . . . . . . . Determining Framework Data for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . 55 57 62 63 63 68 71
Automating Frequently Required Work Steps . . . . . . . . . . 108
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3.1 Project Types
Creating and Managing Projects

The Enterprise Feedback Suite is designed as a universal feedback management platform. It provides solutions for all data collection scenarios which are of importance for modern Enterprise Feedback Management. Depending on your requirements, you can select the desired method or even combine various methods. Surveying is the most important feedback collection method. Surveys serve mainly for the collection of quantitative data. In all solutions provided by EFS, surveys are realized as individual projects. The creation, conduction and evaluation of these separate projects is very much at the heart of the basic platform EFS Survey. Therefore, they are also the key topics of this manuals. In panels, a pool of persons is repeatedly invited to systematic surveys. Globalparks EFS Panel is optimized for running panels on the Internet. The conduction of the individual panel surveys and their panel-specific properties are covered by this manual. The design and administration of the platform which is used to organize the surveying, on the other hand, is the main topic of EFS Panel 8.0. In recent years, qualitative feedback collection methods have gained importance. EFS Panel comprises several qualitative collection methods, thus enabling you to turn your online panel into an Insight Community. One of the most frequentlyused methods is the forum discussion. It is is organized in separate projects, quite similar to the familiar survey projects. In the following, you will find a brief introduction. For detailed explanations and information on other qualitative methods, as e.g. blogs and chats, please see EFS Panel 8.0. This chapter focuses on how projects are created and conducted. The various projects types that can be realized with EFS are presented in Chapter 3.1, p. 55. Chapter 3.2, p. 57 details the various ways to create a project: creating manually, by copying or by transferring from one installation to another via export and import. In Chapter 3.3, p. 62, you learn how to clean the database of a survey - usually before the project is started. The project list, where you can manage and open your surveys and forum discussions, is described in Chapter 3.5.1, p. 63. Chapter 3.6, p. 68 will introduce you to the basic properties of EFS projects, such as field period and project status. EFS offers you a great degree of flexibility when it comes to adapting a project to specific needs. The corresponding configuration features are detailed in Chapter 3.7, p. 71. Frequently required work processes can be automatized in EFS. Chapter 3.8, p. 108 tells you how to do so.
3.1 Project Types

In EFS, feedback collection is organized in individual projects. The features and processes required in these projects depend strongly on the data collection method and the target group chosen. Therefore, the various EFS solutions support quite different project types.
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Anonymous survey (AN) Personalized survey (PE) Only on EFS Employee platforms: Employee survey (ES) Only on EFS Panel installations: Panel survey (PA) Only on EFS Panel installations: Master data survey (MD) Only on EFS Panel installations: Forum discussions (FD)
3.1.1
Anonymous Surveys
Anonymous surveys (abbreviation: AN) are accessible for all who know the respective survey Internet address. This is usually conducted by means of advertising efforts such as banners or hyperlinks on existing websites.
3.1.2
Personalized Surveys
Personalized surveys (abbreviation: PE) are only accessible for persons included in the survey sample. In a personalized survey, you can precisely define who you wish to include as participants in your online survey. You may either enter participants manually or import the list of participants into EFS in an Excel sheet (CSV file). There are various options of how to restrict access to the survey. For example, by means of a password sent to the participants per e-mail, or via a personalized link or definable IP addresses. The respective passwords for participants can be either generated within EFS Survey or imported into the system.
3.1.3
Employee Surveys
The project type Employee survey (abbreviation: ES) is used only on EFS Employee installations. It satisfies particularly strict data protection guidelines and allows access to the optionally available additional tool Org Processor. The employee survey project type can only be used on EFS Employee installatons. Features and tools that have been developed specifically for this project type are presented in the EFS Employee manuals, which are available for download in the customer center.
3.1.4
Panel Surveys
Panel surveys, master data surveys and forum discussions are only available on EFS Panel installations. Panel surveys (abbreviation: PA) are answered by persons registered as participants within your panel. In order to perform panel surveys you must generate groups in the Panel module. Samples are then drawn from these groups for the survey project of your panel.
3.1.5
Master Data Surveys

The project type Master data survey (abbreviation: MD) is also closely connected with the panel. Master data are basic information collected on panel members at the beginning of panel membership. In addition to socio-demographic details, such as income and occupation, you can collect as much information as required, depending
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3.2 Creating Projects
on the interests of the panel operator. The master data survey is usually the first survey to be completed by each panelist, following registration.
3.1.6
Forum Discussions
You can decide for yourself whether you want to use the new display options for forum discussions described below. If you wish to use them, open the dialog Edit settings for all current forum topics and tick the checkbox Treat as qualitative project. If you subsequently create your forum topics from within the project list, this option will be enabled automatically. The forum discussion (abbreviation: FD) is one of the most frequently used qualitative feedback collection methods. It is strongly used, in particular, in Insight Communities. From EFS 8.0, a dedicated project type Forum discussion is available. In analogy to the familiar survey projects, you can create forum discussions as separate projects and organize them via the Projects menu. The new features in brief: Forum discussions are integrated into the project list and the field overview. Optionally, you can create forum discussions via the familiar Create project menu. If you open a forum discussion from within the project list, the contents will be presented in a navigation structure corresponding to the familiar EFS survey projects. Possible project statuses are active and inactive. In contrast to quantitative projects, forum discussions have no project ID, no author and no project directory. Therefore, these data cannot be retrieved by the search features in project list and field overview. Furthermore, forum discussions cannot be sorted into folders. Please mind that only the most important features of project list and field overview are supported for forum discussions. In particular, the actions in the project list are not available for forum discussions, furthermore neither archiving nor import and export can be used. Access to the qualitative projects in the admin area is controlled via the EFS rights system, as usual. If you want to enable your staff members to open a forum discussion from the project list, you have to assign read rights for board_admin und read rights for the forum. If you want them to create qualitative projects themselves, please assign read rights for cr_project, read rights for board_admin and read rights for the referenced forum. The forum discussions can be displayed along with quantitative surveys on the panelists personal homepages (EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 19.4.33). For more details on the forums of EFS Panel, please see the manual EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 14.6.

There are three different ways of creating new projects: You can create a new project (see Chapter 3.2.1, p. 58). You can copy an existing project (see Chapter 3.2.2, p. 59).
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You can export and import a project from one EFS installation to another (see Chapter 3.2.3, p. 60). The number, size and complexity of the projects on an installation affects the performance. - If a project is finished, make sure that all necessary data and project documentation have been downloaded and stored properly. Then, archive the project (see Chapter 14.5, p. 563). To simplify this task, EFS lists all projects whose field time has ended more than 6 weeks ago once per month, thus enabling you to keep your installation clean with minimum effort. - If a project is not needed anymore, it is recommended to delete it from the archive. In many cases, old projects must be deleted for reasons of privacy protection, too. - When preparing a survey, please respect existing limits and guiding values, as e.g. the maximum numbers for variables (Chapter 13.9.2, p. 538), pages (Chapter 4.4, p. 130) and questions (Chapter 4.5, p. 131).
3.2.1
Creating Projects
1. Click on the Projects module in the navigation bar. 2. Click on Create project. The entry form for creating a new project will open.
Figure 3.1
Creating a project
3. In it, specify the project type for the survey by selecting a project type from the Project type select box. (Exception on Panel installations: If you select forum discussion, the dialog shown above will be replaced automatically by the list of required forum topic properties.) 4. Type a name into the Title field. 5. If required, enter a description of the present project in the Description field (e.g. content and use of the project). 6. In the Author field, enter the name of the project author.
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7. Specify additional persons participating in the project in the Staff field, as required. 8. Specify which staff teams are to receive access to the project. To do so, choose the team from the Which teams shall receive full access? select box (see Chapter 3.5.8, p. 68). The teams, in which you are a member, are displayed in a select box, and your own primary team is pre-selected. Your own primary team always gets read and write rights on the newly created project automatically. If you belong to a team with write rights to the ACL right groupadmin, you can assign all teams in the installation of the Admingroup type with read and write rights to the project. 9. Apply the following survey messages for this project: A set of survey messages that already exists in the library is uploaded (see Chapter 3.7.16, p. 98). 10. In the Advanced options area, you can make further adjustments to the settings: EFS features a runtime check for checking the conditions of LUA filters, quotas and triggers in the course of the survey (see Chapter 9.8, p. 398). Optionally, you can subscribe to e-mail notifications which are sent whenever a participant causes this kind of error. To do so, enter a list of staff members to be notified in the field Notification on errors during survey processing. Each row should contain only one address. You can have an e-mail notification sent to you before the end of the field period of a survey. To do so, enter a list of the staff members who are to receive an e-mail in the Notification before end of survey field. In each row there should be only one address. The mails will be sent seven days before the end of the project. Then select the desired mail template. You can choose from mail templates of the Notification before end of survey type. If you do not select a template resp. if you cannot select one due to missing rights, a mail with default text will be used. Put the project in folder: The project is moved into the corresponding folder of the project list (see Chapter 3.5.6, p. 65). After creating the project directly apply layout: A layout that already exists as a template is uploaded (see Chapter 8.7.1, p. 382). Which status is to be applied after creating the project? You can choose between the statuses survey compiled, active and inactive. An overview of all the statuses can be found in Table 3.1.
11. Clicking on the Create button will create the new project. A green bar containing the To project link will display a message indicating that the operation was successful. The project can now be located in the project list under the title you entered.
3.2.2
Copying Projects
You can create copies of projects at any time. Contents of questionnaires, layout settings and general project attributes will also be copied. Result data which already exist, generated reports or sample definitions (e.g. contents of participant administration in personalized projects) will not be copied. 1. Open the Projects module. 2. Select the project you wish to copy from the project list and click on the Copy icon.
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3. The familiar entry dialog for creating projects (Figure 3.1) is opened, preset with the data of the source project. 4. In the Project type select box, choose the project type for the survey copy. Please mind the restrictions mentioned in Chapter 3.2.4, p. 62. 5. Enter the project title, description, author and staff members, as described in Chapter 3.2.1, p. 58, and specify the access for the team in the Which teams shall receive full access select box. 6. Click on Create to create a copy of the selected project.
3.2.3
Exporting and Importing Projects

Projects can be exported and subsequently re-read into the system via an import interface. In addition to the basic questionnaire structure, you can optionally export the following data: all existing subdirectories: /images, /cimages, /layout, /templates, /css all images of the overall media library user-defined container templates reports: Reports created with EFS Survey reporting, including already-generated reports.
Before you start

Please note: The XML format used is a mere exchange format, e.g. it can be used only for transferring projects to another EFS Survey installation or for archiving questionnaires. Projects can only be imported to target installations which have the same EFS version or a higher, newer version than the source installation of the project. It is not possible to downgrade projects via export/import, e.g. by importing a 8.0 project to a 7.0 installation. In EFS 7.0 and higher installations, you can only import projects that have been created with version 4.0 or higher. Any projects created before version 4.0 cannot be imported anymore. The project type of the source project as well as any possible extensions used in this project should also be available in the destination installation. For example, a project of the employee survey type can only be imported without data loss into an EFS installation that supports this project type. Likewise, a project with conjoint block can only be imported into an EFS installation where the EFS Conjoint Extension has been activated. The file size for importing data is limited: the installation-specific threshold value is displayed in the import dialog. Before importing, please ensure that your file does not exceed the threshold. If your file is too big, please contact Globalpark Support. It is not possible to export or import forum discussions.
Exporting a project
In order to save a project on the local server, please proceed as follows:
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1. Starting from the Projects module, open the appropriate project and go to the Export menu.
Figure 3.2
2. Select the Project export option and confirm with Continue. 3. Define if and which additional data should be included in the export. 4. Save the file locally on a volume of your computer as an XML file with the file extension gpx.
Importing a project
To import a project which was exported as described above into the same or into another EFS installation in the EFS-specific XML format, please proceed as follows: 1. Switch to the Projects module again and click on the Project import menu item.
Figure 3.3
Importing a project
2. Click on Browse. 3. Choose the .gpx file from the local drive or from the network and click on the Open button. The file you selected will appear in the Source field. 4. Specify the project type you wish to assign to the imported project by selecting a project type from the Project type drop-down list. Please mind the restrictions mentioned in Chapter 3.2.4, p. 62. 5. Enter a project title into the Title field. 6. Specify which staff teams are to receive access to the project by choosing the respective teams from the Which teams shall receive full access select box. 7. Click on Send file to import the selected project. 8. If the import was successful, the following message will appear: Project will be imported!. You can select and edit the project in the project list.
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3.2.4
Changing the Project Type

The EFS project type may be changed retrospectively, i.e. you can change e.g. an anonymous survey into a personalized survey and vice versa. But due to various restrictions, changing the project type is usually only sensible if the project has only just been created or if you have copied an old project in order to reuse the questionnaire. The following restrictions apply: All result data already available will be deleted in the process. Reports which have been configured and/or generated in Reporting will be deleted irrevocably. If a personalized project is converted to an anonymous project, all settings and contents of participant administration are lost. If an employee survey is converted into another project type, the project configuration plus all settings and contents of participant administration and Org Processor are lost. Only on EFS Panel installations: With panel surveys and master data surveys, changing the project type is not possible, as these types differ greatly from those created with EFS Survey (e.g. with regard to directory structure and session management). Only on EFS Panel installations: With forum discussions, a change is not possible either. To change the project type, open the Survey menu and click on the Change link in the Project type field. This brings you to the dialog shown in Figure 3.1 where you can change the project type.
3.3 Compiling Surveys

After creating a survey, it must be compiled before you can activate it. After a warning message you will be prompted to confirm the compile command with yes. Once you have executed this function the survey will be activated. The compilation module developed by Globalpark allows you to make changes to your survey, e.g. add items, even during the field phase. However, as the MySQL table of the EFS Survey database connection will be newly created, you have various options to choose from as to how the program shall deal with existing survey data. The following options are available: Maintain survey data: all existing survey data will be kept. Delete all survey data: all data will be irretrievably lost. Delete all test data: all entries made by registered testers will be deleted. If you have deleted different question types, the pertinent variables for the respective question types will be maintained in the database. EFS Surveys compilation module now immediately detects that the database contains superfluous variable fields and offers you the option of deleting these data during compilation. However, keeping redundant variable fields in the database usually causes no problems.
Runtime compilation
EFS Survey automatically performs soft compilation without data loss, if the survey engine detects that data were added during the field phase without subsequent compilation. However, for performance reasons, it is recommended that you perform manual
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3.4 Linking Different Projects: External Survey Start
compilation after making changes to your project, as deleted variables will be kept after each runtime compilation.
3.4 Linking Different Projects: External Survey Start

In the customer center in the Manuals-> External survey start menu, you can download a manual dedicated to External survey start.
3.5 Managing Projects

3.5.1 The Project List
The project list gives you an overview of all of the projects you have access to.
Figure 3.4
The project list
You will find the following information on every project in the table: Project title Author (except for forum discussions) Project ID (except for forum discussions) Type: Project type, see Chapter 3.1, p. 55 Status: The current state of your survey project each with information on the date of the last update. An overview of the project statuses can be found in Table 3.1. Created: The date on which the project was created. Start: Date on which the survey started in the field. See Chapter 3.7.4, p. 78. Traffic-light icon: Signifies whether external participants can have access to the survey. If the project is in the field, then a green arrow pointing upwards is visible. If the project is not active, then a red arrow pointing downwards is visible.
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Actions: An explanation of the possible actions can be found in Chapter 3.5.7, p. 67 to 3.5.8, p. 68. Via the icons and checkboxes in the Actions column you can edit individual projects or all projects. Chapter 3.5.7, p. 67 offers an overview on the actions available. A search function is available for browsing the project list, see Chapter 3.5.3, p. 64 for details). Those projects which you edited most recently, and projects marked as important, are highlighted, see Chapter 3.5.4, p. 65 and 3.5.5, p. 65. Additionally, the projects can be sorted with the help of a folder system which is introduced in Chapter 3.5.6, p. 65. The table columns can be hidden or visible in order to achieve a better overview. Click on the Show column icons to make them visible, click on the Hide column icons to hide them.
3.5.2
Modifying Display Settings

You have various options for displaying the project list: With the help of the Show as list and the Show as tree buttons you can switch between a conventional list display and a folder tree. By clicking on Hide empty folders you can hide all folders that do not contain projects. By clicking on Show empty folders the initial state is restored. With Collapse all you can close all folders with the exception of the default folder, so that only the hierarchy and not the content is visible. With Expand all you can open all folders. By clicking on the Show column x icons you can display the columns Author, Pages, Created with the creation date for the project and Start with the date of when the field phase started.
3.5.3
Searching for Projects

The following search options are available: You can search for project title, project title, project directory and author. If required, you can restrict the search to a combination of these data. The project directory can be found in the URL of the survey that is displayed in the project info. If the URL were for example http://your-domain.com/uc/websitecheck, then websitecheck is the project directory and you can perform a targeted search for this word. Instructions on how to change the survey URL can be found in Chapter 3.7.3, p. 77. There are further search functions hidden under the Expand icon in the title Limit project list. With the help of the drop-down list Options you can restrict the display to show only projects created by a certain employee or set the project type and status of the sought after projects.
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Figure 3.5
Extended search options
For the forum discussions which can be included in the project list from EFS 8.0, you can search or restrict the list only by project title and the available statuses in the field and inactive. Projekt ID, project directory and author are not available for this project type.
3.5.4
Finding the Most Recently Edited Projects

If you are working with the tree display for the directory structure, you will find the folder Projects edited recently at the top of the list. This folder contains those projects that you worked on during the last seven days. The list is sorted by the most recent edit date, and its scope is limited to a maximum of 20 projects. You can hide this folder: go to the Staff->Own account->Preferences menu, open the Projects tab and deactivate the option Show the Projects edited recently folder in project list.
3.5.5
Marking Important Projects

Important projects in the project list can be highlighted with a star icon to make them easier to find (except forum discussions). To do so, switch to the project info for the desired project, and click in the Project marking row on the here link. You can deactivate such a marking using the same option (see Figure 3.8).
3.5.6
Organizing Projects
With the help of folders you can sort, group together and manage projects (except forum discussions). You can for example order the projects by theme, customer or by responsible employee. You can choose between the tree view and the standard list view. You can arrange the folders in up to three hierarchy levels. There are a number of display options at your disposal. Access to folders can be controlled through the rights system. The project list folder system is complemented by an archive folder system (Chapter 14.5, p. 563) that functions exactly the same, but is set up independently. You need write rights for create_project_cat to create new folders or edit existing folders.
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1. Creating a new folder

1. Click on the Create folder button. You need write rights for create_project_cat to see this button. 2. Enter the name of the folder and a description. 3. Select the appropriate main folder. By default, this is set to the Default folder.
Figure 3.6
Creating a folder
4. When the new folder is positioned directly under the Default folder, you can define the access rights for particular teams. 5. Confirm by clicking on Create.
2. Editing folders
Find the desired folder in the project list and click on the Further actions icon. (You need write rights for create_project_cat to see this icon.) The following editing options will appear in a popup window: Delete folder: This link appears only when the folder is empty and is used to delete the folder. Edit folder: Through this link you can edit the properties of the folder. Create subfolder: Opens a form that creates a subfolder.
3. Moving folders
It is possible to move folders, including their projects and subfolders, to another position in the hierarchy. To achieve this, use the Edit folder button to open the dialog shown in Figure 3.6. In the drop-down list Put folder below, select the new parent folder. Then, confirm with Save. When moving folders, please mind that the folder structure is restricted to three levels. Therefore, the list of potential target folders contains only folders below which your folder and its subfolders fit.
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4. Ordering projects into folders

When sorting projects into other folders, you can choose between two possibilities: If you want to resort only one project, open the Project properties dialog shown in Figure 3.1 (via the Change link in the Project type field of the Survey menu). In the Put the projects in folder field, select the appropriate folder and confirm by clicking on Change. If you want to move several projects into the same target folder in one step, start by ticking the Actions checkboxes of these projects in the project list. Select the action Change folder and confirm by clicking on Execute. In the following dialog, you can check your selection. Then, select the appropriate target folder in the drop-down list and confirm by clicking on Move.
5. Granting access rights to folders

Folders located directly under the Default folder can be assigned rights during creation. If rights are not explicitly defined, then the settings for the Default folder will be assigned. Users with read rights for a folder can view the corresponding folder and its subfolders. Users with write rights for a folder can edit and delete the corresponding folder and its subfolders. If a subfolder, whose main folder has been assigned access rights, is moved to a new main folder with other access rules, then the access rights defined in the original main folder remain intact.
3.5.7
Actions
Using the icons in the column Actions and the Further actions icon, you can edit specific projects or access important menus directly. (Please mind: Editing options for forum discussions are currently still limited, if needed please use the familiar options in the Website module.) Jump to questionnaire editor: Allows to jump directly into the questionnaire view of the questionnaire editor. Edit project data / -type: You can edit the project data and the type. Copy project: You can copy the entire project. Preview: Opens the questionnaire of the project in preview mode. For personalized projects and employee surveys: Participant administration. Allows to jump directly into the participant administration. By clicking on Further actions you can open a popup window. This contains the following additional actions: Status changes: Activate, no further participations, Deactivate, End. By clicking on these links you can change the status of the project. To-dos: Release again, Export. By clicking on these links you can trigger the corresponding action. Rights: You can assign access rights to a project to different teams. Furthermore, various actions can be applied to selected projects or all. To do so, you select the desired projects by ticking the checkboxes in the Actions column. Then you specify the desired action in the drop-down list and confirm by clicking Execute.
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Change folder: Enables you to move the projects selected into a target folder to be defined. See Chapter 3.5.6, p. 65. Delete projects: Allows to remove the projects selected. Please note that the deletion process cannot be reversed. Project and result data from deleted projects can no longer be reconstructed. Archive projects: Starts the archiving process, see Chapter 14.5, p. 563.
3.5.8
Granting Access Rights to Projects

You can define the access options for staff teams within a project. 1. In the row of the respective project, click on the Further actions icon. 2. In the layer, click on the Rights link.
Figure 3.7
Granting access rights to a project
3. In the entry form for rights administration, you can individually assign read and write rights to user teams. Your own primary team has read and write rights, which cannot be changed. 4. Click on Change rights to accept your changes.
3.6 Opening a Project and Getting an Overview

When you are taken from the project list to a particular project, the Survey menu opens. It is the starting point for all work performed on a created project. Here you can, for example, specify the project properties, edit the layout of the survey and add new pages and questions in the questionnaire editor. Opening the menu automatically displays the Project information in the content area. It provides you with: Information on the most important project data, such as project type, field period and status, see Chapter 3.6.1, p. 69. Access to the Panel Partner Program (PPP): If you do not have a sufficient amount of participants or only need participants with specific characteristics, in this program you can send a request from the Globalpark Network to panel operators. Please note: Direct access to the Panel Partner Program is not automatically available on all installations but must be enabled by Globalpark Support. The option of using macros to automate work steps, see Chapter 3.8, p. 108.
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3.6 Opening a Project and Getting an Overview
Figure 3.8
Project information
3.6.1
Project Information in Detail

In the section General information you will find the following information and editing options: Project type: The project type is displayed. Clicking on the Change link will open the entry form shown in Figure 3.1, allowing you to change basic properties. Project ID: Each project on an EFS Survey installation can be identified by its own unique ID. Project marking: Projects you have marked as important by clicking on the here link will be highlighted with a star icon in the project list. Author Description Preview: Questionnaire preview URL Only in anonymous projects: QR code: Clicking on the Display link opens a popup window containing the QR code of the survey URL. See Chapter 10.1.2, p. 407. Start and end of survey Status: This row shows the current status of the project. An overview of the status can be found in Table 3.1.
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To-do: This row contains a link for executing the project step that must be performed next in the course of the survey. An overview of the To-dos can be found in Table 3.2. Can participants take part in this survey: In this row, you can see at a glance whether external participants can access the survey. If the project is in the field, a green traffic-light icon will be displayed. If the remaining field period is ten days or less, the color of the traffic-light icon will change from green to yellow, and a corresponding message will be displayed. If the project is not active, the traffic-light icon will be red.
Maximum number of respondents active at the same time: This line will appear, when the installation-wide or project-specific participation limit is activated. Further information can be found in Chapter 17.2, p. 626. Participation counter: This line will be displayed, if the participation counter described in Chapter 3.7.18, p. 103 is activated. It informs you about counter settings and the participation that is still required. Which teams may access the project: Via the Edit rights link, you can access the dialog described in chapter 3.5.8, p. 68 and specify which staff teams should have access to the project. By clicking on the Print preview button you can call up an optimized version for printing.
Status and To-dos

The following tables give you an overview of the statuses and the arising to-dos. Changes to project status are logged in the Documentation->Project change log menu, see Chapter 14.3, p. 562.
Status created survey compiled active Meaning The project has been created. The first compilation occurs automatically during creation of the project. The survey project has been activated, the current date is between the set start and end date of the survey. This status makes it possible to bring a smooth end to the field phase: Participants, who are working with a questionnaire, can complete the process of filling it out. New participants will be rejected with an appropriate message. This message can be found in the Table 3.15 in the field The survey is in status no further participations. The status can be triggered manually by clicking on the To do of the same name. This will happen automatically, when the activated participation counter reaches the preset quota of finished participants. The project has been deactivated. The project has been deactivated and then finished. Project status Participation possible? No No Yes
no further participations
The process of filling out a questionnaire in progress can be finished, whereas it is no longer possible to begin a new one.
inactive finished Table 3.1
No No
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3.7 Determining Framework Data for a Project
(cont.)Status archived Table 3.1 To do Activate No further participations Deactivate Finish Export Archive Table 3.2 To dos Project status
Meaning The project has been archived.
Participation possible? No
Meaning The survey project will be set to the status active. The survey project will be set to the status no further participations. External access to the survey project is canceled. The status changes to inactive. The survey project is finished. The status changes to finished. Switch to the Export menu, in order to export the required data. The survey project is scheduled for archiving. Once a day, scheduled projects are archived during a low traffic period. See Chapter 14.5, p. 563.

In the Project properties menu, you can edit properties which are relevant to the entire project: In the Survey options menu, you can activate and configure cross-project properties and functions. The next chapter will explain how you can make changes. Table 3.3 provides an overview of setting options. The functions will be explained in detail in the following subchapters. Survey messages can be changed in the Survey messages menu (see Chapter 3.7.15, p. 92). The language administration for multilingual projects is located in the Survey language menu (see Chapter 15.2, p. 572). In the Participation counter menu you can activate a counter which ensures that the survey will automatically be taken out of the field upon reaching a set number of participants (see Chapter 3.7.18, p. 103). Only in personalized projects, panel and master data surveys: In the Variable data import menu, you can transfer the contents of variables from another project, e.g. for filtering, evaluation and other purposes. See Chapter 7.6, p. 346. Only in panel and master data surveys: In the Website settings menu, you can find Various features for adapting the display of panel and master data surveys to the various language versions of the panel. See Chapter 3.7.19, p. 105 and 3.7.20, p. 106. Only in panel and master data surveys: In the Bonus points configuration menu, you can specify the amount of bonus points alloted to the panelists when they reach the final page or intermediate final pages. See the manual EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 10.2.2.
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3.7.1
Configuring Survey Options

1. Open the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu. The Survey options submenu will be automatically displayed in the content area.
Figure 3.9
An extract of the survey options dialog
2. Make changes as required. You can find explanations of the various feature in the following chapters, the tables in Chapter 3.7.2, p. 72 offer an overview. 3. After making the changes, click on the Save button. The changes will be accepted.
3.7.2
Overview of Survey Settings

General options
The General options in the Survey options menu relate to the Internet location (i.e. the URL) of your survey, to an extended log for changes made to the questionnaire and to certain aspects concerning the behaviour of the survey.
Section Only for anonymous, personalized and employee surveys: Survey URL Beginning / end of the survey Log changes to questionnaire Table 3.3 General options Brief description Via the lin Change link, you can access a dialog which allows to change the URL. A survey usually has a precisely defined duration. In market and social research, this period is termed as field period. This duration is defined in this section. If this option has been ticked, all changes to the questionnaire for which variables were added or removed will be documented. Details Chapter 3.7.3, p. 77 Chapter 3.7.4, p. 78 Chapter 14.4, p. 563
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(cont.)Section The questions are numbered consecutively
Brief description This feature leads to an automatic consecutive numbering of questions 1 to n. Question type 998 (Text and HTML code), 911, filters and rotation on page level will not be taken into consideration. If users jump back and change answers, the modified answers will not be saved. The function prevents the use of the browser Back button to change answers. Please note that the function cannot be combined with a displayed Back button: If the Back button is displayed, the respondent expects with due right that a subsequent change of the values is possible. This feature works only if JavaScript is enabled.
Details
Answers cannot be changed
Radio buttons for questions with a single response list can be deselected Preventing usage of the right mouse button in a survey
Chapter 8.3.4, p. 358
This feature is primarily used to protect content: It deactivates the context menu in the entire questionnaire. Please mind: Keyboard commands however will not be suppressed. Using a question of the type Text and HTML code (998, see Chapter 5.7, p. 206), you can realize the same behavior for a particular questionnaire page. The feature can also be used to prevent the usage of the browsers Back button. For this the survey must be opened in a pop-up window, so that there is no menu bar. The respondent does not need to click on the Submit button on pages which only contain the specified combinations of question types. Chapter 3.7.5, p. 79
Page is submitted automatically after completion of all questions, if it contains only combinations of the following question types... Should a Back button be displayed? Show Back button on resumption?
If this option has been activated, a real Back button will be shown which does not depend on the browser used by the respondent. This feature is available for personalized surveys, as soon as you have activated the Show Back button? function. If respondents resume the survey after an interruption, they can return to the questions they answered before interrupting the survey and change answers. This option will be displayed as soon as the function Should a Back button be displayed? has been activated. Clicking on the Cancel button will close the window. This function is only visible for personalized projects. Activates automatic data cleaning.
Chapter 3.7.6, p. 79 Chapter 3.7.6, p. 79
Should data be saved when the Back button is used? Show button for survey cancel? Type of codes which will be generated Enable data cleaning Table 3.3 General options
Chapter 3.7.6, p. 79 Chapter 3.7.6, p. 79 Chapter 3.7.11, p. 83 Chapter 13.11, p. 544
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(cont.)Section For all possible answers of the type answer category + text, completeness checks (DACs) should also check whether the related text field has been filled in Name of ticket variable (external survey start)
Brief description
Details Chapter 5.12.3, p. 230
Option for changing the name of the Get parameter used for the external survey start.
Special documentation External survey start Special documentation External survey start Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80
Name of ticket variable (when returning from an external survey) Check whether the respondent has JavaScript activated and the Adobe Flash Player plugin is available? Only on installations with EFS Mobile Extension: Dynamically switch output format of survey (HTML, XHTML-MP, WML) depending on browser used by the respondent? Only in panel surveys: At what point of time shall survey result data be transferred to master data variables?
Option for changing the name of the Get parameter transferred upon returning from an external survey.
This option must be activated if you want the variables javascript and flash to be filled.
This option has to be enabled if the survey is to be accessible from a mobile device. The output format will then be automatically adjusted to the browser used by the participant.
This option allows you to specify the time when the master data transfer usually takes place: Upon completion of the survey (manually): The transfer has to be triggered manually by the moderator (menu Master data allocation->Execute master data transfer button). After each survey participation (immediately): The transfer takes place automatically upon completion of the interview, i.e. as soon as the panelists reach the final page and are assigned disposition code 31 or 32. This option opens the survey to all panelists, independent of their belonging to a sample for the survey. Optionally, you may permit multiple participation. The panelists result data record will be overwritten when he or she participates again. This option is recommended for master data surveys only. This specifies the upper limit for the number of simultaneous participants for this project. This entry however can only undercut an eventual installation-wide setting for the maximum number of participants per project, it cannot bypass it.
EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.6.6.
All panelists can participate in the survey Allow multiple participations
Maximum number of respondents active at the same time
Chapter 17.2, p. 626
Table 3.3
General options
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(cont.)Section Behavior on resumption
Brief description Used to control the routing of the survey on resumption. The following options are available: Display page last sent. Send page last sent again and displays the next page. Display page last viewed. Display first page: The respondent will be redirected to the first page after resuming the survey. This is advisable, for example, if your questionnaire is divided into different chapters that are accessed via an index page. In this case, the respondent is not to resume the survey from the last page sent, but from the index page. By default the setting is Display page last sent. This option is used to activate the determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. As of EFS 7.1, this option is deactivated in new projects by default. In order to change the setting or to view and export hostnames and IP addresses, you need read rights for ip_addresses. Please note: Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. Please note the corresponding information in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81 and check the functionality before taking the project into the field. Indicates to which client the project belongs and is used for billing purposes (i.e., interviews conducted within this project are booked to the given organisation). If the wrong organization is indicated, please contact the person responsible for the installation. If you hold the right orgadmin, you can alter the accounting organization in the Project properties menu. If you use automated dispatch of reminders, the appropriate mail template is selected in this field.
Details
Determine participant hostnames and IP addresses and store them in survey results
Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81
Accounting organization
Only in personalized projects and employee surveys: Mail template for automatic reminders Table 3.3 General options
Chapter 10.2.14, p. 432
Internal organization
In this area you can activate features which help you with the internal organization and testing of your project.
Section Debug mode (e.g. print internal question title Brief description Shows the internal page and question titles in the questionnaire for testing purposes. Question type 911 will not be taken into consideration. Ticking this checkbox will show the to-do marker icon in the questionnaire, and you can directly enter to-do notes from the questionnaire. Enables the entry of to-do notes in the questionnaire view. Ticking this checkbox will show the pretest icon in the questionnaire, allowing testers to enter their comments. Chapter 9.9, p. 399 Chapter 9.9, p. 399 Chapter 9.10, p. 401 Details
Show to-do markers in the questionnaire Show to-do markers in the editor Show pretest icon in survey Table 3.4
Features for internal organization
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(cont.)Section Show 'boss button' in survey Language selection
Brief description This button allows you to skip plausibility and completeness checks. In multilingual projects this drop-down list appears in the questionnaire and makes it possible to switch directly into another language. In the questionnaire and in the preview, links are activated which enable you, your staff and translators (depending of access rights) to jump directly into the respective editing pages of the Language editor or EFS Translator Interface. The drop-down list shown in the preview makes it possible to navigate directly to specific questionnaire pages. The external variable names can be uniformly labeled according to a predefined pattern. For anonymous surveys, disposition code 20 will be set when the first page is invoked. Depending on the type of survey, it may make sense in an evaluation to allocate participants with this disposition code either into gross or net.
Details Chapter 9.5, p. 396 Chapter 9.6, p. 397 Chapter 9.7, p. 397
Activate inks to EFS Translator Interface
Allow direct jumping to any page of the survey. Algorithm for creating the external variable names How is disposition code 20 to be allocated in the field report?
Chapter 4.11.3, p. 171 Chapter 13.9.6, p. 539 Chapter 12.3.4, p. 503
Table 3.4
Features for internal organization
Login options
Online surveys can be equipped with diverse access mechanisms. The Login options section defines the type of access to the survey in combination with the selected project type. You can find detailed explanations in Chapter 3.7.11, p. 83.
Section Cookies are used Brief description Only in anonymous surveys: Cookies are used in anonymous surveys to make resumption possible and to make multiple participation more difficult. In this field, you can set the session period for surveys. From EFS 7.0, the default value is in anonymous surveys: 1,209,600 seconds, i.e. two weeks. in all other project types: 7,200 seconds, i.e. two hours. Details Chapter 3.7.11, p. 83 Chapter 3.7.12, p. 88
Session validity period (in seconds)
Table 3.5
Login options
Relevant ID configuration
EFS supports an external validation of survey participants by the service provider RelevantView for a special charge. If this check has been enabled for an installation, the additional section Relevant ID configuration is displayed in anonymous and personalized surveys, panel surveys, and master data surveys. See Chapter 13.13, p. 550 for a detailed explanation.
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Field Relevant ID authentication code
Meaning Authentication code of the installation. If you have ordered the feature, yet no value has been set, please get in touch with your Globalpark sales contact. This checkbox must be ticked to activate the check for the current project. Select a user-defined variable. The variable must be of the Integer data type. Select a user-defined variable. The variable must be of the Integer data type. From EFS 8.0, RelevantID provides additional information which can be stored in user-defined variables as well. The following data are available: FraudProfileScore: fraudprofilescore City: city Domain: domain County: country Region: region The desired scope: You may select either country, region, or city. International codes of the countries, regions, or cities from which participants are to be admitted. Please contact Globalpark Support to receive an up-to-date list of codes. Please enter the allowed values is a comma-separated list.
Activate Relevant ID verification for this survey Survey variable for saving the result of the geo IP validation Survey variable for saving the confidence value Save additional optional variable in
Scope of geo IP verification Allowed geo IP values for participants
Table 3.6
Relevant ID configuration
When using RelevantID, please pay special attention to your companys applicable privacy regulations and to the privacy regulations governing the respective survey.
User-defined variables
Section URL parameters User-defined variables Table 3.7 Brief description URL parameters are required for importing runtime environment variables. User-defined variables are additional variables, in which, for example, trigger results are stored. Details Chapter 3.7.13, p. 89 Chapter 3.7.14, p. 91
User-defined variables
3.7.3
Changing the URL

The URL can be changed for anonymous surveys, personalized surveys and employee surveys. The URLs of panel and master data surveys cannot be changed. You can change the URL of a survey if, for example, you want to adapt the URL to the name of your company. You can also use this feature to shorten the surveys URL, if you wish to invite respondents via e-mail using the Code login type and want to avoid the problem of 72-character wraps for URLs in e-mails. In this case, you can freely specify the part of the URL following the directory specification /uc/.
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Here is an example of what the URL could look like: http://www.domain.com/uc/your_company The Replace URL in questions? option will browse all entered questions for absolute paths to the old URL. These references can have found their way into the survey, for example, through user-defined questions or the HTML container. If the Replace URL in questions? option has been activated, all old URL paths will be replaced with the new URL.
Figure 3.10
Changing the URL of the survey
The URL may not be changed once the field phase has begun. Otherwise externally placed links on the questionnaire or links in invitation mails already sent will not work and participants can no longer access the questionnaire. If you change the URL before the beginning of the field phase, make sure that these changes are also made to any mails you may have prepared (e.g. invitations).
3.7.4
Defining the Field Period

The field period can be specified down to the minute. This allows you to provide respondents with access to the survey only within a precisely defined time frame (a survey must be active and the current server time must be between start and end of the survey). Please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Project properties menu item. The Survey options menu will automatically be displayed.
Figure 3.11
Editing the field period
2. Set the precise date for the start of the survey. 3. Specify the precise date for the end of the survey. 4. Click on the Save button. The field period has now been defined.
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Make sure you enter the time for the field period in GMT (i.e. Greenwich Mean Time), a globally valid time unit. You must therefore convert the local mean time into the globally applicable unique time. To do so, use the specified current server time.
3.7.5
Automatically Submitting Questionnaire Pages

If you tick the checkbox in the Page is submitted automatically after completion of all questions field, all questionnaire pages containing only single response and matrix questions are automatically submitted when answering is fully completed. A similar feature for individual pages will be presented in Chapter 4.5, p. 131. This feature functions on all questionnaire pages which contain only combinations of the following question types: 111, 112, 113, 131, 411, 311, 312, 313, 321, 322, 340, 351 und 511. On pages with multiple response questions and text entries it is not triggered, as it cannot be automatically recognized at what point the participant has completed their input. There will be no check as to whether the questionnaire page contains HTML and image type elements. Please ensure therefore that such elements are not located at the end of the page: In this case, autosubmit would prevent the participant from seeing the text or the image. The function assumes that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser. Please note that it is risky to hide the Submit button when using the Autosubmit function (see next section). Example: If the respondent uses the Back button of the browser to go back and make a change, the Autosubmit function will not be reactivated. At the same time, however, there is no way to re-send the pages using the Submit button.
3.7.6
Showing and Hiding Buttons

You can define which buttons should be displayed in the questionnaire. This Chapter introduces settings which refer to all pages of the questionnaire. Settings which refer only to a specific page are presented in Chapter 4.5, p. 131. You can change the button labels in the Project properites->Survey messages menu, see Chapter 3.7.15, p. 92.
Displaying a Back button in the Form

Optionally, you can display a real Back button in the questionnaire. In contrast to clicking on the Back button of the browser, this button will reload the previous pages from the database. They contain the already-stored entries. The entries made on a page before returning to previous pages are not stored per default. But you can optionally activate a storage functionality, as explained in the next section. If a participant leaves a page via the Back button, this page will be removed from page history (page_history variable). See also Table 13.2. Filters, random blocks etc. will be taken into account. First and last pages do not have a Back button.
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To activate the real Back button, tick the checkbox in the Should a Back button be displayed? field. By default, the Back button is located to the left of the Submit button. You can change its position in the pro editor by repositioning the variable $backbutton (refer also to Chapter 8.4.1, p. 368). If the session time is exceeded in an anonymous survey with activated Back button, the participant must start the survey anew.
Saving data when the Back button within the form is used
Optionally, you can specify that the entries made before going back to previous pages be saved. To do so, you must first enable and save the Should a Back button be displayed? function. Only after that will the additional option labeled Should data be saved when the back button is used? be displayed, which likewise must also be enabled. Please note, that the activation of the saving function will affect the behavior of the plausichecks: Each plausibility check that the participant passes while going back will be triggered, it will then test the entry and force a correction, if necessary. This will not be the case if the saving function is not enabled: Because no data is being saved, there is no need to test for correctness.
Displaying the Back button on resumption

In personalized surveys you have the additional option of enabling respondents to return to the survey, even after an interruption. To do so, you must first activate and save the Should a Back button be displayed? function. Only then will the additional option Show Back button on resumption? be offered, which you must then also activate and save.
Disabling the browser Back button

Occasionally, it is desirable to prevent the respondents from using the Back button of their browser. To do so, the following is required: The survey must be opened in a separate window in which the menu bar of the browser is disabled. For an anonymous survey, you can create just such a pop-up window by using the Pop-up generator (see Chapter 10.1.3, p. 408). The context menu, which is normally invoked by pressing the right mouse button, must be disabled (see Table 3.3, p. 72).
Cancel button
Ticking the checkbox in the Show button for survey cancel? field will display a button that allows the respondent to close the survey window and cancel the survey.
3.7.7
Checking for JavaScript and Flash before the Start of the Survey
You have the option of performing a check to see whether a participants browser accepts JavaScript and the Adobe Flash Player plugin is available at the beginning of the survey. In the course of the survey, this information can then be used for filtering and evaluation purposes. This feature is helpful, for example, if the survey employs question types that work only with JavaScript or require even Flash. In this case, participants with unsuitable browsers can be identified right at the very beginning of the project, and you can either reject them or present alternative questions to them.
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When working on an EFS Panel installation, please note that the JavaScript and Flash checks in master data and panel surveys have not been available until the release of EFS 6.0. This function can be activated in the field labeled Check whether the respondent has JavaScript activated and the Adobe Flash Player plugin is available? You can access the results of the check as follows: JavaScript check: The javascript variable is available in the condition editor. If the check is deactivated, the value of the javascript variable is -77. If JavaScript is switched off, it has a value of 0. If the respondents browser accepts JavaScript, the variable will contain the version number, e.g. jscript = 10 for JavaScript 1.0 or jscript = 15 for Javascript 1.5. The export data record contains the same information, with jscript as the label for SPSS export.
Flash check: The flash variable is available in the condition editor. If the check is deactivated, the value of the flash variable is -77. If the Flash plugin is not available, it has a value of 0. If the Flash plugin is available, the variable will contain the version number, e.g. flash = 800 for Flash 8.0 or flash = 900 for Flash 9.0. The export data record contains the same information, with flash as the label for SPSS export.
Please note: The check for JavaScript and Flash is performed once at the beginning of the survey. If the respondent switches JavaScript off in the course of the survey, this change will not be taken into account.
3.7.8
Determining Participant Hostnames and IP Addresses

As of EFS 7.1, the determination of hostnames, IP addresses, and browser type, is possible only to a certain extent. This is due to legal and technical reasons: More and more countries regard IP addresses as personal data, i.e. determination and storage is only permitted and desirable in exceptional cases. Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses.
Rules for the determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses

As the determination and storage of IP addresses is only desirable in exceptional cases, the following regulation applies as of EFS 7.1: In both anonymous and personalized projects, panel and master data surveys, it is possible to configure whether hostnames and IP addresses are to be determined. If you hold the required read rights for ip_addresses, you can activate the corresponding option Determine participant hostnames and IP addresses and store them in survey results in the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu. Hostnames and IP addresses will then be determined and stored. Staff members with read rights for ip_addresses may export these data or view them in the detail view.
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If this option is disabled, hostnames and IP addresses will not be determined. Default setting: As of EFS 7.1, this option is disabled in newly created projects. The browser type is always identified in these project types. If you hold the required read right for ip_addresses, you can also define whether hostname lookup shall be generally enabled or disabled in projects newly created by you. You will find the corresponding option Determine participant hostnames and IP addresses and store them in survey results in the Staff-> Own account->Preferences menu on the Projects tab. If you do not hold read rights for ip_addresses, this option is always disabled in projects newly created by you.
Panel processes: In newly set-up panels, this function is usually disabled, i.e. hostnames and IP addresses are not determined. If required, please get in touch with your Globalpark sales contact or with Globalpark Support to find out whether it is technically feasible and desirable to enable this function. In old panels, hostname lookup is always performed, especially upon registration.
For reasons of privacy, employee surveys generally do not support the determination and storage of hostname, IP address, and browser type.
Technical restrictions on the determination of hostnames and IP addresses

If the survey or the panel website is called up via upstream network devices - be it on the participants end (e.g. from a company network) or on the side of the respective EFS installation (e.g. call-up of a survey on a balanced installation via SSL encryption) - the determination of hostnames and IP addresses may be subject to certain restrictions. If you need the participants hostnames and IP addresses, e.g. for secure authentication in anonymous surveys or for evaluation purposes, please check whether these data are determined correctly before taking your project into the field. To do so, you may have several test persons take the survey logging in from different networks: If the same IP address and hostname is stored for all test persons, there may be an upstream network device preventing correct determination and storage.
3.7.9
Letting All Panelists Participate in a Survey

Please note that the functions described in this chapter are only available for panel surveys and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations. They are not within the scope of EFS Survey. The Project properties menu for master data and panel surveys contains a checkbox labeled All panelists can participate in the survey (independent from being in a sample for the survey). If this checkbox is ticked, the project has been activated and the appropriate field period has been set, the link to the survey will be shown on the personal homepages of all panelists, and all of them will be allowed to participate. By default, this option is activated for master data surveys and deactivated for panel surveys. You can trace which panelists took the opportunity to participate with the help of the automatically generated sample internal: This sample records all participants that took part. If you send out e-mail invitations to a master data survey instead of simply
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having the link displayed, you will also find all invited panelists in the internal sample and can keep track of who actually participates.
3.7.10
Allowing Repeated Participation in a Master Data or Panel Survey

Please note that the functions described in this chapter are only available for panel surveys and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations. They are not within the scope of EFS Survey. Master data and panel surveys can be configured so that multiple participation of respondents is possible. Surveys can be filled with previously collected data if required. This makes the actions required to process a re-registration easier. This option also applies to any panelists that do not exist at the start of the survey but will be subsequently added to the sample (or automatically to the "internal" sample). The panelists result data records will be overwritten when they participate again. Therefore, we recommend you use this option for master data surveys only. You can find the appropriate function in the Project properties menu of the respective project in the field Allow multiple participations in this survey. Select one of the following options: Do not allow multiple participations Allow multiple participations, prefill with values of last participation Allow multiple participation, do not prefill with participants last answers
3.7.11
Defining Login Options

There are many different ways of restricting access to Internet pages. Technically speaking, surveys are just Internet pages, so you must define the type of access before sending the survey into the field. By default, EFS Survey assumes that you wish to grant anyone connected to the Internet access to anonymous surveys. For personalized surveys, EFS Survey assumes you have provided the selected survey participants with an access code.
1. Login options for various project types

Project type Personalized survey Login type E-mail and password Description Participants receive a link and a password usually via email. Clicking on this link will open a login window, into which the respondents must enter their e-mail address and password. A Code is a personalized survey password which is attached to a link. Clicking on the link will take the respondent directly to the survey, bypassing the login window (if the code is valid). For this login procedure, respondents must enter their password into a login form.
Code
Password Table 3.8
Login options for various project types
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(cont.)Project Anonymous survey
Login type No restriction of access
Description Respondents click on a link http://www.mydomain.com/uc/ survey/ or the link is opened in the pop-up window by JavaScript. Respondents can participate in the survey with no further verification of access. The so-called referrer, an IP address which specifies the IP address last visited by the respondent, is checked. This login option ensures that the respondent is actually being referred from the website you wish to evaluate and has not found out about the survey from other sources. Please note: Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. Please note the corresponding information in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81 and check the functionality before taking the project into the field. The password specified here is a password shared by all participants of the survey. Any participant who has the password can participate in the survey (even more than once). Panel and master data survey based on a drawn sample. Respondents usually receive the link to the survey on their personal homepage after logging in. Alternatively, a URL, such as http://www.mypanel.com/gto.php3?code#code# can be used, and #code# will be replaced with a personalized access code by the mail dispatch tool.
IP
Password
Panel survey, Master data survey
Sample
Table 3.8
Login options for various project types
2. Specifying the access type

1. Switch to the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties->Survey options menu. 2. Select the type of access protection in the Login type row of the Login options section. Depending on the project type, different options are available, see Table 3.8.
Figure 3.12
Editing login options (personalized survey)
Figure 3.13
Editing login options (personalized survey)
3. Only in anonymous projects: If you wish to limit access to the survey to certain IP addresses, type an IP address into the text field in the IP row. If you wish to allow access to the
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survey only after entering a password, enter a password into the text field in the Password row. If you wish to allow everybody to participate in your survey, leave these fields blank. Tick the checkbox in the Cookies are used field if cookies are to be used during the survey.
4. Specify the validity period of the session (see Chapter 3.7.12, p. 88). 5. Confirm by clicking on Save.
3. Cookies
For anonymous surveys, you must specify whether you wish to set cookies or not. A cookie is a short text file stored on the respondents computer. In EFS Survey projects, the text file saves an internal survey title and the respondents session ID. The session ID is an anonymous, unguessable number which is assigned when the respondent first accesses the survey and which ensures that the respondent can be recognized from submitting one page to submitting the next page. If the session ID has been stored on the respondents computer (in a cookie), EFS Survey can recognize the respondent throughout Internet sessions and enable resumption of an anonymous survey. As some Internet users do not permit the storage of cookies, the session ID can be transferred as a so-called GET parameter as an alternative / fallback, i.e. it is attached to the survey URL, thus avoiding the storage of information on the respondents computer. Resumption without cookies set is only possible for personalized or panel surveys. Summary: Although you have activated cookies, each respondent will individually decide whether they wish to permit cookies or not. Respondents who do not accept the cookie can participate in anonymous surveys more than once. Deactivate cookies if you want to allow yourself or others to participate in the same survey more than once in succession. This is especially recommended if you want to use EFS Survey as an input tool for CATI surveys and the telephone interviewer enters several interviews in succession / at once. The project info of an anonymous project will contain the participate again link. Clicking on this link will delete a set cookie and thus enable multiple participation in / repeated test of the project. Do not pass this link on to real respondents as a survey URL.
4. Authentication via e-mail and password / password only

Participants can login by means of e-mail and password or by password only. You can send participants the access data via wildcards in serial mails, i.e. #u_email# for e-mail and #u_passwd# for password (see Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433 and Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477). Some respondents have difficulties in correctly transferring the password to the login form via the clipboard. Instruct respondents, as necessary, to check the password for involuntarily copied blank spaces or other special characters, should the login fail.
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Passwords and codes can be automatically generated in Participant administration (see Chapter 10.2, p. 411). Externally generated codes can be imported if required, via the Import codes in participant administration. For each imported code, a dummy account will be created. From EFS 7.1, e-mail addresses on the @3uu.eu domain are used for these accounts. These addresses are owned by Globalpark, mails sent to them are deleted automatically.
5. Authentication per code

Alternatively, participants can directly log into the survey via a link which contains an access code specially assigned to the participant. You can send the URL with the attached access code per e-mail containing a wildcard. The advantage of this procedure is that participants no longer have to overcome a login form, they simply log into the survey by clicking on the link. You can choose an 8- or 20-digit code as opposed to the default 16-digit code (see Section Access code options, S. 86).
Setting up the survey URL for code access

1. To do so, select the general survey URL, e.g. http://your-domain.com/uc/mafo/ 8303/, which is also located in participant administration. 2. Attach a question mark to this URL: ? 3. And finally, the access code per wildcard: code=#code# The finished URL you would send in a serial mail would look as follows:
http://your-domain.com/sc/mafo/8303/?code=#code#
In an invitation mail, the wildcard for the code would naturally be replaced. Alternatively use the #code_complete# wildcard. In contrast, the #code_complete# wildcard replaces the entire URL. Important note: Please make sure that the URL with the replaced code in the invitation mail does not wrap (most mail readers wrap after 72 characters). If the URL and code are together longer than 72 characters, truncate the URL, by shortening the section between /uc/ and ?code, using the Change URL function. If the URL is still too long due to an extensive domain name, a so-called server alias must be set up by system administration.
Access code options

You can choose 8- or 20-digit codes instead of the default 16-digit access code for personalized projects. The three code types use different combinations of letters and numbers: 16-digit code: a-f and 0-9 20-digit code: a-f and 0-9 8-digit code: a-z and 0-9 Replacing the 16-digit code with an 8-digit code is particularly recommended if you want participants to manually enter the access code. Manual entry can be desirable if, for example, you want to give participants time to decide whether they want to participate in the respective survey now or later on: If you are using a link in the invitation mail which already contains the access code, the participant will unintentionally log in
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directly to the survey. If, instead you use either password and e-mail, password or manual code entry for logging in, users can take their time in deciding whether they want to take part now or later. If you wish to use the function, please proceed as follows: First, ensure that the Code login type has been selected in the Login options section. Select the type of code you wish to generate in the Type of codes which will be generated field of the General options section. The next time you add a new participant in participant administration or generate new codes for existing participants, the codes will be generated as selected. The code is usually set prior to importing participant data. Please note that if you change code settings after importing participant data or after importing parts of participant data, the code type of participants already stored will not be automatically changed retroactively. You can generate new codes of the desired type in participant administration (also refer to Chapter 10.2.2, p. 419). However, you should only do so if you have not already sent the codes to the participants. When entering passwords and codes, Internet users occasionally have difficulties in differentiating between the characters 1 (the number one), and l (lowercase L), 0 (zero) and O (uppercase o). As only lowercase letters and numbers are used for both codes, we recommend that you indicate this (e.g.: Please note that the code contains only lowercase numbers and letters) on the code entry field or in the message displayed for a failed login attempt. You can adjust login messages in the Project properties->Survey messages menu.
6. Authentication using the IP address

The so-called referrer, an IP address which specifies the IP address last visited by the respondent, is checked. This login option ensures that the respondent is actually being referred from the website you wish to evaluate and has not found out about the survey from other sources. You can combine either several addresses, or an address area, or both. The following formatting rules apply: When listing addresses use commas as a separator. When entering IP addresses use a dash as a separator, e.g. 192.168.0.170192.168.0.79.
7. Designing login pages

Login pages are required for surveys with password protection. Future respondents must enter their access code on such survey gateway pages. Depending on the access protection you have selected, survey participants will be required to enter their e-mail address, password or code into predefined forms. You can define the texts on this gateway page as well as feedback in the event of incorrect entries in the Survey messages menu. See Table 3.14 for an overview of the existing messages. You can also edit the layout of the login page yourself. It is defined by the login.tpl template, which you can find in the Layout->Pro editor menu on the Structure tab. See Chapter 8.4, p. 368 for detailed information on working with the pro editor.
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3.7.12
Setting the Session Validity Period

The session validity period, or session time, is the period between a participants individual actions during which the software can recognize the participant and permits editing of a survey that has begun. It is measured as the difference between those actions of participants that require a connection between browser and web server, i.e. from the submission of a questionnaire page to the submission of the next page, for example, or from the time participants leave an uncompleted survey until they resume editing of the survey. See Chapter 18.3, p. 643, for further information on sessions.
Survey behavior when exceeding the session time

The following happens when the session validity period is exceeded: Anonymous projects: The survey message The session ID is invalid is displayed, see Table 3.14. Clicking on the link to the survey will generate another participation: A second data set is created for the participant and he restarts the survey from the beginning.
Personalized projects: The login screen is displayed. After entering their code or password, participants can resume the survey where they left off. Clicking on the access link also allows participants to resume the survey.
Only for EFS Panel: panel surveys: From EFS 7.0 on, the Login message survey message is displayed. In previous versions, the Message on wrong login was displayed and panelists were logged out of the panel. After logging in again, panelists could resume the survey where they left off.
Tips for choosing an adequate session time

The following tips will help you to choose an adequate session time: Increasing the session time is recommendable if you have to assume that participants will not complete the survey in one go. If a questionnaire page contains numerous or highly complex questions, make sure that the session time is sufficient for editing this page. If participants are redirected to another survey project with the help of an external survey start and then jump back to the primary EFS Survey project, the time they took to complete the external project is treated as if it were an individual questionnaire page. The primary projects session time should therefore be greater than the time it takes participants to complete the entire external project. For anonymous surveys in which cookies are used, you can use the session validity period to influence how and when a participant can take part in a completed survey again (provided the participant has activated cookies). For example, if you do not want the participant to repeat the survey within the next fortnight, set the validity period to two weeks. If URL parameters are used in an anonymous survey and a participants session times out, message will be displayed which points out that the number of URL parameters is not correct. You can find this message in the Project properties->
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Survey messages menu in the Error message if number of URL parameters is wrong field.
Setting the session time

The session time can be set individually for each project in the Session validity period field. You can either enter the total value or a mathematical operation (e.g. 3600 * 24 for one day). The default session validity period is in anonymous surveys: 1,209,600 seconds, i.e. two weeks. in all other project types: 7,200 seconds, i.e. two hours,.
3.7.13
Using URL Parameters

EFS Survey creates the survey variables for you. The necessary variables will be generated for each question. Additional variables are required in some cases. These variables (user-defined variables and URL parameters) are determined centrally in the Project properties menu. URL parameters allow you to transfer variables from outside to a survey. These variables are automatically stored in the respondents records and can be used for filtering or dynamic output. The field report can be configured according to URL parameters. Application example: You want to start the same survey from 20 websites, but record from which website each visitor reached the survey. Instead of creating 20 projects, you only have to create one and transfer this information to the survey using URL parameters. For website 1, the URL could be:
http://www.your-domain.com/uc/surveys/?a=1
For website 2, the URL could be:

For website 3, the URL could be:

The parameter a at the end of the URL http://www.your-domain.com/uc/surveys/?a=3 indicates from which website the participant logged in. The ? indicates the occurrence of parameters.
Notes
URL parameters can be used in all project types. URL parameters as so-called GET parameters can be very easily manipulated by respondents. Up to 26 URL parameters can be created for each project. The names of the respective variables in the export record / for filtering are p_0001 to p_0026, and a to z upon transfer. #p_0001#, #p_0002# etc. are used as wildcards for dynamic output of wildcard contents. The URL of a project with URL parameters is not automatically generated by the system. For anonymous projects, you need to create a new URL based on the URL specified by the system under Project info and the number of desired URL parameters, before passing on the URL to the website operator hosting the
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respective survey. For example, change http:/your-domain.com/uc/admin/ 4711/ into http://your-domain.com/uc/admin/4711/?a=23&b=12&c=5 If URL parameters are used for a panel survey or master data survey, the links pointing to the project, which are displayed to the panelists e.g. in the survey list on the website, contain the URL parameters defined, but initially they do not transfer any values. You must define yourself in the appropriate template which values should be transferred.
If URL parameters are used in an anonymous survey and a participants session times out, message will be displayed which points out that the number of URL parameters is not correct. You can find this message in the Project properties-> Survey messages menu in the Error message if number of URL parameters is wrong field. A URL with three parameters could look like this:
http://your-domain.com/uc/admin/4711/?a=23&b=12&c=5
The three parameters of this URL are as follows: a=23&b=12&c=5 If you are sending invitations to a survey with URL parameters per e-mail, you will need to adapt the link in the invitation mail. It must contain the URL parameters. Using the & character, attach the following URL parameters to the wildcard for the whole URL which has already been assigned the access code per GET parameters:
#code_complete#&a=1&b=2
Creating URL parameters

URL parameters can be created in the User-defined variables section of the Survey options menu. Select the number of variables from the drop-down list in the line entitled Number of URL parameters.
Figure 3.14
Creating URL parameters
Then click on the Submit button. The URL parameters have now been defined.
Changing variable types and labeling

By clicking on the Labels and data type link in the Number of URL parameters row, you can change the type (see following section) and labeling of the URL parameter. Names are used for your own orientation as well as for labeling in the export record.
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Figure 3.15
Editing data type and labels of URL parameters
If, for example, texts are used instead of numbers in the URL parameter, you will need to adjust the type. Otherwise, the URL parameter will be stored incorrectly.
Overview on data types

Type Big integer Data typep bigint Explanation Big whole numbers Size Threshold values: -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 max. 255 characters 10 characters
Short text Integer or floating point numbers Table 3.9
text float
Strings of numbers and letters with variable length A whole number or floating point number.
Data types for URL parameters and user-defined variables
3.7.14
Using User-Defined Variables

Apart from URL parameters, additional variables are often necessary, in which interim survey results can be stored. This is the case, for example, if survey contents are to be linked to form indexes using the formula trigger. These so-called user-defined variables can also be created in the Survey settings menu. Up to 255 user-defined variables can be created for each project.
Creating user-defined variables

Similar to the URL parameters presented in the previous chapter, user-defined variables are created in the section with the same name of the Survey settings menu (see Figure 3.14). Select the number of variables from the drop-down list in the line entitled Number of user-defined variables. Then click on the Submit button. The user-defined variables have now been defined.
Changing variable types and labeling

Click on the Labels and data type link to edit the properties of the user-defined variables. By default, user-defined variables have the Big integer variable type; possible alternatives are Text and Integer or floating point numbers (see Table 3.9). Userdefined variables can also be labeled for export at a later stage.
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The newly created user-defined variables (c_000n) are now available for questionnaire screening and will be exported along with the defined label.
3.7.15
Editing Survey Messages

In addition to the actual questionnaire texts, self-administered electronic surveys require further texts such as button labels, the labeling of progress bars and other optional elements, or error messages in case of incorrect participant entries or situations not provided for in the survey process. In EFS all these texts are grouped under the name Survey messages. All messages required by default are available in 29 languages. If you want to conduct a project in one or more of these languages, simply select and upload the translated default version. You can adapt the survey messages to the specific requirements of your project. For example, you can address specific target groups using slang or more informal language. Survey messages can be stored in an installation-wide library and, if necessary, also used in other projects. Survey messages can be exported and imported into another EFS installation (version 7.0 and higher). In the following, you will first learn how to define and edit the survey messages for your project and, if necessary, how to store them for further use elsewhere. After that you will be introduced to the library.
1. Viewing survey messages of the project

You will find the survey messages of your project in the Projects->{Selected project}-> Project properties->Survey messages menu. The entry dialog normally shows the survey messages that are currently defined for the default language of the selected project. Please note: The button labels defined in this menu are used both for HTML buttons and for graphical form elements. In multilingual projects, you define a different set of survey messages for each language: you can additionally display these messages with the function Which language do you want to edit?. Tables 3.10 through 3.15 provide a detailed list of all survey messages.
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Figure 3.16
The upper part of the Survey messages tab
2. Editing survey messages of the project

There are the following options, depending on whether you want to edit individual messages or the entire set: If you merely want to change individual messages, simply overwrite the existing text and click on Save. If you want to replace the existing messages entirely with another set of messages from the library, please proceed as follows: Specify the correct target language in the field Which language do you want to edit?. Then, specify the desired set in the field Copy elements from survey messages library and confirm by clicking on Apply. Please refer to the notes in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100 in particular for surveys using other characters than those defined in US-ASCII.
3. Storing survey messages of the project in the library

If you want to use the messages of your project in other projects, too, you can store them in the library. Click on the button Save survey messages in library. In the subsequent dialog, enter name and description. You also have to specify the survey messages of which project language you want to be stored. Click on Save. The messages will be added to the Options->Survey messages menu where they will be available independent of the project.
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Overview of the survey messages

The tables below provide an overview of which message texts are available.
General messages
Message Title of the survey window Label for Submit button Label for Cancel button Label for Back button Label for the "Close window" button within the help pop-up window Character set Meaning Display own text in the browser window title. Labeling of the Submit button Labeling of the Cancel button Labeling of the Back button This button is used for the pop-up window which contains help texts. Which character set is to be used to display these messages? See Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100 for additional information on the choice of character sets. Text entered in the panelists account statement and in the bonus points history if bonus points are allocated on the final page or by a bonus trigger (Chapter 7.5.12, p. 345). Please note: If no text is defined, an English default text Participation in survey 'Project title' will be used. This ensures traceability of the entries in the account statement. Text displayed next to the progress bar. The wildcard for the percentage is '%s' Used in some layouts to output special information Text used for consecutive numbering of questions. The wildcard for the number is '%s' With image protection activated, participants will see only the silhouette and outline of the protected image in the questionnaire, plus this instruction for display. See Chapter 5.17.6, p. 259. English default message Survey Continue Cancel Back Close window
UTF-8
Only on EFS Panel installations: Entry into the panelists bonus points history
<empty>
Text indicating progress
You have already completed %s of the survey.
Special phrase for different purposes Text for consecutive numbering of questions
<empty> Question %s:
Instruction for displaying images if image protection is activated
In order to view the image, hold down the space bar, move your mouse pointer over the image and click.
Table 3.10
General
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Messages for completeness checks

Message Introductory text for incomplete questionnaire processing Meaning Text displayed if a DAC is triggered (Do-Answer-Check = the system checks whether a question was filled with this DAC). See Chapter 5.12, p. 227. Text displayed if an ignorable DA is triggered. See Chapter 5.12.1, p. 228. Text displayed if a normal DAC is triggered for a question. English default message One or more questions are decisive for the outcome of the questionnaire.
Introductory text for incomplete questions marked with a weak DAC. Instruction for incomplete questionnaire processing Error message for invalid answers to questions with exclusive answer categories Table 3.11
%s Note: the question '%s' is important for the rest of the questionnaire. I dont want to answer this question. Please fill in the following questions:
Completeness check messages
Messages for type checks

Message Type check: Introductory text for type check Type check: Incorrectly answered questions Type check: Error message for invalid entry (email address) Type check: Error message for invalid entry (integer) Type check: Error message for invalid entry (float) Type check: Error message for invalid entry (letters only) Table 3.12 Meaning Introductory text. Introduction to a list of the questions that have been filled in incorrectly. Will be output if the entry is not a valid e-mail address. Will be output if the entry is not an integer. Will be output if the entry is not a floating point number. Will be output if the entry does not contain letters only. English default message You have made invalid entries. Please fill in the following questions correctly: Please enter a valid e-mail address.
Please enter integers only.
Please enter floating point numbers only. Please enter letters only.
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(cont.)Message Type check: Error message for invalid entry (phone number)
Meaning Will be output if the entry does not correspond to one of the commonly used formats for phone numbers, i.e. the entry may begin with one or more + signs, but after that, a sequence of numbers is expected. You have the option of grouping these into blocks using brackets or alternatively interrupting them with blank spaces, hyphens or slashes. The regular expression is as follows: / ^((\d+\s*)?\+{1,3}\s*)?($\d+$|\d +)([\s-\/]?\d+)*$/
English default message Please enter a valid phone number.
Table 3.12
Plausibility check phrases

Message PHP plausibility check: introductory text JavaScript plausibility check: introductory text JavaScript plausibility check: title of the pop-up window JavaScript plausibility check: label for Correct button JavaScript plausibility check: Label for Ignore button Table 3.13 Meaning Text displayed if a PHP plausibility check is triggered for a question Text displayed if a PHP plausibility check is triggered for a question Display of own text in the title of the Javascript pop-up window. Text displayed in place of Correct on the button Text displayed in place of Ignore on the button English default message One or more questions are decisive for the outcome of the questionnaire. One or more questions are decisive for the outcome of the questionnaire. Instruction
Correct
Ignore
Plausibility check phrases
Login messages
Message The participant is not accepted for the survey, as the quota is already full (status: filtered out). The time frame for the participant to complete the survey has expired. Meaning Text displayed if a participant is to be excluded from the survey English default message <empty>
In all survey types except anonymous projects: this message is shown to participants whose accounts were deactivated automatically at a predefined date. See Chapter 10.2.14, p. 432.
<empty>
Table 3.14
Login messages
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(cont.)Message Login screen: additional text
Meaning Optional additional text for the login screen. In standard configuration, this text will be inserted before the contents of the "Login message" field. Message with different functions depending on the type of project. In personalized projects and employee surveys, the text is used in the login screen. It is usually used for a prompt. In standard configuration, this text will be inserted above the text fields for the login data. In panel surveys, this message contains the text shown when the session time is exceeded (see Chapter 3.7.12, p. 88). Text displayed upon failed login attempt. Text which is displayed when the session time is over. Text displayed next to the account entry field in the login screen. Text displayed next to the password entry field in the login screen. If you use a password for authentication, but forget to fill in this field, the default preallocation used is Password. Text displayed next to the code entry field in the login screen. Label of the Submit button in the login screen.
English default message <empty>
Login message
Please enter your valid access data!
Message on wrong login The session ID is invalid (e.g. no activity for 30 minutes). Login screen: description for account entry field Login screen: description for password entry field
Access denied! Please try again. <empty> User name:
Password:
Login screen: description for code entry field Login screen: label for Submit button Table 3.14 Login messages
Code: Continue
System messages
Message The survey was not generated yet. The survey was not activated Displayed when the survey has either not been activated yet or has already been deactivated. Displayed when the beginning of the field period is still in the future. The desired survey is not active at present. The desired survey is not active at present. Meaning English default message
The survey is not yet in time frame. Table 3.15 System messages
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(cont.)Message The survey is already over.
Meaning Displayed when the end of the field period has already been exceeded. Displayed when the status no further participations is activated and no further participants will be admitted to the survey. See Table 3.1. Displayed if the participant has already completed the survey. Displayed if the browser of a participant sends a wrong URL parameter or none at all. Displayed if the system is overloaded due to too many requests (see Chapter17.1, p. 625) or participation limit (see Chapter 17.2, p. 626). Displayed if the download platform or the separate Org Processor login of an employee survey have been deactivated. See EFS Employee project managers manual, Chapter 6.1.
English default message Many thanks for your interest but the questionnaire has already been completed. Many thanks for your interest but the questionnaire has already been completed.
The survey is in status no further participations.
The participant has already completed the survey. Error message if number of URL parameters is wrong
You have already completed the survey. The address which you have entered is not correct. Please check your entry for typing errors. There are too many people filling in the survey at present. Participation is therefore not possible at the moment. Please try again later. This function is not available.
Text which is displayed if the system is overloaded.
Only for project type Employee survey: essage which is displayed if download platform or Org processor login is deactivated. Table 3.15 System messages
Texts on the pretest comment window

The following survey messages define the labels in the pretest window, see Chapter 9.10, p. 401.
Message Pretest: Window title Pretest: Window title Pretest: Contact info Pretest: label for Delete button Pretest: label fo Save button Table 3.16 Texts on the pretest comment window Meaning English default message Pre-test commentary Your commentary on this page: Contact information: Delete Save
3.7.16
Managing Survey Messages in the Library

Every EFS installation has a library where survey messages can be stored for use in other projects. As of EFS 7.0, this library contains translations of the default messages in 29 languages. If you want to conduct a project in one or more of these languages, simply select and upload the translated default version. You can create further sets of messages or save them from a project to the library, as described above.
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Survey messages can be exported and imported into another installation (version 7.0 and higher). You can compare two selected sets of survey messages.
Overview of the survey messages in an installation

In the Options->Survey messages menu, you will find an overview of all the survey messages for which you hold read rights. The following essential processes can be invoked via buttons: Create survey messages: After entering a name and a description, a new empty set of messages is created. Import survey messages: Allows you to import new survey messages in an Excel file. Export all survey messages: Triggers the export of all existing messages. Furthermore, you can export survey messages selected via the Actions checkbox and the drop-down list. You can edit individual sets using the Actions icons: For default sets only: Preview: Opens the dialog shown in Figure 3.16, where you can view the default set. Please note that the default sets cannot be edited. If you want to edit a default set, copy it and subsequently modify the copy. For user-defined sets only: Edit: Opens the edit dialog shown in Figure 3.16. Copy: You can copy a set of survey messages and then modify this copy as required. This is particularly recommended if you want to modify standard messages: the standard texts themselves cannot be edited directly. For user-defined sets which were created by copying the standard messages: Recover: Resets the content to its original status, i.e. the texts of the standard message. For user-defined sets only: Rights: Opens the dialog where you can assign rights for the messages to the desired teams. The default sets are availabe to all users.
Comparing survey messages

You can compare two sets of survey messages. This may be useful, for example, if there are two sets that are linguistically very similar, such as survey messages in American and British English. Please proceed as follows: 1. Open the Options->Survey messages->Comparison of survey messages menu. 2. Specify which sets are to be compared. 3. By clicking on Compare, you trigger the check. 4. The two sets will be listed in full, highlighting any divergent fields.
Transferring survey messages to another EFS installation

Survey messages can be exported and imported into another installation (version 7.0 and higher).
Exporting survey messages

There are two options: To export one or several sets of survey messages, tick the checkboxes in the Actions column of the Options->Survey messages menu, select the action
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Export, and confirm by clicking on Execute. An Excel file containing the selected message sets will be generated. If you want to export all existing messages, use the Export all survey messages button.
Importing survey messages

In the target installation, go to the Options->Survey messages menu and click on the Import survey messages button. Via the import dialog, you can upload an Excel file with the desired messages.
Defining default survey messages for an installation

As an administrator you can determine what default set of messages is to be used across the installation when creating a new project. When administering an installation where English is predominantly used, this allows you to ensure, for example, that an English message set is always imported. To do so, navigate to the Options->System settings menu. In the Default survey messages field you can select one of the available message sets and then save it with Change. The Options->System settings menu is only accessible to members of the administrator team or the system administrator team.
3.7.17
Setting Up the Right Character Set for Your Survey Language

The standard character set for EFS Survey: UTF-8
The EFS Survey admin area is coded in UTF-8. Similarly, for newly created projects the UTF-8 character set is set as default if you have not made any different preset for your account (see Table 16.16). UTF-8 is a character set defined by the Unicode Consortium The character set will most likely become a standard in the future. Using UTF-8 will significantly facilitate implementation of foreign language and multilingual projects, in particular: UTF-8 encompasses all characters that there are, thus all literary languages can be reproduced. You can enter characters from any given language directly in the admin area using the keyboard. All of the entered data and settings will be saved internally and uniformly in UTF8 - questionnaire texts, participant data, internal EFS Survey data, such as to-do notes or staff accounts. The answers of participants to open questions are coded uniformly in UTF-8, thus all open entries in multilingual surveys can be exported and viewed in one single record. Survey and panel passwords can contain characters from all possible languages.
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Most modern operating systems can display UTF-8 correctly. Older operating systems, such as Windows 95 or Windows NT do not support these character sets yet. The internationalization of mail programs has not progressed as much as Internet browsers. Most modern programs can display UTF-8 correctly, occasionally however it can lead to complications. Internet-based mail programs in particular do not work reliably yet. If you are not certain whether the respondents have access to a modern mail program, you can assign in a UTF-8 project language-specific character sets for the mail dispatch, e.g. you can code the e-mails in ISO-8859 and send them (see Chapter 11.2.2, p. 470).
Character sets that can be used in EFS Survey

You can set the character set of your projects yourself. Globalpark recommends the use of the UTF-8 in general, this is true in particular with surveys that otherwise would require several character sets. The following table contains a complete selection of character sets.
Character set ASCII (7-bit Charset) UTF-8 Description ASCII character set International character set Standard character set of EFS Survey UTF-16 (Unicode 2-Byte charset Little Endian). For systems having intel processors. Latin 1 Covers the languages Albanian, Danish, German, English, Faroeic, Finnish, French, Galizic, Erse, Icelandic, Italian, Catalan, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish and Spanish. A few characters, such as the Dutch ij, German quotation marks below and the Euro symbol are missing. Latin 2 Croatian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Czech and Hungarian. Latin 3 Esperanto, Galizic, Maltese and Turkish. Latin 4 Estonian, Finnish, Greenlandic, Latvian and Lithuanian. Covers largely the languages Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and White Russian. Arabian. The direction of the text is from right to left. Modern Greek. Hebrew. The direction of the text is from right to left. Latin 5 Turkish. Based on ISO 6659-1, contains Turkish characters instead of Icelandic ones. Is also used for Kurdish. Latin 7 Baltic languages. Replaces Latin 4 and Latin 6.
UTF-16
ISO 8859-1 West European
ISO 8859-2 East European
ISO 8859-3 South European
ISO 8859-4 Baltic
ISO 8859-5 Cyrillic ISO 8859-6 Arabian ISO 8859-7 Greek ISO 8859-8 Hebrew ISO-8859-9 Turkish
ISO 8859-13 Baltic
Table 3.17
Available character sets
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(cont.)Character set ISO -8859-15 West European
Description Latin 9 Extension of ISO-8859-1, in which a few seldom used symbols have been replaced with the Euro symbol, French and Finnish characters. Thus the languages French and Finnish have been covered completely. Russian and Bulgarian. Chinese simplified Chinese simplified Chinese simplified Traditional Chinese Traditional Chinese. Used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese with extensions for the Cantonese dialect. Indian scripts Japanese Japanese Japanese Japanese Korean Korean Thai
KO18-R, Russian Simplified Chinese, PRC standard GB2312, EUC encoding, Simplified Chinese GBK, Simplified Chinese CNS11643 (Plane 1-3), EUC encoding, Traditional Chinese Big5, Traditional Chinese Big5 with Hong Kong extensions, Traditional Chinese ISCII91 encoding of Indic scripts JISX 0201, 0208 and 0212, EUC encoding Japanese JISX 0201, 0208 and 0212, EUC encoding Japanese Shift-JIS, Japanese JIS X 0201, 0208, in ISO 2022 form, Japanese KS C 5601, EUC encoding, Korean ISO 2022 KR, Korean TIS620 Thai Table 3.17 Available character sets
Conversion problems with Windows-specific characters

When you copy and paste from a Microsoft program, such as MS Word or MS Excel to an EFS questionnaire or into a mail form, that is coded in a character set other than UTF-8, there may be conversion problems: If the text contains Windows-specific characters that are not in the character set of the questionnaire, then these must be converted. Windows-character sets contain characters that are Windows-specific and, for example, do not exist in ISO-8859-1 (e.g. the so-called literary quotation marks or ellipsis) - UTF-8 on the other hand contains all characters. If you transfer these characters when a copying these characters into a questionnaire not coded in UTF-8, they must be converted. EFS is able to convert many Windows-specific characters correctly, however the conversion will still require checking. Characters, for which there is no match, will be deleted completely from the questionnaire or mailtext, because they could not be sensibly converted (for example Chinese characters could not be displayed in a ISO-88591 coded questionnaire). Therefore warning messages are displayed in preview, productive mode and mail preview, that ask you to make a check, as soon as you open a ques-
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tionnaire page or e-mail with characters that have been converted or cannot be displayed.
Figure 3.17 displayed
Warning message when calling up a questionnaire page that has characters that cannot be
With the function Search and replace, see Chapter 6.8, p. 288,, you can quickly find frequently appearing special characters and remove them. Typical problematic cases are curved quotation marks, long dashes and three points (...).
3.7.18
Permitting only a Limited Number of Participations

The participation counter takes a survey out of the field, as soon as a preset number of successful participations has been reached. From the moment of activation, the participation counter counts backwards from the preset value to 0. It will count all of the participants that have filled out the questionnaire fully. You also have the option of counting screened-out participants, respectively quoted out participants or testers. Once the participation counter has reached a value of 0, the project will be automatically set to project status 51 no further participations (see Chapter 3.6.1, p. 69). Newly arriving prospective participants will be denied access. In contrast, participants who are already active can fill out their questionnaire unhindered. (For this reason, depending on the circumstances, participant numbers may exceed the defined limit.) If the participation counter is active in a project, then both the setting and the number of participants still to be admitted will be displayed in the project information dialog. A protocol of the changes to the value of the participation counter will be documented in the project change log. The participation counter always counts from the current moment onward. It can be activated or deactivated during the field phase; a change to its value is also possible during the field phase. By default the participation counter is deactivated. Where a project with activated participation counter is copied or exported/imported, the counter is also deactivated in the new project.
1. Participation counting in detail In accordance with which rules does the counting take place?
From the moment of activation the participation counter counts backwards from the preset value until 0, and then triggers a status change from active to no further participations.
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When counting it will only take into account further participation that takes place from the time of activation onward or from the time of a change to the counter value onward. Participation that took place before activation or before a change to the counter value will not be taken into account. A change to the number of participants in personalized and panel projects, caused e.g. by adding, deleting or reseting, likewise has no effect on the participation counter. So that a survey will be classified and counted as completed regularly, the respective participant must reach the final page of the project, which means it will have disposition code 31 or 32. You also have the option of counting screened out and quoted out participants and testers. Participants, who were screened out or quoted out are identifiable through the disposition codes 36 and 37, which they were given for reaching a certain page with such a configuration.
How does a respondent experience a participation limit?

As soon as the participation counter has changed the project status to no further participations, newly arriving prospective participants will be denied access with the message No further participants can be admitted. In contrast, participants who are already active can fill out their questionnaire unhindered. In most usage scenarios, a sudden closure of their sessions in the middle of the questionnaire would be counterproductive. For this reason, participant numbers may exceed the defined limit, especially if many respondents participate at the same time in large surveys.)
2. Activating the participation counter

1. Switch to the Project->{Selected project}->Project properties->Participation counter menu.
Figure 3.18
Configuring the participation counter
2. Enter into the text field Number of additional necessary survey participations the number of participants required from this point in time. The participation counter counts backwards from this value. 3. You also have the option of counting respondents with the tester status. To do this tick the corresponding checkbox. 4. You have the option of counting quoted and screened out participants (disposition code 36 and 37). 5. Complete the work process by clicking on Save.
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3. Deactivating the participation counter

1. Re-open the Project properties->Participation counter menu. 2. Enter the value 0 in the text field Number of additional necessary survey participations. 3. Confirm by clicking on Save.
4. Editing the rejection message

The survey message that is displayed when the number of participants is too high can be found in the Project properties->Survey messages menu. The title of the message is The survey is in status 'no further participations', a suitable message would be No further participants allowed.
5. Informing respondents about the current state of the participation counter

The current value of the participation counter can be inserted into project-related mails with the wildcard #participants_left#.
3.7.19
Controlling the Survey Display on the Panel Website

Please note that the functions described in this chapter are only available for panel and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations. They are not within the scope of EFS Survey. Various features for adapting the display of panel and master data surveys to the various language versions of the panel have been enhanced in EFS 7.1 and relocated to the Project properties->Website settings menu: As of EFS 7.1, a survey can be hidden in a specific language version, so that it does not appear on the personalized survey list on the panelists homepage. It is possible to group the surveys displayed in the survey list. Different survey names can be defined for display in different language versions. Multiple master data surveys may be activated at the same time. The website will automatically show the appropriate survey for each language version. If several master data surveys have been activated for the same language version, the survey with the smallest project ID will be displayed. Please note: When exporting and importing projects, the language version-specific configuration will not be included as the language versions are usually different in source and target installations. When copying projects, on the other hand, the settings are included.
The setting options in detail

In the overview table of the Project properties->Website settings menu, you can configure the following settings for each language version: Name of the survey displayed on the website: The label which is used in the survey list on the panelists personalized homepage, among other things. If no language version-specific title is entered, the internal admin area project title will be used. Wildcard: {$s.survey_title} Survey description: Detailed description of the survey which can be used, for example, in the survey list on the panelists personalized homepage. If no language
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version-specific text is entered, the description from the Change project dialog will be used. Wildcard: {$s.survey_description} Displayed user-defined label: Selected surveys can be highlighted with specific notes or icons. See Chapter 3.7.20, p. 106. Wildcard: {$s.survey_extra_label} Sorting category: The surveys displayed in the survey list can be grouped by assigning them to one of ten predefined categories. Hide survey for language version: If this checkbox is ticked, the survey will not appear in the survey list on the panelists personalized homepage. By default, all projects are activated in all language versions. Please note that panelists can still participate in a hidden survey if they are provided with a link to the survey: As usual, access to the survey depends only on the panelists sample membership.
Figure 3.19
Defining language version-specific settings
These new features replace a number of previous ones: So far, you could enter alternative survey names in fields Project name on the panelists personal homepage (Name of language version) in the Project properties menu. These fields have been eliminated. In the past, master data surveys on multipanel installations were allocated to the various language versions via a drop-down list in the Multipanel language selection section of the Project properties menu. This feature was dropped, too. The option Do not show the following projects on the personal panel page, which was used to hide projects in a specific language version, has been deleted as well. (Breadcrumb: Website->Panel websites->{Selected language version}-> Configuration tab.)
3.7.20
Highlighting Surveys in the Project List

Please note that the functions described in this chapter are only available for panel and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations. They are not within the scope of EFS Survey. The project list on the personalized homepage provides the panelists with an overview of the active panel and master data surveys. Usually, the titles are listed with the corresponding field times and bonus points. As of EFS 7.1, you can highlight selected surveys additionally with specific notes or icons. This makes sense, for example, in the case of new surveys, surveys with special incentives, or regular weekly surveys. There are three user-defined labels available which can be filled with different content in each language version.
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In each language version, one of these labels can be assigned to a survey. The user-defined labels are usually displayed along with the number of bonus points. Instead of entering a text, you can also use an image from the panels media library.
Figure 3.20
User-defined labels in the project list
The new system with three user-defined labels replaces the old solution with only two fixed gratification types, Bonus points and Prize draw. The Bonus points gratification type is still available per default. It can be displayed along with the new labels. The option Prize draw is no longer available per default since EFS 7.1. In contrast to the Bonus points option, it was never fully integrated into the incentive management of EFS Panel, i.e. prize draws had to be executed manually (creating a group, conducting a prize draw etc.). Of course, you may still conduct prize draws for gratification, if you wish to do so: Create a user-defined Prize draw gratification type, create groups containing the respective project or campaign participants, and conduct a prize draw among these participants. The mail wildcard #bonustype#, which was previously used to insert the gratification type into a mail, has been dropped in EFS 7.1 well.
Defining user-defined labels and assigning them to the surveys

If you wish to use the user-defined labels, please proceed as follows: First, you have to adapt the user-defined labels to the respective language version. To do so, open the Configuration tab of the appropriate language version in the website editor. In the Surveys section (EFS Panel 8.0, Table 15.16) you can enter the desired labels. Alternatively, you may also reference an image from the panels media library via an absolute link.
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Figure 3.21
Defining user-defined labels for a language version
In the Displayed gratification type column of the Projects->{Selected project}-> Project properties->Website settings menu, you can define which label should be used for a survey in a specific language version.
Figure 3.22 Selecting the desired label for a specific project
If you panel was originally created in an EFS version < 7.1, you may have to modify the project list template (labelled func_survey_list in the standard panel) in order to display the user-defined label (wildcard: {$s.survey_extra_label}).
3.8 Automating Frequently Required Work Steps

Creating survey projects often involves performing identical steps: For example, with each new project the following must be repeated: importing the standard company layout, activating predefined survey messages, loading previously defined standard wildcards and creating participants. The actions required to end a project also repeat themselves: The project must be deactivated, result data exported and the codebook and online statistics saved as data for documentation purposes.
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The macro function permits automation of such steps: Specific actions can be preconfigured by the user and executed again at a later time at the push of a button. The macro function makes it possible not only to execute individual actions, but also to bundle several actions into a single macro. This does not only simplify working with EFS, but it also increases the uniformity of work processes.
3.8.1
Managing Macros
In the Options->Macros menu, you can find all macros of the installation which youre authorized to access.
Figure 3.23
Overview of existing macros
The following editing functions are available: Edit: By clicking on this icon, you can switch to the Macro settings tab for the respective macro. Edit actions: By clicking on this icon, you can switch to the Actions tab for the respective macro. Delete: By clicking on this icon, you can delete the macro. Rights: Clicking on this icon opens the dialog for rights administration. Here, you can define, which teams will be allowed to execute the respective macro. Read rights permit execution of a macro, while write rights allow users to edit a macro. Please note that macros can only be executed in projects for which the user has additional write rights. The macro administration is designed for up to 100 macros. If you and your staff use macros a lot, take care to use meaningful names: The better the title, the easier it is to select the appropriate macro from a project.
3.8.2
Creating Macros
Macros are created in the Options->Macros menu. The following work steps are necessary: Creating a new macro and selecting the actions to be executed. Configuring the actions by setting the appropriate parameters. Creating macros requires write rights for create_macro.
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3.8.3
Creating a New Macro and Selecting Actions

1. Click on the Create macro button. This will open the entry form shown.
Figure 3.24
The entry form for a new macro
2. Set the basic properties of the macro: Name Description Suppress output: If the checkbox is ticked and the macro activated, the output of precise information on the process will be suppressed, and only a message indicating success or failure will be output. It is recommended that you activate the message output when first testing a macro, but switch it off after a successful test. Offer for projects of type: You can select the project types for which the macro is to be available.
3. The select boxes in the Actions area allow you to select preset actions. If you wish to select only individual actions, click on these actions in the Available actions field, and then click on the simple Arrow icon to move them into the Selected actions field. If you wish to select all available actions, click on the larger arrow.
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Figure 3.25
Selecting the desired actions
4. After that, use the up and down arrows below the Selected actions select box to sort the actions in the desired order.
Figure 3.26
Specifying the order of the actions
5. Finally, confirm by clicking on Create.
3.8.4
Configuring Actions
After creating the macro, you will automatically be taken to the Actions tab, which is now active. It allows you to edit or delete actions.
Figure 3.27
The selected actions
Configuring an action
Click on the name of an action or on the related Edit icon.
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Figure 3.28
Setting the parameters of the action
In the General area of the entry form, you can enter a specific title for the action and describe it. In the Parameters area, the specific parameter for the respective action must be set, in this example, the message set to be chosen. Depending on the complexity of the action to be executed, you may have to make more than one setting in the Parameters area. In the case of a result data export, for example, all the setting options described in Chapter 13, p. 521 will be available. After that, the setting must be saved by clicking on Save. The action now has a completed configuration and will be marked accordingly in the overview of the actions.
Figure 3.29
The configured action
Make the required settings for all actions accordingly.
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Figure 3.30
Completed action configurations for a macro
Deleting an action
Clicking on the Delete icon allows you to remove an action.
3.8.5
Macro Actions in Detail

The following actions can be used in macros. .mht-Dateien (Format MHTML: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension HTML) are used to save Internet pages.They contain all the images and other elements of the saved pages as embedded objects, so that the pages can be represented true to the original and with functioning hyperlinks. .mht files can be opened in a browser.
Action Activate autosubmit Activate / deactivate data cleaning Activate graphical form elements Apply data cleaning Apply predefined survey messages Change project field period
Name apply_autosubmit toggle_data_ cleaning apply_fe data_cleaning apply_messageset set_project_time
Description This action activates autosubmitting for single response questions. This action activates or deactivates automatic data cleaning during the survey. This action activates graphical form elements. This action applies data cleaning to the survey data. This action allows to import a predefined set of survey messages. This action allows you to change the field period of the project. You can either specify a fixed date or select relative times that refer to the next weeks, the current month or the current year. This action allows you to change the project status. This permits automation of the process of ending or activating the project. This action generates a new survey. It is identical to the Compile menu item. You can choose whether result data are to be deleted while generating the survey. With this action you can create several blank pages at once in the questionnaire. The pages can also optionally be placed below filter pages. With this action you can create a block of pages of type random rotation, random select or loop. You can also create subpages for the block.
Change project status Compile survey
set_project_status
generate_survey
Create blank pages in the questionnaire Create block of pages Table 3.18
create_pages
create_page_block
Overview of the available actions
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(cont.)Action Data export
Name export_data
Description This action allows you to export result or address data from the current project. Setting the file type as well as further export options possible. This action will delete all plausibility checks in the selected project. This action deletes all pretest comments of the current project. This action will delete all type checks that have been defined in the project's questionnaire. The questions will not be deleted. With this action you can configure all completeness checks (DACs) in the survey to check for every answer category of type "answer category + text" if the related text field has also been filled in by the respondent. This option activates or deactivates the debug features that can be used in a survey. With this action you can configure all radio buttons in all single response questions of the survey to be deselectable. That means answers in single response questions can be deselected again by clicking the selected radio button again. This feature will only work for participants that have JavaScript enabled. This action allows you to export participant codes and disposition codes from the current project into a CSV file. You can select the disposition codes for which the participant codes will be exported. The #PID# wildcard in the file name will be replaced with the current project ID. This action exports all pretest comments of the survey into a Microsoft Excel file. This action exports the questionnaire as an XML file. You can select which subdirectories of the project directory will be exported. The #PID# wildcard in the file name will be replaced with the current project ID. This action allows you to import participant codes from a file into participant administration. Each row of the file is interpreted as one code. Therefore, the file should not contain a header. A participant is created for each code. The remaining participant data (e.g. name, password) are set automatically. This action allows you to import participants from a CSV file into participant administration. The first row of the CSV file must contain the column headings. Based on the column headings, an automatic assignment to the participant data saved in participant administration is performed. Columns that have not been recognized are skipped. The following column names can be used: u_account, u_passwd, u_firstname, u_name, u_street, u_zip, u_city, u_phone, u_email, u_www, u_address, u_country, u_other_id. This action allows you to import wildcards from another project.
Delete all plausibility checks Delete all pretest comments Delete all type checks Enable advanced completeness checks Enable/disable debugging features in the survey Enable deselectable radio buttons
delete_plausichecks delete_pretest delete_type_checks
toggle_hardcore_ dacs
toggle_debug
apply_triple_state
Export participant codes
export_participants
Export pretest comments Export questionnaire as XML file
export_pretest export_project
Import participant codes
import_codes
Import participants
import_participants
Import wildcards Table 3.18
import_placeholders
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(cont.)Action Load layout template Run quality correction Save codebook as .mht file
Name apply_layout quality_corrector
Description This action allows you to copy an existing layout into the current survey. This action performs quality correction in the current project. It is identical to the function available under Statistics->Quality correction. This action saves the codebook of the current project as an .mht file. The function internally selects the Codebook menu item and saves its output. The codebook display options can be configured here. In the file name, the #PID# wildcard will be replaced with the current project ID. This action saves the online statistics of the current project as an .mht file. The function internally selects the Online statistics menu item and saves its output. The #PID# wildcard in the file name will be replaced with the ID of the current project. This action saves the Open-ended answers of the current project as an .mht file. The function internally selects the Open-ended answers menu item and saves its output. The #PID# wildcard in the file name will be replaced with the ID of the current project. This action allows you to save the questionnaire as an .mht file. The function internally selects the Print version menu item and saves its output. In the file name, the #PID# wildcard will automatically be replaced with the project ID.
create_codebook
Save online statistics as .mht file
create_online_stats
Save open-ended answers as .mht file
create_online_repor t
Save questionnaire as .mht file
create_print
Table 3.18
3.8.6
Granting Access Rights to Macros

In order to be able to define macros and to determine who will be allowed to execute them, a staff member must belong to a team that has write rights for create_macro. You can use the Rights icon in the overview (described in Chapter 3.8.1, p. 109) to assign write or read rights for specific macros to individual teams.
3.8.7
Using Macros
1. The Project info dialog includes the Execute automation macro field in the Special actions section.
Figure 3.31
Selecting a macro to be applied
2. Select the macro you created, and then click on the Run selected automation package icon. 3. A popup window will provide an overview of the contents of this macro.
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Figure 3.32
Overview of the contents of the selected macro
4. If you wish to start the macro, confirm by clicking on Execute. 5. The actions configured will now be executed. If this involves generating files, the result display will provide a link you can use to download a zip file. Alternatively, you can have the file e-mailed to your address.
3.8.8
Checking the Application of Macros

The Macro log menu logs all macro executions.
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4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 The Structure of the Questionnaire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Planning the Structure of the Questionnaire (Routing). . . . 121 Working with the Alternative Drag&Drop Editor . . . . . . . . 127 Creating and Editing Questionnaire Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Standard Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Mixed-External Pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Random Selection of Questionnaire Pages . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Random Rotation of Survey Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Creating and Editing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 The Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
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4.1 The Structure of the Questionnaire Editor
Questionnaire Structure: Pages, Questions, Routing
4.1 The Structure of the Questionnaire Editor

Before you actually start working with the questionnaire editor, it is worthwhile to get an overview of its structure. As shown in the following diagram, the questionnaire editor has three levels: the questionnaire, page and question views.
Figure 4.1
The questionnaire view

Selecting the Questionnaire editor menu item will take you to level 1, the questionnaire view. It shows a list of the individual pages in the questionnaire.
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Figure 4.2
The pages of a project in the questionnaire view
The questionnaire view represents the structure of your questionnaire. See Chapter 4.2, p. 121, for further information on creating the structure or routing plan for a questionnaire. The functions of the questionnaire view will be introduced in Chapter 4.2.1, p. 122. Creating a page is explained in Chapter 2.2.1, p. 39. The various page types will be described in detail in Chapter 4.4.1, p. 130.
Level 2: The page view

Clicking on a page title in the questionnaire view will take you to level 2, the page view. This shows the questions on an individual questionnaire page.
Figure 4.3
The individual questions on a questionnaire page in the page view
Creating a question will be explained in Chapter 4.10, p. 161. The various question types will be described in detail in Chapter 5, p. 175.
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4.2 Planning the Structure of the Questionnaire (Routing)
Level 3: The question view

Clicking on one of the question titles will take you to level 3, the question view. This shows the text elements that have been entered for a particular question and other question-specific settings.
Figure 4.4
The text elements and settings for an individual question in the question view
The various question types and their specific setting options will be described in detail in Chapter 5, p. 175. There, you will also find information on the advanced functions which are provided in the question view of many question types.

An online survey is a sequence of HTML pages. In contrast to written surveys, there is no need to determine a respondents way through the questionnaire at the start of such a survey. For example, you can ask women other questions than men in a part of the survey. Or, if you are surveying visitors to your website, ask those respondents who
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reveal themselves as buyers of your products other questions than those persons who only know your company from your website. At the same time, you plan a specific order in which your questions are to be answered. This will, for example, help you to avoid so-called spillover effects which can result if respondents use an earlier question as the cognitive reference for subsequent questions. An example of this would be asking a question about acceptance of the death penalty following questions on respondents knowledge of sexual offenders. In this case, the opinion expressed would be strongly influenced by the respondents attitude towards sexual offenders and by (possibly current) reports on such crimes. EFS enables you to realize all imaginable ways through the questionnaire. When determining the way through the questionnaire, a process called routing in market research jargon, you can utilize various pieces of external information. Each piece of information that is known at a surveys runtime can be used as a switch for the routing. You can imagine the EFS routing engine as a railway control center, which opens and closes various routes. In contrast to railways, these routes do not require linear interconnections; instead, jumps can be realized, just as if your train were able to suddenly turn into an aircraft at a track switch and land at a totally different place in the rail network.
The following external information can be used to plan routing:

Parameters that are attached to a URL. See Chapter 3.7.13, p. 89. Information read from a cookie. See Chapter 7.5.8, p. 336. Information on each respondent that can be loaded into a database on the EFS installation before the start of the survey. See Chapter 10.2, p. 411. Information from another survey, which EFS will retrieve as an external survey according to a specific interface procedure. See Chapter 3.4, p. 63. Information from a panel that has been set up with EFS Panel. Information on questionnaires of your current project that have already been filled in, which you can use to close various survey routes or to exclude persons willing to respond from further surveys. See Chapter 10.4, p. 453.
You can use the following instruments to organize routing:

Filters, which you use to realize internal branchings depending on the information available to date. See Chapter 4.7, p. 143. Random rotation of survey pages. You can use a random algorithm to determine a specific section of your survey, in which case all the survey pages intended for this section will be displayed, but with their order randomly altered from one respondent to another. See Chapter 4.9, p. 161. Random selection of survey pages. You can instruct EFS to randomly select one page from a set of survey pages. See Chapter 4.8, p. 159. You can display survey branches repeatedly. See Chapter 7.5.4, p. 333. You can permit jumps to any point in the survey. See Chapter 7.5.4, p. 333. You can have the survey terminate immediately if certain conditions you specify are met. See Chapter 7.5.5, p. 334.
4.2.1
The Routing Plan in the Editors Questionnaire View

The structure of your questionnaire, its dramaturgy, as it were, is established on the topmost level of the EFS questionnaire editor. There are various ways of assembling the structure of your questionnaire:
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You can proceed step by step and create the pages without initially defining the questions. You can proceed step by step and simultaneously define the individual questions on the survey pages. You can create the questionnaire or parts therefore in a word processor of your choice (e.g. Word) and then import it into EFS. See Chapter 6.1, p. 267.
The dramaturgy tools

The Editors questionnaire view provides you with the following tools for displaying and editing the page order (dramaturgy): Show subpages button: This display offers a good overview of complex routing structures, especially if combined with Show questions (see below).
Figure 4.5
Showing all pages
Hide subpages button: This version offers a quick overview, which makes it very useful especially when working on longer questionnaires.
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Figure 4.6
Showing the first page level only
Show questions option in the View dialog: The questions will be shown, as well as the question type and the related variables for each question.
Figure 4.7
Activating display of questions in the View layer
Figure 4.8
Questions displayed in the questionnaire view
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Arrow icons for moving pages within a sequence (up and down arrows): You can use these icons to change the order of the questionnaire pages. Arrow icons for moving pages into another branch (left and right arrows): You can use these icons to move a page into or out of a branch of the questionnaire (for example, to move it into a filter).
Figure 4.9
Moving pages
Caution: If you delete the page on which the questionnaire branches in most cases a filter page, a random select page or a random rotation page - the entire underlying branch will be deleted automatically. If you do not want to delete the entire branch, but only want to delete the branching page, you must first move the pages contained in the branch back to the main section of the questionnaire.
4.2.2
Orientation Aids within the Questionnaire Editor

Various icons and other small visual aids are used in the questionnaire editor to facilitate orientation, particularly in questionnaires with complex routing.
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Questionnaire view
Figure 4.10
The questionnaire view of a project with icons for programmed elements
In the questionnaire view, the positions of the following elements are marked with icons: mandatory questions and do-answer-checks (dac) plausibility checks hiding conditions triggers ActionScripts Smarty templates list elements Pages with an external survey start that serve the purpose of directing respondents either to an external questionnaire or from an external questionnaire back to the original survey. Only for EFS Panel installations: The assignment of bonus points for reaching final pages. By activating the Show filter conditions option in the View dialog you can additionally display the filter conditions. Only in installations with EFS Hybrid Extension: By activating the two options Edit offline / online variant and Show questions in the View dialog you can additionally display the columns Online and Offline. Here you can specify which questions are to be included in the online version and in the standard version of the paper-pencil questionnaire respectively. Standard pages, mixed-external pages and final pages that do not contain any questions or text elements yet can be easily recognized in the questionnaire view because of their red color. Filter pages, random pages and loops are displayed in red as long as they do not contain subpages.
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4.3 Working with the Alternative Drag&Drop Editor
Page view
In the page view, the positions of page-level hiding conditions are marked.
Question view
In the question view, the source variables of filters, hiding conditions and lists are marked with icons. Clicking on the icons allows you to open information windows displaying the respective condition definition. An Edit link lets you switch to the filter or list editor to edit the respective definition.
4.2.3
Finding Questions and Variables

Locating a specific question or variable in a complex questionnaire without searching the codebook can be a tedious and time-consuming task. If you frequently face such a task, combine the following features: Switch to the Staff->Own account->Preferences menu, open the Behavior of questionnaire tab and activate the Show search text field in questionnaire editor option: a search field is displayed just above the questionnaire view, allowing you to search the contents of the questionnaire view. Open the View layer of the questionnaire view and activate the Show questions option. The questions and variables will be displayed in the questionnaire view. When you now enter a question or variable as the search term, the page and question containing that variable will be identified.

As an alternative to the normal questionnaire editor, a modern Drag&Drop questionnaire editor can is available. The most important features in brief: Rules for moving are defined in a manner analogous to the way they are in the normal editor. For example, you can only place questions on a page, you cannot place a page on another page. You can only move type 998 or 999 questions to a final page, you cannot place a page after a final page and cannot interleave more than three loops within one another. If a routing page (e.g. filters, random rotation, random selected or loop) is moved, all pages in the levels beneath are also moved along with it. The Drag&Drop questionnaire editor has an undo function which can be used to reverse moves. See Chapter 4.3.2, p. 129. The complexity of the questionnaire affects both the performance of the questionnaire view in the admin area and the performance experienced by participants. Therefore, it is recommended to plan the questionnaire in such a way that it does not need more than 10 functionally required levels. (I.e. levels which are required for functional reasons, e.g. for filter branches. If you use more levels to just improve the overview, it wont affect the performance.) If two users are working simultaneously in Drag&Drop mode, the software ensures that their actions do not collide. If one of the users has made a change and the second user also tries to make a change on their screen which has not been refreshed, the software will prompt them to update their individual questionnaire. The conventional features of the questionnaire view are also available in the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor, the position and type of display have been merely adapted to the other environment.
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Only in installations with EFS Hybrid Extension: Please note that the option Edit offline / online variant is not available in the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor. In consequence, the columns Online and Offline can only be displayed and edited in the classic questionnaire editor. Please note that you require JavaScript to use the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor. JavaScript must be activated for you to be able to work in the EFS admin area.
4.3.1
Using the Drag&Drop Functions

Activating the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor
Figure 4.11
Activating the Drag&Drop questionnaire editor
Switch to the Questionnaire editor menu. Clicking on the To Drag&Drop questionnaire editor link allows you to activate the alternative display.
Figure 4.12
The alternative Drag&Drop questionnaire editor
If you wish to sort not only pages, but also questions, display these with Show questions and Show subpages.
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Moving pages and questions

To change the position of a page or a question, click on the icon in front of the title, keep the mouse button pressed and drag the element to the desired position.
Figure 4.13
Grabbing the questionnaire page with the mouse
Place the mouse in the gap that opens and allow the page to drop as shown in the figure below.
Figure 4.14
Dragging a questionnaire page to another position
4.3.2
Undoing Moves
If you have placed a page or question wrongly you can reverse your move with the Undo button. If you have mistakenly undone an action you can perform it again using the Redo button. If you have placed a page or question incorrectly, you can reverse the action with the help of the Undo button. If you have mistakenly undone an action you can perform it again using the Redo button.
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Figure 4.15
Reversing a move
The undo function saves your moves provided you do not leave the page, refresh or load it again with Show questions/Show only pages.
4.4 Creating and Editing Questionnaire Pages

You have already learned how to create questionnaire pages from the introduction in Chapter 2, p. 35. When creating the mock-up questionnaire, you created several standard pages which you filled with questions, you created a filter page to direct selected participants to a special branch of the questionnaire, and you may have noticed already that, upon reaching the final page, the participants are counted with disposition code 31 = completed in the field report. The following Chapter 4.4.1, p. 130 gives you a systematic overview of the page types in EFS. In the following Chapters 4.5, p. 131 through 4.9, p. 161, the various page types are presented in detail. A questionnaire can contain up to 300 pages. Please mind: For each questionnaire page, a variable is created to store a time stamp. The maximum number of available variables is limited (Chapter 13.9.2, p. 538). Therefore, in large, complex projects, the page number or rather the number of corresponding time stamp variables may affect the performance or the project may creach the maximum number of variables.
4.4.1
Overview of Page Types

The pages you see in the questionnaire view have different functions: Survey pages contain the actual questionnaire content. Routing pages control the course of the survey.
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4.5 Standard Pages
Survey pages
Page type Standard Properties Contains one or more questions, plus a Submit button. Up to 255 questions per page are possible. The first page of a survey is normally also a standard page. In most cases, it contains hints on the survey. A page with a special border layout to freely place questions on a page. A page with no Submit button. When this is reached, the questionnaire is finished, and so-called finishing rules are triggered. Is automatically set by the system when a survey is created. Cannot be removed. Is filled with content by the user. Does not contain a Submit button. Details See Chapter 4.5, p. 131
Mixed-external page Final page (intermediate final page) System final page Table 4.1
See Chapter 4.6, p. 140
Survey page types
Routing pages
Page type Filter Properties A question track switch. Subsequent pages will only be displayed if the filter condition is met. As filter conditions, you can choose any survey contents that have already been collected at this point in the survey or which were additionally loaded before the start of the survey. Random selection of m from n questionnaire pages. From all n pages that are indented below this page, m pages will be selected randomly and displayed. The other pages below this page will be ignored. By default m=1, i.e. only one page will be selected. Random rotation of survey pages. All the pages placed under this condition will be displayed in random order. Looped questionnaire pages are filled with contents depending on the elements of a list and processed. A page referring to another survey. This page will invoke another survey on another EFS Survey platform or outside EFS Survey. Parameters can be transferred to the external survey so that the respondent can be referred back from the third-party provider to the EFS Survey questionnaire. Details See Chapter 4.7, p. 143
Random selected
Random rotation Loop External survey start
See Chapter 4.9, p. 161 See Chapter 7.4, p. 314 See Chapter 3.4, p. 63
Table 4.2
Routing page types
4.5 Standard Pages

You have already learned how to create standard pages from the introduction in Chapter 2, p. 35. The following Chapters 4.5.1, p. 132 through 4.5.9, p. 136 give you an overview of the properties of standard pages. Chapter 4.5.10, p. 139 presents the functions for filling a standard page with questions or creating features such as triggers or plausibility checks.
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A standard page can contain up to 255 questions. The complexity of the question types used affects the performance. To optimize the execution time of the questionnaire pages, please use the following guiding values for orientation: - Ordinary EFS question types: 50 questions - Complex question types which require, for example, JavaScript or Flash: 25 questions.
4.5.1
Overview of the Properties of Standard Pages

The properties of standard pages are configured on the Page properties tab. You will reach this tab either from the questionnaire view by clicking the Edit->Page properties icon or from the page view via the Change page properties->Page properties tab. The table provides an overview. The page properties are explained in detail in the following chapters.
Property Layout width and height Explanation The breadth and the width of the layout can be modified for a particular page. If you want the layout on a certain page to be particularly narrow, you can, forexample, enter the number "100" (for 100 pixels) in this field. On the next page, the questionnaires layout will then revert to the standard width. Here you can insert JavaScript code which will be executed when the page is submitted, provided that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser. Chapter 4.5.2, p. 133 Details
JavaScript code to be executed when the user clicks on the Submit button Page is submitted automatically after completion of all questions Hide Submit button Send page automatically Hide Back button Add Cancel button Check internal quotas Set universal page marker to fill the variable rate within the field report Table 4.3
The page is submitted automatically as soon as the respondent has answered all of the questions.
Chapter 4.5.3, p. 133
This option allows you to hide the Submit button permanently or temporarily. The page will be sent automatically after a defined time span.
This option allows you to display a Cancel button. If you are using quotas, this option allows you to mark the page where the checking for internal quotas is to take place. The so-called variable page marker allows you to determine, and show in the field report, how many people have completed the survey up to a specific questionnaire page X.
Chapter 4.5.6, p. 134 Chapter 10.4.8, p. 460 Chapter 12.3.8, p. 505
Properties of standard pages
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4.5 Standard Pages
(cont.)Property Only on the first page in anonymous surveys: Create static start page Force a character set for this page Additional code for the head section of the page Table 4.3
Explanation This option allows you to create a static start page. Static start pages are created only once - upon enabling this function - and not each time a survey is called up. This greatly enhances the performance of the survey. This option allows you to assign to the page a different character set other than the general character set of the survey or the character sets for the various language versions of a multilingual project. This input field allows you to insert JavaScript and CSS directly in the head section (<head>) of the page.
Details Chapter 4.5.9, p. 136
Chapter 4.5.7, p. 135
Chapter 4.5.8, p. 135
Properties of standard pages
4.5.2
Defining Page-Specific JavaScript Actions

You have the option of inserting JavaScript code which will be executed once the page is sent. For this feature, it is required that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser. Example: alert(Please read the question text carefully); In this case, for example, a small message window with the corresponding text will be output once the page has been sent.
Figure 4.16
JavaScript when sending the page
Please mind: Only single quotation marks (') are permitted. If double quotation marks are used, the feature wont work.
4.5.3
Automatically Submitting a Completed Questionnaire Page

If you check the box in the Page is submitted automatically after completion of all questions field, the questionnaire page is submitted as soon as the respondent has answered all the questions in full. A comparable function relating to the entire questionnaire is described in Chapter 3.7.5, p. 79. This feature functions on all questionnaire pages which contain only combinations of the following question types: 111, 112, 113, 131, 411, 311, 312, 313, 321, 322, 340, 351 und 511. On pages with multiple response questions and text entries it is not triggered, as it cannot be automatically recognized at what point the participant has completed their input.
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There will be no check as to whether the questionnaire page contains HTML and image type elements. Please ensure therefore that such elements are not located at the end of the page: In this case, autosubmit would prevent the participant from seeing the text or the image. The function assumes that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser. Please note that it is risky to hide the Submit button when using the Autosubmit function (see next section). Example: If the respondent uses the Back button of the browser to go back and make a change, the Autosubmit function will not be reactivated. At the same time, however, there is no way to re-send the pages using the Submit button.
4.5.4
Automatically Submitting a Page after a Defined Period of Time

The Send page automatically function is often used in combination with the hiding of the Submit button described in the following Chapter. The following options are available in a drop-down list: Do not send automatically: This is the default setting. Send automatically after x seconds: The period of time lies between 0 seconds and two minutes and can be adjusted exactly to the second. The function assumes that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser.
4.5.5
Hiding the Submit Button

You can use this function to hide the submit button temporarily or always. Thus only the question and answers will be output on the questionnaire page, the continue button will appear not at all or only after a time. You can choose from the following options: Always show Submit button: This is the default setting. Always hide Submit button: The Submit button will not appear on this page. Please remember when using this setting to incorporate another form element that can be used to trigger the Submit process or activate a function for automatic sending (see Chapters 4.5.3, p. 133 and 4.5.4, p. 134). The combination of hidden Submit button and automatic page down is useful, for example, with cover tests, in which media is only shown briefly. Show after x seconds: You can choose periods from between one second and two minutes. This setting is advisable if you wish to make sure that the respondents look closely at a picture or text. The function assumes that JavaScript is enabled in the respondents browser.
4.5.6
Inserting a Cancel Button

This option allows you to insert an additional image on the respective page. If the participant clicks on this image, the survey window will be closed. Upload the appropriate image via the media library. Please note: You can only use this function if you have activated graphical form elements.
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4.5 Standard Pages
This option does not work with all browsers for the following reason: JavaScript has a security setting that prevents windows from being closed via JavaScript if they were not opened with JavaScript. EFS Survey is not opened using JavaScript, therefore it is also not possible to close it using JavaScript. Many browsers, such as Internet Explorer do not adhere to this security setting entirely, instead they display a confirmation window which queries the surfer as to whether he would really like to close the window: With these browsers the Cancel button functions as expected - the respondent can close it after confirming the window. With browsers that follow the security settings closely, such as Mozilla Firefox, the Cancel button will not work. You can test this function in productive mode, not in the preview: The preview is opened via JavaScript, therefore the browser specific behavior described cannot be observed.
4.5.7
Assigning a Differing Character Set to a Specific Page

You can assign an individual questionnaire page a character set that differs from the general character set of the survey or from the character sets for the language versions of a multilingual project. This function can be employed, for example, if the start page used by all participants of a multilingual survey where there is a language selection question, is to be displayed in a different character set than the other various questionnaires. If you specify a character set in the Force a character set for this page, the character set of the survey will be overwritten with the specified character set for this one questionnaire page, and for all existing language versions. By default, the Dont force a character set option is preset.
4.5.8
Customizing a Specific Page with JavaScript or CSS

Sometimes it is necessary to create a different design for a particular questionnaire page or to implement a page-specific JavaScript function. Previously, this would usually be realized using a specific template (Chapter 8.5.1, p. 375) or an if construct in the main template. As of EFS 7.1, you may also insert JavaScript and CSS directly in the head section (<head>) of the page. The respective function can be found in the field Additional code for the head section of the page on the Page properties tab of the relevant page. This function is available for standard, mixed-external and final pages. If you wish to use this function, you have two options: You can enter code directly in the input field. You can upload and reference files. Please proceed as follows: Upload the desired files via the Upload tab in the Pro editor menu to the directory \layout. Open the Page properties tab for the desired questionnaire page. The dropdown list in the field Additional code for the head section of the page contains all the files with the extensions .js and .css which you and other users imported into the \layout directory. Choose the desired file: It will appear in the input field where it can be further edited.
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4.5.9
Creating a Static Start Page

In EFS, a static start page is the first page of a survey that is not generated from the database each time it is invoked, but which is created once and stored on the hard disk. Background: When building the first page of a survey, particularly time-consuming tasks must be performed: The respondent is assigned a personal identification number (session ID), and an entry is made in the survey data table and in sample management. The system also checks whether the respondent has already participated in the survey. These tasks involve numerous database queries and entries which create a load on the server. In particular for pop-up surveys on websites, on the other hand, only a fraction of people who see the pop-ups are prepared to participate in the survey; many respondents simply close the window, and the entries in the database are of no use. A survey with a static start page generates as little load as possible on the survey server on the first page, which results in the pop-up being able to be displayed to numerous potential participants without creating a big load on the server.
When should you use a static start page?

If you are conducting a survey on a heavily frequented website, and you want to show the pop-up on the first page to many or to all website visitors. If you are publishing the survey link in a newsletter, and simultaneous access of a large number of people to the survey can be expected.
Properties of static start pages

Static start pages are only available in anonymous projects. Most question types can be used on static start pages. Exceptions are sliders (question types 341 and 342) and Flash question types (question types 611, 621, 641 and 661): These question types can not be placed on a static start page. All images, texts and triggers can be used on static start pages. The same graphical form elements can be used on the static start page as in the rest of the questionnaire. Up to version 4.0, this was not possible: instead HTML form elements were displayed. It is not possible to create language-specific static start pages, i.e. a multilingual survey can only have one static start page. You will find alternative suggestions to this problem in the introduction to Chapter 15, p. 569. Plausibility checks and do-answer checks can not be used. Dynamic features, such as hiding conditions, item and question randomization, do not work on a static start page either. The first page of a conjoint block can not be a static start page. Contact data will be stored, and with a static start page, you can also use the field report to reconstruct the number of people who saw the first page. You can use URL parameters in combination with static start pages. Changing static start page contents in the questionnaire editor will simultaneously adjust the static start pages. If the survey is not accessible, for example because it has not been activated, the corresponding error message would not be displayed on the static start page, but rather first on the next questionnaire page. The static start page is automatically deactivated, as soon as a project is taken out of the field (i.e. if it has project status no further participations or inactive, see Table 3.1). In this way you can be sure that respondents that visit a finished project
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4.5 Standard Pages
directly receive an appropriate message and are not greeted with a still active static start page that requests them to fill out the questionnaire. Please note: If you put a finished project with a static start page in to the field again or if you copy or import a project, the start page must be explicitly marked and generated as a static start page again.
Linking to a project with a static start page

Publish your project with the shortened URL syntax:
Correct: http://www.mydomain.com/uc/project/ Incorrect: http://www.mydomain.com/uc/project/index.php3
The syntax for projects with URL parameters is:

Correct: http://www.mydomain.com/uc/project/?a=3&b=4 Incorrect: http://www.mydomain.com/uc/project/index.php3?a=3&b=4
Creating links to SSL surveys If you wish to create a link to the SSL version of your survey on the static start page, use the following URL:
http://www.mydomain.com/uc/project/?#static_hidden#
The parameter #static_hidden# ensures that clicking on the SSL link will start the survey and not reload the static start page.
Creating a static start page

1. Navigate to the Questionnaire editor menu in your project (project type: anonymous survey). 2. In the questionnaire view, click on the Edit page properties icon in the first page. 3. Click on the Page properties tab. 4. Tick the Create static start page checkbox and confirm by clicking on Change.
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Figure 4.17
Creating a static start page
5. In the questionnaire view of the Drag&Drop editor, the static start page is marked by a dedicated icon. In the classic editor, an (S) will be displayed behind the page name of the page. Both indicate that the static start page has been created and is in use.
Figure 4.18
Static start page in the Drag&Drop editor
6. Continue working with the project as usual. The static start page contents will be automatically created and adjusted.
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4.5 Standard Pages
The information that a static start page is in use is also displayed in the overview of the Project checks->Project check menu.
4.5.10
Editing Pages
In order to edit a page, click on the title of the page in the questionnaire view. This link will automatically take you to the page view which displays the individual questions of a survey page. Chapter 4.10.1, p. 161 explains how to create and edit questions.
The functions in the page view
Figure 4.19
Page view
The table listing the questions that have already been created provides the following information and editing options: coid: the container ID, i.e. the ID of the question component. q_id (ID of the question) and question ID (unique identifier based on q_id): both are unique and will remain intact even when copied. They are used as follows: In the reporting, it allows you to define the questions that should be in an evaluation (see Chapter 12.10, p. 514). In the pro editor: you can create a specific design for each question using CSS.
Question title: Clicking on the title will open the question view. Question type: see Chapter 4.10.1, p. 161. Move: Using the icons you can change the position of a question on the current page or move the question to an adjacent page. Randomization: The position of all or selected questions on the current page can be randomly switched from EFS 5.2 and later. To do so in the desired question, activate the checkboxes in this column. Actions icons: Preview: Opens the page preview. Copy Copy question and insert into another page: Clicking on this icon will open a dialog that allows you to rename the copied question and insert it into another page in a targeted manner. Delete
In addition the following tabs are available in page view. The Questionnaire tab opens the questionnaire view, providing you with an overview of all the pages created.
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The Change page properties tab opens the dialog described in Chapter 4.5, p. 131. Clicking on the Page preview tab opens a new window presenting a preview of your draft. The Change order tab allows you to change the order of the questions on a page. The Conr column shows the position of the question as a numeric value. If, for example, you have created two questions on one page, you can change their order by swapping the numbers 1 and 2. After that, click on the Change button for your changes to be accepted. When making position changes, you can also have the sort numbers of all affected questions automatically adjusted. To do so, use the new arrow icons. Clicking on an arrow icon will open a script prompt that allows you to enter the new position of the respective question. After you have confirmed by clicking on OK, the position number will be changed automatically, and the sort numbers of all subsequent questions affected by the change will also be automatically adjusted. Then click on Save. Make the next position change, click on Save again, etc.
The Trigger tab allows you to create the triggers described in Chapter 7.5, p. 325. The Plausibility check tab allows you to define a plausibility check in order to check the respondents answers for logical and formal errors. If the plausibility check detects an error during the survey, the respondent will be alerted to the error and asked to answer the question. (See Chapter 5.14, p. 231, for detailed information on plausibility checks.) In multilingual projects, the Text elements tab opens an entry form in which you can edit the pages text elements in the other project languages. See Chapter 15.3, p. 578, for details.
4.6 Mixed-External Pages

With the mixed-external page type you can largely determine the positioning of questions on a page using HTML. This enables particularly flexible layout design. For example, you can output questions beside one another instead of one after the other. To accomplish this simply generate a table on the questionnaire page with HTML, then add the questions in the table cells by wildcard. This gives you precise control over question placement.
Example:
You have the following four questions on one questionnaire page.
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4.6 Mixed-External Pages
Figure 4.20
Page preview
Now, however, you want to output two questions per row side by side. This can be realized using a mixed-external page.
Creating a mixed-external page

To create a page of this type, proceed similarly to other page types: Questionnaire editor->Create new page or filter->type: Mixed-external page
Figure 4.21
Mixed-external page created
Creating questions
After creating the mixed-external page, select it from the overview. Your first step now is to create the desired questions, so that, referring to the example, the page view of the mixed-external page will look as shown below.
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Figure 4.22
Page view
The individual questions must be incorporated into the pages HTML code via wildcards. Wildcards for questions consist of the REPLACE_COID variable and the question ID. Therefore, the following wildcard must be used for the first question: #REPLACE_COID_3158#. An HTML input field for entering the HTML code is located below the questions.
Creating the page

The HTML code you enter into the HTML input field may look as displayed in the following example. It will output the questions in a table with two rows in two cells each. In addition, the table will be output with blue as its background color. The HTML code:
001 <table cellspacing="50" cellpadding="1" border="0" bgcolor="#304570" width="800"> 002 <tr> 003 <td width="450px" color="#F00100">#REPLACE_COID_3158#</td> 004 <td width="450px">#REPLACE_COID_3159#</td> 005 </tr> 006 <tr> 007 <td align="center"><IMG src="http://your-domain.com/dev/uc/admin/ e97a/images/soccer.gif"></td> 008 <td width="450px">#REPLACE_COID_3160#</td> 009 </tr> 010 <tr> 011 <td width="450px">#REPLACE_COID_3162#</td> 012 <td align="center"> </td> 013 </tr> 014 </table>
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4.7 Filter
Figure 4.23
Page preview: Mixed-external page
4.7 Filter
If you create a survey page of the Standard type, all participants in the survey will automatically be routed to the next page as soon as they have answered and clicked on the Submit button. Additional questions can be directed at participants, who have provided answers which you have specified or at those with specific properties saved in participant administration. Other respondents who do not meet the filter criterion will skip these questions.
4.7.1
Example: Routing Selected Participants into a Questionnaire Branch

The following figure shows the questionnaire view of a survey on the subject of leisure behavior.
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Figure 4.24
Filter pages in the questionnaire view
On the standard page P2, the participants are asked to name their hobbies. Among others, they can select the option Sports. The following page, entitled F1 Hobby: Sports is a filter page which does not contain questions but will, according to the answers given on P2, let the respondents pass through or re-route them: All those respondents who have selected sports will be routed to page P3, which is hierarchically subordinated to, and indented below, filter page F1. This page contains a question on the kind of sports. For the remaining participants, who do not work out and have accordingly not selected the option Sports, the question on P3 would be of no interest. These respondents will be routed directly P4 Pets. To trace this example in practice, please proceed as follows: 1. After page 2, which is a question of the Standard type, create a new page 3 with the Filter type. This page is entitled F1 Hobby: Sports because the filter will only send the respondents on to P3 if they have selected the option Sports. 2. After its creation, the new filter page will appear in the questionnaire view. Clicking on the title will open the EFS condition editor.
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4.7 Filter
Figure 4.25 The condition editor
3. In the Variables drop-down list, select the variable which contains the information if the participants have selected the option Sports, when asked to name their hobbies. In the example project, this is v_1. 4. In the Condition drop-down list, select equal. 5. As soon as you have selected a variable, its possible characteristics are displayed in the Code field. In this case, these are quoted (1) und not quoted (0) (the question is a multiple response list). Select quoted (1). I.e. the value of v_8 must equal 1 to activate the filter and route the participants into the filter branch. Thus, in this case, the filter definition is that the value of the selected variable must be equal to 1 for the filter to be activated.
Figure 4.26 Defining a filter condition
If you are working on your first project, or if your project is quite complex, click on the Codebook menu item: The codebook lists all variables, including their characteristics and labels. See Chapter 14.2, p. 559. 6. Save the filter condition.
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Figure 4.27 The saved filter condition
7. The new filter condition is listed as current filter definition. 8. Click on the Back to questionnaire menu item to return to the questionnaire view of your survey. 9. Create page P3. It should be indented below the filter. If you use the Create new page or filter icon in the row of the filter page F1, P3 will be indented automatically. If you use the Create new page or filter tab, the new page will be placed on the main level. But you can drag it into the filter branch easily.
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4.7 Filter
Figure 4.28
Dragging a page into the filter branch
10. The following page P4 should be placed in the main level of the questionnaire.
4.7.2
Possible Filter Applications

Selecting different filters determines the type of routing. The filters themselves route respondents from a main level to further sublevels. Depending on the answer, the Filter page type will route the participant to the next page or cause them to skip pages.
MAINLEVEL SUBLEVEL 1 SUBLEVEL 2
Page 1
Filter 1 Page 2
Filter 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5
Page 6
Figure 4.29
Filter flowchart
The flowchart describes the following example situation:
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Filter 1 is located on the main level of page 1. If the filter condition is met, or true, the pages on the sublevel of this filter will be displayed. In the example, this would be page 2. If the condition of filter 1 is not met, the respondent will be taken directly to page 5 and then page 6, without any further action. Here, another filter (filter 2) containing a further condition has been set after page 2. If this condition is met, page 3 (on sublevel 2) will be displayed, followed by page 4 (sublevel 1). If the condition is not met, the respondent will be taken directly to page 4. The filtering in a survey can be constructed from any number of filters on any number of levels. Nesting of the other page types with filters is also possible.
4.7.3
Defining Conditions for Filters and Other Dynamic Features

This chapter introduces you to the condition editor of EFS. It is used not only with filters, but also with hiding conditions, triggers, and other dynamic functions. The first section walks you through the definition process for a condition. Afterwards, the various features and rules to be observed are presented.
1. Defining a condition
Please proceed as follows: 1. After you have created a new page of the Filter type, it will be displayed in the questionnaire view. Click on the page title to open the condition editor.
Figure 4.30 Creating a condition
2. Creating a condition requires the following settings: Negation: You can negate the following condition by ticking the checkbox in this column. Please note, the usual rules of logic apply to the use of brackets, see Section 6. Using brackets, p. 153: usually you will want to combine the negation with brackets to guarantee meaningful results. Variables: The drop-down list is used to set the variable. An overview of the variables that can be used is given in Section 2. Variables available for filtering, p. 150). Condition: In this column, a logical operator is selected. An overview of the operators is given in Section 3. Logical Operators, p. 151. Code: This column is used to enter the corresponding answer value. Further information on this can be found in Section 4. Selecting Codes, p. 152.
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4.7 Filter
3. The condition will not be finally saved until you click on the Save button.
Figure 4.31 The saved condition
4. You can make a filter definition as complex as you wish by adding further conditions and creating conjunctions between them. To do so, use the new empty condition row that is displayed after the first condition has been saved: Fill in this row as explained above. 5. Create conjunctions between the conditions: To do so, select AND or OR from the Conjunction drop-down list. See Section 5. Conjunctions with AND and OR, p. 152. 6. If required, you can change the processing order using brackets. See Section 6. Using brackets, p. 153. 7. Click on Save again. The next new condition row will be displayed enabling you to expand your definition step-by-step by adding several conditions, if required. The figure below shows a complex filter definition with conjunctions and brackets. You can remove a superfluous condition by ticking the checkbox in the Delete column and then clicking on Save.
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Figure 4.32 Complex filter condition
2. Variables available for filtering

The following variables can be used as the starting basis for filtering: Project variables (v_000n) URL parameters (c_000n) User-defined variables (p_000n) System variables: quota, language, output_mode, javascript, flash, user_agent. (The availability depends on project type, project configuration, activated extensions etc.) List element number Initial size of the list being used: Refers to the size of the list after checking the inclusion conditions for the individual elements (see Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301). The possibilities for further query specific restrictions described in Chapter 7.3.4, p. 310 have not been taken into account. Loop number: Number of times a loop runs. Initially, this filter option does not allocate to which list element each loop cycle will relate. The number refers to the position of the cycle in the dynamically generated sequence. For personalized projects: Participant variables, see Table 10.4. For EFS Panel installations: Participant variables containing the data of the panelists, see Table 10.4. For EFS Panel installations: Master data variables (m_000n, md_000n)
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4.7 Filter
For Employee surveys: Org Processor data, see EFS Employee project managers manual 8.0, Chapter 2.4.1 for details. org_code_structureID (Primary Structure.OrgCodePreAllocation): Unit in the named structure to which the participants have been allocated. E.g. org_code_1 is the unit of the participants in the primary view (structure ID = 1). org_allocation_structureID (Primary Structure.OrgCodeSelfAllocation): Unit in the named structure to which the participants have allocated themselves. E.g. org_allocation_1 is the self-allocated unit of the participants in the primary view (structure ID = 1) (Please note that self-allocation requires special programming.) org_function_structureID (Primary Structure.OrgFunction): Function of a participant in the named structure. E.g. org_function_1 is the function of the participant in the primary structure (Struktur-ID = 1).
The Codebook, which can be opened in a second window by clicking on the corresponding menu item, contains a detailed breakdown of the variables and codes for the respective project.
3. Logical Operators
The following operators can be used:
Operator greater greater equal equal less equal less unequal contains Symbol > >= == >= < != contains Meaning Greater than answer value x Greater than or equal to answer value x Equal to answer value x Less than or equal to answer value x Less than answer value x Unequal (answer value x is excepted) Used primarily for filtering via texts, see the following notes on coding when filtering via content from the participant administration. Produces all texts that contain the entered text element, for example when filtering for cd abcde will also be filtered out. Filtering is case sensitive, blank spaces will be regarded as an incorrect entry. Umlauts can be used. Firstly, you can use this condition to check whether an entry contains one of several specified elements. Example: Entering 22 would fulfill the condition contains any = 11,22,33, whereas entering 123 or 122 would not. Secondly, you can use this condition to identify a specific element in an entry that consists of multiple elements, such as a phone number. Example: Entering 0229-1234 would fulfill the condition contains any = 1234, whereas entering 0229-12345 would not. Acceptable separators are comma, apostrophe, and |. Regular expressions can be used in the filter condition. They must be enclosed in slashes. The variable selected must contain the organizational unit named in the code field.
contains any
contains any
matches regex For Employee surveys: in Table 4.4
matches regex For Employee surveys: in
Filter operators
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(cont.)Operator For Employee surveys: in or below Table 4.4
(cont.)Symbol For Employee surveys: in or below
Meaning The variable selected must contain either the variable named in the code field or one of its subunits.
Filter operators
4. Selecting Codes
The condition editor helps you to select suitable codes. If the data type of the selected variable includes codes resp. characteristics, these codes resp. characteristics are automatically offered in the Code field. All you need to do is select the appropriate code. For variables of data type text, you have to enter the code value for the condition yourself. This may happen, for example, if a free entry field is used to query a staff number or a zip code, or if the condition refers to a participant variable of type text. For variables of data type text, the filtering is case sensitive. Blank spaces will be regarded as an incorrect entry. Umlauts can be used. If you wish to identify participants who did not enter anything in a specific text field, leave the code field empty. If, for example, all participants who left the v_1 text field empty are taken to an additional page below the filter, the condition could be v_1 equal . (The condition v_1 equal 0 would not work: Due to the predefined code 0, the software expects a number that is not equal to 0. If the respondent enters a text, PHP classifies this as 0.) Please note: Using filters on open answers is generally problematic. It is virtually impossible to predict what participants will enter on the other hand you can only correctly formulate filter conditions if you know which data type is to be expected as input, for example. You should therefore use plausibility checks (Chapter 5.14, p. 231) or type checks (Chapter 5.15, p. 247) to restrict input options from the outset. If, for example, you ask for a percentage and then want to filter the value, a numbers-only check allows you to make sure that participants have not entered texts or negative numbers.
5. Conjunctions with AND and OR

A filter is designed to only route a participant to a subpage if they simultaneously meet two conditions resulting from two different questions. To achieve this, you must set at least two filter definitions and create an AND conjunction between them. If you create an OR conjunction between the filter conditions, the subpage below the filter will be shown to the respondent if they meet the condition resulting from one question or the other. You can place the filter page anywhere within the page layout as long as the filter is created after the questions to which it refers. It is recommended to use not more than 100 AND/OR conjunctions. Tip: Many filters that require a lot of effort when working with EFS standard filter definitions or alternative filter conditions can be realized more easily and more efficiently with LUA (Chapter 4.7.8, p. 158).
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4.7 Filter
6. Using brackets
You can specify user-defined brackets in the condition editor. The usual rules of logic apply. This means, in particular: Without brackets AND conjunctions will always take priority over OR conjunctions. For example, v_1=1 AND v_2=0 OR v_3=1 will be processed as (v_1=1 AND v_2=0) OR v_3=1. If you want the condition to be processed as v_1=1 AND (v_2=0 OR v_3=1), you must insert the corresponding brackets. Without brackets, negation will always take priority over anything else. Therefore, in most cases negation must be combined with brackets: If you want to negate v_1 > 0 explizitly, for example, the syntax is : !(v_1 > 0). Without brackets, the condition !v_1 > 0 would be processed as (!v_1) > 0. I.e. first the system would check if the variable has one of the two values 0, 1 permitted by bollean logic. Such a check is possible, but in context of the situation in the condition editor, it is usually not intended by the user. For variables with more characteristics, the boolean check does not make any sense. In the second step, the condition >0 is be applied to the result. I.e. when using negation in the condition editor, usually you will want to use brackets to guarantee meaningful results. Alternatively, in many cases it is possible to replace the negation by other operators and additional conjunctions. If you have inserted incorrect, i.e. incomplete, brackets, an error message will be displayed on saving, indicating that the filter as such has been saved, but not the brackets. This means: The condition editor will continue to display the brackets, giving you an opportunity to locate and correct the error. If you ignore the error message and leave the incorrect brackets unchanged, the database will not consider the incorrect brackets when processing the data, but proceed according to the usual rules (with AND always taking priority over OR). Please mind: brackets which do not fulfill the intention of the author, but establish a logically meaningful syntax, cannot be identified automatically.
4.7.4
Viewing the Filters of a Project

You can use the Filter list menu link to display an overview of all the filters in a specific project. The display contains the respective variables and the questions the filter refers to as well as the defined characteristics.
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Figure 4.33
Filter list
4.7.5
Testing Filters
Before conducting a test survey, you can test the functionality of your filters. To do so, please proceed as follows: 1. Open the Questionnaire editor->Filter list menu. 2. In the Test column, you can invoke the function test separately for each filter by clicking on the test tube icon.
Figure 4.34
Conducting a filter test
3. In the filter test dialog, enter the variable characteristics for which the filter is to be triggered resp. is not to be triggered into the text fields provided. (The number of text fields depends on the number of filter variables.)
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4.7 Filter
Figure 4.35
Conducting a filter test
4. Then, click on Test to run the filter test.
Figure 4.36
Filter test result
5. Check in the newly-opened results section whether the filter is functioning as expected. 6. After successful end of the test, change the filters test status in order to mark those filters that function correctly for your further work.
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Figure 4.37
Changing the filter status
7. After that, click on Change status to assign the respective new status to the filter.
4.7.6
Identifying Structural Problems in a Condition

The Show variable sources function in the condition editor helps to identify mistakes in the structure of the questionnaire. The ocher-colored pages contain variables which are used in the current condition. The page on which the condition is checked is displayed in blue. If you use a variable which is not filled yet when the condition is checked, it will be highlighted in red. In the example shown below, the variable sources of filter F2 from Chapter 4.7.3, p. 148 are displayed. It is obvious that P4, which contains the question related to v_11, has mistakenly been moved to a wrong position in the questionnaire, and that the filter cannot work properly. The question on pets is now placed behind the filter branch - but the answer is needed initially for the filter condition.
Figure 4.38 Viewing the variable sources for a filter page
4.7.7
Entering Condition Code Directly

EFS offers experienced users the option to write their own condition code. This is useful, for example, if you want to combine different conditions.
1. Syntax
The following rules apply:
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4.7 Filter
Please use only internal variable names (v_xxx). External or long variable names cannot be used. Conjunctions must be separated by brackets
2. Defining alternative conditions

If you wish to enter the condition code yourself, you need to create a page of the Filter type as described above. A click on the page title will take you to the condition editor. There you will find the input field for the condition code on the Alternative filter definition tab.
3. Example for using brackets

The condition Item1=1 OR Item1=2 AND Item2=3 AND Item2=4 will be grouped by conjunctions using brackets. The problem here is to identify the conjunctions which separate the various groups. In this example there are two groups: The first is Item1=1 OR Item1=2 and the second Item2=3 AND Item2=4. Therefore, the conjunction between the groups is the second AND. This means that the two groups must be put in brackets and the group conjunction must be left open:
(Item1=1 OR Item1=2) AND (Item2=3 AND Item2=4)
If you wish to create an OR conjunction between the groups, the entire filter must be put in brackets. Without surrounding brackets, the filter might be triggered even if none of the criteria is met.
((Item1=1 OR Item1=2) OR (Item2=3 AND Item2=4))
4. Count function (count[x])

You can use the alternative condition editor to define filter, hiding and list conditions, which query how many completed interviews meet a specific condition so far. For example, a questionnaire page can be hidden once a question on it has been answered in more than 50 completed interviews. The corresponding function is only available in the alternate condition editor. It is as follows:
count['condition definition']
The condition can be formulated according to the usual logical rules for filter definitions. All survey variables and logical operators can be used. Please note the following: Unlike the usual filter conditions, the function does not refer to the behavior of the participant responding, but to the completed interviews of other participants. The condition must be enclosed in squared brackets and quotation marks. Please note: Use of the count function may significantly affect the servers performance. Therefore, please use it economically. Also, please check if your condition can be realized more easily and more efficiently with LUA (Chapter 4.7.8, p. 158). When using the count function in list conditions, in particular, it is recommended to use it not more than 50 times.
Example
As soon as more than 10 survey participants have answered a question about a specific product A (e.g. v_1>0), all subsequent participants are to be redirected to a question-
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naire page containing a question about another product B. The following function must be entered in the alternate filter editor:
count['v_1>0']=10
4.7.8
Using LUA for Conditions

From EFS 7.0 on, a new filter type is available: the LUA filter. LUA is a scripting language which offers users with programming skills more freedom and convenience: Many filters that required a lot of effort when working with EFS standard filter definitions or alternative filter conditions in the past can now be realized more easily and more efficiently with LUA. There is, for example, a function which considerably simplifies the handling of system missings. Highly complex filter conditions can be mapped more easily.
Before you start

Please note: Various help features are available if you want to try out the LUA filters: A dedicated message system allows to identify errors that occur while the survey is processed (see Chapter 9.8, p. 398). In the customer center, you can download a collection of examples of LUA filter definitions.
You can switch from a standard filter definition to a LUA condition or to an alternative filter condition without loss of information. Please bear in mind, though, that a return or a switch between LUA and alternative filter condition will require a redefinition of the condition.
1. LUA in EFS
Detailed information on the LUA scripting language can be found on the official homepage at http://www.lua.org/ The LUA implemented in EFS differs from the standard scope of the scripting language in some respects. The following modules have been disabled: debug, coroutine, package, io, os. The following functions have been disabled: rawequal, rawget, rawset, dofile, load, loadfile, require. The following functions are EFS specific: time (os.time): Standard function usually located in the disabled os module. date (os.time): Standard function usually located in the disabled os module. string.len: Determines the number of characters in a string (unicode) instead of the number of bytes. Please note that the # operator has not been modified in this way, i.e. it still determines the number of bytes.
Another EFS-specific feature is the module rex_pcre (see http://lrexlib. luaforge.net/manual.html). Please note that only the module pcre is available.
2. Defining LUA filter conditions

Locate the desired filter, open the condition editor and go to the LUA filter tab. Above the input field, the available API functions are listed.
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4.8 Random Selection of Questionnaire Pages
Figure 4.39
Input field for the LUA filter definition
4.8 Random Selection of Questionnaire Pages

In this case, the participants will be routed randomly.
MAIN LEVEL Page 1 SUBLEVEL 1
Random
selected Page 2 Page 3
Page 4
Figure 4.40
Logic with Random selected
Page 1 is located on the main level, followed by a page of the Random selected type. The sublevel of this page contains two pages (in this example, page 2 and page 3). The survey is routed as follows: After completion of page 1, one of the subpages of the Random selected page will be randomly selected. In the example, either page 2 or page 3 will be displayed. After the selected page has been sent, the respondent will continue on page 4. Again, any number of page levels and types can be nested here.
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To find out which pages of a random select block a participant has seen, check the content of the variable rnd_pg_PGID in the export file. See Table 13.2.
4.8.1
Repeating the Random Selection on Re-load

You can specify whether the random selection is to be repeated when a page in the Random selected branch is reloaded: Click on the Edit page icon located in the questionnaire view for the Random selected page. In the drop-down list labeled Behavior when reloading a page you can choose whether the random selection will be repeated or not. The default setting is Re-execute random selection.
4.8.2
Selecting m out of n Pages

Optionally, you can present m out of n randomly selected pages to the respondents. In a product test, for example, it is possible to select randomly five out of twenty pages on which different concepts are presented and present them to the respondents. It is still possible to use m out of n selection with complex structures containing nested Random selected pages and filter blocks. Click on the Edit page icon located in the questionnaire view for the Random selected page. You can enter in the field Number of pages in random selection how many pages of the Random selected block will be randomly selected and displayed. By default, a value of 1 is set. Please note: random selection is not a uniform distribution.
4.8.3
Filters in Random Select Branches

If a Random select branch contains a filter whose condition is not met, the random selection will be repeated until a page without filters is found, a filter whose condition is met is found or all subpages have been tried without a filter being met. If a Random select branch contains a second Random select branch which in turn contains filters, the following complication may occur: The first Random select process selects the second Random select branch from the various options. The random selection initiated by the second branch, in turn, finds a filter whose condition is not met. In this case, the entire Random select process will be aborted, and the survey will be continued on the main level.
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4.9 Random Rotation of Survey Pages
4.9 Random Rotation of Survey Pages

MAINLEVEL
Page 1
SUBLEVEL 1
RANDOM rotation
Page 2 Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Figure 4.41
Logic with Random rotation
The page type Random rotation displays all subpages located on the sublevel of the Random rotation page in random order. Here again, any number of nestings is possible. To find out in which order a participant has seen the pages of a random rotation block, check the content of the variables rnd_pg_PGID_NR in the export file (Table 13.2).
4.10 Creating and Editing Questions

4.10.1 Creating a New Question and Selecting the Question Type
You can now create the individual questions that are to appear on the page you set up, step for step.
Choosing a title
Enter the desired title into the input field in the Title column. This should not be the exact wording of the question yet, but only a title for internal use that relates to the content of the question, e.g. job. If questionnaire pages contain only one question, the question title will frequently be identical to the page title. Therefore, you can have the system default the page title as a suggested title for the first question on each page. To do so, go to the Staff ->Own account->Preferences menu, open the Behavior of the questionnaire editor tab and activate the option When creating the first question on a page, automatically suggest the page title as the question title (Chapter 16.4.1, p. 617).
Selecting the question type or loading the question from the library
After that, you have two options for selecting the question type:
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You can use the drop-down list to specify the desired question type. The list of question types is organized in groups for easier access. Click on a group to view the list of corresponding question types. When scrolling over the question types schemata will be immediately displayed in the drop-down list. This makes it easy to find the appropriate design. Then, create the question by clicking on Save.
Figure 4.42 Selecting the question type from the drop-down list
If you prefer working with the old drop-down list, you can deactivate the Ajax dropdown list. See Table 16.18. Alternatively, you can invoke a list containing schemata of all question types via the Detail view question types icon. Select the desired question type and then confirm by clicking on Create.
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Figure 4.43
Selecting the question type from the detail view
Instead of creating new questions, you can also draw on a question that has already been archived to the library. To do so, click on the Load a new question from library icon. See Chapter 6.4.2, p. 276, for further information on using the question library. The question types are described in detail from Chapter 5.1, p. 175, and a list of the various question types is located in the appendix to this manual in Chapter 18.5, p. 645.
Changing question properties

You can change the title and type of a question retrospectively Changing the title: Switch to the question view. Enter the new title in the Question title field. If this field is not visible click on the More icon as described in Chapter 4.10.3, p. 164 and display the field. Changing type: Switch to the question view, and click on the Change question type tab. In this dialog you can change the question title, number and type.
Deleting questions
Questions already created can be removed by clicking on the Delete icon.
4.10.2
Editing Questions
After creating a new question, you are automatically taken to the question view. If you wish to edit an existing question, simply click on its title in the page view.
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Figure 4.44
The question view of a question with a single response list (question type 111)
In the question views entry form, which can contain different input fields and functions depending on the question type, you can enter your question text with the related items and make question-specific settings. You can use HTML to layout the question text, fill-in instruction, help text and answer options or to insert images. You should use the option to manually format individual questions with care. Whereever possible, use the layout features of standard and pro editor (see Chapter 8, p. 351) instead: it increases uniform appearance and reduces the maintenance effort in case of changes.
4.10.3
Showing and Hiding Question Options

The Question options section of the question view has become very extensive, due to a corresponding increase in the number of setting options and specific features for individual question types (see Chapter 4.10.4, p. 166). This is remedied using layers
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that react dynamically: Thus, rarely used options can be shown and hidden as required. The saved settings will be valid for the entire project.
Showing and hiding setting options

1. Switch to the question view, and click on the More icon.
Figure 4.45
Showing additional options using the More icon
2. A layer containing the hidden options will open. As soon as you enable a feature, it will be shown in the question view. Saving is not necessary. To close the layer, click on the x icon.
Figure 4.46
Enabling and disabling options
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Please note: Older versions of Internet Explorer cannot display the pop-up windows correctly. If a window is positioned over a drop-down box, the box will shine through. Therefore, pop-up windows can be moved.
Configuring your own default settings

If you usually work with a constant set of question options, you can make these the default setting in the Staff->Own account->Preferences menu on the Display of questionnaire editor tab.
4.10.4
Overview of the Functions in the Question View

Depending on the question type, the entry form contains different functions; the tabs you find in the question editor may also vary. The following tables give you an overview of which feature you will normally find and can use with common question types such as single or multiple response lists.
Question options
Feature Question title Question text Fill-in instruction Description This field contains the title of the question. In this field, you can enter the question text as it will appear on the website. Here you can insert explanatory notes on answering the question, e.g. Multiple answers possible. If you do not need a fill-in instruction, please delete the standard text (Here you explain...) from the corresponding input field. Individual questions give respondents the option of invoking a help pop-up window. Here, you can enter the help text that is to appear in the pop-up window later. You can protect respondents answers to the current question against unauthorized viewing. Depending on the answers the respondent has previously given, you can hide the question. To define the conditions, click on the Edit hiding condition link. This function offers an alternative to randomization: The questions items will be mirrored on the horizontal (vertical flipping) or the vertical (horizontal flipping) centerline. If you tick the Mandatory checkbox, EFS Survey will automatically check to see whether the respondent has answered this question. If this is not the case, an appropriate message will be displayed. (The message is listed in Table 3.11.) Please note: In the case of matrix questions, selecting this function will only ensure that at least any one item will be answered. You can force respondents to answer several items or all items by ticking the checkboxes in the dac column in the Answer options section of the entry form. If this function is activated, answer options and inside titles will have alternating background colors (white and grey) to improve readability. See Chapter 12.8, p. 511 See Chapter 5.16, p. 249 See Chapter 5.11.5, p. 226 See Chapter 5.12, p. 227 Details
Help text
Mark question as protected Hiding condition for this question Activate horizontal / vertical flipping of answers Mandatory (dac)
Alternate colors
Table 4.5
Question options
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(cont.)Feature Dynamic column text wrap after x answers
Description After the selected number of answer options has been reached the list wraps and a new column begins. This function is particularly well suited for use in combination with hiding conditions on item level or randomization, i.e. for situations in which New column (see Table 4.7) is too static. This field allows you to specify how many of the existing items are to be displayed: With the default setting, 0, all items will be displayed. If you enter a number that is less than the actual number of existing items, the selection will be made by counting off the existing items from the top. Using this function is particularly recommended when combined with item randomization (see Table 4.7) because the randomization produces varying item combinations. If the function is used in combination with hiding conditions at the item level (see Chapter 5.16.2, p. 250), the output of the questionnaire page will be done by first considering the hiding conditions. Only after that will the number be limited. If this option has been enabled, long answer texts will be wrapped automatically. This feature can be used with the question types 111, 112, 113, 121, 122 and 144.
Details
Number of items visible
Wrap item text
Table 4.5
Question options
Dynamic answers
Feature Dynamic answers Table 4.6 Description If the answers are to be dynamically read from a list, you can make the corresponding settings in this area. Details see Chapter 7.3.3, p. 308
The section Dynamic answers
Answer options
Feature No Description When creating the items, the numbering is automatically assigned by the system. You may change the numbering, but the changed numbering should be unique. If the numbering you assigned is not unique, an automatic, unique numbering will be assigned. Input fields and functions in the Answer options section of the entry form Details
Table 4.7
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(cont.)Feature Code
Description Serves to identify a characteristic for questions with a single response list and matrix questions. An overview of all encodings is provided in the codebook, see Chapter 14.2, p. 559. You can edit the encoding. However, you should never do this while the survey is in progress because otherwise, the encoded information will be lost or it will no longer be possible to assign it correctly. Filters and other functions that are based on codes can also be damaged. When defining codes in matrix questions, please note that code 0 is disabled for scale items, except for question types 351, 361 and 364. Code 0 is normally used for questions types 361 and 364 to generate the Please select scale characteristic: This allows you to track whether participants have responded to the question. To create a new answer option, enter a new answer or item text into the New row. The sort number or the code (depending on the question type) will then be assigned automatically. Used to re-sort the answer options. Clicking on the arrow icon in front of an answer option will open a script prompt. Enter the desired new position for the item. After you have confirmed by clicking on OK, the position number will be changed automatically, and the numbers of all subsequent items will be corrected accordingly. Then click on Save. Make the next position change, click on Save again, etc. Enter the answer options (answer categories or answer items) in this field. By default there are five preset options. However, you can expand or reduce the number as you wish. If you need more than the pre-created options, simply enter in the New row the text for the next option, select the type and Save. You can remove redundant items by ticking the option Delete and then Save. Up to 100 answer options can be created for a single question. For some question types, less options are available, to guarantee an appealing design. Please mind advice given in Chapter 5, p. 175 regarding this matter. The answer text may have up to 10,000 characters. But please keep in mind that overlong texts may negatively affect the appearance of the question. You can choose the type of new answer option in this field. The following options are available: Answer category Answer category + text (see Chapter 5.10, p. 217) Inside title (see Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216) With 5xx-er questions, you can instead choose between image and HTML (see Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210) This option allows you to create a separate answer category, such as the answer Other. This will, therefore, enable the respondent to indicate that none of the possible answers apply to them. Ticking the Missing value checkbox for an item marks the item as a missing value in the online statistics. (Caution: When exporting the data, e.g. as an SPSS file, any declaration as Missing must be performed again.)
Details
New
Arrow icons
Answer text / Item text
Type
Missing value
Table 4.7
Input fields and functions in the Answer options section of the entry form
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(cont.)Feature Randomization
Description The order of the selected answer options will be changed randomly so that the respondents will see different arrangements. The extension Grouping enables you to randomize item groups, see Chapter 5.11.4, p. 220. This option allows you to show an answer category for your question in a separate column. This is especially suitable if you wish to offer an additional text field, separated from the answer categories. By selecting this function, you can ensure that, for matrix questions and questions with multiple response lists, individual items, several items or all items must be answered. The Delete option allows you to reduce the number of possible answers to the question as much as you wish.
Details See Chapter 5.11.2, p. 219
New column
dac
Delete Table 4.7
Input fields and functions in the Answer options section of the entry form
All the modifications described above will only be performed if you click the Save button after entering them.
Tabs
Feature Questionnaire Page Description This function returns you to the overview of all the pages in your survey. This function displays all the question titles of the page you are currently editing, instead of only one question as with Preview question. If you feel that the selected question type is not adequate, you can use the Change question type link to modify it according to your wishes. If you want to see a preview of the question, the Preview question link at the top of the screen allows you to do so. The window that opens will now only contain the current question, as opposed to the whole page as displayed in the Page preview. This function allows you to change a question type to another without having to create the whole question again. You can only change the existing question type to the ones displayed in the drop-down list. Select the desired question type and click on Change. Please note that various special settings cannot be transferred when changing the question type. For example, hiding conditions and type checks will be lost. Selecting this function allows you to insert a previously created answer scale into the question. This function allows you to copy a finished question into the question library. Clicking on this tab allows you to insert a previously created wildcard into a question or answer field in the entry form. Functions of the tabs in the question view See Chapter 5.4.8, p. 198 See Chapter 6.4, p. 275 See Chapter 7.1, p. 293 Details
Preview question
Change question type
Scale library Add to library Wildcards Table 4.8
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4.11 The Preview

When creating and editing the questionnaire, it is helpful to be able to directly monitor the impact the changes have on the questionnaires appearance. Via tabs and Preview icons, located at all important places in the admin area, you can preview the following in a pop-up window: the respective question (Preview question) the respective questionnaire page (Page preview)
Figure 4.47
The Preview icon
Differences between preview mode and productive mode

The difference between the preview and the normal project run-through is that the data collected are not saved to the database but to the so-called session table. This is a database table that will be cleared when you log out. This prevents contamination of the results tables with test data. Thus, the preview does not support all of the features available for use in the productive mode. The progress bar is not calculated accurately. For triggers, you can decide yourself whether they should be executed in the preview. See Chapter 7.5.2, p. 329. Dynamic output of content via wildcards (see Chapter 7.2.1, p. 297) cannot be tested in preview mode, as data generated in the preview cannot be allocated to a participant account and dataset. Before starting your project, be sure to also test it via the normal project URL, which is located in the project information dialog. In order to keep you informed on whether you are working in preview mode or productive mode, the preview shows a corresponding notice in the upper right corner.
Figure 4.48
The preview notice
4.11.1
Viewing Runtime Error Messages in Preview

EFS features a runtime check for checking the conditions of LUA filters and quotas in the course of the survey. If an error occurs while testing in preview mode, an exclamation mark will be displayed in the preview note. Move your mouse pointer over this icon to display the error message.
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4.11 The Preview
Figure 4.49
Error message in preview
4.11.2
Displaying Items Hidden in the Preview

If you click the icon for hiding conditions in the preview notice, hidden items will be displayed with a highlight color.
Figure 4.50
Making hidden items visible in the preview
4.11.3
Jumping to Other Pages

Instead of going through the whole questionnaire in the preview, you can navigate directly to individual pages. For this purpose, a Select page drop-down list can be displayed in the preview note, from which you can choose the desired target page. The change is performed automatically. This function is activated respectively deactivated via the Allow direct jumping to any page of the survey drop-down list in the Project properties menu. By selecting the appropriate options disabled display for all participants display for testers only you can define which target groups should be able to use it and where.
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5 Question Types and Advanced Functions

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 Question Types with a Single Response List . . . . . . . . . . 175 Question Types with a Multiple Response List . . . . . . . . . 183 Question Types for Open-Ended Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Matrix Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 User-Defined Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Text and HTML Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Multimedia Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Structuring Answer Options Clearly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Using Other Text Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Randomly Changing the Sequence of Questions, Answers and Scale Items218 Enforcing Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Making Checkboxes Exclusive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Validating the Plausibility of Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Validating Open-Ended Answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Hiding Questions and Answer Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Integrating Multimedia Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
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5.1 Question Types with a Single Response List
Question Types and Advanced Functions

This Chapter describes the question types of EFS in detail (Chapters 5.1, p. 175, to 5.7, p. 206). After that, you will be introduced to various additional functions which can be used with all or many question types, such as hiding conditions, plausibility checks and mandatory questions. The last chapter deals with incorporating multimedia elements into a questionnaire (Chapter 5.17, p. 251). A detailed documentation of the Flash question types is available from customer center at http://my.globalpark.com.

Question types with a single response list are used to individually query one feature with different attributes. The difference between the question types is in the presentation of the feature. Most question types allow you to supplement the information gained by following up with one or more open-ended questions. To improve visual presentation, question type 111 allows you to insert inside titles.
5.1.1
Single Response List (Vertical) (Type 111)

This question type can be used to ask questions to which there is only one possible correct answer. The following is an example from a master data query.
Figure 5.1
Question type 111 in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Answer categories 1-n Optional: Answer category with text entry field (see Chapter 5.10, p. 217) Optional: Inside titles 1-m (see Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216) Optional: Columns 1-o
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Entry dialog
The admin screen that was used to create this question looks as follows:
Figure 5.2
Question type 111 in the questionnaire editor
5.1.2
Single Response List (Horizontal) (Types 112, 113)

The main difference between question types 112/113 and question type 111, which was described in the preceding section, is in their layout: Question type 112 Single response list (horizontal): Answer categories and related radio buttons are arranged horizontally in one line. Question type 113 Single response list (scale above): The radio buttons are arranged horizontally, with the respective answers above them. See Chapter 18.5, p. 645, for illustrations of these question types. Please note that these two question types do not allow the creation of several columns and the incorporation of inside titles and Other fields.
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With question type 113, you have the option of modifying the area between the scale and the answer block by inserting an additional template, e.g. to change the distance. See Chapter 8.5.3, p. 375, for further explanations.
5.1.3
Closed Response List (Type 131)

With questions with closed response lists, issues will be examined, for which there is only one possible correct answer.
Figure 5.3
Closed response list in the questionnaire
Elements
The base elements are identical with the elements in the question type 111: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Answer categories 1-n Optional: Answer category with text entry field (see Chapter 5.10, p. 217) It is not possible to create inside titles or several columns.
Entry dialog and question options

The entry dialog for configuring a closed response list is on the whole identical with the entry dialog for question type 111, as shown in Figure 5.2. However the type Inside title and the column New column are missing. The question type-specific question options are also largely identical, only Dynamic column text wrap and Wrap item text are missing. Characteristic for question type 131 and the following question type 132 is that the select box can be placed within, in front of or behind a text. To do so simply enter the desired text in the Text around the select box field and place the %s wildcard where you wish to insert the box into the text. See Chapter 5.10.2, p. 217. Caution: With a closed drop-down list of type 131, you should always use an answer category called Please select with code 0. This will help you to track, during evaluation, whether or not a participant has answered the question. The Mandatory function will only work in connection with question type 131 if an answer category called Please select with code 0 exists (see Chapter 5.12, p. 227).
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5.1.4
Example: Using Self-Programmed JavaScript Events

The following example shows how self-programmed JavaScript events can be used to customize the behavior of question types. The question you wish to create is of the type 131 with a drop down list and a text field. The text field is read-only per default. If the respondent selects the Other option, the read-only text field will change its color from gray to white and allow writing. If the respondent switches back to another option in the selection list, the text field will again be displayed in gray and as read-only.
Figure 5.4
Question
Figure 5.5
Read-only text field for Option 1
Figure 5.6
Write protection disabled for Other option
To create this, please proceed as follows: 1. In the editor, create question of the type 131 Closed response list. 2. Add a text field to the question, and encode it as 999.
Figure 5.7
Encoding the Other field
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3. On the same questionnaire page, create a question of the HTML type. Enter the following HTML code:
001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 <script type="text/javascript"> <!-function check_other(selectObjName, textObjName) { var selectObj = document.getElementsByName(selectObjName)[0]; var textObj = document.getElementsByName(textObjName)[0]; // Option Sonstige? gewhlt?! if (selectObj[selectObj.selectedIndex].value == '999') { with (textObj) { readOnly = false; } textObj.style.background='white'; textObj.value=""; textObj.focus(); } // akuell ausgewaehlte Option ist nicht die sonstige Option if (selectObj[selectObj.selectedIndex].value != '999') { with (textObj) { readOnly = true; } textObj.value=""; textObj.style.background="#C0C0C0"; } } function pre_set(item) { var obj = document.getElementsByName(item)[0]; obj.readOnly = true; obj.style.background="#C0C0C0"; } pre_set('v_3'); //--> </script>
4. Go back to the question of the type 131. Select the Special options tab, which is now additionally displayed. Enter code that will invoke the function when a certain event occurs. In this case, the event is onchange, and the command is:
001 onchange=check_other(v_1,v_3);
Figure 5.8
Invoking the function
5. Confirm by clicking on Create event.
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5.1.5
Open Response List (Type 132)

Open response lists are used for questions to which there is only one possible correct answer. You have the option of setting any number of answer categories to be displayed.
Figure 5.9
Open response list in the questionnaire
Elements
The base elements are identical with the elements in the question type 111: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Answer categories 1-n It is not possible to use a combined Answer category + text fields, the creation of inside titles or the creation of several columns.
Entry dialog and question options

The entry dialog for configuring a open response list is on the whole identical with the entry dialog for the question type 111 shown in Figure 5.2. However, it is not possible to change the type of answer category: Only normal answer categories are possible. Moreover, the column new column is not there. The question type-specific question options are also largely identical, only Dynamic column text wrap and Wrap item text are missing. As with question type 131, you can also place the select box within, in front of or behind the text, see Chapter 5.1.3, p. 177 or 5.10.2, p. 217.
5.1.6
Ranking Question (Type 411)

Ranking questions enable the respondents to sort answer options or images via drag & drop. The respondents can drag the answer option from the left column with the mouse into the appropriate position in the right field. The answer options already placed in the right field can be sorted or dragged back into the left field.
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Figure 5.10
Ranking question in the questionnaire
Please note: This question type requires that the respondents have JavaScript activated. You can determine this by activating the JavaScript check with subsequent filtering using the variable javascript, see Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Up to 18 answer options. HTML formatting cannot be used for the answer options of ranking questions. Instead of text you can also have the option of using images. Please note that images will be transformed by the software to the preset width and height. Accordingly the images should have a uniform format suitable for the settings for width and height.
Question options
The following specific options are available for designing a question: Width / height (in pixels): You can edit the size of the answer options. To do so, enter the value in pixels. Animate movement of ranking items: If this question option is activated, the options will glide into place by themselves as soon as you let them fall into the righthand field. If it is not activated, the respondent must place them exactly by himself. Label of Rank: In this field, you can enter a key word that later in an evaluation, for example in Online Statistics, will be used to describe the position. E.g. the label Position used in the following figure appears as Position 1, Position 2 ...Position 5 in the online statistics.
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The usual features used in questions with a single response list of the type 111, randomization, dac, always visible and hiding conditions can be used. It is not possible to use answer category + text, new column, hierarchical rotation and wrap item text.
Entry dialog
Figure 5.11
Ranking question in the questionnaire editor
Layout 1. Arrow
If necessary, you can replace the arrow in the ranking question by another image from EFS 7.0 on. The existing image file for the arrow is named rank_arrow.gif and stored in the /layout folder. (You can check this in the Layout->Pro Editor menu on the Upload
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5.2 Question Types with a Multiple Response List
tab: By clicking on the Project resources tab, you can access the content of all folders which are relevant for the layout.) Create your own image file in GIF format. It should have the name rank_arrow.gif. In the Layout->Pro editor menu on the Upload tab, upload your file into the \layout folder. It will replace the existing image.
2. Width of the ranking question

Depending on how you have defined the layout width of the questionnaire, the ranking question will be integrated into the overall layout differently. Total width in pixels: If the total width of the questionnaire layout is given in pixels, the frame for the ranking question type will likewise be displayed at this width. Total width in percent: If the total width of the questionnaire layout is given in percent, the frame for the ranking question type will not be displayed at the respective total width. Instead the width of the ranking question type will be calculated from the preset width of the options, the place requirements of the destination field, the width of the arrow and the spaces, i.e. the ranking question type can be narrower or wider than other questions. The setting of the layout width is handled by using the standard editor in the Layout menu on the Spaces tab in the field Width of layouts.
3. More substantial changes to the layout

More substantial changes to the layout of the ranking question type, such as for example changing the colors of the elements, require adaptation of the CSS classes. In the Layout->Pro editor menu you will find the corresponding CSS classes - the names of which all commence with ranking - in the Cascading Style Sheets template or alternatively via the CSS editor tab.
5.2 Question Types with a Multiple Response List

Questions which allow more than one answer are called questions with multiple response lists. In this case, one variable is created for each selection. See Chapter 5.13, p. 230, for information on the additional feature of exclusive checkboxes.
5.2.1
Multiple Response List (Vertical) (Type 121)

This question type can be used to ask questions to which there are several possible correct answers. The following is an example from a study about the reading habits of subscribers to a specific magazine.
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Figure 5.12
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Items 1-n Optional: Items with text entry fields (see Chapter 5.10, p. 217) Optional: Inside titles 1-m (see Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216) Optional: Columns 1-o
Entry dialog
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5.3 Question Types for Open-Ended Questions
Figure 5.13
5.2.2
Multiple Response List (Horizontal) (Type 122)

The main difference between question types 122 and question type 121, which was described in the preceding chapter, is in their layout: Answer categories and related checkboxes are arranged horizontally in one line. Please note that this question type does not allow you to incorporate inside titles and Other fields.

5.3.1 Text Field (Single Row) (Type 141)
This question type can be used to ask questions to which the answer is to be entered into an open-ended text field. The following is an example from a master data query, in which the year of birth is to be entered.
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Figure 5.14
Single row text field in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Text around the entry field Maximum width of the text field Maximum entry length. A maximum of 255 characters is permitted.
Positioning the entry field between surrounding text

You can place the entry field within, before or after a text (see Chapter 5.10.2, p. 217). To do so, enter the desired text into the Text around the entry field field, and place the %s wildcard at the position in the text where the entry field is to be inserted.
Entry dialog
Figure 5.15
Single row text field in the questionnaire editor
5.3.2
Text Field (Multiple Rows) (Type 142)

This question type can be used to ask questions to which the answer is to be entered into an open-ended text field area. The following is an example from a cover test. Respondents are being asked to comment on a magazine cover.
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Figure 5.16
Text field with multiple rows in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Text around the entry field, see Chapter 5.10.2, p. 217 Number of columns (width of the text area) Number of rows (height of the text area
Entry dialog
Figure 5.17
Text field with multiple rows in the questionnaire editor
5.3.3
Text Field Matrix (Vertical / Horizontal) (Type 143, 144)

Vertical and horizontal text field matrices can be used to ask questions to which the answer is to be entered into an open-ended text field area. The following is an example of a vertical text field matrix.
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Figure 5.18
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Texts around the entry fields 1-n. From EFS 7.1, you can position the entry fields within, before or after the texts, see Chapter 5.10.2, p. 217. Please mind: Question type 143: If the space between the left part of the text and the entry field is too big, use the Width of the left column with the question texts (in pixels) field to minimize it. Question type 144: If you want to move the entry field, the Wrap item text option should be deactivated. It is not possible to combine these two features.
The maximum length of entries is 255 characters.
Entry dialog
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5.4 Matrix Questions
Figure 5.19

Many tasks require assessment of issues. The space-saving format of so-called matrix questions has proved suitable for these cases. The introduction in Chapter 2.2.4, p. 46 gives you a step-by-step explanation of the creation process for matrix questions. In the following, the different types of matrix questions are presented. Chapter 5.4.8, p. 198 explains how to archive matrix scales.
5.4.1
Standard Matrix 1 (Type 311)

Standard matrix 1 is the classic matrix question. You already created a matrix of this type in the introductory chapter 2.2.4, p. 46.
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Figure 5.20
Standard matrix (311) in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Scale labels 1-m Dimension titles 1-n Optional: Inside titles 1-o (see Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216) Optional: Answer category with text entry field (see Chapter 5.10, p. 217)
Question options
As with most other question types, normal matrix questions also provide the following question options: Mark question as protected, hiding condition at question level, vertical and horizontal flip, mandatory (dac), Number of items visible and Alternate colors. In the section answer options, the following options are available: Answer category + text, inside title, type check, grouping, randomization, dac at item level, Always visible and hiding condition at item level. Please note: If Mandatory (dac) is activated for a matrix question of type 311 and comparable matrix types, this function will only check whether an answer has been given to any item. If you want all items to be answered, you should use the dac function on item level (see Chapter 5.12.2, p. 229). In addition, the following question type-specific question options may be used when designing the matrix: Repeat scale headers every x rows: In the case of a matrix question with numerous answer categories, the scale can be repeatedly displayed after x rows so that the respondent can still see the scale apportionment while scrolling, for example. Width of the left column with the question texts (in pixels): This feature allows you to specify the width of the left column.
Entry dialog
You can find an instruction for creating a standard matrix, including illustrations of the entry dialog, in Chapter 2.2.4, p. 46.
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Layout
With question type 311, you have the option of modifying the area between the scale and the answer block by inserting an additional template. This allows you to change the distance, for example. See Chapter 8.5.3, p. 375, for further explanations.
5.4.2
Other Standard and Scale Matrices (Types 312, 313, 321, 322)
EFS Survey provides three further question types which merely differ from question type 311 in their layout (see Chapter 18.5, p. 645, for illustrations of these question types). The use of inside titles is not possible with these question types. Standard matrix 2, question type 312: The answers appear next to the respective radio buttons. Standard matrix 3, question type 313: This question type is a standard matrix mirrored along its diagonal. The items are listed along the top, while the scale is on the left. Scale matrix 1, question type 321: The questions appear above the answers which, in turn, appear next to the respective radio buttons. Scale matrix 2, question type 322: The questions appear above the answers which, in turn, appear above the respective radio buttons. Using these alternatives is especially recommended when a matrix question becomes so long that the respondent has to scroll. That is because, with the question types 312, 321 and 322, the text of the scale is displayed with each question and does not disappear from view during scrolling. Available question options vary slightly from question type 311. Use of Answer category + text and inside titles is not possible. Also, some other 311 question options such as, for example vertical flips are not available for some of these question types as they do not make sense in the changed layout.
5.4.3
Semantic Differential (Type 340)

A special form of matrix question is the so-called semantic differential.
Figure 5.21
Semantic differential in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Optional: Scale labels 1-m Optional: header left pole Optional: header right pole
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Answer options 1-n left pole Answer options 1-n right pole Optional: Inside titles 1-o (see Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216)
Question options
The following specific options are available for designing a semantic differential: Width of the left column with the question texts (in pixels): This feature allows you to specify the width of the poles. Width of a scale property (in pixels): The width of the scale characteristics can be changed. Show scale: After you have ticked the checkbox and clicked on Save, a scale will be displayed above the radio buttons. As usual with matrix questions, this scale is edited in the Scale options section. Title left / right pole: This feature allows you to insert headers above the answer options.
Figure 5.22
Semantic differential with activated question options in the questionnaire
Entry dialog
The following figure shows the entry dialog for the semantic differential.
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Figure 5.23
Semantic differential in the questionnaire editor
With question type 340, you have the option of modifying the area between the question and the answer block by inserting an additional template, e.g. to change the distance. Further information on this can be found in Chapter 8.5.3, p. 375.
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5.4.4
Double-Scale Matrix (Type 351)

This form of question is often used to query both the importance and the degree of completion. The following is an example from a study conducted to track the postuniversity careers of graduates.
Figure 5.24
Double-scale matrix in the questionnaire
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Column titles 1, 2 Scale labels of the two columns 1-m Answer options 1-n
Question type-specific options

The following specific options are available for designing a question: Position of answer options: The answer options can be positioned to the left, right or center. Insert separating line between scales: You can insert a line separating the scales. Please note: The separating line can only be inserted if the answer options are displayed either left-aligned or right-aligned. If answer options are displayed between the scales, then a separating line would not make sense and is therefore not possible.
Entry dialog
The double-scale matrix entry dialog is largely similar to the entry dialog for a standard matrix. Only the Scale options section differs: In question type 351 both columns are listed in this section and you open the individual scales with a link to Edit scale.
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Figure 5.25
Opening the scale of a column
Figure 5.26
Editing the scale of a column
5.4.5
Select Matrix (Type 361, 364)

This question type can be used to ask questions for which different time states (e.g. for certain university years) or different factual aspects (e.g. geographical limits, such as continents) are given. The time-based or factual differentiation is reflected in the column. The question itself is documented in the row. The following is an example from a survey conducted to assess lectures.
Figure 5.27
Select matrix (type 361) in the questionnaire
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There are two question types which allow you to create a select matrix: The figure above shows a normal select matrix (question type 361). Alternatively, you can create a vertical select matrix (question type 364), i.e. a mirrored version of question type 361.
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Column titles 1-m Scale labels 1-n Answer options 1-o
Entry dialog
The select matrix entry dialog is largely similar to the entry dialog for a double-scale matrix described in Chapter 5.4.5, p. 195. Caution: If you are using the closed drop-down lists of the select matrix, you should set up one scale characteristic with the text Please select for each of the two answer scales and assign code 0 to it. During evaluation, this will help you to track whether or not a participant has answered the question. The Mandatory and dac functions only work with question type 361 and 364, if a Please select scale characteristic with code 0 exists. Under this condition, the dac function allows you to force respondents to answer an individual dimension. A completeness check for an individual item is not possible with this question type (also refer to Chapter 5.12, p. 227).
5.4.6
Checkbox Matrix (Type 362)

Using a checkbox matrix allows you to query facts, for which differing temporal states (e.g. before, during, following a course of study) or different factual aspects (e.g. delineated geographically, such as continents) are required. The temporal or factual differentiation is reflected in the column. The question itself is documented in the row. Below is an example from a survey in which the subsequent career of university graduates is polled.
Figure 5.28
Checkbox matrix in the questionnaire
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Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Column titles 1-n Answer options 1-m There is no cell-specific information. There is no description text for the checkboxes.
Entry dialog
The checkbox matrix entry dialog is largely similar to the entry dialog for a standard scale matrix. Only the section Scale options differs slightly: the columns are created in this section. Furthermore, you can tag the columns of the checkbox matrix as exclusive, see Chapter 5.13, p. 230.
Figure 5.29
Editing scale labels
5.4.7
Text Field Matrix (Type 363)

This complex question type allows you to collect a variety of information.
Figure 5.30
Text field matrix in the questionnaire
This question type is a combination of rows and columns, thus forming a matrix. The information stored in the cells of this matrix is collected using text fields. This question type is therefore called text field matrix.
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Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Column titles 1-n Answer options 1-m Cell text for each cell, i.e., with m rows and n columns, m x n cells. Each cell contains text which can be placed before the text field and text which can be placed after the text field.
Entry dialog
There are some special features in the text field matrix entry dialog: In the Scale options section the columns are created as explained for the checkbox matrix in the preceding Chapter. In the Answer options section you can separately specify the width and maximum input length for each text field. The maximum length of entries is 255 characters. If you wish to specify text around the entry field click the Edit cell text link. Using the %s wildcard you can also specify as with other text field questions (see Chapter 5.10.2, p. 217) where the entry field is to appear.
5.4.8
Archiving Scales in the Scale Library

Matrix scales are frequently used several times: It may be that a specially developed scale is used several times in a survey or that a popular scheme such as, for example, school marks, crops up time and time again. The scale library available across the entire installation saves you the trouble of creating a scale repeatedly: You only need to create a frequently requested scaling scheme once in the scale library. From there you can import it into the matrix questions and then adapt it to the specific situation. Imagine, for example, that in your survey you have evaluated the skills of ten wellknown football players each in a matrix question. For the purpose of evaluation, you choose the following scale: 'Football wizard Good technique Acceptable average Useless Dont know'. Instead of rebuilding this scheme for each of the ten matrix questions only create the scale once in the scale library and then import it into the corresponding matrix questions.
Scale overview
Clicking on the Scale library menu item opens a list of scales already created. There are two options to open the scale library: starting from the project, via the Projects->{Selected project}-> Questionnaire editor->Scale library menu. in the Options->Scale library menu. Various icons allow to open these scales for viewing or editing as well as to copy or delete them.
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Read rights for show_scala are necessary for accessing the scale library.
Creating a new scale in the scale library

1. If you wish to create a new scale, enter the name of the scale into the New field in the New scale area, located below the overview table of the existing scales. Additionally, enter a short description of the scale to be created, and specify the number of characteristics. 2. Confirm by clicking on the New button. 3. The dialog for creating a new scale will be opened. Under Title, you can enter, for example, the five above-mentioned assessment criteria for your football players. 4. Click on the Update button and then click on the List of scales menu link. From now on, you can use this scale when creating matrix questions.
Exporting a scale from a question into the scale library

As an alternative to creating a scale in the scale library, you can also export a scale from a question into the scale library. 1. In the question view, click on the [+] icon to open the Scale options section. 2. Click on the Export scale button. 3. A pop-up window will prompt you to enter the title under which the scale is to be stored in the scale library.
Figure 5.31
Entering the scale title
4. After you have clicked OK to confirm, the scale will be stored. You will receive a message indicating that the operation was successful and can continue your work.
Inserting scales from the scale library into the questionnaire

All matrix questions containing a scale allow you to access the scale library: 1. To do so, click on the [+] icon in the question view to open the Scale options section. 2. Click on the Import scale button. 3. A pop-up window will open. In it you can select scales from the scale library using a drop-down list.
Figure 5.32
Selecting a scale
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4. Confirm by clicking on Save. 5. The desired scale will be inserted into your matrix question, and you can continue editing the characteristics as desired.
5.5 Sliders
Question types 341 and 342 permit creation of horizontal and vertical sliders.
Figure 5.33
Sliders in the questionnaire
Before you start

Please note: This question type requires that the respondents have JavaScript activated. EFS affords you the option of checking for JavaScript prior to the start of the questionnaire and filtering out unsuitable respondents. Slider options Sliders can not be placed on a static start page. The coding of answers corresponds to the coding of a standard matrix (311). Variables are initially preset with the sliders initial position code. If the start position of the slider is not predefined and the participant sees the slider but does not move it, code 0 will be assigned. This is standard behavior of all question types. Which number of scale options can be reasonably displayed depends of the userdefined width of the slider bar. The labels of the scale options are transformed into graphics. Please mind that it may not be possible to convert characters of non-European languages properly. It is not possible to insert images directly into the scale. But you can realize a slide show above the scale, see Chapter 5.5.1, p. 202.
Four predefined layouts are available. The layouts cannot be edited.
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5.5 Sliders
Figure 5.34
Slider layouts
Elements
This question type has the following content elements: Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Scale labels 1-m Dimension titles 1-n Display field for selected scale value
Entry dialog
The question view of slider question types is largely similar to the question view of a matrix question type. The additional options are summarized in a separate Slider options section. In the next Chapter you will find a detailed explanation.
Slider options
You select the slider layout and settings in Slider options section.
Figure 5.35
Slider options in the questionnaire editor
The following table lists the question type-specific options.

Function Select slider bar Slider bar width Table 5.1 Slider options Meaning You can choose between four different layouts. See Figure 5.34. The width of the bar from zero position to maximum value can be specified in pixels.
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(cont.)Function Show scale options Show scale lines Show scale value
Meaning Scale options can be optionally shown above or below the slider bar. They cannot be hidden. Scale lines can be optionally shown above or below the slider bar. They cannot be hidden. The numerical code of the scale item selected by the participant can be optionally displayed in a box alongside the scale. Please mind that it is not possible to display the label. Using the offset setting both end points of the scale are moved inwards by a specified pixel value. You can determine the initial position of the pointer yourself. The following options are available: Initially hidden: The pointer only becomes visible when the participant clicks on the bar. the various scale options. You can choose between the following options: analog: The slider continually follows the movement of the mouse. If the mouse pointer remains stationary the slider moves to the next adjacent scale option. discrete: The slider jumps to the scale option at which the mouse remains stationary. It is not pulled along the bar as in the case of the analog display. Saving of values is identical with both options.
Offset Pointer start position
Slider properties
Table 5.1
Slider options
The figure shows the meaning of the settings options on an example.
Figure 5.36
Meaning of the settings options in an example
5.5.1
Tips & Tricks

Making scales start with 0
Creating a scale that starts with 0 is a little bit tricky. As with most other EFS question types, the sliders code 0 is a system missing value reserved for seen but not answered questions. Therefore, the creation of an answer option encoded 0 is not possible. To bypass this issue, create an answer option which may have any code unequal 0 (e.g. code = 101 in a scale from 0 to 100) and the number 1, but is labelled 0.
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5.6 User-Defined Questions
Please mind that if you use such a scale, the display of the scale values in a box on the right hand must be deactivated: The box contains the code, which might cause misunderstandings in this special case.
Mass import for large scales

If you use scales with numerous items you can upload these using the Mass-import scales function in the Scale options section.
Control slide show via slider

You can create a slide show using sliders: Upload the desired images to the media library. In the Scale options section create an item for each image and select the images as multimedia elements. Label the scale options with labels which match the images. An image field is now inserted above the slider. Using the slider, respondents can navigate to an image which is then displayed.
Figure 5.37
Creating a slide show with the slider

You can supplement the typified standard question types with their predefined arrangement of form elements by creating question types of your own. For this purpose, the question type 911 (User-defined) is available to advanced users with knowledge of HTML. In this question type, the arrangement of the form elements can be laid out as required. The user-defined question type 911 works according to the following principle: You tell the database how many variables of which type your user-defined question requires. The database generates the variables and displays the available variable names in the entry form. You write the HTML code for the question yourself, using the variable names preset by the system. The following EFS Survey features are supported when using 911 variables: Plausibility checks. Please note: server side format checks (PHP) can only be applied to variables of type text or short text. Depot questions Multilingual capability Output of variable contents via wildcards
Creating a user-defined question

Please proceed as follows:
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1. In the drop-down list of question types, select the question type 911 (User-defined). 2. You will see a two-part form. The upper part of the form shows the variables created for this question. The Edit HTML section is where you enter the HTML code for outputting your question.
Figure 5.38
User-defined question in the questionnaire editor
3. Add new variables as required, or tick the checkbox Delete to delete superfluous variables. The example above will output a text field, with the data saved in the v_40 variable. 4. Save your entries. You can check the appearance of the user-defined question in the preview. However, for user-defined questions, in particular it is important to test in live operation whether the data are also being saved as desired and included in the export dataset.
Variable names and types

Creating a question of the type 911 will automatically create five variables. You can add more variables by entering a label into the New row and selecting a type.
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The Item text serves as an internal description of an individual variable in the question type 911. It will be output in the codebook and used to label the variable for the SPSS export. As with all other question types, an external variable name may be entered. The Variable type defines how the variable is to be created in the database:
Variable type Integer Short text Text Table 5.2 Use Saves numbers up to 11-figure numbers (variable type integer). Threshold values: -2147483648 bis 2147483647 Saves a short text up to 255 characters (variable type varchar). Saves a text up to 65535 characters (variable type blob Overview of variables for question type 911
Use the following table for orientation when defining your variables:
Form type Question with radio buttons Use One variable of the Integer type for the whole radio button group: <input type="radio" name="v_15" value="1" /> Characteristic 1 <input type="radio" name="v_15" value="2" /> Characteristic 2 <input type="radio" name="v_15" value="3" /> Characteristic 3 One variable of the Integer type for each item: <input type="checkbox" name="v_13" value="1" /> Item 1 <input type="checkbox" name="v_14" value="1" /> Item 2 <input type="checkbox" name="v_15" value="1" /> Item 3 One variable of the Short text or Text type with the desired length for the text field. Make sure that the maxlength HTML attribute is not higher then the number of maximum characters that can be saved with the chosen variable type. Otherwise, the variable will be saved to the database in a truncated form. Example: v_363 is of the short text type and required to be 2 characters long. <input type="text" name="v_363" size="2" maxlength="2" />
Question with checkboxes
Single-row text field
Table 5.3
Variable definitions
Error sources
Questions of the type 911 should be carefully tested: Is the HTML code correct? Are the data saved correctly? Possible errors: The variable definition does not match the use in the HTML code: For example, a text field has been defined as an Integer variable; the data will be saved incorrectly. The variable names used in the HTML code do not match the system variable names assigned to the question. The data will not be saved. The HTML code is incorrect, e.g. containing non-closed tables.
Converting standard questions to user-defined questions

It is very easy for you to convert standard questions to user-defined questions. This involves assuming the variable names, and you can modify the HTML code generated when outputting the standard question.
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1. To convert a question, open the Change question type in the question view. 2. Select the question type 911. 3. Click on the Change button.
5.7 Text and HTML Code

The Text and HTML code question type (998) allows you to freely enter tet and, if necessary, HTML code. It is primarily used for inserting and layouting information texts. You may, however, also use it for images if the requirements regarding arrangement and layout go beyond the available multimedia question type (999) options, or in order to output JavaScript functions. The Text and HTML code question type is not suitable for generating questions, as no variables are available.
Figure 5.39
Text and HTML code question in the questionnaire
Entry dialog
The following figure shows the entry dialog.
Figure 5.40
Text and HTML code question in the questionnaire editor
Formatting options
The various formatting icons are located just above the input field.
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5.7 Text and HTML Code
Icon Format as question text Bold Italic Paragraph Break Alignment: left / center / right
Meaning Sets HTML tag <div class=questiontext></div> Sets HTML tag <b></b> Sets HTML tag <i></i> Sets HTML tag <p></p> Sets HTML tag <br/> Sets HTML tag <div align="left"></div> <div align="center"></div> <div align="right"></div> After retrieval of the file name, the HTML tag <img src="http://www. your_domain.com/uc/ihr_team/images/example.gif" alt=""> is automatically inserted. You can insert the alternative label yourself. If you have stored the image in the media library in a subfolder, please note that the name of the folder must also be inserted in the path.
Insert image
Table 5.4
Formatting styles
Automatically insertable code

You can have HTML code inserted automatically for frequently used functions. To do so, select the desired function from the Insert code automatically drop-down list. Source codes can be selected for the following functions:
Command Insert survey URL Insert URL for layout images Code Inserts the survey URL, which usually takes the form http://www. your_domain.com/uc/your_team/. Inserts the URL for images in the Layout directory: http:// www.your_domain.com/uc/your_team/layout/ The file name of the desired image must still be added. To insert images from the media library, please use the Insert image icon or click on the Media library tab. The code output generates a Close window button. This is frequently used on final pages. <br><div align=center><input type="button" onClick="window.close()" value="Close window"></div><br> Please note: A window can only be closed via JavaScript if it has also been opened via Java Script. In Firefoxa browser strictly adhering to source codethe Close window button will thus not work if the questionnaire has been opened, for example, by clicking on a link. In the Internet Explorer, however, the button will also work if the questionnaire window has not been opened via JavaScript. When using EFS Mobile Extension, you should check whether the browsers used support JavaScript, before using this button.
Insert Close window button
Table 5.5
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(cont.)Command Protect page content
Code This feature is used to protect content: It deactivates the context menu in the respective page. Please note: This form of protection is always for the entire current page and not merely to individual elements and never extends to the entire survey. If the survey participant presses the right mouse button, this will be intercepted, and an alert box will be displayed. Keyboard commands however will not be suppressed. Using the project property Disable right mouse button in survey, you can realize the same behavior for the entire questionnaire. See Table 3.3, p. 72. Deletes the entire HTML code of the question. Marks the entire HTML code of the question.
Delete content of entry field Select HTML code Table 5.5
A detailed introduction to HTML can be found, for example, at http://selfhtml.org.
5.8 Multimedia Question Types

EFS offers several question types which have been optimized for integrating multimedia elements into questionnaires: Question type Multimedia can be used to present multimedia content. With the question types 51, 521 and 522 you can create single and multiple response lists with images instead of item texts. The question types presented in this chapter are specifically suited for users who want to design an attractive questionnaire easily and without HTML knowledge. Users with HTML skills can employ other question types as e.g. Text and HTML code (998) or User-defined (911) to integrate multimedia elements. Furthermore most EFS Survey question types allow the replacement of question texts or answer categories by images or combinations of text and images. See the explanations in Chapter 5.17.1, p. 252.
5.8.1
Multimedia (Type 999)

Question type Multimedia can be used to integrate multimedia elements. Besides images, you can use SVG graphics, flash and video formats as e.g. Real video or Quicktime. Please note: BMP image are large, which means it takes a long time to load the questionnaire pages. Furthermore, image protection cannot be used for BMP images. Therefore, use JPG format instead if possible. A variety of programs are available to transform BMP files to JPG files. To integrate multimedia elements into your questionnaire, you have to upload them to the media library first. The necessary steps are explained in Chapter 5.17.2, p. 255. Inserting the multimedia elements into the questionnaire requires the following two steps:
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1. Selecting the multimedia element 2. Define properties of the multimedia element
Selecting the multimedia element

1. In the question view for type 999 - Multimedia you can find a drop-down list entitled Multimedia element, containing all files stored in the media library for this project. Select the required multimedia element. Alternatively you can open the media list by clicking on the Binoculars icon. It displays thumbshots of all multimedia elements (as far as possible), and you can select the required file easily by clicking on the Add multimedia element icon. 2. Confirm by clicking on Save.
Figure 5.41
Selection of a multimedia element
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Defining the properties of the multimedia element
Figure 5.42
Set properties of the multimedia element
3. In the following dialog you can define the settings of the selected multimedia element. In the example shown above, a JPG-formatted image, these are: Alignment: The options available are Left (image at the left-hand margin of the window), Right (right-hand margin of the window), Center (middle of the window). Alternative text: The text will be displayed if loading of images is deactivated in the respondents browser. You can see the text when scrolling over the image with the mouse pointer, too. Width Height Protect image: Optionally, you can activate an image protection feature which makes storing or screenshotting of images considerably more difficult. In Chapter 5.17.6, p. 259, this EFS 7.0 feature is introduced in detail.
4. As soon as you Save, the changes will be shown in the preview.
5.8.2
Single and Multiple Response Lists with Images (511, 521)

With the question types 511 and 521, you can create questions with single and multiple response lists using images instead of item texts. This way, you can comfortably create questions in which the survey participants are shown, for example, images of products or layouts for selection. You can determine whether the images will be either framed or overlaid with a graphic (e.g. a cross or a checkmark) when a respondent clicks on them.
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Figure 5.43
Question type 511 in the questionnaire. The respondent has clicked on the upper image.
Before you start

Please note: These question types require that the respondents have JavaScript activated. If you perform a JavaScript check at the start of the survey as described in Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80, you can filter out unsuitable respondents. You can use images in GIF, PNG or JPEG format. If you wish to use the overlay function, the images cannot not be animated GIFs. The overlay images should be in PNG format. The alternative text only supports a limited selection of characters, for example Asian characters cannot be entered. You can create answer options via mass import with your own alternative text and code for multimedia question types 511, 521 and 522; you must, however, upload and choose the multimedia elements manually. Question types 511, 521 and 522 only have limited multilingual capability. You can enter translations for alternative texts and text items in the language editor. However, you cannot use different images in the various languages. If you require this functionality, you will have to do without features such as borders on highlighted images or overlay images, and must rely on the basic HTML capability of the answer option fields (see Chapter 5.17.1 2.c): For the respective items switch to the Text display type and manually insert - using IMG tags - the images from the default language into the input fields originally intended for alternative texts. Then enter the IMG tags for the images in the other languages in the language editor.
Options specific to the question type

The following specific options are available for designing a question: Frame images on click: If the respondent selects an image, it will then be displayed with a frame, as in the upper figure. Overlay images with a graphic: If the respondent chooses an image, then it will be overlaid with a second graphic that for example shows the picture of a cross or a tick. Overlaying in percent: Sets the strength of the overlay. You can use your own overlay images. To do so, create images in PNG format with a color depth of 24 bits and a transparent background. Upload these images to the media library according to the instructions given in Chapter 5.17.3, p. 257. They will then be available in the drop-down list of the Overlay images with a graphic field.
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Creating question
When creating a question, please proceed as follows: 1. Choose the question type 511 - Single response image or the question type 521 multiple response image. 2. Enter the question text as usual. 3. In the Answer options area, you can insert images instead of answer categories. The drop-down lists of the Image column show all the files in the media library. Choose the desired image. Alternatively, you can click on the binoculars icon to open the media list, which shows thumbnails of all images, and choose the desired image by clicking on the Insert image icon. 4. You can either tick the checkbox labeled Frame images on click or choose a graphic in the Overlay images with a graphic field or you can use both functions. At least one of these two functions must be activated.
Figure 5.44
Question type 511 with images instead of question texts
5. Then click on Save. After saving, you will be able to see thumbnails of the selected images next to the drop-down lists. When you scroll over them, you can see an enlarged version of the respective image.
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Additional functions: Integrating text items into image question types

The images of the 5xx-er question types can be combined with texts. You have the choice of either outputting the text as a normal answer option or to transform it into an image.
Transforming item texts into images

You can transform text you entered into images that behave just like normal images that were uploaded using the media library. They can be directly clicked and, for example, marked with overlay images.
1. To do so, enter the desired text into the question view in the Alternative text field. 2. Do not choose a multimedia element. 3. Set the field Type to Image.
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Figure 5.45
Transforming text into an image
4. Confirm by clicking on Save. 5. An image will be generated for the questionnaire, which contains the entered text. For the layout, you can additionally use the field Background color for text as HTML color located in the section Question options. With this you can define the background color. The color of the text is black; this is not modifiable.
Combining images and normal answer options

Alternatively you can integrate normal answer options between the images of the 5xxer question types, which depending on the question type can be clicked via radio buttons or checkboxes.
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1. Enter the desired name for the text item in the field Alternative text. 2. Select the type Text.
Figure 5.46
Choose Text as the display type
3. Confirm by clicking on Save. Please note: When you combine text items and graphical elements in the 5xx-er question type, browser-specific errors may occur when using the back button (HTML button as well as the browser button) with the pre-selection.
5.8.3
Multiple Response List (Horizontally Ordered Images)

With the question type 522 images are ordered next to each other.
Figure 5.47
The functional scope corresponds largely to the the other 5xx question types, see Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210. But please note: Unlike the question types 511 and 521 with the question type 522 it isnt possible to combine images with normal answer options with a checkbox. (You can find a description of this feature in Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210, section Combining images and normal answer options.)
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Neither the dynamic column break nor the manual definition of column breaks are available for question type 522.
Entry dialog
The entry dialog corresponds largely to the dialog already known in other 5xx question types, see Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210.
Dynamic customization of the display

An unusual feature of this question type is the dynamic adaptation of the display in the questionnaire to the width of the browser window: When percentage details are entered for the maximum layout width (Layout->Spaces->Width of the layout), the images in question type 522 will be automatically ordered in a grid, so that no horizontal scrolling in the browser is required. In this case every grid cell is as high as the highest image and as wide as the widest image of the question. The wider the picture is or the less the width of the window is, the more images that will be moved into the next lines below. This dynamic line break only works, if the layout width is given in per cent. This functionality isn't available when the layout width is given in pixels.
5.9 Structuring Answer Options Clearly

5.9.1 Grouping Answer Options Using Inside Titles
With the aid of inside titles, you can subdivide a long list of answer options, making it easier for respondents to get an overview. The following is an example from a survey on reading behavior.
Figure 5.48
Question type 111 with inside titles in the questionnaire
Please proceed as follows: 1. In the New row above the first item, enter an additional code and the desired inside title. 2. Then, select Inside title from the drop-down list. 3. Click on Save. You can subsequently adjust the order of answer categories and inside titles as required by changing the numbering and codes.
5.9.2
Combining Inside Titles and Columns

Combining inside titles and columns enables you to group a list of answer options according to specific criteria and to present the blocks next to each other. In order to create the arrangement of answer options shown, please proceed as follows:
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5.10 Using Other Text Fields
1. Create a question of the desired type, in the example this is type 121. 2. Follow the instructions given in Chapter 5.9.1, p. 216, to set up the inside title. 3. Sort the inside titles and answer categories in the desired order by numbering them accordingly, and then Save your changes. 4. For all inside titles, tick the checkbox in the New column column of the table . 5. Save your work by clicking on Save.
5.10 Using Other Text Fields

5.10.1 Combining Answer Options and Other Text Fields
Please proceed as follows: 1. Create the question (question type 111, 121, 131 or 311) as usual. 2. Fill in the texts of the answer categories without open entry fields, tick the Delete checkbox for the redundant answer categories, and Save your changes. 3. Enter in the column New the desired text for the answer category with open entry field, e.g. Other. 4. In the drop-down list, select Answer category + text. 5. Then click again on Save. 6. The answer category with the text field will now be added. 7. Set the display width and the maximum length. 8. Then confirm by clicking on Save again. The maximum length of entries is 255 characters.
5.10.2
Adding Text Entry Fields in Surrounding Text

When creating an answer category that contains both preset text and an entry field, you can use the %s wildcard to specify whether the entry field will appear before the text, after the text or surrounded by text.
Figure 5.49
The movable entry field in the finished questionnaire
This function can be used when combining answer categories and text (question types 111 and 121), with select boxes (question types 131 and 311) and also with various question types with open entry field (question types 141, 142, 143 and 144). If you do not use the wildcard, the entry field or select box will automatically appear after the item text. Please proceed as follows:
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1. Create a question with an Other field as described in the previous Chapter.
Figure 5.50
Entering the wildcard for the position of the entry field in the questionnaire
2. Insert the %s wildcard at the position where the open entry field is to appear. 3. Complete the work process by clicking on Save.
5.11 Randomly Changing the Sequence of Questions, Answers and Scale Items
The sequence of questions, answer options and scale elements in the questionnaire can distort survey data. This can be avoided in an online questionnaire by randomly changing the position of the elements. In EFS Survey there are various functions available for this purpose: Randomization of questions: The positions of questions on a questionnaire page are randomly switched. See Chapter 5.11.1, p. 219. Randomization of answer options: The positions of selected answer options are randomly switched. See Chapter 5.11.2, p. 219. Randomization of scale items: The positions of selected scale items can also be randomly switched. See Chapter 5.11.3, p. 219. Randomization of answer groups: Answer options are arranged in groups. The items in such a group may randomly switch position or the position of groups themselves relative to one another may be randomly changed, as required. See Chapter 5.11.4, p. 220. Mirroring the answer options on the centerline. See Chapter 5.11.5, p. 226.
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5.11.1
Randomly Switching the Position of Questions on a Page

The positions of all or selected questions on a questionnaire page can be randomly changed so that respondents see differing arrangements. This function is question-specific, i.e. you can specify separately for each question on a page whether it should change its position randomly. Unselected answers will keep their position. If you wish to enable this function, switch to page view, and in the Randomization column tick the checkboxes for the questions to be randomized
Figure 5.51
Enabling randomization of questions
5.11.2
Randomly Switching Answer Options

Many question types permit the randomization of answer options. The order of the selected answer options will then be changed randomly so that the respondents will see different arrangements of answers. This function is item-specific, i.e. you can specify separately for each answer option whether it should change its position randomly. Unselected answer options will keep their position. This allows you, for example, to ensure that the text entry fields labeled Other or No selection to indicate a missing value will always be placed last. If you wish to enable this function, switch to the question view, scroll to the Answer options section, and in the Randomization column, tick the checkboxes for the answer options to be randomized.
5.11.3
Randomly Switching Scale Items

With matrix question types you can not only randomly change the positions of answer options but also the position of scale items. This function is also item-specific, i.e. you can specify separately for each scale item whether it should change its position randomly. Unselected answer options will keep their position. This allows you, for example, to ensure that a field labeled Missing value or No data always remains at the same place on the scale. To enable this function switch to question view and open the Scale options section. Most matrix question types have a Randomization column. Tick the checkboxes beside the items to be switched. With question type 351 it is first necessary to open the desired scale with Edit scale. Randomization of scale items is implemented with all matrix type questions with the exception of sliders 341 and 342 (In the case of slider it is not advised to swap scale items).
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5.11.4
Randomly Switching the Position of Answer Groups

EFS can do more than just the randomization of single answer options, you can also make item groups rotate within themselves or around each other by combining randomization and the grouping function, which is introduced below. The grouping function permits for example: Randomization of elements within a group Randomization of the groups and items in a hierarchical level Randomization of all elements of a grouping hierarchy. Grouping is supported by the question types 111, 121, 311, 511, 521 and 522.
Before you start

Please note: The group items are technically handled like normal answer items or answer categories, i.e. they are characteristics of a variable (single response list) or variables (multiple response list). Because they are only used for structuring within EFS, they can be optionally displayed in the codebook, but they will not be displayed in the questionnaire nor will they be displayed in the condition editor or in the export. If you change the question type of a question with groupings, in certain circumstances the grouping information will be lost. The transformation of a single response question type into another single response question type or multiple response list into another multiple response type is possible. When changing the group of question types, for example, from single response list to multiple response list, you must accept the loss of the grouping information. The random order generated will not be logged, i.e. the sequence that an actual participant viewed cannot be traced. Use of such information, for example, to filter or for evaluations is also not possible.
Combination possibilities with other EFS features

Alongside randomization, groupings can also be combined with the following EFS features: Filters, hiding conditions, triggers and plausibility checks: These functions, as usual, can be applied to the answers from a question with groupings, independent of the position of the respective answer items in the group structure. The group items and group structure are not available in the condition editor, because they are merely used for structuring internally in EFS. However hiding conditions can be used on group items: In this way the entire contents and the sub-structure under the respective group item through will be hidden. Vertical and horizontal flipping: The respective elements, which are located on a level of the group structure, will be mirrored at the center line of the respective sub-structure. Inside titles: Inside titles can be grouped. If you would like rotate answer items while keeping the inside title in its position, then you need only select Randomization for the answer items. Column text wrap and dynamic column text wrap: Both work as you would expect. If by mistake both functions are activated, the dynamic text wrap will overwrite the manually set text wrap. Lists: Grouping questions can be used as source questions in lists. When doing so groupings can be optionally applied to target questions. When creating a randomi-
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zation in the source question, the randomly generated item order can be added, i.e. when the list is output at later stages in the questionnaire, the items will remain in the order in which the respondent saw them in the source question. See Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301 for further information. Loops: Grouping questions can be used as source questions for loops. When doing so, please mind that the group items must always be part of the list (inclusion condition always in list) if you want to display the allocated answer options. If a group item is not part of the list, its allocated answer options will be skipped in the loop.
1. Planning groupings
If you plan a complex grouping, in which groups are deeply nested in each other at several levels, it will be easier to accomplish, if at first you record the planned structure and prepare its implementation in the questionnaire editor. The group structure can be up to four levels deep. Lets assume you would like to depict the following structure:
Root level Root wooden cupboards wooden cupboard 1 wooden cupboard 2 wooden cupboard 3 bookcases made out of wood bookcase made out of oak bookcase made out of beech steel cabinets steel cabinet 1 cellar shelves made out of steel cellar shelve made out of steel 1 cellar shelve made out of steel 2 Table 5.6 Structure to be depicted 1st level 2nd level 3rd level
When doing so the titles of the groups and subgroups (in italics) should not be displayed to the groups (otherwise the use of inside titles would be required). In the questionnaire editor this structure could for example be implemented as follows:
Item Wooden cupboard 1 Wooden cupboard 2 Wooden cupboard 3 Bookcase made out of oak Table 5.7 Typ e A A A A Selection in the drop-down list in the group field Wooden cupboards Wooden cupboards Wooden cupboards Bookcases made out of wood
Realization of groupings in the questionnaire editor
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(cont.)Item Bookcase made out of beech Steel cabinet 1 Cellar shelve made out of steel 1 Cellar shelve made out of steel 2 Wooden cupboards Bookcases made out of wood Steel cabinets Cellar shelves made out of steel Table 5.7
Typ e A A A A Grp Grp Grp Grp
Selection in the drop-down list in the group field Bookcases made out of wood Steel cabinets Cellar shelves made out of steel Cellar shelves made out of steel No selection Wooden cupboards No selection Steel cabinets
Realization of groupings in the questionnaire editor
Please pay attention when working in the questionnaire editor, that you set up the all answer items first (including inside titles and text fields) and then create the group items. This keeps the question view clearly structured: the answer items are above, and the group items underneath. Furthermore, the variables and encodings of the answer items automatically form a continuous sequence (the variables and encodings of the group items are hidden in the condition editor and export data record).
2. Setting up answer and group items

The group items, that are internal carriers of grouping information in EFS, are set up, processed and deleted like normal answer items. They are marked in the question view with a G icon. To create this, please proceed as follows: 1. Set up all required answer items in the normal way, delete any eventual superfluous answer items. 2. Enter the title of the first group item in the row New above the top item. 3. In the field type use the drop down list to select Group.
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Figure 5.52
Creating a group item
4. Click on Save. 5. Set up all of the other required group items. Please note: You can customize the order of answer and group items afterwards by changing the numbering as desired. You cannot change the internal variable names. Furthermore, it isnt possible to change the type of an item afterwards, i.e. if you would like to create a group, but by mistake choose Answer category, you can only correct it by deleting the item (or using it elsewhere) and creating a new one of the type Group again.
3. Defining groupings
Grouping are defined after you have created all of the necessary answer and group items. The drop-down lists which you can find in the column Group of each item are used for this purpose: you simply select the group to which the item should be allocated. The following rules apply: For answer and group items on the first hierarchical level, no larger group is set, i.e. the drop-down list remains in the position Please select. Select the corresponding next higher group in the drop-down list for answer and group items on lower hierarchical levels. One answer or group item cannot be subordinated to itself or its own subgroups.
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Cross references are also not allowed (group A is a subgroup of group B and group B is subgroup of A). The group structure can be up to four levels deep.
Figure 5.53
Defining groupings
If the Group column is hidden, use the Arrow icon in the Input format column to unhide it. Please proceed as follows: 1. Carry out the allocation. 2. Save the settings. 3. By clicking on the Group overview button, you can open a pop-up window which shows you the groupings.
Figure 5.54
Checking settings in the group overview
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The group overview is static, i.e. when using randomization or flipping, these functions aren't listed in the group overview, instead the arrangement follows the numbering in the questionnaire editor. Please use the page or questionnaire preview in order to test randomization or flipping.
4. Viewing groupings in the codebook

The grouping information is contained in the codebook. In order to view it, activate the checkbox Show groups and group assignment of items and groups and confirm by clicking on Save settings.
Figure 5.55
Grouping information in the codebook
5. Combination rules for groupings and randomization

By combining groupings and randomization, you can generate complex randomization constellations. The following constellations come into use quite frequently: Randomization of elements (answer items and subgroups) within a group: Activate the checkbox Randomization for all elements of the group. The checkbox of the group item remains empty. Randomization of the answer items and groups on a hierarchical level: Activate the checkbox Randomization for all answer and group items of the level. The checkbox remains empty for answer items, which are within the groups to be rotated. Randomization of all elements in the hierarchy: Activate the checkbox Randomization for all groups and answers items. The elements on one level of the group structure within a group, will exchange their positions respectively with each other at random.
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5.11.5
Mirroring Answer Options on the Centerline

There are some item arrangements in which randomization cannot be used, e.g. if a long list of answer options is subdivided by inside titles: In this case, randomization would destroy the topical context. Horizontal and vertical flipping was developed to provide an alternative in such cases.
Vertical flipping
Vertical flipping mirrors the answer options on the horizontal centerline. The sample questionnaire page shown in the following figure, on which the original order of answer options is CBS, BBC, FOX, CNN arranged vertically, would appear in the order CNN, FOX, BBC, CBS after flipping.
Figure 5.56
Vertical flipping mirrors the answer categories on the horizontal centerline.
This flipping function can be applied to almost all question types, but not with the question types of select box (131), text fields (141, 142), HTML (911), container question (921) and image (999). Vertical flipping can even be applied to complex lists of answer categories with inside titles. As explained above, it mirrors the answer categories on the horizontal centerline, and then inserts the inside titles at the appropriate places.
Horizontal flipping
Horizontal flipping mirrors the answer options on the vertical centerline, i.e. in the example, the pole labeled I like the atmosphere a lot will appear on the right after flipping, and the pole labeled I dont feel at ease here will appear on the left.
Figure 5.57
Horizontal flipping mirrors the answer categories on the vertical centerline.
This can be applied to the question types of standard matrix (311, 312), scale matrix (321, 322) and semantic differential (340).
Before you start

When combining flipping with other EFS-Features, please note: It is possible to activate horizontal and vertical flipping simultaneously. The respondents can then see the questionnaire in four different versions: no flipping, everything flipped, vertical flipping only, horizontal flipping only. An answer option which has been defined as a missing value is usually placed at the end of item lists. If you only define one answer option as missing, this setting will be retained upon flipping and the relevant answer option will not be moved. Flipping cannot be combined with more than one missing value.
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5.12 Enforcing Answers
Vertical flipping cannot be combined with the new column feature. If both flipping and randomization have been activated for a question, randomization will automatically be deactivated.
Activating the flipping functions

The flipping functions can be activated in the questionnaire editor. Select the question you wish to flip. Depending on the question type, you will find either the Activate horizontal flipping of answers option, the Activate vertical flipping of answers option, both of these options or none of them. Tick the checkbox for the desired flipping function, and then save.
Figure 5.58
Activating flipping functions in the questionnaire editor
How is the questionnaire shown to the respondent?

When a respondent opens the questionnaire, dice are used to decide whether they will see the questions of the project for which the flipping functions have been activated, flipped or not. This is done separately for vertical and horizontal flipping. This decision is applied to the entire project. However, the respondent will only see those questions flipped for which the flipping functions have been explicitly activated.
Flipping variables in result data

The result data record contains the variables hflip and vflip which indicate whether flipping has been executed (see Table 13.2).

Often, answering a particular question is crucial or even necessary for the further survey process. If participants are to be screened out by quota, for example, they have to answer the question on which these quotas are based. In a product check, it only makes sense to inquire about product details if the respondent is familiar with the product. EFS therefore provides functions that allow you to enforce the answering of a question or a specific answer option: By defining questions as mandatory, you can explicitly demand or even enforce their answers. See Chapter 5.12.1, p. 228.
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Using the item-specific Do Answer Check, you can also enforce the answering of an item. See Chapter 5.12.2, p. 229. For the question types 131, 351, 361 and 364, the Mandatory or dac option can only be used in connection with a Please select item for which code 0 has been preset. Please observe the details in Chapters 5.1.3, p. 177, and 5.4.5, p. 195.
5.12.1
Demanding Questions to be Answered

By defining questions as mandatory, you can explicitly demand or even enforce their answers. It is up to you to decide whether an answer shall be enforced or whether the respondent shall have the option to refuse answering.
Enforcing an answer
Normally, mandatory questions must be answered. If a respondent does not answer a mandatory question, a corresponding message will be displayed and the question will be marked so that it is found easily. The respondent cannot continue with the questionnaire until this question is answered.
Demanding an answer
As of EFS 7.0, there also mandatory questions which may be ignored. If a respondent does not answer such a question, the following will happen: He will be notified of the missing entry. As usual, the relevant question will be highlighted. The participants can go to the next page without answering the question. However, they first have to acknowledge the notification.
Figure 5.59
Activated ignorable DAC in the questionnaire
Before you start

Please note: For matrix questions with several items, the Do Answer Check function will only check whether an answer has been given to any one item. If you want all items to be answered, you should use the item-specific DAC function, which is introduced in the following section.
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For the question types 131, 351, 361 and 364, the Mandatory or dac option can only be used in connection with a Please select item for which code 0 has been preset. Please observe the details in Chapters 5.1.3, p. 177, and 5.4.5, p. 195.
Specifying mandatory questions

In the case of most question types, the section Question options of the question view contains the field Mandatory. Via the drop-down list, you can specify whether the current question shall be mandatory. No Yes: Normal mandatory question. Must be answered. Yes (can be ignored): Ignorable mandatory question. The participants can move on to the next page without answering after acknowledging the notification.
Editing messages
You can edit the messages to be displayed when a mandatory question is not answered in the Project properties->Survey messages menu. See Table 3.11. In the field Introductory text for incomplete questionnaire processing, you will find the message that is used for normal mandatory questions. The message for mandatory questions which may be ignored is in the field Introductory text for incomplete questions marked with a weak DAC. The default text is: <br/>%s Note: The question '%s' is important for the rest of the questionnaire. I dont want to answer this question. The first wildcard %s indicates where the checkbox is to be inserted in the text. The second wildcard %s is filled in with the question text.
Automatically defining new questions as mandatory

If you want new questions to be always created as mandatory questions, select the desired option in the Staff->Own account->Preferences menu on the Behavior of questionnaire editor tab in the field When creating questions, mark directly as 'Mandatory question'.
5.12.2
Enforcing Answers to Individual Items

You can also enforce the answering of one or several items. If a respondent omits an item marked as a mandatory item, they will receive a message, as with a mandatory question, and the unanswered item will additionally be displayed with a highlight color. The respondent cannot continue with the questionnaire until this item is answered.
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Figure 5.60
Highlight colors for unanswered mandatory items
For the question types 131, 351, 361 and 364, the Mandatory or dac option can only be used in connection with a Please select item for which code 0 has been preset. Please observe the details in Chapters 5.1.3, p. 177, and 5.4.5, p. 195.
Specifying mandatory items

For many question types, the section Answer options of the question view includes a column entitled dac. You can tick the appropriate checkboxes in this column to make individual items mandatory or tick all the checkboxes to force respondents to answer all items.
Editing message
The message to be displayed when triggering an item-specific DAC can be edited in the field Introductory text for incomplete questionnaire processing in the Project properties->Survey messages menu.
5.12.3
Forcing a Text Field Entry for Combination Fields and dac

In the standard configuration, answer categories of the answer category + text type are only checked to verify whether the respondent has clicked on a radio button or a checkbox. However, you have the option of configuring the dac in such a way that the respondent must select the answer category containing the text field and fill in the text field. To do so, navigate into the Project properties->Survey options menu of the respective project, tick the checkbox labeled Completeness checks (DACs) that determine whether a text field has been filled in should be carried out for all answers of the type answer category + text and then confirm by clicking on Save.
5.13 Making Checkboxes Exclusive

For questions with multiple response lists (types 121, 122, 362 and 521), individual checkboxes can be made exclusive so that they behave like radio buttons. This may be advisable, for example, with questions which offer an alternative such as Cannot answer, None of these or No, but ____ in addition to specific answer options.
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5.14 Validating the Plausibility of Answers
Figure 5.61
The exclusive checkbox in the questionnaire
The exclusive checkbox displays the following behavior: Once the respondent ticks this checkbox, all other checkboxes are automatically disabled. If one of the remaining checkboxes is selected after the exclusive checkbox has been ticked, the exclusive checkbox will be unticked. If the exclusive checkboxes are combined with a text field, unticking the checkbox will hide the content that has been entered into the text field. If, subsequently, the exclusive checkbox is ticked again, the text fields content will re-appear. The check is executed both on the client-side and on the server-side. Thus, even if JavaScript is disabled, the item marked as exclusive cannot be combined with other items. The exclusiveness function for the desired answer option is activated via the Exclusive column in the Answer options section. Additionally, in the Scale options section of the checkbox matrix (362) you can tag the checkboxes of an entire matrix column as exclusive.
Figure 5.62
The Exclusive column in the question view

5.14.1 Plausibility Checks
Internet surveys permit quality checks and data checks as early as during entry. Minor errors and missing information can thus be noted immediately during entry. The respondent will receive a short message indicating that they may have overlooked something. You will not have to ask follow-up questions afterwards but can correct the incorrect information immediately during entry instead. Checks for the correctness of
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answers are commonly referred to as plausibility checks. This term is also used in this manual.
Why plausibility checks?

Plausibility checks are used to ensure a certain level of data quality. Sometimes, respondents will overlook a question or commit minor errors when setting an answer. Sometimes, questions are also answered incompletely, if the respondent for example wants to get an overview of the questionnaire first or completes the questionnaire without serious interest. The information given should be checked especially if branchings at later stages in the questionnaire are based on the answers to preceding questions. Plausibility checks are advisable in the following cases: The answer to the question is taken up in later questions, either in a filter condition or in a display of dynamic questions. Assuring fill-in instructions, such as Select the three most important properties of products xy. Answers to a specific question are of particular interest for the evaluation. The internal consistency of the data is of particular importance for the evaluation. The data being queried already exist in participant administration.
5.14.2
Planning the Use of Plausibility Checks

Be aware of which answers are important for the routing of the survey and which data are central to the evaluation purpose. However, use plausibility checks with care. For the respondent, plausibility checks are, first and foremost, annoying and tiresome because their behavior is questioned and their progress through the survey is hindered. Too many plausibility checks will destroy the relationship of trust between you and the respondent. Also, take into consideration that respondents may not yet have formed an opinion on some questions. In such cases, you will often achieve better data quality by allowing incomplete information than by forcing the respondent to give an answer which might only be valid for the moment and not actually meant by the respondent. Think about aspects such as the following: Which answers are indispensable for the routing of the survey? To which questions do you want to obtain answers from as many respondents as possible? How would you react if your answer to a question were rejected as incorrect by a survey system? In addition to the psychological effects on the respondents, there are technical aspects as well: On each questionnaire page, you can create as many plausibility checks as required. But plausibility checks require a lot of server resources, i.e. they affect the performance of the questionnaire, similar to other checks and dynamic features. Therefore, it is recommended to use not more than 50 plausibility checks per page. The conditions of plausibility checks should refer only to variables which have a defined value. If condition variables are not filled at all or contain missings (e.g. because a question or answer option has been hidden or if a respondent hasnt filled an entry field) the checks can have unexpected or even wrong results.
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Try to avoid complex plausibility check conditions or to substitute them by multiple simple plausibility checks. This way it is easier to get an overview of the variables used in the plausibility check and to avoid unexpected results. Abstain from applying both hiding conditions and plausibility checks to the same variables. A special feature allows to skip checks as soon as at least one idem is hidden (see below Execute check if one or more items are blinded out?). If necessary, the pro editor (Chapter 5.14.8, p. 241) allows to define complex conditions.
5.14.3
Example: Plausibility Check

Lets assume that you ask the participants of your survey to enter their year of birth into an open entry field. You want to ensure that they enter only reasonable values: The values should be four-digit numbers inside a reasonable range, e.g. between 1900 and 2000. To realize this with a plausibility check, please proceed as follows: 1. In the questionnaire editor, choose the page on which you want to perform the plausibility check. Click on the title of that page. The page view will open. 2. Click on the Plausibility check tab.
Figure 5.63 Opening the plausibility check menu
3. The overview of plausibility checks is opened. No checks have been defined yet.
Figure 5.64
Creating a plausibility check
4. Click on the Create plausibility check button. 5. Enter the title. 6. Select the Range check check type. For detailed explanations on the check types, please see Chapter 5.14.4, p. 236.
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Figure 5.65
Selecting the check type
7. Confirm with Proceed. 8. The entry dialog is opened. 9. In the User may ignore this check field, the No option should be activated. This means that the person completing the questionnaire must correct any incorrect entry. Otherwise, the next survey page will not be displayed. 10. In the Systems to use for check field, the Client (JavaScript) AND Server (PHP) option should be activated. 11. Do not change the setting of the field Execute check if one or more items are hidden??. In the current example situation, it does not matter as there are no hidden items. 12. In the following field, you can edit the message which is displayed if the check condition applies. Please replace the default message An error occurred! by Please enter your year of birth as a four-digit number!. If you do not enter a message, a client-side JavaScript check will not be triggered!
Figure 5.66
Editing the settings
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13. Next, define the check condition itself: First, select the variable which you want to check. 14. Then, enter the range within which the values are to be valid. In the example shown, 1900 is the minimum, 2000 the maximum.
Figure 5.67
Defining the check condition
15. Click on the Save button. 16. To see the pop-up which will be displayed to the respondents, open the Page preview tab and enter an erroneous value to trigger the check. See Chapter 8.3.7, p. 366, for information on how to change the texts and appearance of the error pop-up.
Figure 5.68
Plausibility check message in the questionnaire
17. The new check is listed in the overview.
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Figure 5.69
Overview of plausibility checks for a questionnaire page
5.14.4
Predefined Plausibility Checks (Plausibility Check Types)

The following plausibility check types are available by default.
Type Range check E-mail address check Parameter Variable, int from, int to Variable Properties Checks whether the value of the variable is a number between two values. Checks whether the value of the variable is a valid email address. It will be checked for characters used, for the @ character and for the period before the domain address. Checks one or more variables using an operator. Checks a variable using predefined regular expressions (numbers only, letters only, etc.). Checks a variable using a freely definable RegEx. Checks a variable using a freely definable RegEx. Returns true if the expression was not successful. Checks whether a variable contains only numbers, comma and period. Checks whether the value of the variable is a number outside the range between two values. For questions with multiple response lists, checks whether the required number of checkboxes has been ticked. For questions with multiple response lists, checks whether the number of checkboxes ticked is within a preset range.
Standard check Format check RegEx check NoRegEx check OnlyNumbers check Range check old Combination check
Freely definable Variable, format Variable, regular expression Variable, regular expression Variable Variable, int from, int to Variable, int
Combination check (range) Table 5.8
Variable, int from, int to
Plausibility check types
Range check
The range check checks whether the number entered by the survey participant is within the number range you set. Otherwise, the plausibility check will be triggered and report an error.
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For this, the preset limits are included in the permissible range of values. The check also works with negative numbers. When entering the range check, please use the example described in Chapter 5.14.1, p. 231, above. If you set up a range check to do a JavaScript plausibility check or a combined PHP plausibility check, please note: JavaScript gives a value of 0 to an empty string (nothing entered). That is, if a respondent enters nothing, it will not be seen as an incorrect entry, rather it will be given a value of 0, which is either permitted or prohibited depending on how each area is defined. In order to prevent this kind of misevaluation, please run a separate OnlyNumbers check (do not use AND conjunctions with the Range check) on the input field.
E-mail address check

The e-mail address check checks the variable to be set for a correctly entered e-mail address. A correct e-mail-address consists of four parts. Example: tester@email.de 1. An individual user name (tester in the example). 2. The @ character. 3. A domain name (email in the example). 4. A country ID, separated from the domain name by a period (.de in the example). The e-mail address check checks the four parts for the following form: 1. The individual user name: The individual user name may contain letters and numbers as well as the characters ., _ and . Umlauts are not allowed. 2. The domain name: The domain name may contain letters, numbers and periods. Umlauts are not allowed. The domain name can be subdivided by any number of periods. 3. The country ID: The domain name may only contain letters, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 letters allowed. Umlauts are not allowed.
Standard check
The standard check checks the variable to be set to see whether it meets a condition set through the mathematical operators (= , < , > , <= , >= , !=). 1. Select the variable you want to check. 2. Select the mathematical operator you want to use to check the variable. 3. Enter the value of the variable for which the check is to be performed.
Format check
The format check checks the variable to be set to see whether it complies with a format, also set by you. You have the choice of the following formats: Checking to see whether the field contains no numbers. Checking to see whether the field contains only uppercase letters. Checking to see whether the field contains only lowercase letters. Checking to see whether the field contains only numbers with periods or commas.
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Checking to see whether the field contains only numbers with or without periods. Checking to see whether the field contains only numbers with or without commas. To create the format check, please proceed as follows: 1. Select the variable you want to check. 2. Select the format for which you want to check the variable you previously set.
RegEx check and NoRegEx check

The RegEx and NoRegEx checks check the variable to be set to see whether it complies with a regular expression, also set by you. Regular expressions are defined as follows: Regular expressions, or RegEx for short, are used to check strings. They are used very frequently, especially in the UNIX environment, and make it easier to check strings containing many conditions. There are to possible types of RegEx: RegEx check NoRegEx check
If a RegEx check returns true, an error message is output. The logic of the NoRegEx check is exactly the other way around. RegEx checks are enclosed in /. Optionally, a so-called pattern modifier can be placed at the end. Please note that RegEx checks in PHP and JS may show a differing behavior. For JS checks, the results might even differ among various browsers. Because of the complexity of regular expressions, we recommend testing the check in the system first. Examples: Zip code check => /^[0-9]{5}$/ (exactly 5 digits) Money field => /^[0-9]+ (EUR|USD)$/ (as many numbers as required + currency, either EUR or USD)
References: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php Complications can arise when, in a survey that is encoded in UTF-8 (see Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100) RegEx checks with JavaScript or JavaScript and PHP are carried out in order to compare strings containing more than just numbers: JavaScript is unable to recognize umlauts or other special characters that are reproduced in UTF-8 as doublebyte character (thus takes up two characters). To create a RegEx check, please proceed as follows: 1. Select the variable you want to check. 2. In the text field, specify the regular expression whose entry is to trigger the RegEx check. To create a NoRegEx check, please proceed as follows: 1. Select the variable you want to check. 2. In the text field, specify the regular expression whose entry is not supposed to trigger the NoRegEx check. For all entries of other types in the field to be checked, the check will be triggered.
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Range check old

In contrast to the range check explained above, the range check old checks the invalid range of the variable to be set. This means that the value entered by the participant must be outside the number range you set. Otherwise, the plausibility check will be triggered.
Combination check and combination check (range)

Two other plausibility checks are available for questions with multiple response lists (question types 121, 122, 362): The combination check allows you to check whether a respondent has ticked a required number of checkboxes. The combination check (range) checks whether the number of checkboxes ticked is within a preset range.
5.14.5
Including Data from Participant Administration and from the User and Master Data Tables in Plausibility Checks
Introduction
You can access data from participant administration when defining plausibility checks. For EFS Panel installations, you can also access data from the user and master data tables. However, this is only possible for server-side plausibility checks (PHP), not for client-side plausibility checks (JavaScript) or for plausibility checks covering both client and server (JavaScript and PHP). An overview of the available variables is given in Table 10.4. These variables are addressed via the respective variable name. This allows you to combine a plausibility check condition that refers to a current user entry with a condition that refers to participant administration data, e.g. to check the logic of a statement. Furthermore, you can compare two variables directly by entering the second variable instead of a characteristic in the second condition field. In the example shown, the information on the respondent's gender was saved in participant administration in the Group field (variable: u_group): 1=female, 2=male. In the survey, respondents are asked to state their gender (v_11, code: 1=female, 2=male). The plausibility check defined in the figure, v_11 !=u_group will output an error message if the contents of v_11 and u_group do not match.
5.14.6
PHP Plausibility Checks and JavaScript Plausibility Checks

EFS Survey allows you to create two types of plausibility checks: JavaScript plausibility checks and PHP plausibility checks. The difference between these two kinds of plausibility checks is in their execution positions. The JavaScript plausibility check is executed on the client side with no contact to the server, and the error message is displayed in a pop-up window. This permits smooth processing of the questionnaire. The PHP plausibility checks are executed on the server side.
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5.14.7
Adjusting the Plausibility Check Output

The appearance of a plausibility check error message can be edited in the Layout menu on the the Plausibility checks tab. In the Design of the plausibility check section, you can design the plausibility check messages. For JavaScript checks, you can choose among three different design types. The font, font size and font color settings refer to the introductory text of PHP plausibility checks, DACs and mandatory questions.
Figure 5.70
Designing plausibility checks
The properties of the JavaScript plausibility check can be edited in the Properties of the client-side plausibility check section: You can change the title of the pop-up window, adjust the introductory text and change the labels of the Correct and Ignore buttons. The texts are part of the survey messages, i.e. you can edit them via the Project properties->Survey messages menu as well (section Plausibility check phrases).
Figure 5.71
Editing the properties of JavaScript plausibility checks
In the Properties of the server-side plausibility check section, you can edit the layout, introductory text and behavior of PHP plausibility checks, DACs and mandatory questions. The introductory text is part of the survey messages, i.e. you can edit it via the Project properties->Survey messages menu as well (section Plausibility check phrases).
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The settings for font, font size, font color and background color are used to highlight mandatory questions and DACs.
Figure 5.72
Editing the properties of PHP plausibility checks
5.14.8
The Pro Editor

As an alternative to using predefined plausibility check types as described above, the Pro editor allows you to create your own plausibility checks or enhance predefined plausibility checks using the OML syntax.
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Figure 5.73
Defining your own plausibility checks in the Pro editor
Defining OML plausibility checks

Create a pre-defined check as described in Chapter 5.14.1, p. 231. Define and save a condition, then switch to the newly-displayed Pro editor tab. The settings can be edited in the Pro editor, too. The text entry field allows you to enter the desired check in the OML notation, which is introduced in the following chapter. A drop-down list allows to generate sample code for an integer format check and for an other field.
5.14.9
The OPST Meta Language (OML)

Plausibility checks allow you to check the information entered by the respondent for formal and logical errors. They are realized using the OPST Meta Language (OML). In other words, OML is a kind of programming language used to formulate special queries in EFS. Example:
if (v_15>100) print "Are you really over 100 years old? Please correct your entries.";
1. How do OML plausibility checks work?

OML commands are internally converted to PHP code and evaluated after a questionnaire page has been submitted. If you create plausibility checks in the questionnaire editor, your entry will be examined for syntax errors as well as impermissible words. Errors will be reported back by EFS. A logical check will not be performed.
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This means that a condition such as

if ((v_15>100) and (v_15<100)) print "Are you really over 100 years old? Please correct your entries.";
can never be met, but this is ignored. The OML statements are not automatically updated, i.e. if you delete variables to which they refer from the questionnaire, errors will occur. You can access all the variables of the questionnaire. The codebook contains a list of all the variables that are currently defined in your project.
2. The syntax of OML plausibility checks

Plausibility checks consist of one or more if conditions and a print command:
if (v_231 > 5000000) print Nice income! :-)
Conjunctions between IF conditions are created using AND or OR. The individual conditions must be enclosed in brackets, as must the entire IF block. Multiple IF conditions must be separated by a semicolon:
if ((v_15 = 3) and (v_231 > 5000000)) print "Well, that income seems a bit high for a student.";
3. Operators
The following operators are permissible:
Operator + / * % Table 5.9 Meaning Add Subtract Divide Multiply Modulo Plausibility check operators - 1
The following comparison operators are permissible:

Operator = > >= < <= != Table 5.10 Meaning a = b (exact match) a>b a >= b a<b a <= b a does not equal b Plausibility check operators - 2
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4. Special functions
Function not_only_numbers(variable name) Meaning Checks whether the variable contains only numbers as well as period, semicolon and white space characters (blank spaces, tabs). Example: if (not_only_numbers(v_15)) print Please enter the year of your birth in numbers.; Checks whether the content of the variable name is fulfilled by regular expression (refer to Chapter 6. Addendum: Regular expressions below). Example: if (matches(v_15, /fuck/)) print Please do not use abusive language in the questionnaire; Checks whether the content of the variable name is not fulfilled by regular expression (refer to 6. Addendum: Regular expressions below). Example: if (not_matches(v_15, /\\d\\d\\.\\d\\d\\.\\d\\d\\d\\d/)) print Please enter the date in 05.03.2000 format; Squares the transferred value. Returns the algebraic sign of the value: -1, 1 or 0. Removes blank spaces at the beginning and end of a text. Returns the net length of a text (excluding blank spaces, line breaks and tabs). Returns true if number > 0, otherwise returns false. Returns true if number < 0, otherwise returns false. Compares the two texts (without matching their case and without taking blank spaces at the beginning and end into consideration). Returns true if they are identical, otherwise returns false. Returns true if the number is 0. Returns true if the string is blank, i.e. has no content or contains only blank spaces, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^\?d+([\.,]\d+)?$/". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^[a-z]+$/i". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^[a-z0-9]+$/ i". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^\?d+(,\d+)?$/". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^[az]+$/i". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Compares the content of value to the regular expression "/^[a-z09]+$/i". Returns true if they match, otherwise returns false. Returns true if the content of value is 77, -66, 0, or blank, otherwise returns false. Returns true if value is between min and max, otherwise returns false. Sets the value to 1, if the entered value is > 0. E.g.: v_1 = 3 then setval(v_1)= 1 applies.
matches (variable name, regular expression)
not_matches (variable name, regular expression)
pow(number) sgn(number) trim(string) netstringlength(string) ispositive(number) isnegative(number) issamestring(string1, string2) iszero(number) isblank(string) isnumber(value) isalpha(value) isalphanumeric(value) isnumber_de(value) isalpha_de(value) isalphanumeric_de(valu e) ismissing(value) isinrange(value, min, max) setval(number)
Table 5.11
Special functions for use in the pro edito
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5. Examples Limiting the number of answers to a question

You want to specify that the user should be allowed to tick a maximum of three checkboxes for a question with a multiple response list. Background: Checkboxes are always stored with 0-1 encoding, i.e. if a checkbox has been ticked, the data record will contain a value of 1 for the variable. Now, in a formal form, a maximum of three checkboxes ticked means that all the variable values for this question added together must not be greater than 3. Please proceed as follows: 1. In the codebook, search for the variable name of the following question:
001 Please select three (maximum) out of the following large cities in which you would like to live: 002 v_11 -> Chicago 003 v_12 -> Los Angeles 004 v_13 -> New York 005 v_14 -> Seattle 006 v_15 -> Washington
2. In OML, this is formulated as follows:

001 if (v_11 + v_12 +v_13 + v_14 + v_15 > 3) print "Please select a maximum of three cities.";
If you want to specify that at least three cities should be selected, use the following formulation:
001 if (v_11 + v_12 +v_13 + v_14 + v_15 < 3) print "Please select a minimum of three cities.";
If you want to specify that exactly three cities should be selected, use the following formulation:
001 if (v_11 + v_12 +v_13 + v_14 + v_15 < 3) print "Please select exactly three cities.";
6. Addendum: Regular expressions

You can use the matches and not_matches functions to check the use of so-called regular expressions. You can imagine a regular expression as a template that is compared with the answer to the filter question. The use of regular expressions allows you to formulate complex conditions. Please note that you must enclose the regular expression you formulate in slashes (/ expression/). You can use the /i modifier to specify that you wish to ignore the case of the string. Example:
if (matches(v_15, /globalpark/i)) print This entry contains the word Globalpark";
This command will find Globalpark well as globalpark or GlOBaLpArK. Please note: If you use backslashes within the regular expression, these must be masked with backslashes. For example, the decimal characters \d must be masked with two backslashes: /\\d\\d\\. The following table introduces some important sample elements which you can combine to form a regular expression. This list does not claim to be complete.
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Character .
The answer contains: any character except for newline
Example matches(v_15, /a.b/) The answer contains the combination a-any character-b. matches(v_15, / [0-9]/) The answer contains a number. matches(v_15, /(Berlin|Prague|Oslo)/) The answer contains the word Berlin, Prague or Oslo.
[..]
any character enclosed in the squared brackets one of the alternatives specified
(..|..|..)
Table 5.12 Character ^
Regular expressions for plausibility checks - 1 In the answer, the respective character appears: at the beginning of the text Example matches(v_15, /^a/) The answer begins with an a. matches(v_15, /$a/) The answer ends with an a.
at the end of the text
Table 5.13 Character +
Regular expressions for plausibility checks - 2 In the answer, the respective character appears: once or several times Example matches(v_15, /4+/) The answer contains one or more 4s. matches(v_15, /4?/) The answer contains no 4s or one 4. matches(v_15, /4*/) The answer contains no 4s or several 4s. matches(v_15, /4{2,}/) The answer contains at least two 4s. matches(v_15, /4{2}/) The answer contains exactly two 4s. matches(v_15, /4{2,5}/) The answer contains at least two 4s and no more than five 4s.
not at all or once
not at all or several times
{n,m}
at least {n} times and at most {m} times
Table 5.14 Character i
Regular expressions for plausibility checks - 3 Description A modifier that will be attached to a regular expression. The check will be case insensitive, i.e. there is no distinction made between upper and lower case. Example matches(v_15, /^a/) The answer begins with a, it does not matter whether a is a capital or a lowercase letter.
Table 5.15
Regular expressions for plausibility checks - 4
More information on regular expressions can be found e.g. at http://www.perl.org.
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5.15 Validating Open-Ended Answers
5.15 Validating Open-Ended Answers

You can pre-determine directly in the questionnaire editor which format the respondents entry in an open-ended text field is to have. A PHP plausibility check will report any disallowed entries, thereby eliminating the need to define a special plausibility check. The following input formats are available: any Integer: The participants are only allowed to enter numbers. Float: The participants are only allowed to enter floating point numbers. E-mail: The participants are only allowed to enter e-mail addresses. Letters only: The participants are only allowed to enter letters. Phone number: The participants are only allowed to enter phone numbers. The default setting is Any format. This also applies to old projects. The check is performed using a plausibility check with a regular expression. This check cannot be edited using the plausibility check editor, and neither is it displayed in the questionnaire overview. The message texts used in the type checks can be edited in the Projects->{Selected Project}->Project properties->Survey messages menu, see Table 3.12. The function is available for the following question types each containing open entry fields: 111, Single response list (horizontal), with Other field, 121, Multiple response list (horizontal), with Other field, and 311, Standard matrix, with Other field, as well as question types for open-ended questions with single row text fields (141, 143 and 144).
5.15.1
Considerations before Starting

Handling of blank spaces
Blank spaces are evaluated differently by the various type checks: The type checks Integer, Float and E-mail evaluate a blank space as an incorrect entry. Blank spaces can be used to separate text or number elements in the type checks Only letters and Phone number. This makes it possible, for example, to separate first and last name or area code and phone number. Only the type check Any accepts the entry of an empty space without further characters. Use an error message to inform the respondents about the most likely causes of the problem as appropriate for each type of question and check.
Special considerations regarding missing values

If you choose the input format Integer, the database field remains unchanged: it is declared as a text field of the varchar type. However, the variable declaration of the item changes to integer and the missing values -77 / 0 are used instead of the missing values -66 / -99 normally used with text fields.
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Exporting Float-type entries correctly

As there is no international standard format for displaying decimal numbers, you may encounter problems upon export when using the Float type check. The type check does not differentiate between commas customarily used throughout Europe and the decimal point used in the U.S. As a result, 100, 100,00 and 100.00 are displayed identically as 100 upon export. However, where a participant enters one hundred thousand and uses a comma to improve readbility, i.e. 100,000, this is also displayed as 100 upon export. However, the value is stored correctly in the database, i.e. as 100,000. (The database field is a varchar-type field.) To correctly export the values from the database, set the type check back to any once the field phase has been completed and before downloading the export data record.
5.15.2
Choosing the Entry Format

Choosing the entry format for an Other field
In the case of Other fields and questions of the type 143 or 144, the drop-down list for setting the file format can be found in the Input format column. This column can be hidden by clicking on the Hide icon (red cross) and re-opened by clicking on the Show icon (green arrow).
Figure 5.74
Checking the input format for a question of the type 143
Choosing the input format for a question type containing an open-ended question
With questions of the type 141, you will find the drop-down list for setting the file format in the Input format column.
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5.16 Hiding Questions and Answer Options
Figure 5.75
Checking the input format for a question of the type 141
5.16 Hiding Questions and Answer Options

5.16.1 Hiding Questions
At question level, you have the option of formulating so-called hiding conditions, i.e. a question will not be shown (or will be hidden) depending on the participants answer. To do so, click on the Edit hiding condition link in the question editor, and formulate the condition under which the question is to be hidden, analogous to entering filter conditions (see Chapter 4.7, p. 143). In the example below, all participants who have indicated on a preceding page that they learned about Globalpark via a search engine are to be shown the additional question of via which search engine they learned about Globalpark. This means that the question is to be hidden, if the v_2966 variable does not equal 1, i.e. the respondent has not previously indicated that they learned about Globalpark via a search engine.
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Figure 5.76
Entering hiding conditions at question level
5.16.2
Hiding Items
You have the option of showing or hiding specific items, depending on the participants answers. Example: If you are asking about a list of newspapers that are regularly read, you can show the New York Times item only if the respondent has given a certain answer on a preceding page which makes asking about this newspaper appear sensible. When dealing with question types whose variables have characteristics (e. g. single response list), please note: If individual items of a variable are hidden, the variable will be defined as missing when used in a plausibility check. Therefore, in this case, the actual value of the variable cannot be determined by means of a plausibilty check. If you cannot or do not want to work without the plausibility check, you might want to consider using a list instead of hiding conditions.
Creating hiding conditions

To create hiding conditions on item level, click on the funnel icon in the Hiding condition column.
Figure 5.77
Entering hiding conditions at item level
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5.17 Integrating Multimedia Contents
This will open the familiar entry form used to formulate filter conditions (see Figure 4.30). After you have set and saved the condition for which the item is to be hidden, the condition will be displayed when you scroll over the funnel icon. In addition, the following will appear next to the selected answer category: the Delete hiding condition icon, which allows you to delete the hiding condition if required. the Copy hiding condition icon whose function will be explained in the next section.
Figure 5.78
The defined hiding condition and function icons for an item
Copying hiding conditions

The use of the Copy function is advisable if you need the same hiding condition for several items or wish to set very complex and only slightly different hiding conditions for several items. 1. Click on the Copy hiding condition icon next to the source condition.
Figure 5.79
Copying a hiding condition
2. Then, click on the Paste hiding condition icon for the item to which you want to add the hiding condition. You can also select several items.
Figure 5.80
Pasting the copied hiding condition
3. Confirm by clicking on Save. Then, you can use the condition editor as usual to modify the copied hiding condition for the specific item. By using the Arrow icons in the condition editor, you can leaf through all hiding conditions defined for a specific questionnaire page.

EFS offers a variety of options to upload multimedia content and incorporate it into your survey: For uploading and administrating the files the media library is used, advanced users can find an additional upload function in the Pro editor. To administrate multimedia files which are incorporated in the questionnaire and presented to the respondents, you can use the media library. See Chapter 5.17.2, p. 255 for detailed information.
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The upload function is useful for advanced users with webdesign skills to upload file for layout design. See Chapter 8.4.5, p. 373.
In most cases multimedia content is used to illustrate a question: With question type Multimedia (999) (Chapter 5.8.1, p. 208) you can easily incorporate images, SVG graphics, Flash movies and various video formats into a survey. Alternatively you can use question type HTML (Chapter 5.7, p. 206) to format elements, e.g. images, according to very specific requirements.
Using the question types 511 and 521 you can create single and multiple response lists in which radio buttons, check boxes and items are replaced by selectable images. See Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210. Flash question types are a standard feature of EFS Surevy. Depending on your requirements, you can design single questions or complete questionnaires in Flash. For details, please see the manual EFS Surveys Flash Question Types. Occasionally, customers wish to protect the content of a survey, and especially multimedia elements, against illegitimate copying or screenshots. With the current state of technology, a reliable protection is not possible. But you can make illegitimate copying consideratly more difficult. The paper Protecting images in surveys, which is available from customer center, offers further information and advice.
5.17.1
Incorporating Multimedia Elements in the Questionnaire

Incorporate an image or other multimedia element into your questionnaire in two steps: 1. First, you must upload the desired image to the EFS installation. 2. Then, choose between the following alternatives, depending of your requirements and webdesign skills: 2.a You can use the Multimedia question type to insert and position an image or other multimedia element without knowledge of HTML. 2.b Alternatively, use the HTML question type which requires basic HTML skills. 2.c Many question types also allow you to directly incorporate images into question texts and answer categories by using HTML. If you wish to use images as the only answer categories, the question types 511 and 521 are available. See Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210.
The following describes these two steps in detail.
1. Uploading a multimedia element

1. To insert a multimedia element, select the desired project, and then switch to the Questionnaire editor menu. 2. There, you must first choose the Media library menu item and then click on the Upload file link to upload the desired file, e.g. from your local PC. 3. After you have located the file on your PC, click on the Upload button. 4. The multimedia element will now appear in your media library. See the following Chapter 5.17.2, p. 255, for further information on the media library.
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2.a Using the multimedia question type to incorporate multimedia elements

1. Switch to the editor, and create a question of the 999 - Multimedia type on the respective page. 2. In the drop-down list in the field Multimedia element you will see the contents of the media library for this project. Select the file you wish to insert. Alternatively you can open the media list by clicking on the Binoculars icon. It displays thumbshots of all multimedia elements (as far as possible), and you can select the required file easily by clicking on the Add multimedia element icon.
Figure 5.81
Selecting a multimedia element
3. Confirm by clicking on Save.
Figure 5.82
Setting properties of the multimedia element
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4. In case the chosen file is an image, you can specify how the image is to be aligned with the page margin: Left (image at the left-hand margin of the window), Right (right-hand margin of the window), Center (middle of the window). A alternative text can be entered, width and height can be changed. As soon as youve saved your entries, they will be displayed in the preview. 5. Confirm again by clicking on Save.
2.b Using the HTML question type to incorporate multimedia elements

If you want to specially position or format your multimedia element, the HTML question type will give you all imaginable design capabilities. 1. Switch to the editor, and create a question of the HTML type on the respective page. 2. In the HTML code entry form that will now appear, you must enter the source of the file you are using. To do so, click on the Media library tab to open the library in a popup window.
Figure 5.83
Searching for a multimedia element in the media library
3. Search for the required multimedia element. Enter it into the HTML code entry form by clicking the Add multimedia element icon. Alternatively you can highlight the HTML code for your image, right-click on it, choose Copy from the pop-up menu, and then insert the code into the HTML code entry form. 4. Click on the Save button, and the image will be inserted.
Image position and size in the HTML question type

In case the chosen file is an image, you have the option of positioning the image as you wish or specifying its size after inserting it. For a centered position, enter the <div align=center> command. For a position on the left or right, replace center with left and right, respectively. The size of the image must be entered in pixels: width=XXX; height=XXX Example:
<div align="left"><IMG src="images/Altavista.jpg height="250 width="300">
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For information on other basic HTML commands, visit the website: http:// selfhtml.org
2.c Incorporating images into question texts and answer categories

Occasionally, it is desirable to use an image as a question text or answer categories or to combine image and text. This, too, is possible with most EFS Survey question types: 1. Create the question. 2. Copy the images HTML command from the media library into the corresponding input box of the question editor. 3. Save your changes by clicking on the Save button. By using the question types 511 and 521, you can easily design single and multiple response lists in which all answer categories are replaced by images. See Chapter 5.8.2, p. 210.
5.17.2
The Media Library

Each project has its own media library, located in the Questionnaire editor ->Media library menu. It enables you to upload multimedia files such as images, sounds or movies from your local hard disk or from your network into the project directory on the EFS server, and to insert them into the questionnaire.
Figure 5.84
The media library
The project-related media library which is available per default on all EFS Survey installations offers the following options: You can use not only images, but SVG graphics, flash and video formats as e.g. RealVideo or Quicktime. To access a detailed list of the permitted file types, click on the Question mark icon in the Upload file dialog, see Chapter 5.17.3, p. 257. The uploaded files are stored in the project directory in the directory /images.
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The functions and structure of the media library are similar to the functions you already know from the question library: Directories can be created within /images to improve the overview. The size of files for upload is restricted to 20 MB. With release 6.0 this limit has been raised to 80 MB for new standard installations. You can upload zip files and unpack them directly if you wish. Thus multimedia files which exceed the maximum file size can be uploaded if it is possible to compress them to allowed size. The upload of a high number of files or the creation of a directory with sub directories is made easier by compression, too: You can sort the files as required in a parent directory and subdirectories, compress these, and then, in one operation, upload them to the server and have them unpacked. EFS offers a second option to upload project-related files, the Upload function which can be found in the pro editor on the Upload tab (see Chapter 8.4.5, p. 373). The media library helps you to administrate multimedia files which are usually incorporated in the questionnaire and presented to the respondent. The upload function offers experienced users with webdesign skills who design complex own layouts the option to use other target directories besides /layout.
Optional: installation-wide media management

Customers with their own server can have Globalpark Support release an extended version in which the default project-related media library is supplemented by a second installation-wide library. On such installations, the project-specific and installationwide library, as shown in the following figure, are arranged on successive tabs. The Current project tab will show you the project-related files. Uploaded files are saved in the /images directory of the project directory. Directories can be created within /images. The Overall tab shows files that can be retrieved installation-wide. Uploaded files are saved in the /images directory of the installation. It is possible to create sub directories in /images. The functions on the two tabs are identical. Please use the installation-wide media library economically. The following guiding values provide orientation: - It is recommended to create not more than 250 folders. - The folder structure should not be more than 10 levels deep. - It is recommended to upload not more than 10,000 files.
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5.17.3
Managing Multimedia Files

1. Uploading files
1. Click on the Upload file button.
Figure 5.85
Uploading a file
2. Locate the file on your hard disk using the Browse function. 3. You have the option of defining a wildcard. You can use the characters a-z, A-Z and 0-9. The wildcards must be enclosed in two hash signs (#). 4. If you are uploading a zip file, you can have the system unpack it and automatically create subdirectories in one operation. To do so, tick the Unpack ZIP file checkbox. 5. If you want to jump directly back to this directory after uploading the file, tick the corresponding checkbox. 6. Confirm by clicking on Upload.
2. Viewing and editing the uploaded files

The directory structure shown in Figure 5.84 contains all uploaded files. If you search for a specific file, you may either skip through the directories or use the search form. It offers full text search for the file name, which means it is enough to enter a part of the name to find a file. For each file the following information is listed: Thumbnails for the files that contain images: Clicking on a thumbnail allows you to open a detail view of the respective image. This contains the image, height and width information, and the appropriate img tags with absolute and relative paths. Name Size Type Last action User Description
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Height and width of the images and an alternative text are defined when inserting the images into the Multimedia question type (Chapter 5.17.1, p. 252).
Editing individual files

The following action icons are available for editing individual files: Show img tag: Displays a pop-up window with the img tag that can be used to incorporate a file into the questionnaire. Change properties: Opens an entry form in which you can change the file name and description. Copy: Copies the file into the same directory. In this process, you must first choose a different name. Move: Opens a drop-down list from which you can choose a different directory for the file. Delete
Editing several files at the same time

In addition, you can use the drop-down list to move or delete several files. Select the corresponding action from the drop-down list, highlight the files to which this action is to be applied, and confirm by clicking on Execute.
5.17.4
Using Directories to Manage Multimedia Files

You can create directories in the media library, i.e. in the project-related directory / images, which help to improve the overview.
1. Creating new directories

1. Click on the directory below which you wish to create the new directory. 2. Click on the Create directory button.
Figure 5.86
Creating a directory
3. Enter the name. 4. If you want to jump directly into the directory after creating it, tick the Show new directory checkbox. 5. Confirm by clicking on Create.
2. Renaming directories
1. Click on the directory you wish to rename. 2. Click on the Rename directory Button.
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3. Enter the new name. 4. Confirm by clicking on Change.
3. Deleting directories
1. Click on the directory you wish to delete. 2. Click on the Delete directory button. 3. Affirm the confirmation window. The /images directory cannot be deleted. If a directory that was not empty is deleted, the files will be moved into the next higher directory.
5.17.5
Downloading the Content of the Media Library

You can download the content of either the entire media library or individual folders. You will find a Download button on every level of the folder structure, which can be found in the Projects->{Selected project}->Questionnaire editor-> Media library menu.
Figure 5.87
Downloading the content of the media library
Click on this button to download a zip file that contains the content of the current folder including its subfolders. You can save this file locally to a PC, open it and then view or edit the images. When working in the installation-wide media library, in particular, take care to select only reasonable amounts of data for download, i.e. less than 10 MB and not more than 30 files. Otherwise, the download process can affect the performance of the EFS installation.
5.17.6
Protecting Images
Customers running product or cover tests frequently ask for a better protection against illegal copying and screenshotting of their content. From EFS 7.0, a dedicated image protection feature makes storing or screenshotting of images considerably more difficult.
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In the questionnaire, participants will see only the silhouette and outline of the protected image, plus an instruction for display. If the participants press the key combination specified in the instruction, the image will be displayed. (They have to keep the blank key pressed and click on the image with the left key of the mouse pointer.) Please mind: For technical reasons, it is not possible to prevent participants from taking screenshots or from downloading the displayed images on their hard disks with absolute reliability. But with the new image protection feature, it is considerably more difficult.
Figure 5.88
A protected image in the questionnaire
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Figure 5.89
Displaying the image by pressing a specific key combination
Before starting
Please mind: Image protection has been implemented in question type 999. The Adobe Flash Player plugin, version 9 or higher, must be installed on the participants PC. The combined JavaScript and Flash check familiar from image and Flash question types must be activated. It allows to identify participants without current Flash plugin and to display a note that asks them to download the current version. If necessary, you can screen out participants without a current Flash plugin, too. The feature can be used to protect JPG, PNG and GIF images. As Flash cannot handle BMP images, it is not possible to use the protection for BMP images. But there is a variety of image editing software which allows to convert BMP images into JPG images. The images should be big enough to display the instructions completely. If image protection is activated, Alt texts will not be displayed. According to the manufacturer, penetration of the Adobe Flash plugin for version 9.0 is over 95%. For detailed penetration statistics provided by the manufacturer, visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flash-player/version_ penetration.html
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1. Activating image protection

To get started, in the Project properties menu, activate the Check whether the respondent has JavaScript activated and the Adobe Flash Player plugin is available option and Save. Image protection requires this check necessarily. Integrate your image into question type 999 as usual. The Options section includes the new Protect image feature. Activate the checkbox and Save.
Figure 5.90
Activating image protection
2. Enhancing the instruction for participants

The instruction for displaying the protected images is part of the standard message set. In English, the following default text is used: In order to view the image, hold down the space bar, move your mouse pointer over the image and click. To enhance the instruction for your project, open the Project properties->Survey messages menu as usual. In the Instruction for displaying images if image protection is activated field, you can change the text as required.
3. Screening out participants without Flash plugin

To view the protected images, the Adobe Flash Player plugin, version 9 or higher, must be installed on the survey participants PC. To screen out participants with insufficient technical equipment, please proceed as follows: 1. In the questionnaire editor, locate the page following the processing of which the unsuitable respondents are to be screened out. 2. Create a filter. Usually, the filter condition will be flash < 900, i.e. the system will screen out all those respondents whose Flash plugin is older than version 9 or who have no Flash plugin at all.
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3. Create an intermediate final page under the filter. 4. Click on the Edit page properties icon of the intermediate final page. 5. In the field Status, select the disposition code that the participants are to be assigned upon reaching this intermediate final page. Available are the disposition codes 31, 36, and 37. If the Check whether the respondent has JavaScript activated and the Adobe Flash Player plugin is available option is activated in the Project properties menu, the Flash version of the participants is stored in the flash variable. - If no appropriate plugin exists, the value of flash is 0. - Otherwise the variable contains the version number, i.e. for example flash = 800 for plugin version 8.0, flash = 900 for plugin version 9.0. If the check is not activated, the value of flash is 0. But image protection necessarily requires the check and will not work without.
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6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Importing Questions from a Template Document . . . . . . . 267 Importing Answer Options as Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Importing Pages into Another Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Storing Frequently Used Questions in the Question Library 275
Referencing Questions from Several Places. . . . . . . . . . . 279 Editing Questionnaires Externally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Editing Page, Question and Trigger Names Externally . . . . 287 Search and Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
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6.1 Importing Questions from a Template Document
Working Effectively with the Editor

This chapter introduces features and tools which facilitate questionnaire creation: Question import (see Chapter 6.1, p. 267) as well as mass import of categories and items (see Chapter 6.2, p. 269) allow you to import the entire questionnaire or individual item lists from a word processing program into EFS using Copy&Paste. The page import feature allows you to copy entire page trees from one project to the next. See Chapter 6.3, p. 272. In the question library, you can archive individual frequently used questions for use in other projects. See Chapter 6.4, p. 275. Using depot questions saves you from having to repeatedly enter identical questions in the same project. See Chapter 6.5, p. 279. The External editing function allows you to export all text elements of the questionnaire and then edit or translate them externally. See Chapter 6.6, p. 280. The title editor allows you to export the names of structure elements which are helpful for navigating the questionnaire editor, in order to quickly and easily change them externally. See Chapter 6.7, p. 287. The Search and replace function allows you to find and replace identical text components in the entire questionnaire. See Chapter 6.8, p. 288.
6.1 Importing Questions from a Template Document

Normally, a printed version of the questionnaire,,e.g. a Word document is available for questionnaire entry. The Question import, which is located on a tab in the questionnaire view, allows you to import several questions at once from such a document into your project. To do so, you must arrange the contents of your document according to certain rules, in order for EFS to differentiate between question texts, answers and scale characteristics. Question import is not available for the following question types: 121, 122, 143, 144, 341, 342, 363, 411, 511, 521, 522, 611, 621, 641, 661, 911 and 921.
6.1.1
Formatting Questions for Import

The questions must be formatted in the templated document according to the following pattern:
Formatted question How often do you use the following leisure information? You can make several statements. Never - seldom - 1x a week - daily Table 6.1 Format for question import Question element Question text Fill-in instruction Categories Question type to be generated 311
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(cont.)Formatted question Magazines TV Radio
Question element Answers
Question type to be generated
Blank row to next question Please state your area of employment. Question text Fill-in instruction (may be left blank) Categories (may be left blank) Marketing Training Administration Answers 111
How do you feel in your team?
Question text Fill-in instruction
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1-2-3-4-5 left - right Table 6.1 Format for question import
Categories Answers
6.1.2
Performing a Question Import

Please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Question import tab in the questionnaire view to open the input dialog.
Figure 6.1
Selecting the question import
2. In the drop-down list, specify the page behind which you wish to insert the page(s) with questions. 3. Highlight the questions in your template file and right-click to save them to the cache. Then right-click on the question import input field and insert the questions.
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6.2 Importing Answer Options as Batch
Figure 6.2
Entering import data
4. Then click on Submit. 5. In the next dialog, specify the question type. 6. Use the New page column to determine whether the questions are to appear on one page or whether and where additional pages should be created.
Figure 6.3
Selecting the question types
7. Confirm by clicking Submit.

If you require a large number of answer options for a certain question, you can create them by means of mass import. This procedure is particularly advisable if the questionnaire already exists as a Word document, for example: It is enough to simply copy out a block of options and paste it into the mass import dialog. Example:
Software Consulting The Company Service
The items are created automatically.
Particularities of specific question types

Please mind the following particularities of specific question types: When mass-importing the answer options of a semantic differential, use a vertical line to separate the left- and right-hand item texts. Example: left|right Example with code: 1;left|right
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You can create answer options via mass import with your own alternative text and code for multimedia question types 511, 521 and 522; you must, however, upload and choose the multimedia elements manually.
Formatting the list of answer options

The desired answer options are listed in the input field one below the other.
Software Consulting The Company Service
Each row in the input field is interpreted as an answer option. During import, the options are automatically numbered and encoded. Optionally, you can specify the codes yourself. To do so, enter the desired code before each answer option, using a semicolon as the separator:
1;Software 2;Consulting 3;The Company 4;Service
Performing a mass import

Please proceed as follows to perform a mass import: 1. Open the question view. Delete all the default items you do not need. 2. Click on the Mass-import items button.
Figure 6.4
Invoking the mass import function
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3. The input dialog will be displayed directly in the question view. 4. Enter the answer options as explained above. Each answer option must be entered in a separate row.
Figure 6.5
Enter answer options to be imported
5. Trigger the Mass import by clicking on the button of the same name. 6. The imported answer options will be listed in the New section. Check over the data, and make any necessary changes. If you wish to manually add more answer options, click on the [+] icon to open additional New rows.
Figure 6.6
Checking mass-imported answer options
7. Confirm by clicking on Save. Answer options are now finally created.
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Figure 6.7
Answer options created by mass import
6.3 Importing Pages into Another Project

The page import feature allows you to copy entire page trees - i. e. questionnaire branches beneath a page - from one project to the next. This is particularly helpful if you want to repeatedly use not only individual questions but entire sections of your questionnaire. If, for example, you have created a questionnaire section for collecting demographic data using filters, randomization, plausibility checks, and other features, the page import function allows you to transfer this section en bloc to other projects. The functional scope at a glance: You can copy page trees both within one project and from one project to another. It is not possible, however, to copy from one EFS installation to the next. Pages, questions, and variables of the page tree will be newly created when performing a page import, i.e. their IDs will change. When copying filters, plausibility checks etc. the conditions will be adopted as defined in the source project; i.e. if the reference variables are included in the copied branch the conditions will work in the copied project. If the reference variables are not included in the copied branch, the conditions must be checked and adapted to the new project. If the page tree contains any lists, the items on these lists will be copied and adopted as static answer options. The actual lists will not be copied. Loop branches will be copied; however, the corresponding lists will not be imported. Conjoint blocks cannot be copied. Images used in the page tree of the source project will be imported. Please note that this is only possible if the images have been correctly embedded in an appropriate question type (e. g. 999, 511, 521, 522). Images that were, for example, manually inserted into an answer option using HTML will not be imported automatically. In case of multilingual projects the translations will be imported. To this end, the necessary languages must exist both in the source and the destination project and be marked with the same language identifier.
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6.3 Importing Pages into Another Project
You can create an archive of frequently used questionnaire sections for the page import: Create a master project with separate branches for frequently used questionnaire sections. If you need a section in a real project, you can simply import it from your master project.
6.3.1
Invoking the Page Import

Depending on the situation, there are two ways to invoke the page import in the questionnaire editor of the destination project: In the Actions column in the questionnaire view you will find the Page tree import under page x icon. The Import pages button is located above the questionnaire view. This allows you to import pages into an empty project.
Figure 6.8
Page import button and icons
6.3.2
Performing a Page Import

In the following example, the filter page Detailed questions on search engines is to be copied together with the filter branch below into another project.
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Figure 6.9
Source project questionnaire
1. Open the questionnaire editor of the destination project.
Figure 6.10
Destination project questionnaire
2. Find the page under which you want to import the page tree. In the example shown, the filter branch is to be inserted under the page Surfing the internet. In the Actions column you will find the new Page tree import under page x icon. Click on it. 3. Specify the desired source project. 4. Select the source page.
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6.4 Storing Frequently Used Questions in the Question Library
Figure 6.11
Specifying source project and source page
5. Click on Import to initiate copying of the page tree.
Figure 6.12
Imported page tree in destination project
6. If necessary, you can further adjust the position of the imported page tree via drag & drop.

You can use the question library to reduce tiresome routine operations. It is located in the Options module, but can also be accessed from the questionnaire editor . It can be used to store frequently used questions for insertion in other projects in the installation later on. The library category structure allows you to arrange the questions entered, e.g. according to projects of topics, in order to improve clarity.
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From EFS 7.0 on, the external variable names are stored in the library. When loading the archived questions into a questionnaire, the system ensures uniqueness of the variable names: If a variable name does already exist, a prefix dupl1_, dupl2_... will be inserted.
6.4.1
The Question Library Structure

Invoking the question library in the Options module will take you to the Overview tab. The so-called category tree is displayed on the left-hand side of this tab, the contents of the currently opened category are displayed on the right-hand side.
Figure 6.13
The question library
The category tree displays the question library structure. The category system is similar to the file tree on a hard disk with main directories and subdirectories. Here, categories correspond to folders. The main directory in an empty library is called root. Below root you can create main categories, which in turn can be followed by specific subcategories. A flashing red cursor at the right-hand side displays the category you are currently in.
To the right of the overview, the Content of the category table displays the questions in the opened categories.
6.4.2
Working with the Question Library

The following section will illustrate the executable actions in connection with the question library: Adding a question to the library Loading a question from the library into a questionnaire Moving and deleting questions Using categories for organizing Deleting categories Assigning access rights for library categories
Adding a question to the library

1. To add a question to the library, switch to the Questionnaire editor. Select the page which contains the question you wish to add to the library. 2. Select the question you wish to add to the library.
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Figure 6.14
The Add to library tab in the questionnaire editor
3. Click on Add to library in the editor. 4. The question library will open. 5. Select the category in which the question is to be filed. The question will be copied into the library automatically.
Loading a question from the library into the questionnaire

1. To add a question from the library into a questionnaire, switch to the Questionnaire editor. 2. In the editor, choose the page into which you wish to insert the question. 3. Click on the Load a new question from library icon.
Figure 6.15
Loading questions from the library into the questionnaire editor
4. In the library, you can search for and select the desired question in the individual categories. 5. Tick the checkboxes of the questions you wish to incorporate into the questionnaire page.
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Figure 6.16
Inserting a question from the question library into a project
6. Confirm by clicking on Choose. 7. The selected questions will be inserted into your questionnaire.
Moving and deleting questions

In addition to choosing questions for insertion into a project, you can perform several other useful functions by clicking on the icons in the Actions column:
Figure 6.17
Actions icons for editing a question in the library
Checkbox: This function allows you to choose a question, as described in the previous paragraph. Move: This function allows you to move a question into another category. Delete: Clicking on this icon will delete the selected question. Copy: This function allows you to copy a question into a category of your choice.
Using categories for organizing

1. You can access the question library either from the questionnaire editor or via the Question library menu item in the Options module. 2. Use the category tree to locate the new category. To create main categories, click on the root folder. To create subfolders, click on the respective main folder. 3. Click on the Add category tab. 4. Give your category a name. 5. Click on Add category.
Figure 6.18
Creating a category
Deleting categories
1. Select the category you wish to delete from the category tree. 2. Click on the Delete category tab.
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6.5 Referencing Questions from Several Places
3. A dialog containing a warning message will open. Clicking on OK in the dialog will delete the category. Caution: You may only delete empty categories. Prior to deleting, remaining questions must be moved to higher categories or deleted, and subcategories must be deleted.
Assigning access rights for library categories

It is possible to assign different access rights for the various main categories in the library to the staff teams in an EFS Survey installation. To do so, please proceed as follows: 1. Select the respective main categories. 2. Click on the Folder rights tab. 3. The object rights dialog is opened. Assign read and / or write rights to the appropriate teams. 4. Confirm your selection by clicking on Change rights. Please note that you may only assign access rights for main categories including all underlying subcategories, not for all subcategories individually. All staff members have access to the root category.
6.5 Referencing Questions from Several Places

Depot questions significantly facilitate the creation of questionnaires. If a specific question is used repeatedly in your questionnaire, you can define a depot question and reference it at all appropriate pages. This may be useful, for example, if identical demographic data are queried in several filter branches. Variables are created only for the depot question. The reference questions do not have dedicated variables, but refer to the variables of the respective depot question. This simplifies, among others, filter conditions referring to the repeatedly-occurring question. If you have to change these frequently recurring questions, it is not necessary anymore to edit each of them individually: need to betage is that changes to the depot question directly affect all other reference questions based thereon. In the following, the use of depot questions is explained using an example.
Before you start

Please note: Variables are created once for a depot question and all pertinent reference questions. All reference questions fill in the depot question variables and therefore do not create their own variables. It is not possible to define plausibility checks for depot questions. The complexity of the questionnaire affects the performance experienced by participants. Therefore, it is recommended to use not more than 50 depot questions per project.
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Example
A questionnaire contains two branches which will be passed by different participant groups. In each branch, the same demographic data are queried. To avoid having to enter these demographic questions twice, use depot questions.
Creating a depot question

1. To create the depot question, click on the Container questions menu item. 2. Enter the name and type of the depot question. 3. Confirm by clicking on Save. 4. Then, enter the question text and answer options in the standard question view as usual.
Referencing a depot question

You want to use the question defined in the depot on every page of the survey. 1. Open the page Demographics 1 in the first filter branch. 2. Enter a suitable question title and select question type 921 - Reference question from the question types list. 3. In the following entry dialog, first select the question component for display, i.e. the question Gender. 4. If you wish to assume the whole question from the depot, click directly on Save.If, instead, you wish to change the question text, enter the desired text in the lower field: it will be combined with the answer options of the depot question. 5. You have now created a reference question on the page Demographics 1, which is based on the depot question Gender. To reference the depot question Gender from the page Demographics 2 in the second branch as well, repeat the procedure. Then, you can create additional depot questions and reference them in both filter branches, too.
6.6 Editing Questionnaires Externally

The External editing function allows you to export text elements (i.e. question and help texts, fill-in instructions as well as question options) for external editing with MS Excel or with the translation software SDLX. You can thus make easy and concise changes to question categories and items. For example, you can rename (relabel) existing categories and items. This simplifies the translation of questionnaires significantly. However, no new categories, new items or variables can be added. Importing text changes or translations into another project is not possible, either. The required operations, exporting project data editing exported data in an external program importing edited project data into EFS are introduced in the following section. Following that there is an explanation of how to edit with Microsoft Excel and SDLX. For EFS Conjoint Extension, external editing is not supported.
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6.6.1
Exporting, Editing and Importing Text Elements

Exporting text elements
1. The tabs for importing and exporting files for external editing are located in the menu Projects->{Selected project}->Questionnaire editor->Language editor-> Import / Export.
Figure 6.19
External editing menu tabs
2. Click on the Export file tab. 3. Set the file format for the export. The following options are available: XLS for editing with MS Excel: Chapter 6.6.2, p. 283 gives an explanation of how you can edit this file in MS Excel. HTML for editing with SDLX: Chapter 6.6.3, p. 285 provides further explanations on how to use the translation software SDLX when editing externally.
4. If you wish to use the versioning features, please follow the instructions given in Chapter 6.6.4, p. 286 when making your selection. 5. If you have chosen XLS as the export format, you will have several special options available to you for defining the file structure, see Chapter 6.6.2, p. 283: Select the desired options. 6. Click on the Export button on the right-hand side to download the file. 7. In most browsers a dialog will open in which you can choose whether you wish to directly open the file in a program or save the data. It is recommended that you save the data on the hard disk. In some browsers the file will be automatically opened in Excel: In this case you should likewise save the file onto you hard drive, make sure that you enter a file extension that matches the file format.
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If an Excel file is opened on a computer running with Windows 7 and Excel 2007, depending on the circumstances, a message may be displayed which notifies you that the file is corrupted. This problem is caused by an extension provided by a thirdparty supplier. Until further notice, please proceed as follows: Save the file locally. Then, open the saved file, allowing Excel to repair it. Finally, save the file again. 8. Confirm by clicking on Save.
External Editing of text elements

You can open and edit the exported file in MS Excel or SDLX depending on which format you chose. Further information on working with these programs can be found in Chapter 6.6.2, p. 283 and 6.6.3, p. 285.
Importing edited text elements back into EFS

1. After completing the editing process, switch back to your EFS project and select in the Import / Export submenu the Import file tab. 2. Specify the target language and import conditions: In the drop-down list labeled Into which language do you wish to import the new text elements?, you can select the target language for the import. If the default language is selected, the elements will be imported directly into the questionnaire editors data tables. In the Back up old elements in another language? field, the Overwrite old elements function will be selected by default. However, if you do not want to lose text elements you have already inserted, you can also back them up in another language. Only those elements containing a string will be transferred to the language table or the editor tables. Empty strings will be ignored. If you wish to import text elements in another language, but do not notice that this language has not yet been set up until you reach the tab for re-importing the files, you can still do this in the bottom section New language. Specify the name of the new language, and then click on Save. After that, you can perform an import into this new language.
Figure 6.20
Re-importing an externally edited file
3. Use Browse to select the edited file. 4. Clicking on Next page to import the changes. 5. Changes will be documented in the overview Import finished.
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Figure 6.21
Overview of the changes
6.6.2
Editing Externally with MS Excel

Editing the Excel file
The exported XLS file contains the text elements and survey messages of the questionnaire, an empty column for entering the desired changes and various meta information, ordered in a five or six column table depending on the export settings. If you use external editing with MS Excel in order to create several questionnaire versions (for example the different language versions of a multilingual project), copy the exported file and use a separate version of the file for each planned text version.
Figure 6.22 Column internal description meta content Table 6.2
Translation of a questionnaire in Excel Meaning By default this column is hidden. It contains coded information for internal use. Do not change! Provides information about the type of text element in the respective column. The separate elements are explained in the following table. Do not change! Meta information that is not displayed in the questionnaire, such as page or question title. Do not change! The previous content of each text element. Do not change! Table contents
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(cont.)Column new content
Meaning Text changes or new texts are entered into this column. Optionally you can leave this column filled with the source texts. To do this, select the option Prefill translation column with the current values in the export dialog (see the following section). Cells that are marked with ~, do not permit any changes: The related cells contain context and structure data that cannot be changed, but nonetheless do help to provide orientation. You can display or hide these rows by using the option Also export unchangeable data rows (for informational purposes only). As of version 4.0 you have the option of producing a column that informs you about the editing status: To do: The text element has not been edited yet. Done: The text element has been edited already. Please note that the status only shows whether the new content cell is filled with text or not: it is not able to test whether the text is correct. Use the option Put status (to do) column into exported file in the export dialog to activate or deactivate the output of this column.
status
Table 6.2
Table contents
Caution: A frequently made mistake is to change the text in the content column. New text must be entered in the new content column. The description column indicates which question element is meant in a specific row. You can edit the following types of question elements:
Element Q-text Q-instruct Q-help Category Item HTML-text Message Scale Table 6.3 Changeable question elements Text element Question text Fill-in instruction Help text Answer category Answer item Text with HTML tags Survey message Scale
By default the setting for the export dialog is such that the column internal is hidden, the column Status is activated and the Excel sheet is protected with a Protect Sheet. The password for deactivating the Protect Sheet is located in the export dialog under the Question mark icon: It is constant and applies installation-wide. Deactivation of Protect Sheet is done in MS Excel in the Extras->Protect...->Deactivate Protect Sheet.
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Optimizing the structure of the Excel file for external editing

You can adjust the file structure to your needs. The following special options can be selected in the download dialog: Also export unchangeable data rows: If this option has been activated, (unchangable) context and structure data, such as page title, question title or question type will be output to the Excel file. This makes the exported file somewhat more extensive, and makes it possible for the translator to make more targeted inquiries to the questionnaire programmer. Protect unchangeable columns in Excel file against modifications: If this option is activated, cells with only informational purposes are protected against erroneous changes. Changes to the Excel file are only possible in the column new content, i.e. the area highlighted in color. You can disable the function that protects against changes: This function can be found in Excel in the Extras->Protect...->Deactivate Protect Sheet menu. The required password can be found in EFS under the Question mark icon. (It is constant and applies installation-wide.)
Prefill translation column with the current values: The column new content will be filled with the text elements of the source language. Put status (to do) column into exported file: A supplementary column that automatically marks each row with the status of the translation as either To do or Done. Please note: If you simultaneously select prefilling of the new content column with source text and refrain from using change protection, not only will changes in the new content column be classified as edited, but undesired changes in the column content as well causing the creation of a status change from To do to Done. Therefore pay attention that you only make changes to the new content column highlighted in color.
By default change protection (2) and display of the To do column (4) are activated.
6.6.3
Translating Externally with SDLX

You can use the professional translation software SDLX for external editing, using an HTML file for exporting and importing the text elements. Please take note of the following when translating with SDLX: If you have used HTML to format the questionnaire, you should check carefully, whether all HTML tags are correct before exporting: Because SDLX does not produce HTML error messages, rather it tries to repair incorrect HTML, it is possible that information may get lost. If for example a HTML tag at the beginning of a sentence was not closed properly, SDLX will under certain circumstances not display the sentence at all and the translator will not be able to work on it. When you pass on the exported file for editing to the translator, do not forget to inform the translator about which character set is to be used: The HTML file is always coded in UTF-8. For further details on the functionality and scope of SDLX please refer to the product information and software documentation provided by the manufacturer.
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6.6.4
Using the Version Control Tool

Subsequent changes to texts in multilingual projects are costly: The texts that were changed in the source language must be exported again, passed on to translators, translated and then reimported. To make it easier for you to identify subsequent changes and thus to reduce the text to be translated to only what is really necessary, the External editing function has a version control feature: You can save the file version that was exported and passed on to the translators, create a comparison between the saved and current versions after changes have been made, and then export either the complete questionnaire or only the texts that have really been changed. You can save up to 10 intermediate versions for each project and survey language.
Saving file versions during download

Follow the instructions given in Chapter 6.6.1, p. 281, ticking the checkbox labeled Save exported version for later comparisons.
Viewing differences between saved versions

As soon as two or more exported questionnaire versions have been saved, you will be able to view directly in EFS the changes between the different versions: 1. Open the Versions tab. It contains a list of the saved versions, with the most recent version appearing at the bottom. 2. Specify the version which is to be used as the reference version, and the version which you want to compare with it.
Figure 6.23
Selecting versions for comparison
3. Click on Display. A list of the differences will be output.
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6.7 Editing Page, Question and Trigger Names Externally
Figure 6.24
Viewing differences
Exporting changes
If you only wish to export changes, please proceed as follows: 1. In the Only export changes relative to previously recorded version, select the version against which the comparison is to be performed. In the example shown, all changes made since version 2 will be exported.
Figure 6.25
Choosing the reference file for an export of changes
2. Confirm by clicking on Export.
6.7 Editing Page, Question and Trigger Names Externally

Even though the names of pages, questions and triggers are not displayed in the questionnaire, they do facilitate orientation in the questionnaire editor. Thus, these names must occasionally be edited, e.g. to adjust them to a project-wide standard. Instead of having to click on each element individually and change it step-by-step, EFS Survey makes it possible to export the names of pages, questions or triggers, edit them externally and then reimport them.
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1. Switch to the Questionnaire editor->Title editor menu. 2. Select the desired element names, and specify the file type (CSV or Excel) and character set.
Figure 6.26
Selecting desired element names
3. Confirm by clicking on Export. 4. Save the export file locally. 5. You can now open the file and enter the desired new text in the New title column. In doing so, simply skip over the existing titles that you do not wish to change.
Figure 6.27
Changing names in the exported file
6. After that, you can use the Import tab to reimport the file into EFS Survey.
6.8 Search and Replace

The Search and replace function allows you to search the question texts, answers, and fill-in instructions of a project for a certain keyword and to optionally change the text in one step. Various small features round out this function: Optional case sensitivity Optional search for regular expressions Searchability of default and other language versions in multilingual projects Please note: <img> tags used in the HTML question type for example to insert an image, are not covered by the Search and replace function. The purpose of this restriction is to prevent inadvertent destruction of image linking. The Project checks->Media check function is better suited to manage the linking of images (see Chapter 9.4, p. 394).
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6.8 Search and Replace
Invoking the Search and replace function

Depending on the situation, there are two ways to invoke the Search and replace function: Clicking on the Search and replace menu item in the questionnaire editor opens the general Search and replace dialog which covers the contents of the entire questionnaire. In the questionnaire view, you will find the Search/replace icon in the Actions column. This Search and replace dialog allows you to perform a specific search within a questionnaire branch under a particular page.
Performing a search
The keyword is entered in the search form. Optionally, you may also specifiy the following restrictions or criteria: Search type Normal search: Default setting Case sensitive Regular expression: If you wish to use this option, enter a regular expression instead of a term in the keyword field.
Language to be searched: This option will only be displayed in multilingual projects, by default the search is performed in the default language. Text types to be searched: You can, for example, restrict your search to scale titles or long variable names. To trigger the search, click on the Search button.
Viewing the results

In the results table the results are listed, sorted by page, with the following information: Type: Text type Content: The text of the respective question, answer category or fill-in instruction. From EFS 7.0, the keyword is highlighted. Actions: Edit page: This icon allows you to call up and directly edit the respective page in the questionnaire editor. Preview: Opens the respective page in the questionnaire preview. Edit language elements: In multilingual projects, this icon allows you to switch to the relevant page in the Language editor.
Replacing text elements

If you wish to edit text elements centrally, first select the search results for modification in the Replace column. Then enter the new text element in the Replace with field. Your changes will be performed once you click on the Replace button.
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7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Using Wildcards to Output Predefined Content . . . . . . . . . 293 Using Wildcards to Output Dynamic Content . . . . . . . . . . 297 Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 Initiating Actions with Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Transferring Answers from Another Project . . . . . . . . . . . 346
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7.1 Using Wildcards to Output Predefined Content
Dynamic Elements in the Questionnaire

Dynamic elements such as the wildcards, triggers, lists and loops described below allow you to make the questionnaire content dependent on the respondents entries. The decision on which further questions and answers will be presented to the respondent is not made until runtime, depending on participant data and answers already given. This allows you, for example, to personalize the questionnaire by addressing the respondent directly or by incorporating previous answers into subsequent questions.

You can use wildcards defined by yourself in numerous places in the questionnaire, e.g to facilitate the entry of frequently recurrent text sections or the frequent incorporation of the same image: in the question text, answer text and fill-in instruction for questions with single response lists, questions with multiple response lists and matrix questions, for the HTML question type, on mixed-external pages, and for questions of the above types in the container depot. The following sections explain how to create, use and manage these self-defined wildcards. Below that, you will find a practical example which gives a step-by-step explanation of how to, in particular, make frequently incorporating images clearer and easier by using wildcards. The wildcard administration is designed for up to 250 wildcards. If you and your staff use wildcards a lot, take care to use meaningful names, to prevent e.g. the creation of duplicates. If necessary, develop your own nomenclature.
7.1.1
Defining and Managing Wildcards

The questionnaire editors menu (Projects-> {Selected Project}->Questionnaire editor) contains a menu item called Wildcards. This opens an overview of the wildcards defined for the project.
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Figure 7.1
Managing and editing wildcards
This shows a list of all the wildcards defined for the project, including a search function and the functions for creating new wildcards and importing existing wildcards from other projects, which are explained below.
Defining new wildcards

1. To create new wildcards, click on the Create wildcard button. 2. In the dialog that opens, enter the name of the new wildcard in the Wildcard field. It may contain the characters a-z, A-Z and 0-9 and must be enclosed in two hash signs (#). Furthermore, the name should not be reserved for variables or other wildcards (e.g. project variables v_xxx, participant variables u_xxx, system variables). 3. In the Text field, enter whatever you wish to replace with the wildcard. This may be text, but you can also enter, for example, an HTML tag for an image file. 4. You can then save the new wildcard by clicking on the Create wildcard button.
Figure 7.2
Creating new wildcards
If you wish to use wildcards to incorporate images, you have the option of defining a wildcard for an image even as you are uploading it. See Chapter 7.1.3, p. 295.
Transferring wildcards from other projects

Clicking on the Import wildcards from other survey button will open a list of the projects on the platform. If you select the radio buttons for the project(s) whose wildcards you want to transfer, you can import the wildcards by clicking on the confirmation button.
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Wildcards in multilingual projects

If you are using the wildcard to incorporate text in multilingual projects, you can click on the Edit language elements button to insert and change the corresponding text elements in the various languages. See Chapter 15, p. 569, for detailed information on the EFS functions supporting multilingual projects.
Editing wildcards
In the table listing the wildcards defined for the respective project, the right-hand column contains the following Actions icons: Edit: Changing name and content of the wildcard Delete: Deleting the wildcard
7.1.2
Using Wildcards in the Questionnaire

Once you have defined wildcards for a project, you can access them via the Wildcards tab in the question view and integrate them into the questionnaire. 1. Create a question as usual. 2. First, click on the field in which you wish to insert the wildcard. 3. Next, select the Wildcards tab. 4. The wildcard overview shown in Figure 7.1 will open. Here, you will now find an additional icon representing the Insert wildcard function.
Figure 7.3
The Insert wildcard icon
5. Clicking on this icon will automatically insert the selected wildcard into the answer category and close the window for wildcard administration.
7.1.3
Example: Using Wildcards to Incorporate Images

The wildcard function makes your work easier, especially if you frequently incorporate images into question texts and answer categories: Instead of copying IMG tags from the media library, as before, you can work more quickly using the wildcards, and the answer options remain clearly structured. Therefore, EFS offers the option of defining wildcards even when uploading images to the media library, in addition to the new wildcard administration described above. The following example will introduce you to working with wildcards in general as well as this function in particular.
Creating a wildcard when uploading an image

1. The work process begins in the media library which is located in the questionnaire editor under Projects->{Selected Project}->Questionnaire editor->Media library. 2. Click on the Upload file button. 3. The familiar upload dialog will open. Browse your local hard disk and set the desired file.
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Figure 7.4
Creating a wildcard in the media library
4. Define a wildcard. You can use the characters a-z, A-Z and 0-9. The wildcards must be enclosed in two hash signs (#). 5. Confirm by clicking on Upload.
Incorporating wildcards into a question

6. Switch to the questionnaire editor by clicking on the Back to questionnaire menu item. 7. There, create the planned page as well as the desired question. 8. Formulate the question text. 9. Click into the answer option into which you want to insert the image. 10. Now, select the Wildcards tab. This will open a pop-up window containing the wildcard overview.
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7.2 Using Wildcards to Output Dynamic Content
Figure 7.5
Pop-up window for selecting wildcards in the questionnaire editor
11. Click on the Insert wildcard icon. 12. The wildcard will now automatically be inserted into the answer category, and the dialog will be closed. 13. Save the question. If you wish to change the size of the image, you can either do so before uploading it or use wildcard administration to insert the appropriate HTML attributes into the images IMG tag.
7.2 Using Wildcards to Output Dynamic Content

You can use so-called wildcards to access and display answers already given or data saved in participant administration. When surveying children, for example, you can ask for the name of the child responding and then address the child by name during the further course of the survey.
7.2.1
Inserting Wildcards
If you wish to output contents of the database, simply insert the name of the corresponding variable, enclosed in two hash signs, into a question text or an answer option or at any other place in the questionnaire. For example, the #v_2315# wildcard is
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replaced with the content of the v_2315 project variable. Depending on the variable type, the following replacement rules apply: Project variables (v_000n): Depending on whether you want to output the label or the code of the variable, use the following syntax: #v_000n#: the label of the respective variable. #v_000n|code#: the code of the respective variable. For variables that refer to open-ended text fields, the entry made by the respondent will be displayed in both cases.
URL parameter (p_000n): The wildcards are #p_0001# for the first URL parameter, #p_0002# for the second URL parameter, etc. User-defined variables c_000n: The wildcard is #c_000n#. Participant variables u_000n: The wildcard for the participant administration contents listed in Table 10.4 is #variable name# (e.g. #u_language#). Participant variables of the panelists in EFS Panel installations u_000n: The wildcard for the user table contents listed in Table 10.4 is #variable name# (e.g. #u_name#). Master data of the panelists in EFS Panel installations: The wildcards for master data, m_000n and md_000n, are #m_000n# and #md_000n#. Please note: - Dynamic output of content cannot be tested in preview mode, as data generated in the preview cannot be allocated to a participant account and dataset. - Not all of the above wildcards function in the mail trigger and recoding trigger. The contents of project variables relating to an open text field may also be output using #v_000n# in the trigger. For closed-ended questions the wildcard #v_000n# in the trigger only outputs the code. In the mail trigger, you may, however, insert the question labels or other texts using conditional replacement, see Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477.
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7.3 Lists
7.3 Lists
Using lists, you can make your questionnaire more dynamic: The answer options of a question can be filled via a list. The loops introduced in Chapter 7.4, p. 314 are controlled via lists, i.e. a respondent sees a page within the loop block once for each list element, with the text adjusted to the respective list element using wildcards. There are different methods for filling the list: Dynamic lists draw their elements from questions and other lists. Static lists contain fixed preset elements. The elements of a list which are actually displayed may be determined by both the respondents answers and by complex hiding conditions, depending on the list type and setting. With dynamic lists you can even modify the export of individual list elements to individual questions by using respective item-specific features such as dac, randomization and grouping or taking their setting from the source questions.
Application example
In Chapters 7.3, p. 299 and 7.4, p. 314, a project is created for explanatory purposes which examines the preferences of TV viewers for specific channels and subjects. In the first question, titled Known TV networks, respondents are asked which TV networks they know. This question is used as the source question for creating a list.
Figure 7.6
The lists source question
In the following questions, the respondents are to give more detailed assessments of the TV networks. However, you want those questions to only refer to those networks which the respective respondent knows. This is made possible by the dynamic list created using the first question.
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Figure 7.7
The follow-up question created using a list will only display the selected answers
If it were advisable to always display all answer categories (i.e., in this example, all TV networks), you would use a static list. The following will be explained below: how to create dynamic and static lists (see Chapters 7.3.1, p. 301 and 7.3.2, p. 306) how dynamic and static lists can be used to create a dynamic answer block in a question (see Chapter 7.3.3, p. 308) The number and complexity of the lists in a project affects the performance. The following guiding values provide orientation: - The number of lists is limited to 100 per project. It is recommended to use not more than 50. - Dynamic lists should not refer to more than 5 source questions resp. source lists. - Static lists should not have more than 250 elements.
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7.3 Lists
7.3.1
Creating Dynamic Lists

1. Creating the source question
1. Create a question, enter question and item texts as usual, and then confirm by clicking on Save.
Figure 7.8
Creating the source question and then including it in the list
2. After that, click on the Assign to list button. You will be taken to the lists editor.
2. Creating a dynamic list

Usually, the steps described above will take you from the source question to the dialog for list creation. However, you can also choose Questionnaire editor->Lists and then either select an existing list or click on one of the buttons labeled Create dynamic list and Create static list. Then, proceed as follows:
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1. In the drop-down list, select the list into which you wish to insert the question items as list elements. In this case, however, as there is no existing list yet, you must select New list and confirm by clicking on Next.
Figure 7.9
Selecting source list, if available
2. Give the new list an internal name, in this example TV channel. 3. Specify a wildcard, in this example TVchannel. This wildcard will be used if the list is later inserted into the questionnaire (Chapter 7.3.6, p. 313) or integrated in a loop (see Chapter 7.4, p. 314). The name must be unique. It should contain only the the letters a-z and A-Z, numbers and _. 4. In the Source questions section you can specify from which questions and static lists the elements of the new list are to be drawn. In the example enter the question just created in the drop-down list. After saving you can also add further questions or lists however.
Figure 7.10
Defining the properties of the new list
5. In the Properties of items from source question section, which is only available with dynamic lists, you can specify whether and which properties and contents of source question items should be included in the list. Further information on this can be found in Table 7.1. In the example no particular settings are made.
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7.3 Lists
6. In the Output whole list in questionnaire section you can decide how the list elements are to be strung together if they are output in the questionnaire using wildcards. See Chapter 7.3.6, p. 313, for an explanation of this function. 7. Confirm by clicking on Save. 8. The list will now be created, and the dialog in which you can specify inclusion conditions will appear. The variables of source questions for list elements are marked with the L icon in the question view to indicate that they are accessed by a list.
Adopting item-specific properties from source questions

Optionally, various item properties from source questions can be automatically adopted in the list. They can then be displayed with target questions in the editor but cannot be edited. Automatic property and content adoption is enabled when creating a new list or manually on the General settings tab in the list editor. The table below provides an overview of available options.
Option Adopt grouping of source questions in target questions Adopt randomization at item level from the source question in target questions Meaning Grouping is automatically adopted. If randomization is enabled for an item in the source question this setting is also adopted in the target question. Randomization is however performed anew and the state is not adopted from the source question (unless Adopt ...randomization state is also been enabled Randomization status of source question items is automatically adopted in target questions i.e. items from the source questions are displayed to the respondent in the order seen in the source question. Static elements or other static lists contained in the same dynamic list are likewise placed above, below or in between, according to their numbering. The wording of source and target question is automatically synchronized. Any change to the source question is automatically adopted in target questions. The images of source and target question are automatically synchronized. Any change to the source question is automatically adopted in target questions. The sequence of items in source and target question is automatically synchronised. Any change to the source question is automatically adopted in target questions. If dac is enabled for an item in the source question this setting is also adopted in the target question.
Adopt source question randomization state for target questions
Adopt wording from the source question in target questions
Adopt images from the source question in target questions
Adopt item sequence from the source question in target questions
Adopt DAC at item level from the source question in target questions Table 7.1 Adopting item properties for list elements
3. Specifying properties of the list elements

After you have created a list and made the general settings, the Inclusion conditions tab will appear. It lists the following information and setting options for each list element:
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Variable name: The source questions variable and label. List element no. Source variable: The label used for the source variable in the source question. Type Inclusion conditions: The conditions under which the element concerned is displayed in a target question. The following chapters explain how to specify in advance inclusion conditions individually, for the entire list or for elements yet to be added. Output text: The text that will be output in the questionnaire. (If you are using the list in a loop, you can use wildcards to incorporate the list elements into the questionnaire. In this case, you can click on the links in the Output text column to open a dialog which allows you to create additional wildcards with alternate text versions.)
Figure 7.11
Specifying properties of the list elements
Specifying inclusion conditions for individual list elements

By making the appropriate settings in the drop-down lists in the Inclusion condition column, you can choose between the following options, separately for each element: if selected, always in list: If the respondent has chosen the list element from the source question, it will always be displayed from that point on. if not selected, always list element: If the respondent has not chosen the list element from the source question, it will always be displayed from that point on. always in list: The list element will always be displayed, even if the respondent has not chosen it from the source question. never in list: The element will never be displayed. This setting can be used for elements which are to appear only in the source question. in list if...: As soon as you set this inclusion condition, an Edit icon will appear, allowing you to open the condition editor and define a filter condition. Furthermore, a Copy icon will appear, allowing you to copy inclusion conditions as you would copy hiding conditions at item level (see Chapter 5.16.2, p. 250).
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7.3 Lists
Figure 7.12
Edit icon
always in random selection if selected, always in random selection if not selected, always in random selection in random selection if...: As soon as you set this inclusion condition, an Edit icon will appear, allowing you to open the condition editor and define a filter condition. By default, the if selected, always in list option is preset. Click on Save after you have completed your settings. Clicking on the Back to editor menu item will take you back to the question view of the source question. Once the above mentioned inclusion conditions have been processed, the size of the list can be used for filtering.
Specifying global inclusion conditions

Alternatively, you can also define or change all inclusion conditions with a single click. 1. To do so, click the Define global inclusion conditions button. 2. Select the desired condition in the pop-up that opens.
Figure 7.13
Opening the condition editor
3. When you select a condition that requires detailed definition, the Edit icon is activated in the Actions column. Define the condition in the condition editor. You can use the #varname# and #code# wildcards to do so. #varname#: Wildcard available for selection in the Variables selection field. It is respectively replaced in the various list elements by the name of the variable assigned to the list element in the source question. #code# Can be entered in the Code field. It is replaced in the various list elements by the code the list element has in the source question. 4. Save the settings. All list inclusion conditions are now changed accordingly.
Defining the default setting for all new list elements

You can define in advance which inclusion conditions newly created list elements shall have by default in dynamic lists. To do so, select the desired preset from the Expert settings section in the Inclusion conditions tab and then Save. If you select a complex
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condition you can, as described above, open the condition editor and formulate the condition in generalized terms using the #varname# and #code# wildcards.
7.3.2
Creating Static Lists

A static list is not composed using the items of source questions or source lists, but the list elements are directly entered.
1. Creating a static list

1. Open the Questionnaire editor->Lists menu and click on the Create static list button.
Figure 7.14
Creating a static list
2. Give the new list an internal name, in this example Subjects. 3. Enter a wildcard. 4. Confirm by clicking on Save. 5. The List elements tab will be opened automatically. To create a new list element, enter its name in the New element row. Then, confirm each entry by clicking on Save.
Figure 7.15
Creating static list elements
2. Importing static list elements

You can import the elements of static lists or copy out elements that have already been created in a special format, edit them externally and then reimport them.
Formatting import data

The following format should be used:
List element ID;list element number;wildcard 1;wildcard 2;wildcard 3; wildcard 4;wildcard 5;inclusion condition
The inclusion conditions must be encoded as follows:
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7.3 Lists
1: always in list 2: never in list 3: in list if... 4: always in random selection 6.: in random selection if... You can create lists with an appropriate format, e.g. in MS Excel.
Performing the import

1. Navigate to the Projects->{Selected project}->Questionnaire editor->Lists menu, and create a new static list. 2. Open the List elements tab. Instead of creating elements manually, you can click on the Import list elements button.
Figure 7.16
Entering import data
3. Select the desired separator, and enter the elements in the correct format. If you have created an Excel table, transfer the content, but not the column labels, using copy & paste. 4. Confirm by clicking on Import. 5. Click on the List elements tab to switch to the overview of the list elements that have been created.
Editing and exporting list elements

List elements that have already been created will be output in the input field and can then be edited. If you wish to delete an element, simply remove it from the list. External editing is also possible:
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1. Copy the content of the input field into Excel. 2. Should Excel copy the data into a cell instead of formatting it correctly, select Data->Text to Columns. Choose the data type Delimited, and confirm by clicking on Next. 3. Choose the separator, and confirm by clicking on Next again. 4. Check the display, and then confirm by clicking on Finish.
3. Specifying properties of the list elements

In the case of static lists, you also specify the inclusion conditions for the list elements on the List elements tab, in the Inclusion conditions column. Of the inclusion conditions mentioned in Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301 above, the following are available: always in list never in list in list if... always in random selection in random selection if... By default, the always in list option is preset. Alternatively, you can also define or change all inclusion conditions at once, using the Define global inclusion conditions function, as described above. If the static list is to be used in a loop at a later time, you can use the Wildcards tab to set up several wildcards with alternate texts (see Chapter 7.4.3, p. 319).
7.3.3
Incorporating Static and Dynamic Lists into Questions

1. Create a page titled TV channel usage, and create a question of the Multiple response list (vertical) type (type 121). 2. All question types in which using lists is advisable contain the Dynamic answers section. Later, if a list has been integrated, this section can optionally be hidden using the [+] icon.
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7.3 Lists
Figure 7.17
The Dynamic answers section
3. Clicking on the Select button allows you to select a list.
Figure 7.18
Selecting a list
4. Select the list TV channel and confirm by clicking on Save. 5. Click on the Back to editor menu item to return to the question you are editing. Here you will find the elements of the selected list in the Dynamic answers area.
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Figure 7.19
The selected dynamic answer elements in the questionnaire editor
6. Depending on the target question type, item-specific functionalities such as randomization, grouping and dac are available with dynamic list elements. If desired, you can set these separately for each target question. Alternatively, you can also adopt the settings from the source question, see Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301. 7. You have the choice of offering only list elements as answer categories. In this case, you should tick the Delete checkbox for all other answer categories and then click on Save. offering list elements as well as standard answer categories. In this case, you can change the positions of the elements by changing their numbering. Then click on Save.
7.3.4
Configuring the Output of the List

The inclusion conditions described in Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301 are used to set the conditions under which elements are generally added to the list. Before outputting the list as a concrete question you can set up further restrictions and carry out sorting rules.
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7.3 Lists
Press the Options button to find the appropriate setting options in the question view of the list questions. The special options described in this chapter cannot be used in questions with groupings.
Figure 7.20
Question-specific output options
Selecting list elements

The following selection possibilities are available to you: Select [n] elements at random from the list: You can set the number of elements that can be selected. Please mind: This random selection is applied only to elements with inclusion conditions if selected, always in random selection, in random selection if ... and always in random selection. Configure extended random selection: You can make the random selection dependent on the number of elements chosen by the participant. Please see Chapter 7.3.5, p. 312 for details.
Select only the [n] elements with the highest / lowest code value: These options apply to the code which you assigned to the items of each question. This option is only suitable for single response questions or matrix questions. With a multiple response or a select box matrix the code can only take on the values of 0 (not selected) and 1 (selected), therefore the use of this question type is senseless.
Sorting the remaining list elements

The following sorting options are available to you, by default it is set to unsorted.
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Unsorted (default setting) Sorted numerically according to answers in the source question (ascending / descending): Sorting is done on the basis of entries made by respondents in source questions with text fields. Sorted alphabetically according to answers in the source question (ascending / descending): Sorting is done on the basis of entries made by respondents in source questions with text fields. Sorted alphabetically by list element label (ascending / descending): It will be sorted by list element label.
7.3.5
In Detail: Extended Random Selection of List Elements

You can make the random selection, which was introduced in the previous chapter, dependent on the number of elements chosen by the participant. Extended random selection can only be used in combination with the following types of inclusion conditions: if selected, always in random selection in random selection if ... always in random selection
1. Configuring extended random selection

1. Click on the Options button in the page view of the desired questionnaire page. 2. Among the random selection options you already know, you will find the Configure extended random selection button. Clicking on the button will open the condition editor.
Figure 7.21
Entering a condition
3. Enter the desired condition and confirm by clicking on Save. 4. If required, you can define additional conditions which will be processed in the order you define. 5. Return to the Options dialog by clicking on Back. 6. If you click on the Info icon, the condition will be displayed. This icon will also appear in the question view.
Figure 7.22
Displaying a condition
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7.3 Lists
7.3.6
Outputting Lists in the Questionnaire

You can output entire lists in the questionnaire, e.g. to issue a confirmation to respondents of what they have selected, as in the example shown. If you use this feature, the output will be subject to the inclusion conditions defined for the list, i.e. if you have specified, for example, a dynamic list and the inclusion condition if selected, always in list, the selected elements will be output via wildcard.
The operation of the function is summarized as follows: The list-ID (#1_xxx#) serves as a wildcard. You can specify which general separator to use and the separator between the last two elements of the list. You can define alternative labeling for the list elements. It is not possible to use this wildcard to output list elements, which come from the multimedia question types 511 and 521: Instead of images, the related alternative texts will be output. However, if you use HTML to incorporate images directly into the items of a list source question, these images will be output.
Viewing the list ID and inserting it into questionnaires

You will find the list ID in the overview of the Lists menu.
Figure 7.23
List IDs
Using the form #l_xxx#, insert this list ID into the desired position in the questionnaire text, where it will serve as a wildcard.
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Specifying separators
1. Open the menu Lists, select the desired list, and then open the General settings tab. 2. Enter the usual separator into the Separator between list elements field. See figure 7.10, S. 302. 3. If you wish to use a special separator before the last element in the listing (e.g. the word and or <br>), enter this separator into the field entitled Separator right before the last list element. 4. After that, confirm by clicking on Save.
Changing list element labels

You can change the labels of the list elements displayed. Define the required sets of text elements on the Wildcard tab as will be familiar from loops. These alternative sets are imported via wildcards with the format #listID_x#. That is, the second set of text elements in the first list of the project (list ID 1) is output via #1_1_2#. To translate the separators and wildcards in multilingual projects, find the list in the overview of the Questionnaire editor->Lists menu and click on the Globe icon.
7.3.7
Tips and Tricks

How can I check the functionality of lists in the preview?
The preview for questions which were created using a dynamic list will only display the list elements if they were previously listed in the source question. It is therefore recommended that you either open the page preview for the source questions or open the preview from the Survey menu.
Can I interleave lists into one another?

You can integrate one or more static lists into a dynamic list. Deeper level interleaving or integration of a dynamic list into another dynamic list is not possible.
Can I delete list elements?

Elements of a dynamic list cannot be simply deleted in the list. You can delete an individual element from the source question. This will completely remove it from the list and from all questions which access the list. If you want an element not to be seen by the respondent, you should set the never in list inclusion condition for this element (see Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301).
7.4 Loops
The Loop page type differs from other EFS page types insofar that its page contents and variables are not yet fixed at the beginning of the survey, but newly calculated for each respondent during the survey. This means that variables and pages within loops are formed dynamically, which is a difference from the EFS variables and pages you are familiar with, also in terms of functionality.
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7.4 Loops
Example
In the second part of the example project titled Television, which was introduced in the previous chapter, you want to find out how satisfied the respondent is with the way various subjects are realized by the various TV channels. As the question is identical for each channel, a loop is used. The question that the respondent is to answer for several TV channels is: Have you got one or more favorite programs on #TVchannel#? To generate this question group, a questionnaire page titled Favorite programs is set up indented below a page of type Loop. This page contains the question, with the question text containing the #TVchannel# wildcard. When the page is invoked in the questionnaire, this wildcard is filled from the dynamic list titled TV channels which you created in Chapter 7.3.1, p. 301, i.e. the respondent will see the page more than once with different channel names. The page is looped.
Figure 7.24 ject
The loop and the looped questionnaire page titled Favorite programs in the sample pro-
Figure 7.25 The questionnaire page titled Favorite programs will be presented to the respondent for all TV channels specified for the Knowledge of TV channels source question
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7.4.1
Creating and Configuring a Loop

Creating a loop
1. Create a new page titled Questions about known TV channels, choosing the Loop page type.
Figure 7.26
Creating a loop
2. Confirm by clicking on Submit. 3. The new loop page will be displayed in the questionnaire view.
Figure 7.27
The Loop page type in the questionnaire view
Choosing a list
4. Click on the title of the loop. 5. The list selection dialog described in Chapter 7.3.3, p. 308 will open.
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7.4 Loops
Figure 7.28
Selecting a list
6. Select the list to be assigned to this loop. In the example, respondents are asked to assess the range of various TV channels, i.e. you must choose the TV channel list. 7. Then, click on Save.
Defining processing rules

In order to configure the output rules for lists that have been placed within a loop, click on the icon Edit page properties of the loop page in the questionnaire view. An explanation of the entry form can be found in Chapter 7.3.4, p. 310. The additional option Randomize list elements is available on loop pages. See Chapter 4.9, p. 161, for further information on randomization. Furthermore, you can specify a condition for cancelling the loop. To open the condition editor, click the Edit link in the Cancel loop, if field.
7.4.2
Creating a Looped Page

1. Your next step is to create a looped page, i.e. a page that will be displayed repeatedly, displaying one element of the loop list after the other. The procedure for this is similar to that for creating a filtered questionnaire page: In the row containing the loop page, click on the Create new page or filter icon, enter Favorite pro-
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grams as the title, choose the Standard page type, and then click on Submit to save. The page will now be create as a looped page.
Figure 7.29
The new looped page titled Favorite programs
2. Create one or more questions on the page. Insert the question text, using the #TVchannel# wildcard.
Figure 7.30
Inserting the question text using a wildcard
3. Enter any existing answer items as usual. (The example shown was simplified by choosing an open-ended question, for which this is not necessary.) Make any further required settings, and then click on Save.
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7.4 Loops
7.4.3
Applications
1. Creating a second looped page
You can create several looped pages for one loop. The next figure shows the sample project you already know, with a page titled Assessment by subject added to the Favorite programs page you created in Chapter 7.4.2, p. 317.
Figure 7.31
Questionnaire view of the sample project with several looped pages
In the questionnaire, these two pages will now be presented to the respondent for all TV channels specified for the Knowledge of TV channels source question, i.e. the sequence of questionnaire pages seen in the loop will be as follows: 4. Favorite programs for the first TV channel specified as known 5. Assessment by subject for the first TV channel specified as known 6. Favorite programs for the second TV channel specified as known 7. Assessment by subject for the second TV channel specified as known 8. ...etc.
2. Creating answer items on looped pages via further lists

As usual, you can manually enter answer items for pages in a loop. However, it is also possible to access a dynamic or static list. For example, you can enter the answer items for the Assessment by subject page shown in the figure as with the standard procedure, but you can also retrieve the items from a list.
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Figure 7.32 The question text on this page is determined via the loop, and the answer items are generated via another list
To do so, please proceed as follows: 1. Create the Assessment by subject page. 2. On this page, create a question of the Standard matrix 1 type (type 311). 3. Enter the question text. In doing so, replace the name of the TV channel with the wildcard of the list that is associated with the loop, i.e., in this example, the #TVchannel# wildcard of the TV channels list. 4. Open the Scale options area by clicking on the [+] icon, and enter the scale for the matrix. Then, click on Save. 5. Open the Dynamic answers area by clicking on the [+] icon, and then click on the Select button. 6. Choose the list you wish to use to determine the answer items, i.e., in this example, the Subjects list. Confirm by clicking on Save. 7. Clicking on Back to editor will take you back to the question view. For the default answer categories, tick the Delete checkbox. 8. Complete the work process by clicking on Save.
3. Loop-in-Loop
It is possible to nest up to three loops. If you intend to evaluate the result data subsequently in SPSS, please note the following: The SPSS exports variable length is limited to eight characters. With interleaved loops or loops with many pass-throughs this length can be exceeded. In projects with complex loops prior to survey commencement you should therefore check whether the data can be exported subsequently by SPSS as desired.
4. Incorporating wildcards into answer options

You can incorporate the wildcard of the list controlling the loop both into the question text, as explained above, and into an answer optionss. Furthermore, you can incorporate several versions of the wildcards into the same question (see the following section for details).
5. Outputting different text versions via wildcards

When creating the looped page in Chapter 7.4.2, p. 317, you formulated the question text so that the names of all list elements fit in. This can often pose difficulties. If, for example, you are using several looped pages, you may wish to insert the list elements in the singular in one question and in the plural in another. That would not be possible with only one wildcard.
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7.4 Loops
The lists used in EFS therefore offer the possibility of creating the standard wildcard (#wildcard#) plus four more wildcard versions (#wildcard_2#, #wildcard_3#,...). These give you more flexibility in formulating your question texts. The dialog for creating alternate wildcards for loops is located on the lists editors Wildcards tab.
Figure 7.33
Using different text versions
For each list element, the content of the standard wildcard (Wildcard 1) is defaulted via the source question and cannot be changed. The other wildcards can be filled with your own content. In a question, the alternative texts are incorporated using the wildcards #wildcard_2# through #wildcard_5#, with wildcard to be replaced with the name of the general wildcard for this list. If, for example. the name of the general wildcard is #TVchannel#, the alternate texts will be invoked using #TVchannel_2# through #TVchannel_5#. To translate the wildcards in multilingual projects, find the list in the overview of the Questionnaire editor->Lists menu and click the Globe icon.
7.4.4
Filtering on Loop Variables

You can access variables in a loop branch from all filters, regardless of whether the filters are placed within or outside of the loop branch.
Filtering based on loop conditions within a loop branch

If the filter is located in a loop branch, you only have to select the desired variable. The filtering will occur automatically based on the current loop condition.
Filtering on the basis of loop variables from outside a loop

If the filter is located outside the loop branch, simply selecting the variable will not be enough: If you did that, you would automatically perform the filtering based on the last current loop condition, which is not necessarily the condition you want to use. To clearly specify the desired loop condition, please proceed as follows: 1. In the condition editor, select the loop variable, and click on Save. 2. A new checkbox labeled Restrict to list elements will be displayed, allowing you to filter based on a single, clearly defined loop condition. 3. Tick the checkbox, and click on Save.
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4. The loop name will be displayed. Additionally, a drop-down list allows you to choose a single list element. 5. Make your selection, and click on Save again.
Figure 7.34
Filtering based on specific conditions of a loop
Describing loop conditions

The codebook describes the conditions on a loop, e.g. variable combinations belonging to each looped page and the outputted list elements: If, for example, a looped page contains the variable v_6 with four characteristics (1=Very satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Partly satisfied, 4=Not satisfied) and four elements of a dynamic list are to be output, then the conditions of this loop will be described by the following variables: v_6_1: results for the question in the loop condition, in which the first list element selected for the display was displayed, with characteristics 1=Very satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Partly satisfied, 4=Not satisfied. v_6_2: results for the question in the loop condition, in which the second list element selected for the display was displayed, with characteristics 1=Very satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Partly satisfied, 4=Not satisfied. v_6_3: results for the question in the loop condition, in which the third list element selected for the display was displayed, with characteristics 1=Very satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Partly satisfied, 4=Not satisfied. v_6_4: results for the question in the loop condition, in which the fourth list element selected for the display was displayed, with characteristics 1=Very satisfied, 2=Satisfied, 3=Partly satisfied, 4=Not satisfied.
7.4.5
EFS Features with Limited or No Functionality in Loop Projects

The Back button cannot be used within a loop branch due to the dynamic creation of the loop pages. If randomization and/or random selection are applied to the list elements of a loop and a participant resumes the questionnaire after an interruption, randomization
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7.4 Loops
or random selection will be executed anew when entering the loop. I.e. on resumption the participant may see other elements in another sort order. Until EFS 7.0, only a restricted version of randomization was available for the answer options of loop questions: The answer options were randomized once at the start of the loop and kept their resulting position throughout all loop cycles. In EFS 7.1, this has been fixed. If the answer options of the source question of a loop are grouped (Chapter 5.11.4, p. 220), display depends of the group items. To display the answer options, the allocated group item must always be part of the list (inclusion condition always in list). If a group item is not part of the list, its allocated answer options are skipped in the loop. The plausibility check editor (Chapter 5.14, p. 231) does not accept the v_x_y variable names (v_variablenumber_listelementnumber) used in loops. If you wish to access the current value of a variable in a loop, simply use the conventional variable name instead, e.g. v_x, and omit the _y_z part that follows. When defining quota conditions (Chapter 10.4, p. 453), you cannot access loop variables. It is not possible to use a page trigger (Chapter 7.5.4, p. 333) to redirect to a page located within a loop branch. In the case of the variable split trigger (Chapter 7.5.8, p. 336), variables located within a loop branch cannot be used as a split attribute. It is not possible to recode variables located within a loop branch with a recoding trigger (Chapter 7.5.9, p. 338). Time measurement cannot be applied to variables located within a loop branch. The quality index will be skewed because looped pages are sent more than once and the survey table has only one timestamp field. It is not possible to upload externally collected loop data into EFS via project data import (Chapter 12.11, p. 515). It is not possible to display missing values for pages within a loop branch in Online statistics. Questions on pages within a loop branch are not displayed in the Detail view (Chapter 12.6, p. 507). Data from variables located within a loop branch cannot be cleaned using the Data cleaning function (Chapter 13.11, p. 544). It is not possible to split the field report (Chapter 12.3.6, p. 504) using variables located within a loop. It is not possible to include loop data into reports created with EFS Reporting +. From EFS 7.0 on, loops can be used in master data and panel surveys. But the data collected in the loop cannot be used as master dataa: A master data transfer of loop data into the master data is not possible.
7.4.6
Exporting and Evaluating Loop Data

The export process
When loops are used, large amounts of data must be processed. Accordingly, generating the export record will be very time-consuming. Therefore, if you only need specific data, it is recommended that you use the selective export described in the following section. When exporting, please proceed as follows:
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1. You can initiate the process from the Export menu as usual: first, choose the Data (all answers) option. When selecting the export format please note the following: The SPSS exports variable length is limited to eight characters. With interleaved loops or loops with many pass-throughs this length can be exceeded. If you wish to export data with SPSS check in projects with complex loops whether the data can be exported subsequently by SPSS as desired before commencing with the survey. 2. In the next dialog, select the desired basic and advanced options. 3. Tick the checkbox in the Select data area. 4. Confirm with Export. 5. In the next dialog, select the desired variables. The loop variables are not listed individually: they can be selected or de-selected using the All loop variables of the questionnaire option. 6. Confirm with Export. 7. Once the file has been generated, you will be notified via e-mail. Clicking on the link contained in the notification mail will take you directly to the download page. 8. In the Export tasks menu, you can check the status of the export job. If you are taken to the login form after clicking on the link contained in the notification mail, log in, and then click on the link in the e-mail again. 9. After clicking on Copy file to local PC, you can continue the download as usual.
Export variables
The export variables are composed as follows:
v_variablenumber_listelementnumber
When one loop is nested into another, this becomes:

v_variablenumber_listelementnumberlist1_listelementnumberlist2
Raw data export

Raw data of the loops in a project allow you to trace exactly what and in which order a respondent has seen and answered in the loop. In order to export the raw data selectively, you must first choose the Raw loop data option in the Export menu. Then choose the desired basic and advanced options, as usual. For each participant, the raw loop data record contains a column for every list element used, comprising the following information:
Variable lfdn tester dispcode loop Tabelle 7.2 Meaning The respondents consecutive number Indicates whether the participant in question is a tester (not for anonymous projects), 1 being for a tester and 0 for a normal participant. The participants disposition code Loop ID Loop raw data
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7.5 Initiating Actions with Triggers
(cont.)Variable loopnumber le_nr (in case of nesting gle_nr, ple_nr, le_nr)
Meaning Number of the loop cycle List element no. of the element to which the respective loop cycle refers. Which elements are used in the loop depends on the inclusion conditions for the list and the loop. If several loops are nested (no more than three possible), the list elements displayed at a certain stage of the loop cycle are coded as follows: The list element at the top nesting level is marked with gle_ (g = grand), i.e. ple_nr represents the list element number and ple_text the output text. The list element at the next level is marked with ple_ (p = parent). The list element loaded by the loop at the center of the nest is marked with le_. The text output for the respective list element. (Various text versions can be output using the wildcards from Chapter 7.4.3, p. 319.) The answers given in the respective cycle The duration of survey completion, i.e. the time elapsed between the respondents first and last accessing of the questionnaire. See Table 13.2. Date and time of when the survey was last accessed.
le_text v_000x duration lastaccs Tabelle 7.2
Loop raw data

You may often wish to link certain actions to specific events. For example, in a customer satisfaction survey, customers can report negative experiences. Now, you wish to automatically e-mail the customers report to your customer center. In another survey a respondent may request additional information material. In this case it would be helpful if the respondents address data (as far as they have been voluntarily submitted) were directly transferred to your sales department or if the submission of the corresponding information material were triggered automatically. Using triggers you can (if applicable) enter additional information on the respondent into the survey at runtime and make it available to the respondent as context information, or make the route through the questionnaire dependent on the value of this information. You can use triggers to perform these tasks by selecting and configuring the appropriate actions and associating them with specific variable values within the questionnaire.
7.5.1
Example: Using a Trigger for Sending Feedback Mails

In many questionnaires it is considered polite to have a final open-ended question at the end of the questionnaire and ask the respondent if they have anything else to say. Especially if you design a survey in the form of a conversation, it is to be expected that not all the thoughts the respondent has developed while answering the questionnaire will be revealed with the help of closed-ended questions. In order to give the respondent the opportunity to round off the conversation from their point of view, they are allowed to enter information. The survey manager has this sent to himself directly in order to have the option of reacting directly to events in the field. Below, a mail trigger for a personalized survey is created to trigger the dispatch of such a participant comment to the survey manager.
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Creating a mail trigger

In the first step, you create the trigger. Creating triggers always follows the same pattern: 1. In the Questionnaire editor, open the page containing the open-ended question.
Figure 7.35 Opening the Trigger menu
2. Click on the Trigger tab to access the trigger menu.
Figure 7.36
Creating a trigger
3. Click on the Create trigger button.
Figure 7.37
Selecting the trigger type
4. Enter the name of the new trigger. 5. Select the Mail trigger trigger type. An overview of the various trigger types is given in Chapter 7.5.2, p. 329. 6. Confirm with Create. 7. The edit dialog for the new trigger opens.
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Making basic settings

On the first tab, settings must be made which are required for all trigger types. 8. Enter a description. 9. In the Execution position field, select the After submitting page, after filter option.
Figure 7.38
Making basic settings
10. If you only wish to send the mail when the respondent has actually made a comment, then you must define corresponding conditions: Click on the Edit link in the Condition field. Enter the desired definition in the condition editor. In this example the mail should only be sent out if the text field with the variable name v_11 is filled in, i.e. not empty. The corresponding condition is: v_11 greater , i.e. you leave the Code field empty. Confirm with Save. Next, switch back to the mail trigger by clicking on Back.
Figure 7.39 Defining the condition for the mail trigger initiation
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11. Optionally, you can execute the triggers in the questionnaire preview. For mail triggers, testing in the preview is not really useful. u_e-mail or any project variables used are not replaced correctly: they cannot be allocated to a participant account in the preview. Therefore, keep the checkbox deactivated. Instead create a test participant with an e-mail address to which you have access and use this account to test the questionnaire in productive mode. For details on testing mail triggers, see the corresponding section in Chapter 7.5.3, p. 332. 12. You may also also optionally execute the trigger multiple times in one survey. This doesn't make any sense in this example, therefore don't activate the checkbox. 13. Save the settings.
Setting special options

In the final step configure the mail to be sent. 14. Open the Spezial settings tab: It contains mail trigger-specific options. 15. Optionally, you can use a mail template of type Standard mail, filled according to the instructions below. If you choose this option, select the template first, then upload by clicking Apply mail template. 16. As this is a personalized survey, you can select the u_email wildcard from the drop-down list in the mail dynamically from field. If participants fill in the comment field, the wildcard will be replaced with the e-mail address which was saved for them in participant administration. 17. Enter the survey manager as mail recipient.
Figure 7.40
Entering mail sender and mail recipient
18. In the Subject field, enter the title Employee survey feedback. 19. In the Mail text field, enter the variable for the comment field v_11, enclosed by two hash signs (#). During the course of the survey this wildcard will be replaced with the participants entry.
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Abbildung 7.41
Using a wildcard to insert the comment
20. Leave the default setting for the dispatch date unchanged. 21. Confirm with Save. To test your mail trigger, create a test participant with an e-mail address to which you have access and use this account to test the questionnaire under real-live conditions. For details on testing mail triggers, see the corresponding section in Chapter 7.5.3, p. 332.
7.5.2
Triggers in Detail
The following table provides an overview of the different trigger types.
Trigger Mail trigger Properties Upon occurrence of the event to be defined, an e-mail with predefined or dynamically generated content will be sent to an e-mail address that was either defined in advance or collected during the survey. Upon occurrence of the event to be defined, the respondent will be directed to a certain page of the survey. Upon occurrence of the trigger event, the respondent will be directed to the final page. Upon occurrence of the event to be defined, the participant will be registered in a sample of a personalized or panel project and will be invited via e-mail to participate in the survey. The trigger reinvites the participant to take part in the same survey. This feature can be used if, for example, the respondent does not want to fill in the survey now but agrees to be reminded of it via e-mail. The trigger reads cookies and Get parameters, respectively, and writes them into user-defined variables. It is able to use a split attribute to separate cookies and passed parameters into single variables. This trigger can be used to recode survey variables. The recoded values can, for example, be transferred from other variables or calculated on the basis of the entries made by participants. Details Chaper 7.5.3, p. 332
Page trigger Logout trigger Sample trigger
Chapter 7.5.4, p. 333 Chapter 7.5.5, p. 334 Chapter 7.5.6, p. 334 Chapter 7.5.7, p. 335
Reinvitation trigger
Variable split trigger
Chapter 7.5.8, p. 336
Recoding trigger
Chapter 7.5.9, p. 338
Table 7.3
Trigger types
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(cont.)Trigger Random trigger List trigger
Properties This trigger can be used to generate a random number from a specified interval. The list trigger allows you to transfer the contents of a list into user-defined variables. The contents of the user-defined variables can in turn be displayed in the questionnaire via wildcards. Upon occurrence of the event to be defined, the panelists will be credited with bonus points. Please note: Until EFS 7.0, bonus points could be credited only once per panelist and survey. The allocation was triggered either by a bonus trigger or when reaching a final page. From EFS 7.1, this limitation has been dropped. Please see Chapter 7.5.12, p. 345 for details. The trigger adds a survey participant to a specific panel group.
Details Chapter 7.5.10, p. 342 Chapter 7.5.11, p. 343
Only on EFS Panel installations: Bonus trigger
Chapter 7.5.12, p. 345
Only on EFS Panel installations: Panel group trigger Table 7.3 Trigger types
Chapter 7.5.13, p. 346
Basic notes on triggers

You can specify whether to execute the trigger more than once in a survey session. To do so, tick the checkbox labeled Execute this trigger multiple times in one survey session in the trigger editor. You are able to choose whether triggers will be executed or disabled in the preview. For example, it would make sense to disable the random trigger, in order to facilitate repeated testing under constant conditions. This function is activated by ticking the checkbox labeled Also execute trigger in preview mode in the trigger editor. By default this function is not activated. In order to test the functionality of triggers repeatedly in productive mode, you will have to close the browser window with the questions after each run through of the triggers, delete the cookies saved by the browser and then open the questionnaire again. In principle, triggers can only be created on pages of the Standard type. On each page, you can create as many triggers as required. Please mind, though, that trigger actions require a lot of server resources, i.e. they affect the performance of the questionnaire. Therefore, it is recommended to use not more than 50 triggers per page. Triggers are associated with a variable on the standard page. If the page does not contain a variable, use a dummy variable: Create a question of the type 911 - Userdefined to register a variable with the system. Write the variable onto the form as a hidden variable: <input type=hidden name=V_NAME_AUS_911 value=1>. This will transfer a fixed value to the trigger. With all trigger types, you can determine the execution position: When a survey page is sent, the EFS Survey routing engine goes through various tasks: It reviews plausibility checks, saves the data, searches for the next page and displays it. The execution position determines the point in the process at which the trigger is executed. The following execution positions are possible and only those which make sense for the current trigger type are available for selection in the trigger editor.
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Select Execution position = Directly, if you want the trigger to be executed first, before the page on which the trigger is defined will be output. Do not use this setting on the first page of a survey. If you select Execution position = After submitting page, before filter, the trigger will be executed after the page has been submitted, but before a filter that immediately follows it. Select this option if you want to use the result returned by the trigger for filtering (for example, if the trigger result fulfills a user-defined variable being used as a filter). This execution position is not available on final pages, independent of the trigger type. For page trigger, logout trigger and reinvitation trigger, it is disabled completely. If you select Execution position = After submitting page, after filter, the trigger will be executed after the page has been submitted. You can use this option if the trigger returns a result that you only want to use after the filter has been applied, i.e. the next page has been determined. For example, it is imaginable that you want to overwrite a user-defined variable, but only after the trigger has been executed.
You will usually be on the safe side if you select the Execution position = After submitting page, before filter option! You can create triggers with the execution position Directly right on the first standard page of a survey. The conditions of such a trigger can contain participant variables, URL parameters and user-defined variables. Project variables cannot be used in such a trigger because they will not be available until after the first page has been sent, i.e. on the second page of the project. Many trigger types involve sending an e-mail. You specify a sender, a sending date and the content of the e-mail. The content of the e-mail is defined by reference to an existing mail template of the Default mail type. You can define default mail templates under Options->Mail templates. Some trigger types create contents to be saved in the survey result data, e.g. calculating formulas or saving parameters. For this, you need user-defined variables which you create in advance under Project properties. Make sure you adjust the type of the user-defined variable (Labels and data type link) if you do not want to save integers to the variable. If necessary, change the type to Text or Decimal. The runtime check, originally introduced for LUA filters, notes when a trigger cannot be executed, e.g. because an e-mail cannot be dispatched due to a broken if condition. See Chapter 9.8, p. 398.
Condition editor
In the condition editor, you specify for which event the trigger will be activated / executed. In Table 4.4 you can find an overview of the available operators.
Basic steps
The basic steps to creating a trigger are identical for all trigger types: 1. Create a page of the Standard type. 2. Create a question of the type of your choice. 3. Select a trigger type. 4. Specify the execution position.
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5. Select the variable (question) with which you want to associate the trigger. 6. Specify the answer value at which the trigger is to be activated. 7. Specify the triggers detail properties in the respective editing dialog (select a mail template, etc.)
7.5.3
The Mail Trigger

The mail trigger described earlier in the introductory example in Chapter 7.5.1, p. 325, is available for all survey types. When a defined event occurs, it will trigger the dispatch of an e-mail whose content was predefined, dynamically generated or entered by the respondent to an address that was either defined in advance or collected during the survey.
Basic settings
When configuring basic settings for a mail trigger please note the following features: Execution position: As the execution position you should choose After submitting page, after filter. Condition: Definition of an appropriate condition is of special significance for mail triggers. For example, you can ensure that e-mails are only sent when the participant has completely filled a comments field.
Special options
In addition the following specific settings must be made for this trigger type: Mail template: Optionally, the mails dispatched by the trigger can be defined using mail templates and only uploaded in the trigger editor. Mail sender Manually defined mail sender: The e-mail address of the sender must be entered, it cannot be adopted from a mail template. Entering a real name (e.g. John Doe <john.doe@example.com>) is not possible in triggers. Dynamic mail sender: here you can select the variables for single row text fields (141) and Other fields (answer category + text). In personalized projects, the additional u_email wildcard is available, which is filled with the stored survey participants e-mail address. If you use the ACL right mail_reply to hide Reply-To and Return-Path (usually for privacy protection), please take care to enter clearly-defined values in the mail template which your staff is supposed to use for the trigger. The default options Reply-To = From and Return-Path = From cannot be used, because they are filled with the mail sender entered manually by the responsible staff member.
Mail recipient: Manually defined recipient: In this field, you can define one or more recipients who do not necessarily have to be included in the EFS Survey system. You may either enter a single e-mail address or several e-mail addresses separated by commas. The e-mail will be sent to all the recipients you have defined. Dynamic mail recipient: You can select the variables for single row text fields (141) and Other fields (answer category + text). In personalized projects, the additional u_email wildcard is available, which is filled with the stored survey participants e-mail address.
Mailing date:
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Immediately upon activation of the trigger. This option is preset as the default. Scheduled Dynamically upon activation of the trigger: This option triggers the dispatch after a period defined by the user, which can range from 30 minutes to 6 months.
Tips for creating mail templates for mail triggers

When creating mail templates specially for mail triggers please note the following: The Subject field should have a meaningful content as otherwise the e-mail may be filtered out as spam under certain circumstances. What you enter in the mail forms Content field is dependent on the purpose of the trigger: If you wish to send predefined mail content then enter the desired content in the form. At this point you can use the wildcards available in the respective project type (Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477). If, on the other hand, you wish to send content entered by the participant, as in the introductory example of Chapter 7.5.1, p. 325, enter the variable of the corresponding input field in the questionnaire as a wildcard enclosed by two hash signs (#). If you wish to output the participants answers to closed-ended questions you can work with conditional replacement. Refer to Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477.
On EFS Panel installations the mail trigger can access panel-specific values and master data variables using the #panelpoints#, #panelist_code# and #md_00# wildcards.
Testing mail triggers

When testing a mail trigger, please note: u_email or any project variables used are not replaced correctly when testing via the questionnaire preview, as data generated in the preview cannot be allocated to a participant account and dataset. Instead, the e-mails are always sent to that admin area staff member who has triggered the dispatch. To test the mail trigger properly, create a test participant with an e-mail address to which you have access, and test in productive mode. In this way you can check whether the wildcards used are correctly replaced by the e-mail address and/or questionnaire entries.
7.5.4
The Page Trigger

Generally, the questionnaire dramaturgy is configured by setting appropriate filters. As an alternative, the page trigger is available in all project types. You can use this trigger to specify any page as the next page to be shown to the respondent, depending on the selected variable characteristic. You can jump to previous and next pages. The page trigger is available for all project types. Select the following execution position: After submitting page, after filter. Use this trigger type with caution because the questionnaire will quickly become cluttered for the administrator.
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Example: Realizing a questionnaire with a table of contents

Most questionnaires have a sequential structure: The respondents go through the questionnaire from the first page to the last. Filters and hiding conditions are used to skip blocks of pages and questions. As an alternative, a division into chapters with a table of contents is especially suited for very long surveys that do not have to be answered completely. The respondents will select a topic block they wish to edit from the table of contents, jump to that topic block and will be routed back to the table of contents after editing it. Using page triggers, a non-sequential project can be realized like this: For the table of contents, you can, for example, create a question with a single response list (type 111). Create a page trigger that will query the variable created in Step 1 (see Chapter 7.5.4, p. 333, for further information). This page trigger is used to jump to the start pages of the individual chapters. At the end of each chapter, you must create a question of type 911 (user-defined) with a variable. In a hidden form field (input type=hidden), you must set the variable to a value of 1. For the final page of the chapter, you must also define a page trigger that will query whether the hidden variable has a value of 1 and then route to the table of contents. This condition will be ensured in any case when sending the final page: The page trigger is activated, and the respondent can make another selection in the table of contents.
7.5.5
The Logout Trigger

The logout trigger can be used in every project type. Logout means that the participant will be routed to the system final page, without any specific message. You can use the logout trigger if, for example, you have a complex, nested questionnaire and want to route respondents to the final page in a very straightforward way. The participants interview will be classified as a completed interview (disposition code 31). If the survey contains additional final pages, the panelist will always be sent to the system final page.
7.5.6
The Sample Trigger

The sample trigger allows to invite participants, depending on a condition which you have defined, to a second personalized survey or panel survey. The participants are added dynamically to the participant administration or sample of the follow-up project.
Example
You are surveying customers of an online shop to find out how satisfied they are and when they expect to receive the goods they bought: Depending on the expected date of delivery, the interview participants will receive a mail inviting them to a second survey after a certain delay. The respondents are entered into the sample as active participants.
Features
The sample trigger can be set up and executed in all survey types. For target project, you can use all project types with participant administration, i.e. personalized projects, employee surveys, panel surveys and master data surveys.
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You can only invite participants with existing panelist accounts to panel surveys or master data surveys. The e-mail address is used to match participant and panelist account.
Configuring sample trigger

This trigger is set up as usual on the Trigger tab in the page overview of the Questionnaire editor. The basic settings are the same as for other trigger types. When setting the special options, please mind: The project-specific participant administration or sample to which the participant is to be added should be selected. Just as with the mail trigger, you have to configure the e-mail to be sent. Usually, the mail is defined using a mail template. Alternatively, you can define the mail in the trigger editor, too. The mail sender must be defined beforehand. The mail text must contain an access code or link for the secondary survey. For this purpose, use the wildcards #code# and #code_complete#: if participant administration or sample of the secondary project are selected, the wildcards will be filled with URL and/or code of the target project.
Define the dispatch date: Per default, the mails will be dispatched immediately upon activation of the trigger. Optionally, another dispatch date can be defined. Create a user-defined variable (c variable) or project variable of type text. This variable should contain the number of days from the execution of the trigger to the dispatch of the mail, for the proper dispatch date EFS will then add another 12 hours to the value of this variable.Select this variable in the sample trigger.
7.5.7
The Reinvitation Trigger

The reinvitation trigger reinvites participants to take part in a survey, depending on a condition which you have defined. The data records of the participants are reset without deletion of data to disposition code 11 or 12, i.e. if the participants restart at a later date, they will be routed to the first page of the survey again.
Example
At the start of a long, complex survey, you want to offer participants the option to interrupt and participate at a later date. On one of the first pages, you ask if the participant does have sufficient time to respond at the moment. If not, you offer to send a reminder mail. If a participant does not have sufficient time and wishes a reminder mail, hes routed to a final page via a filter. On this final page, the reinvitation trigger is executed. It resets the data record and sends the reminder mail at the desired later date.
Features
The reinvitation trigger is only available on final pages. It can be used in personalized projects, employee surveys, panel surveys and master data surveys. In anonymous surveys, this trigger type is not available.
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If the trigger is activated, an e-mail containing an invitation text will be sent. The invitation text is generated from a default mail template, which you can create under Options->Mail templates. The participants disposition code will be reset to 11 resp. 12. The data records are reset without deleting, i.e. already-given answers of the participant are not deleted. Participants who respond to the reminder mail will start again on the first page: Due to the reset of the disposition code, the resumption is considered a restart.
Configuring a reinvitation trigger

This trigger is set up as usual on the Trigger tab in the page overview of the Questionnaire editor. The basic settings are the same as for other trigger types. When setting the special options, please mind: Just as with the mail trigger, you have to configure the e-mail to be sent. Usually, the mail is defined using a mail template. Alternatively, you can define the mail in the trigger editor, too. The mail sender must be defined beforehand. Depending of the situation, it might make sense to repeat the access code or link in the mail text. For this purpose, use the wildcards #url#, #code# and #code_complete#.
Define the dispatch date: Per default, the mails will be dispatched immediately upon activation of the trigger. Optionally, another dispatch date can be defined. Create a user-defined variable (c variable) or project variable of type text. This variable should contain the number of days from the execution of the trigger to the dispatch of the mail, for the proper dispatch date EFS will then add another 12 hours to the value of this variable.Select this variable in the reinvitation trigger.
7.5.8
The Variable Split Trigger

You can use variable split triggers to save transferred parameters in user-defined variables. (This does not refer to URL parameters: You can save any parameters transferred via GET in user-defined variables.) read cookies from the respondent and save them in user-defined variables; break down the variables into their individual components before saving the parameters or cookies, if necessary. The user-defined variables will be included in any export, but you can also use them for screening within the survey, output them in the questionnaire, etc. The variable split trigger is available for all survey types.
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Please note: - If a variable split trigger is used on the first page of a survey, then the execution position cannot be =directly. - Variables located within a loop branch cannot be used as a split attribute.
Application example
You are planning an advertising effectiveness study intended to test a new form of advertising. Your co-operation partner sets a cookie with every website visitor who has seen the new form of advertising. Now, you want to find out whether there are connections between answer patterns in your study and the form of advertising (e.g. Do people who have seen the form of advertising remember its contents?). At the beginning of the survey, all cookies will automatically be read and saved, collectively, in a system variable. The variable split trigger will pinpoint one cookie value, read it from the collection and save it in a user-defined variable. For reasons of privacy, the browsers only allow certain cookies to be read. If you run the study at the survey.mycompany.com domain, for example, you can read all cookies in the mycompany.com domain group. This includes, e.g., advert.mycompany.com or survey.mycompany.com, but not www.somethingelseentirely.com or www.mycompany.net. However, this will only work if the cookie was set in such a way that other subdomains are allowed to read it. Clarify this in advance with those responsible for setting the cookie. To read the respondents cookies and save a cookie value in a user-defined variable, please proceed as follows: 1. Create a user-defined variable in the Project properties menu. As you want to save the cookie name, choose the Text type. Assign a meaningful label. You can output the variables content via #Label# or #c_000n#, where n is the number of the userdefined variable. 2. Then, switch to the page of the survey on which you wish to create the trigger. 3. Click on the Trigger tab and create a trigger of the Variable split trigger type. 4. First, specify the condition for which the trigger is to be activated. You will normally want to execute the trigger on the first page of your survey. If this page does not contain a variable, create a dummy variable with question type 911. 5. In the trigger editor, various source variables are visible:
Variable Cookies (start_cookies) GET variables at the beginning of the survey (start_get_vars) Quota (quota) Project variables (v_xxx) Table 7.4 Source variables Meaning All readable cookies. All parameters transferred at the beginning of the survey. Contains the result of quota processes. The normal project variables.
6. A cookie, when it is set, has a name and a value, e.g. opst_demopanel_108 and 7a8cc5c05df7820217d9bf3f6c5b0781. The Array field allows you to define which of the collected cookies is to be written into the user-defined variable.
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7. The cookies value can be structured to contain various values, separated by a separator such as | or ;. For example, the cookie value could encrypt the date, the browser version and the site by which the cookie was set. If your cookie has such a structure, you can save the individual values separately using different destination variables. To do so, you must save the settings, create a new destination variable and enter the separator character (e.g. a comma). 8. The value of the cookie named in the Array field will now be stored in the userdefined variable.
Reading Get variables

Analogously, you can read Get variables attached to the survey URL. To do so, use the Get variables at the beginning of the survey as the source variable, enter the name of the Get variable in Array field and choose the user-defined variable you want to write the value to as the destination variable.
7.5.9
The Recoding Trigger

The recoding trigger is used to recode variables during a survey. The value(s) for one or more variables can be set either conditionally (i.e. depending on survey results) or unconditionally (i.e. always). For example, the new trigger allows you to transfer values from one variable to another, prefill text fields, perform calculations and output results on the basis of the entries, recode multiple variables at the same time, access and change participant and panelist data. All recodings made as the result of actual participation will be logged (see the section Viewing the recodings performed).
Before starting
Please note: The recoding trigger is available for all survey types. You can recode project variables (with the exception of variables located within a loop branch), user-defined variables and URL parameters, participant data, panelist data and master data can be recoded. System variables cannot be recoded. If the value to be set is a text, put it between quotation marks. Both recodings and trigger actions require a lot of server resources, i.e. the usage of recoding triggers affects the performance of the questionnaire. Therefore, it is recommended to use not more than 100 recodings per trigger and per page.
Recoding syntax
When defining recoding conditions, the following rules apply: The operators + - / * and ( and ) can be used. Wildcards (#v_xxx#) can be used to insert project variables. Please mind: Special project variables, as e.g. loop or conjoint variables, cannot be used in the condition.
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For project variables relating to an open text field, #v_000n# outputs the content. Make sure to enclose the wildcard by quotation marks in this case, e.g. '#v_1#' (see below). For closed-ended questions the wildcard #v_000n# in the trigger outputs the code.
Texts (strings) must be enclosed by quotation marks (e. g. 'foo'). It is not permitted to use the special characters ? and $ in the recoding condition. They are reserved for internal usage in database queries. You can use the MySQL functions NOW() and IF(). NOW() returns the current date and time. Example: NOW() -> 2011-02-11 12:08:29 IF(expr1,result1,result2) is processed as follows: If expr1 is TRUE, IF() returns result1, otherwise it returns result2. Example: IF(#v_1#<2,'Yes','No') -> If #v_1# < 2, IF() returns Yes, otherwise it returns No.
Example: Preallocation using participant data

In an employee survey, the question relating to pertinent departments is to be preallocated according to the information available in participant administration. 1. Create the question where the pertinent department is to be entered. 2. Switch to the page view, and click on the Trigger tab. 3. Choose the recoding trigger, and confirm by clicking on Submit. 4. The trigger will be created. 5. Enter Trigger name and Trigger description. 6. Choose the execution position Directly. 7. Decide whether the Also execute trigger in preview mode function should be enabled. In this example, it is advisable to enable this function because it allows you to perform tests directly in the preview. 8. Decide whether the trigger can be executed repeatedly in one survey session. In this example, it is not necessary. 9. Lastly the settings under Special options have to be made, i.e. the recodings need to be defined.
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Figure 7.42
Configuring the recoding trigger
10. Select the variable to be recoded, and enter the value for which the recoding condition applies. In the example, v_1 is the variable where the answer to the question relating to pertinent departments and characteristic 1 is saved. 11. Confirm by clicking on Save.
Figure 7.43
Opening the condition editor
12. Click on the Filter icon, which will now appear, in order to define the condition. 13. Choose the variable whose content is to be loaded as well as the condition and the code. In this example, variable v_1 is to be prefilled with code 1 if the participant variable labeled u_department equals 1.
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Figure 7.44
Defining a condition
14. Click on Save. 15. Repeat this operation for all characteristics of the variable v_1, which are to be preallocated.
Figure 7.45
Specifying values and defining recoding conditions for the characteristics of a variable
Viewing the recodings performed

Navigate to the Projects->{Selected project}->Documentation->Recoding log menu to view all recodings that have been performed.
Figure 7.46
Recoding log
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After six months, the log data will be deleted.
7.5.10
The Random Trigger

For scientific projects in particular, it is often necessary to form participant groups to which different questionnaire versions are presented at random. The random trigger allows you to make random assignments: All you have to do is enter a range for the random number, e.g. 1-5 (depending on the number of different questionnaires). At the beginning of the survey, dice are used to generate a number, which is then written into a user-defined variable (c variable). These variables can subsequently be used to create the corresponding filters for the various questionnaire versions. The additional feature Approximate uniform distribution within given range has also been incorporated, in order to achieve a good uniform distribution of the randomly generated numbers and, consequently, of the selected respondent groups, (see last section). The random trigger is available for all survey types. If you are working on an EFS Panel installation, please also note the information regarding random selection when forming groups in the EFS Panel 8.0 manual, Chapter 8.2.3.
Configuring the random trigger

1. Switch to the page view, and click on the Trigger tab. 2. Choose random trigger, and confirm by clicking on Submit. 3. The trigger will be created. At the same time, a new user-defined variable is created with the label c_000x, into which the random number will be subsequently written. 4. Set the user-defined variable: You are free to choose the label, however the variable type should be Integer or floating point numbers. 5. Make the usual settings: Trigger name, Trigger description, Execution position and Condition. 6. Decide whether the Also execute trigger in preview mode function should be enabled. When testing, it may in certain circumstances be helpful to have conditions that remain constant. 7. Decide whether the trigger can be executed repeatedly in one survey session. 8. Lastly the settings under Special options have to be made: Only user-defined variables can be used to save the random number. 9. The minimum and maximum values of the random number are required. 10. You have the option of specifying that a uniform distribution should be approximated. 11. Finally, click on Save.
Uniform distribution
The distribution of the randomly generated values will only approximate a uniform distribution only if the number of cases is sufficiently large. The special feature labeled Approximate uniform distribution within given range is used in order to allow you to simulate a uniform distribution even with small and medium numbers of participants. If this function is enabled, the numbers generated will no longer be actual random numbers, rather the numbers will be generated in such a way that, even for a
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small number of cases, their distribution will tend strongly toward a uniform distribution.
7.5.11
The List Trigger

The list trigger allows you to transfer the contents of a list into user-defined variables. The contents of the user-defined variables can in turn be displayed in the questionnaire via wildcards. The main purpose of this new function consists in presenting - in certain work situations - an alternative to the use of loops, which are considerably more complex to evaluate. For example, at the beginning of a survey, respondents are often presented with a range of brands and products and asked to select the ones they know. The questions in the subsequent survey will only involve those brands and products marked as known. In the past, this kind of questionnaire was realized with the help of loops. Alternatively, the list trigger now allows you to encode the known brands or products in user-defined variables and to import these during the subsequent survey via wildcards. Thus, the export data record remains reasonably sized. The functional scope at a glance: The list elements remaining after processing the list inclusion conditions, list options, and sort order, can be written in user-defined variables. You can choose whether to record the element number or the element label. The various list processing options can be separately configured for the trigger. The list trigger is independent of the settings that are made when using the list on the pages of the questionnaire. The list trigger is available for all survey types.
Configuring the list trigger

1. First, create the list. 2. Next, you have to create the required user-defined variables in the Project properties menu. 3. In order to create the list trigger, open the Trigger tab on the appropriate page, select the type List trigger and confirm by clicking on Submit. 4. Make the usual basic trigger settings (name, execution position, etc.). 5. Select the desired list and click on Save. 6. Further setting options will now be displayed in the lower part of the dialog.
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Figure 7.47
Configuring the list trigger
7. In the Settings section, successively specify for each remaining list element (i. e. for each list element that remains after processing all inclusion conditions etc.) which list property is to be transferred into which destination variable. The available list properties are element number and element label. 8. After clicking on Save, the settings will be adopted and the line New for selecting the next list element will be displayed again. 9. In the lower sections, you can set list options and sort order of the list elements. These functions are explained in Chapter 7.3.4, p. 310. 10. Then, confirm by clicking on Save.
List trigger data in the export

In the example shown above, three elements are selected at random from the list elements which the respondents selected in the questionnaire. The list trigger writes these, or rather their labels, in three user-defined variables. Figure 7.48 shows these user-defined variables in the export data record. The fourth respondent has selected only one element, so two variables are assigned missing values.
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Figure 7.48
List trigger data in the export
7.5.12
The Bonus Trigger

Please note that the bonus trigger is only available on EFS Panel installations in panel surveys and in master data surveys. In panel and master data surveys, you can award bonus points for reaching a particular page of the questionnaire, for giving a correct answer or for other events.
Features
Up until EFS 7.0, only one bonus point allocation was possible per survey and panelist regardless of whether this was done via the bonus trigger or via the final page. EFS 7.1 offers you more options in that respect: A panelist may receive more allocations in one survey. A potential allocation on the final page of the survey does not affect any bonus point allocations via a bonus trigger. In particular, you may use triggers and final page to allocate different amounts of points. You may use multiple bonus triggers within one survey. You can use the bonus trigger only for allocating points. The subtraction of points makes no sense within the context of a survey and is therefore not possible.
Configuring bonus triggers

A bonus trigger is set up as usual on the Trigger tab in the page overview of the Questionnaire editor. The basic settings are the same as for other trigger types. Additionally, the following settings specific to this type of trigger have to be performed: Bonus points to be allocated: In this field, you define how many points the trigger is supposed to allocate to the panelists. Trigger behavior: If the respective panelist has already been allocated points by another bonus trigger, it is up to you to decide whether the current trigger shall be executed.
Configuring bonus trigger entry in the bonus points history

Every allocation of bonus points is logged in the respective panelists bonus points history. At the time it is not possible to define a different text for every bonus trigger und every final page. Instead, the message Entry into panelists bonus points history defined in the Project properties->Survey messages menu is used for all allocations within the project. Therefore, make sure to enter a meaningful general text.
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7.5.13
Panel Group Trigger

Please note that the panel group trigger is only available on EFS Panel installations in panel surveys and in master data surveys. After they have taken part in a survey, it may often be convenient to collect the panelists in a specific panel group, e.g. to facilitate incentivation or other follow-up processes. The panel group trigger allows you to do this without much effort, and as of EFS 7.1 it is also possible to remove panelists from a group.
Configuring the panel group trigger

The panel group trigger is available in panel surveys and in master data surveys. It is set up as usual on the Trigger tab in the page overview of the Questionnaire editor. The basic settings are the same as for other trigger types. Additionally, the following settings specific to this type of trigger have to be performed: Group category Target group. Trigger mode: As of EFS 7.1, you can choose whether the respective panelist is to be added to or removed from the group. The update rule Copy from survey to group provides the Add panelist to group function for the updating of groups. See the manual EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 8.4.2 for details.
7.6 Transferring Answers from Another Project

In personalized projects and in panel and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations, you are able to transfer the contents of variables from another project, i.e. if a participant has completed the source project, you can automatically import their answers into the variables of the second project and use them there for filtering, evaluation and other purposes. Participation is assigned via the participants e-mail address.
Before you start

Please note: Only data from permitted project types (personalized, panel and master data surveys) can be imported. You can transfer the contents of project variables (v_000n), URL parameters (p_000n) and user-defined variables (c_000n). The source and destination variable must have the same variable type. The attribute levels must correspond with regard to content. Attribute levels of the source variable that do not have an equivalent in the destination variable will not be transferred.
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7.6 Transferring Answers from Another Project
Making assignments
1. Open the Project properties->Variable data import menu.
Figure 7.49
Making assignments
2. Select the source project. 3. Confirm by clicking on Select source project. 4. Assign the first source variable from the source project to the respective destination variable in the current project. 5. Confirm by clicking on Save. 6. Repeat this operation for all variables that have to be assigned.
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8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Which Layout Options are There? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 General Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 The Standard Editor: Changing the Standard Layout . . . . . 353 The Pro Editor: Advanced Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Functions for Advanced Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 How are Survey Layouts Generated?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Saving and Re-Using Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Exporting and Importing Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
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8.1 Which Layout Options are There?
Layout Designing Surveys

In EFS, the appearance of a survey is strictly separated from the content and structure of the survey. A survey with identical text can therefore be realized in a completely different look. That means that, as a survey conductor, you can give all your surveys the same appearance. However, you can also use different layouts for the same surveys depending on their purpose. This is particularly advisable if, for example, identical website checks are to be run on different websites. The finished layout of an EFS questionnaire can be saved as a template and can be assigned to any other survey with a click of the mouse.
8.1 Which Layout Options are There?

In the Layout menu (Breadcrumb: Projects->{Selected project}->Layout), you will find different features which offer both users without knowledge of HTML and web design and professionals diverse options for editing the layout.
Figure 8.1 Overview of the Layout menu
The Standard editor (see Chapter 8.3, p. 353), the entry page of which will automatically open in the content area when you enter the Layout menu, you can perform the following modifications to the standard layout provided by Globalpark, without requiring any knowledge of HTML or web design: Colors, fonts, font sizes and alignment of the layout can be edited. You can choose between normal HTML form elements, graphical form elements or a graphical Submit button in combination with HTML form elements, and load your own form elements into the system.
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A maximum of four logos can be incorporated. You can choose between different progress bar designs. You can choose between different plausibility check designs. The distances to the page margin as well as between questions and answers can be changed.
Via the Pro editor (see Chapter 8.4, p. 368), you can additionally freely re-design the border structure of your survey pages, specify a different border layout for individual pages / questions, completely restructure individual elements, such as the output of plausibility checks or that of the progress bar, specify a different layout for individual question types, insert new CSS classes, edit the CSS file in the source code or replace it, make the table borders visible in the layout (debug mode), e.g. in order to detect visualization errors more quickly, define special wildcard variables for each survey page, with which you can, among other things, show chapter headings in the survey project.
In the Layout templates menu, you can choose between different project layouts. Under Save settings in template, you can save a fully formatted layout as a template and so re-access it later for other projects. If you wish to publish the survey in a pop-up window, you can generate the requisite code in the Pop-up generator menu. In the standard editor, you change the general appearance of a project. More farreaching changes to the page structure or changes relating to the appearance of individual pages or questions require the use of the pro editor. However, when creating the questionnaire (see Chapter 4, p. 119 and following) you are already provided with various options for changing the visual appearance of a questionnaire page: For example, you can increase the width of the column containing the item texts of a specific matrix question, or change the text formatting by entering HTML code in the input fields for the question or answer text.
8.2 General Tips

Tips for designing the questionnaire
When designing your survey, you should pay attention to the following: From a methodological point of view, it is usually advisable to let the respondent view as much of the screen as possible without scrolling. You should therefore avoid excessively large, i.e. high, logos in the header area of the page. Take into account that some respondents may be using PCs with a lower screen resolution: Your survey should be visible without vertical scrolling even on a screen with a resolution of 800x600. Use the Sizer freeware tool (http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html), which will allow you to easily test your project in different resolutions.
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8.3 The Standard Editor: Changing the Standard Layout
Pay attention to loading times: If you are incorporating your own images into the survey, check the file size of the images. Combined, the images should not be larger than about 30 to 40 kilobytes. You can use JavaScript to realize graphical form elements and usability features which facilitate data entry. With JavaScript disabled, those additional options are eliminated, and in extreme cases, the survey can no longer be edited. Especially if you are conducting your project in an environment such as a large group of companies, which may be centrally regulated, you should, in advance, check with the responsible technology department whether JavaScript is enabled in the standard configuration of the staff PCs and, if necessary, refrain from using JavaScript-based features. You can have the respondents browsers checked for functioning JavaScript (see Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80). If JavaScript is not activated, the graphical form elements will automatically be replaced with HTML form elements (see Chapter 8.3.4, p. 358).
Test your survey in the common browsers: In addition to Internet Explorer (5.0 or later), you should also view your survey with Netscape 6 or later. Especially in large groups of companies, the problematic browser Netscape 4.x is occasionally still used. Chapter 18.1 provides an overview on all browsers supported in the EFS questionnaire area.
Tips for using the EFS layout features

When using the layout features of EFS, you should know: Layout changes are adopted immediately in the questionnaire. But in some cases, they will not appear immediately in the browser. This effect is caused by the cache of the browser: When the page is opened for the first time, it is stored in the browser cache. Next time you open the page, the browser will use the version stored in the cache instead of requesting the content anew from the server, and the stored version does not contain the changes. If you empty the browser cache first and load the page anew, your changes will be displayed.

By choosing the Layout menu item from the Survey menu, you will be automatically taken to the Overview tab in the standard editor.
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Figure 8.2
The standard editor
In it, you will find an overview of the most important current settings for the project layout. Via the Change links, you can navigate directly to the places in the menu where the respective settings can be modified. See the following Chapter 8.3.1, p. 354, for notes on the defaulted basic settings. The remaining tabs contain the various functions which allow you to edit the standard layout of the project in the standard editor: Logos (see Chapter 8.3.2, p. 355) Format (see Chapter 8.3.3, p. 355) Form elements (see Chapter 8.3.4, p. 358) Spaces (see Chapter 8.3.5, p. 363) Progress bar (see Chapter 8.3.6, p. 364) Plausibility checks (see Chapter 8.3.7, p. 366) Changes you make in the standard editor will only affect the current project.
8.3.1
The Standard Layout

If you create a new survey project, the standard layout will automatically be assigned to that project. This layout is optimized for editing in the standard editor. Layouts originally created with the Pro Editor are displayed in the standard editor as accurately as possible, and can be edited with the help of the functionalities there. In the basic setting, the standard layout has two optional logos above the questionnaire. Space for two more logos is reserved below the questionnaire. The progress bar is disabled in the basic setting. When you activate the function, type1 including explanatory text will be used:
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In the basic setting, HTML form elements are activated. If you activate graphical form elements instead, the elements from the standard layout set will be loaded first:
You can customize these settings as desired. This is what a typical questionnaire page looks like in the standard layout with the progress bar and graphical form elements switched on:
Figure 8.3
Questionnaire page in the standard layout
8.3.2
Inserting Logos
In the Logos tab, you can upload up to four logos and insert them into your layout. In the standard layout, the first logo will be displayed above the questionnaire, while the second logo will be displayed below the questionnaire. If you upload a third and fourth logo, the page structure of your project will be modified by the system to make room for these logos. You will normally want to edit the page structure to achieve optimum placement of the logos. You will need the logos in a web-enabled format, i.e. as GIF (preferably for drawings and figures with few colors), JPEG (preferably photos, and figures with many colors) or PNG. Pay attention to the file size. All images in one questionnaire page should under no circumstances exceed 30 to 40 kilobytes. BMP files (bitmaps) can be displayed in Internet Explorer, but not in most other browsers. Do not use them! You should also make sure that the file name for a logo does not contain any blank spaces: this is not tolerated by all browsers. You can remove uploaded logos from the layout by clicking on No image.
8.3.3
Format
The Format tab allows you to edit the font, background design, alignment and also the borders around the questionnaire elements. As a working aid, you will find a model of your questionnaire in the middle of the content area of the tab: It contains standard elements such as questions with single response lists, questions with multiple response lists and matrix questions. The layout matches the current appearance of the
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survey as closely as possible (however, changes made in the pro editor cannot be reproduced with absolute accuracy). When you scroll over the elements displayed in the model, alternative texts will show the names of their related CSS classes. Clicking on an element will open a pop-up window in which you can change the layout properties. The change options are divided into four tabs for font, background, alignment and frame. Some elements, such as the progress bar, cannot be edited in the normal view of the model. Showing the structure, however, will make most elements editable. Invisible images used to adjust distances cannot be edited. This option is only available in the Pro editor (see Chapter 8.4, p. 368). However, when the structure is shown, you can see these images and observe their impact on the layout.
Figure 8.4 element
Model of the questionnaire with opened pop-up window for editing the attributes of a layout
Please note that changes will be transferred to your questionnaire as soon as you close the pop-up window by clicking on the Accept & close window button or by switching between tabs.
Additional functions
There are some additional options located above the questionnaire model:
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If several CSS files exist in the project, a drop-down list allows to select the file you wish to edit. The Show structure / Hide structure option is a tool for editing formats. Border lines are displayed, to facilitate orientation: The survey page structure becomes visible and the individual active surfaces can be identified. The option only affects the view in the layout editor, not your project. You can change the overall alignment of the layout, by giving the survey either a left, a right or a center alignment. To do so, click on the appropriate link. In addition, you can remove all background colors from the CSS file by clicking on the respective Execute link. The option is only advisable if you are using a background graphic that is to be visible through all other page elements. Caution: In order to reintegrate the background colors, you must manually add the respective property to the affected CSS classes or restore the standard layout by clicking the button Restore standard layout settings in the Layout->Layout templates menu (all other new settings will also be lost when you do this).
Technical background information

On the Format tab, you are editing the so-called CSS file of your project (CSS = Cascading Style Sheet). A CSS file functions similarly to that of a MS Word document template, by defining various templates which determine the appearance of the questionnaire elements. CSS offers possibilities which reach far beyond the options available in the standard editor. For example, you can define further attributes such as drop shadow, background colors and borders for a layout element. For a descriptive and well-written documentation, see SELFHTML by Stefan Mnz under the URL http://selfhtml.org. The pro editor contains advanced options for CSS file editing. Here, for example, you can edit the CSS file as a whole (see Chapter 8.4, p. 368).
Example: Changing the font format and color of question texts

1. Switch to the Format tab in the standard editor. 2. The model of the questionnaire is located on the tab. Click on one of the question texts. 3. A pop-up window will open, in which you can edit various question text attributes.
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Figure 8.5
Editing properties of a questionnaire element
4. Now, for example, enter a different pixel value in the Size field and change the font color. 5. Confirm by clicking on the Accept & close window button. 6. The pop-up window will close and the typified questionnaire will be updated. 7. You will now see the changes on the typified questionnaire page. Use the preview link to view the changes to your project.
8.3.4
Form Elements
Form elements, the settings for which you can see and edit on the tab with the same name, are used to highlight answers. You can choose between three versions: HTML: By default, HTML form elements are used. Graphical form elements: The HTML form elements are replaced with images, the so-called graphical form elements. These change their shape when you click on them or pass the mouse pointer over them. Only the buttons are graphical form elements: HTML form elements are integrated in the third version, the Continue button is an image. Graphical form elements, standard HTML buttons: Graphical form elements are used for radio buttons and checkboxes, while HTML form elements are used for teh standard buttons. Before opting for or against graphical form elements, please take into consideration that graphical form elements only work for respondents who have JavaScript enabled. You can perform a check at the beginning of the survey to see whether a respondents browser accepts JavaScript. If this check function has been activated according to the instructions given in Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80 and reports that a browser is not JavaScript-enabled, the graphical form elements will be replaced with standard HTML elements. Frequently, the request is made to improve the look and feel of the questionnaire by using graphical form elements. Simple HTML form elements are no longer considered
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up-to-date. This is arguable. Completing a clearly designed questionnaire with HTML form elements can also be fun. Graphical form elements are sometimes considered playful. As so often, this all depends on the target group. A questionnaire for children and youths should be enriched with graphical form elements. HTML form elements are generally considered more reputable for the university environment. There is surely much room for methodical research, into how the choice of form elements affects response behavior of participants and abort probability. Graphical form elements can also be designed unobtrusively and additionally adjusted to fit the companys CI colors or website. Simply create your own graphical form elements and import them to the library for graphical form elements. Or select them from the existing library for graphical form elements.
1. Activating graphical form elements

1. Select the Form elements tab in the Standard editor.
Figure 8.6
Activating graphical form elements
2. For What kind of form elements are to be used?, select Graphical form elements. 3. Confirm by clicking on the Save button. 4. In the bottom part of the tab, the currently used form elements will be displayed. The various functions for setting and configuring graphical form elements are now also available.
Figure 8.7
Overview of the form elements used
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2. Selecting and editing form elements

EFS not only enables the use of predefined form elements, you can also generate customized form elements or upload your own images. You have the choice of three options: selecting predefined button sets. adapting individual buttons or complete sets of buttons. uploading your own images. These features will be presented in detail in the following.
a. Selecting predefined button sets

The EFS Survey scope of supply contains a number of predefined sets with form elements. Click on Select button set to open the Library for graphical form elements. If you wish to use a button set from the library, click on the radio button in the first column. The set will be loaded automatically into your layout.
b. Editing a button or button set

If you wish to edit graphical form elements, please proceed as follows: 1. In multilingual projects, you first have to specify the language version for which you want to edit the buttons. The selection dialog is opened by clicking the Select language button. 2. If you have not already done so, select the button set you wish to edit from the library as described above. Edit icons will now be displayed next to the form elements. 3. If you want to edit graphical form elements, click on the Edit icon next to the desired button. If you wish to edit all elements simultaneously, select any button. If you wish to define what radio buttons and checkboxes will look like when passed over with the mouse pointer or after a user has clicked on them, select the corresponding button templates.
Figure 8.8
Opening form elements for editing
4. You are automatically taken to the button generator, which provides you with various editing options (see the following section).
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Figure 8.9
Editing buttons
5. Click on the Preview button at the bottom right to view the effects of the changes made. 6. After selecting the desired options, you can use the Apply to select box to specify whether the change is to be applied only to the respective button or to the entire set. 7. Confirm the changes by clicking on Save.
Edit options in the button generator

Depending on whether you are editing a radio button, a checkbox or a button, there will be different editing operations available to you in the button generator: Button section: You can replace the current button template with another button set and change its appearance using color, saturation or brightness settings. Text section: You can edit the text of your buttons as well as change font properties and borders. Alternatively, you can also edit these labels just like the labels of the HTML form elements via the Project properties->Survey messages menu. Radio buttons and checkboxes section: You can select and configure overlay images, e.g. to create scroll-over effects. The AAA-Unicode unicode font supports display of characters from most languages. The other fonts available cover only the Central European standard character set. For the time being, new fonts must still be uploaded by Globalpark. In this case, contact Globalpark Support. Alternatively, you can import your own additional button drafts, as described below.
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c. Using own images

Optionally, you can also import externally created form elements.
Creating images for form elements

When creating the images, please mind: You can only integrate images in GIF format, no PNGs or JPEGs. When creating your own images, you should ensure that the images for the states normal, when passed over with the mouse pointer and selected have the same size, to avoid jitters. For colored screen backgrounds, you should provide your graphical form elements with the required transparency.
Images needed
Depending on the configuration of the survey, the following images are needed:
Option Radio button / checkbox in normal state Radio button / checkbox when passed over with the mouse pointer Radio button / checkbox selected Back Cancel Correct Meaning These images replace HTML radio buttons and checkboxes. They are displayed if the respondents neither click on the form element nor pass the mouse pointer over it. These images replace HTML radio buttons and checkboxes. They are displayed if the respondents pass the mouse pointer over a form element.
These images replace HTML radio buttons and checkboxes. They are displayed if the respondents select a form element by clicking on it. This image is used for navigating back to the previous page. Clicking on the Cancel image closes the survey window. The Correct button is used in the pop-up window for client-side plausibility checks. Clicking on this button closes the window, allowing the respondent to correct incorrect entries. The Ignore button is used in the pop-up window for client-side plausibility checks. Clicking on this button closes the window and submits the questionnaire below: The respondent does not correct incorrect entries, but instead continues completing the questionnaire. This image replaces the HTML Submit button for navigating to the next page.
Ignore
Submit Table 8.1
Use of the loaded images
Uploading images
Please proceed as follows: 1. Before uploading your images, please make sure that the survey messages of the project are phrased properly and do not need any further changes (when changing survey messages, user-defined images are overwritten). Then, proceed as follows: 2. Click on Upload your own images in the Used graphical form elements section. 3. The following form will appear:
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Figure 8.10
Uploading images for graphical form elements
3. Showing Back and Cancel buttons

On the Form elements tab, apart from the functions for selecting various types of form elements described above, you can choose functions for showing Back and Cancel buttons, which are described in detail in Chapter 3.7.6, p. 79. However, please note that, for personalized projects, the functions for showing the Back button described in the specified chapter can only be activated in the Project properties menu after resuming.
4. Making radio buttons de-selectable

Usually, questions with a single response list are configured in such a way that the original state of the questions cannot be restored once the respondent has clicked on a possible answer: The respondent can click on another radio button, but he cannot deselect the button chosen without a replacement answer. By ticking the checkbox labeled Radio buttons for questions with a single response list can be de-selected, deselecting radio buttons can be made possible This feature will only work if the respondents browser accepts JavaScript.
8.3.5
Changing Spaces
On the Spaces tab, you can set some general spaces in your layout. If you have not entered a unit of measurement, the entered value will be interpreted as a pixel value. Alternatively, you can specify relative values in percent. A layout width of 80% uses 80 percent of the width of the current browser window, while a 600 layout is always 600 pixels wide, regardless of the size of the users window. Your survey should be no wider than 800 pixels, as some respondents still have a screen resolution of 800x600 pixel. If you would like to see what your surveys look like on a smaller screen or on a PC with a lower resolution, install the free Windows tool Sizer (http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html). Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to change the spacing between form elements and answer texts.
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8.3.6
Progress Bar
The progress bar shows the respondent which percentage of the questionnaire they have already completed. This can be in a text version (You have already completed XX percent of the questionnaire) or in a graphical version with a progress bar. Both versions can be combined.
Activating the progress bar

By default, the progress bar is deactivated in the basic settings. 1. Click on the Progress bar tab. 2. Tick the checkbox for activating the progress bar. 3. Confirm by clicking on Save settings. Now you can configure the progress bar with regard to design, texts and displayed values.
Customizing the progress bar design

Select a design for the progress bar from the list of types.
Figure 8.11
Types of progress bars
Notes: The upper most row, Currently selected, displays the progress bar that is currently used in the questionnaire. If you have changed the appearance of the respective progress bar type using the Format tab, you will get a realistic reproduction of what the display looks like. The images in the type selection list show whether the selected type supports text display. In the pro editor, you can modify a selected type, e.g. suppress or add text display. You can change the appearance of types 1, 2, 5 and 7 in the Format tab: If you display the structure, you can access CSS classes .progress and .progresstext. Via
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the Pro editor, you can access these CSS classes as well. You can only change the color of the bar itself for type 7. Types 3, 4 and 6 are generated based on background images, which means they cant be changed with CSS. The text can be edited in the Text indicating progress field. Advanced users can change the structure of the progress bar in the pro editor, e.g. to add or to hide text from displaying (refer to Chapter 8.5.5, p. 377)
Progress bar algorithm

When a participant begins filling out a questionnaire it cannot usually be predicted how many questionnaire pages and which pages precisely they will actually see. To do so you would have to know in advance what filter branches the participant will pass however filtering is mostly dependent on answers only given during the course of the questionnaire. The progress bar values are therefore calculated in EFS via an estimation algorithm, which steadily approaches actual final length throughout the course of the questionnaire. Here, unavoidable jumps in the value, caused for example by filters, are kept to a minimum. The formula is:
progress value (page x) = progress value (page x-1) + [{100- {progress value (page x-1)} / {denominator (page x) - numerator (page x)} ]
where: denominator (page x) = (sum of pages submitted to date + 1) + (sum of all pages still anticipated after page x) and numerator (page x) = number of all pages actually submitted to date The progress value on the first page of the questionnaire is: progress value (page 1) = 100 / sum of all pages in the questionnaire The progress value on the final page is: Progress value (final page) = 100
Changing progress bar texts and values manually

The progress bar automatically activated by default calculates an estimated value for the as yet estimated remaining questionnaire length. This procedure has two disadvantages: As already explained above, this is an estimation algorithm, as a precise prediction of the course of the questionnaire is usually not possible for a given respondent. Automatic calculation evaluates all questionnaire pages. In practice, however, there is often the wish for an option to exclude the opening pages (containing, for example, the welcome, an introduction to the subject or a language selection question) from the count. Alternatively, you can therefore deactivate the automatic calculation and determine a value the progress bar should take on for each page. 1. Activate the progress bar (see above). 2. Deactivate Calculate progress automatically and confirm with Save settings. 3. Click on the Detailed settings link. You will now see the pages currently in your project. 4. First, determine how many pages a respondent is shown on average. For a project with no filters, this number corresponds to the number of survey pages. For a
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project with filters, count the number of pages a respondent will see, add the rounded mean value from the sum of filter branches and enter the value into the Total number of pages field. 5. Now you can indirectly determine a value for the progress bar for each page: you define the page number for each individual page from the respondents point of view. 6. If the opening pages of the project are to be ignored, enter a value of 0 for these pages. Then, the pages will be excluded from the calculation, and a progress bar will not be displayed on them. In the case of random blocks, the page-defined progress bar jumps. Therefore, for projects with Random rotation or Random select branches, it is recommended that you use the automatically calculated display.
8.3.7
Configuring Plausibility Checks

EFS supports server-side PHP plausibility checks and client-side JavaScript plausibility checks. You can configure the appearance of both types of plausibility checks in the Layout->Standard editor menu on the Plausibility checks tab. 1. Switch to the Plausibility checks tab. 2. Tick type2 under Design of the plausibility check. 3. Click on Save. 4. Initiate the survey in the preview, and switch to a page on which you have defined plausibility checks. You will see that the design of both the PHP plausibility check as well as that of the JavaScript plausibility check have changed. A caution image will appear. Open a second browser window, if you have not defined a plausibility check on the initial pages of your survey. In this window, switch to the list of survey pages under the Questionnaire editor menu item. Here, click on the preview icon beside the page containing a plausibility check. The preview will start directly with the plausibility check page.
Altering the design

In the Design of the plausibility check section, you can simultaneously modify the basic appearance of both the PHP check as well as the JavaScript check.
Option Type Font face Meaning Here you can choose from the various basic types contained in the scope of supply. Font face determines the font for plausibility check messages (Please answer the following question:). The selected font should match the font used in the questionnaire. The Font size is specified in pixels. You can optionally specify the font color in hexadecimal code (#000000 = black) or select a color field by clicking on it. You can also specify the background color of the PHP plausibility checks in hexadecimal code (#000000 = black) or by clicking on a color field.
Font size Font color Background color Table 8.2
Design elements for plausibility checks
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Changing types (type1, type2, type3) overwrites the corresponding output template. Manual changes to the structure of the plausibility check template made in the pro editor in the meantime will be lost.
Determining properties for the client-side JavaScript plausibility check

The client-side plausibility check will appear in an additional small window (pop-up window).
Figure 8.12
JavaScript plausibility check
The error message consists of a general phrase, which can be defined in this menu, and the error messages you define individually for each plausibility check in the plausibility check editor.
Option Pop-up window title Introductory text Meaning This text is displayed in the blue bar (under Windows) at the top of the window. General message text, e.g. This message is automatically generated, if your details were incomplete or erroneous. Please check the details in the following fields:. Enter this text in the message set archive under Options->Survey messages, to ensure that it is filled as desired when survey messages are assigned in the Project properties-> Survey messages menu. Here you can determine the label of the button clicked by the respondents, if they do not want to correct the reported error (also refer to Soft plausibility check). See previous item for information on preallocation of this field. Here you can determine the label of the Submit button clicked by the respondent, if they want to correct the reported error (also refer to Hard plausibility check). See Introductory text for information on preallocation of this field.
Ignore button label
Correct button label
Table 8.3
Labels for JavaScript plausibility checks
If you have selected graphical form elements in the project, this dialog will display the images currently included. Click on Change to replace the images via the Form elements tab.
Determining properties for the server-side PHP plausibility check

For the server-side plausibility check, the questionnaire page is checked after submission. If a plausibility check error occurs, the page is reloaded and a plausibility check text is displayed at the head of the page.
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Figure 8.13
PHP plausibility check output
The error message consists of two general phrases, which can be defined in this menu, and the messages you define individually for each plausibility check in the plausibility check editor.
Option Plausibility error Meaning Introductory text in the lead text to the plausibility check error message (also refer to notes on the Introductory text option for JavaScript checks, for information on preallocation). Instruction between introductory text and display of individual error messages.
Plausibility to-do Table 8.4
Labels for PHP plausibility checks
Further notes
Advanced users can change the structure of a selected type, e.g. suppress the output of detailed information on items missing in the answer (see Chapter 8.5.6, p. 378).
8.4 The Pro Editor: Advanced Options

The Pro editor feature addresses advanced users with HTML or CSS knowledge. The following contains a detailed introduction to functions found on the various tabs: Structure: changes to the page structure of the layout, the border layout for individual pages, the output for individual questions and the structure of the progress bar and plausibility checks. (See the following chapter and the suggestions for advanced users in Chapter 8.5, p. 375.) CSS editor: editing of individual CSS classes or of the entire CSS file (Chapter 8.4.3, p. 372). Debug mode: display of table borders to facilitate debugging (Chapter 8.4.4, p. 373) Upload: upload of files required for project layout (Chapter 8.4.5, p. 373) Wildcards: definition of wildcards for the application of dynamic contents (Chapter 8.4.6, p. 374) Check layout: This tab shows whether the layout of the project is up to date (Chapter 8.4.7, p. 374).
8.4.1
Page Structure and Templates

General
EFS uses a so-called template system for standard layout. A template is an HTML file with wildcards inserted. These wildcards are used to apply business logic to the HTML page, for example necessary HTML code printed to an output page which is
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required by EFS for processing plausibility checks. With a few exceptions, you can freely restructure the HTML code. More on this topic later on.
The structure of a questionnaire page

The following figure displays the structure of a questionnaire page:
Figure 8.14
Structure of a questionnaire page
A survey page consists of a main template main.tpl, which positions all elements on a questionnaire page. For reasons of clarity, some components are stored in separate subtemplates: progressbar.tpl displays the progress bar. questioncomplete.tpl displays the plausibility check text. qtext.tpl formats the question text and the fill-in instruction. question.tpl formats the table framing questions. answer.tpl formats the table framing answers.
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The following illustration shows the areas editable on a survey page:
Figure 8.15
Editable areas on a survey page
You can freely configure the area outside the actual question form. You can freely configure the table framing questions, answers and the entire questionnaire form. You can freely configure both question and fill-in instructions. In general, you have no influence on answer blocks. You may re-define individual question types, but we only recommend this for absolute pros. In addition to the above templates, there are some special templates for specific tasks: login.tpl defines the login window for surveys with password protection. critical.tpl is used for system error messages (e.g. Survey is not active). helpwin.tpl formats the Help pop-up window (help texts for the individual questions can be entered in the editor). errorwin.tpl can be used to design pop-ups for JavaScript plausibility checks. mixedextern.tpl is a version of the main template main.tpl, which is used for mixed-external pages (questions created with EFS can be freely positioned on the screen in mixed-external pages).
8.4.2
Using Templates to Edit the Page Structure

The templates of a specific project are customized in the Layout-> Pro editor menu on the Structure tab.
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Figure 8.16
Survey templates in the pro editor
The following information can be found in the overview table: For each template, there is a list containing the title as well as the file name, size, date of the last change and person who edited it. The search function allows you to capture not only the template name and file name, but also the template content and related comments. You can make notes on individual templates: By clicking on the Marker icon, you can open a pop-up window containing a comment field, enter your comment and save it.
Editing templates
You have the following options for editing or creating templates: By clicking on the title, you can open a template and edit its content. If you insert the wildcard {debug} into a template (e.g. main.tpl), Save and then invoke a questionnaire page, variables will be displayed in a pop-up window. Please note that the usual wildcards of EFS cannot be used in the Smarty templates. Click on the Create template button to create a new template. You can duplicate templates that already exist by clicking on the Copy icon. You can delete newly created and duplicated templates, but not system templates. If you wish to restore the original state of a template during project creation, click on the Restore icon in the Function column. Chapter 8.5, p. 375, contains different examples of how to perform complex changes to the layout by editing the respective templates or incorporating new ones.
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Editing templates externally and uploading them

You can export templates for further use on other EFS Survey installations or for local processing. To do so, click on the Export button. Similarly, you can use the Import button to upload external templates to the server, both individual templates and zip files containing several templates
8.4.3
Editing CSS Files

Using the functions on the CSS editor tab in the pro editor, you can directly access the CSS file to edit attributes and classes. This enables you, in principle, to edit any question type, any page and any combination of question types and pages individually.
Figure 8.17
Editing CSS classes in the pro editor
If several CSS files exist in the project, an additional drop-down list is displayed, allowing you to select the file you wish to edit.
Editing individual CSS classes

Choose a class from the drop-down list in the Select class field, and then click on the Edit class button to select individual CSS classes. A table is then displayed, in which you can enter and change the attributes of the class. In addition to the options for changing fonts, alignment and background available in the standard editor, here you can add a frame or frame parts to the individual questionnaire elements.
Editing the whole CSS file

By clicking on the Edit whole CSS file button, you can open and edit the entire CSS file. This is particularly useful for search / replace operations and for replacing the entire file (e.g. after editing in an external editor). By clicking on the CSS syntax check button you can check your changes with the W3C CSS validator.
Additional functions
Export CSS: Clicking on this button triggers an export of all CSS files, compressed in a Zip file. Import CSS: This function allows you to import a CSS file you have externally edited or exported from another project. Please note that, in the file to be imported, you must use the existing CSS classes in the project layout.
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8.4.4
Debugging Layouts
EFS layouts work with invisible tables to position texts on a page. For debugging, it is often desirable to make table boundary lines temporarily visible. On the Debug mode tab, you can activate the table borders for all those who see the survey. Alternatively, you can make table borders visible only for those participants with a special IP address. Assume that your project is already in the field and you want to make changes to it on short notice. Naturally, you do not want your participants to see the table borders, so you restrict the view to yourself.
8.4.5
Uploading Layout Files

When designing the layout it is often necessary to load files up to the server, occasionally also to other directories than the directory /layout used by the media library. To do this use the Upload function on the tab of the same name in the Pro editor. Here, you can also specify zip files, which will be unpacked to the desired directory. The file size for importing data is limited. If your file exceeds the installations-specific threshold, a warning message will be displayed.
Uploading a new file

1. Select the character set. 2. Select the target directory. Table 8.5 provides you with an overview. 3. Locate the desired file on the hard disk. 4. Confirm by clicking on Upload file.
Viewing uploaded files

If you would like to view the uploaded files, you can choose between two display options: The Media library button enables you to open these from the Upload. It contains the media saved in the directory /images. By clicking on the Project resources button you can open a list containing all of the uploaded files. Thumbnail, name and size will be shown. By clicking on the Delete icon you can remove files.
The directories of the project

Directory project directory/images project directory/layout project directory/css project directory/templates Table 8.5 Upload directories Use Images which were added to a project by the user, e.g. via the media library, are stored in this directory. All images supplied with a survey layout, e.g. graphical form elements, standard logos, are stored in this directory. Contains the CSS file layout.css. Contains the survey structure information.
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8.4.6
Wildcards
On the Wildcards tab, you can easily define dynamic contents for each questionnaire page outside of the actual questionnaire. You can use this feature, for example, to divide your survey into topic blocks and then to visualize this division in the layout. To do so, proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Wildcards tab. 2. Click on the page title of the first page of your project. 3. A form will appear, in which you can insert a maximum of five wildcards for this page. Type an arbitrary text into the Text 1 field, e.g. Demographic questions 4. Click on Save changes. 5. Repeat Steps 1 through 4 for one or two further pages. 6. Now tell the layout where you would like to use the defined wildcards: In the questionnaire editor, for example, you can reference the wildcards from questions using the wildcards #r_text1#, #r_text2#, #r_text3#, #r_text4#, #r_text5#. 7. You can alternatively modify the structure of your layout. 8. Switch to the Structure tab. 9. For example, edit the main.tpl template, to place the wildcards in the general page structure file. 10. Insert the {$r_text1} system variable anywhere on the page. 11. Take a look at the project in the preview. You will see that {$r_text1} has been replaced with the corresponding text from the database. 12. Wrap the wildcard in HTML code to achieve the desired appearance.
8.4.7
Checking and Correcting the Layout

The Check layout tab shows whether the layout of a project is up to date.
Figure 8.18
Checking the layout of a project and correcting errors
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8.5 Functions for Advanced Users
If defects are found, you will receive both information on their cause and a classification of their importance (e.g. New feature or Important). To fix a problem, tick its checkbox in the Correct column, and then confirm by clicking on Correct layout.

This chapter explains different ways to alter the design of questionnaire elements by editing templates. Prerequisites are experience with HTML or web design as well as knowledge of the information on the EFS Survey page structure in Chapter 8.4.1, p. 368.
8.5.1
Creating a Page with a Deviating Border Design

For individual pages, you can define a main template freely deviating in design if you want to insert intermediate pages with a different design between question blocks. 1. Switch to the page list in the questionnaire editor. 2. The first column of the page table contains the so-called page ID (pgid). 3. Make a mental note of the pgid for the page to which you want to give a different border design. 4. Switch to the Structure tab (via Layout->Pro editor). 5. Copy the main.tpl template if you wish to modify a page of the Standard page type. Copy the mixedextern.tpl template if you wish to modify a page of the mixed-external type. 6. When copying the file, name it according to the following principle: main.pgid.tpl and mixedextern.pgid.tpl, respectively. Example: The page with pgid 1393 will be assigned the template main.1393.tpl. 7. Modify the new template as desired.
8.5.2
Creating a Question with a Deviating Design

Analogous to the changing of the design for a questionnaire page described above, you can also change the design of individual questions through an output template. This suppresses the output process, which by default is conducted via the system library. The work process required for this is as described in Chapter 8.5.1, p. 375: Copy the responsible template, in this case the question.tpl template. While doing this, name the file as follows: question.coid.tpl. COID is the container ID of the question. You will find it in the editors page view. After that, you can modify the new template.
8.5.3
Editing the Layout of Special Question Types 1. Editing the layout of question types 113 and 311
By incorporating an additional template, you can modify the area between the scale and answers for the frequently used question types 113 (Single response list (scale above)) and 311 (Standard matrix 1) across questionnaires. The contents of the additional template will be output immediately below the scale, so you can, among other things, change the distance between the scale and answers or insert a separating line. To create the additional template, please proceed as follows: 1. Copy any existing template, and name the copy scale_extra_113.tpl or scale_extra_311.tpl. 2. Confirm by clicking on Copy.
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3. You will now find the template copy in the template list, under the name you specified. Open the template copy. 4. Delete the HTML code that was also copied, and replace it with the desired code.
Example: Changing the distance between the scale and answers

Using the following HTML code, you can insert an invisible picture between the scale and answers. By changing the value for the height of the image (height), you can change the distance between the scale and answers.
001 002 003 004 005 <tr> <td colspan={$row_map|@count}> <img src="{$baseurl}/layout/pixel_t.gif" height="4" border="0"> </td> </tr>
2. Editing the question type 340

You can modify the area between question and answer in question type 340 (semantic differential) across questionnaires or for individual questionnaire pages by integrating an additional template. The contents of the additional template will be output directly below the question text and fill-in instruction , so you can among other things change the distance between the question and answers or insert a separating line. If you would like to modify the output of question type 340 in the entire questionnaire, please proceed as follows: 1. Copy an existing template of your choice and give the copy the name scale_above_340.tpl. 2. Confirm by clicking on Copy. 3. You will now find the template copy in the template list, under the name you specified. Open the template copy. 4. Delete the HTML code that was also copied, and replace it with the desired code. If you would like to modify the output of question type 340 only for one particular question, please proceed as follows: 1. Copy an existing template of your choice and give the copy the name scale_above_340.COID.tpl. The Container-ID (COID) of a question can be found in the page view in the left-hand column of the table. 2. Confirm by clicking on Copy. 3. You will now find the template copy in the template list, under the name you specified. Open the template copy. 4. Delete the HTML code that was also copied, and replace it with the desired code.
8.5.4
Re-Defining Question Types

In principle, it is possible to overwrite the output function of a question type with a self-programmed template, i.e. to alter the appearance of the questions of the respective type throughout the questionnaire. This is a complicated and risky process which requires precise knowledge of the EFS Survey output object named ADT. Here, suffice it to say that this possibility exists in principle. Please contact Support if you wish to use this feature.
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8.5.5
Modifying the Progress Bar

The progress bar is output via the progressbar.tpl template. In detail, the display works as follows: 1. EFS checks to see whether a user-defined progress bar value is to be output for this page; if not, the number of pages already viewed will be used for the calculation. 2. EFS calculates the percentage for the page and saves it to the sys_progress system variable. The maximum size the progress bar can reach will be transferred in the sys_maxprogress system variable (default value: 100). 3. Depending on the progress bar type, the output template will now use sys_progress as the width of the progress bar or calculate from the transferred values, how large the bars for the progress bar must be (see example 2). 4. The message text (You have already completed n percent of the survey) will be read from the database, and the percentage will be dynamically inserted.
Example 1
1. In a test project, open the Typ2 progress bar via Standard editor->Progress bar. 2. Switch to Pro editor->Structure. 3. Choose the progressbar.tpl template. You will see the following code:
001 {* Version 1-0 2002-09-25 *}<table width="{$layout_width}" border="{$sys_border}" class="progress" cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0> 002 <tr> 003 <td width=100% class="progresstext">{$msg_progress} 004 <img src="{$baseurl}layout/s1.gif" height="13"><img 005 src="{$baseurl}layout/s2.gif" height="13"><img 006 src="{$baseurl}layout/s3.gif" height="13" width="{$sys_progress}"><img 007 src="{$baseurl}layout/s4.gif" height="13"><img 008 src="{$baseurl}layout/s5.gif" height="13" width="{math equation="x y" x=$sys_maxprogress y=$sys_progress}"><img 009 src="{$baseurl}layout/s6.gif" height="13" width="1" 010 > {$sys_progress}%</td> 011 </tr> 012 </table>
Example 2:
Some progress bar types require calculations with the system variables for output. An example of this is progress bar type 6:
001 {* Version 1-0 2002-09-25 *} 002 <table width="{$layout_width}" border="{$sys_border}" cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0> 003 <tr> 004 <td align="right"> 005 <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> 006 <tr> 007 <td><img src="{$baseurl}layout/pbar_start.gif"></td> 008 <td background="{$baseurl}layout/pbar_bg.gif" width="{$sys_maxprogress}" align="right"><img src="{$baseurl}layout/ pbar_scale.gif" height="13" width="{math equation="x y" x=$sys_maxprogress y=$sys_progress}"></td> 009 <td><img src="{$baseurl}layout/pbar_end.gif"></td> 010 </tr>
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011 012 013 014
</table> </td> </tr> </table>
This will build a table that is completely filled with the progress bar image (large bar). A single-color image will be placed over this table so that only a part of the background will be visible. The length of this image is calculated from the maximum overall length of the progress bar by subtracting the current percentage.
8.5.6
Modifying the Plausibility Check Output

Influencing the output of server-side PHP plausibility checks
The PHP plausibility checks are output via the questioncomplete.tpl template. This template is also used to output the completeness checks. In detail, the display works as follows: 1. For the completeness check, the routing engine provides the information on which questions or items the respondent has not answered. This information will be individually stored in $dac_quests. 2. The routing engine checks all server-side plausibility checks entered against the entered data. The error message for the failing plausibility checks will be stored in $plausi_text. 3. The two introductory texts (Data missing...) will be loaded from the database and provided in the $msg_complete_header and $msg_complete_quest wildcards. 4. The questioncomplete.tpl template will only be output if either a completeness check or a PHP plausibility check is attached to the page. The template for a simple output without incorporated image or similar constructs will look as follows:
001 {* Version 1-0 2002-09-25 *} 002 <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="{$sys_border}" bordercolor="blue" width="{$layout_width}"> 003 <tr> 004 <td width="100%" class="plausi"> 005 {$msg_complete_header} 006 </td> 007 </tr> 008 <tr> 009 <td class="plausi2">{$msg_complete_quest}</td> 010 </tr> 011 <tr> 012 <td class="questiondisbot" colspan="3"><img src="{$baseurl}layout/ pixel_t.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td> 013 </tr> 014 {section name=i loop=$dac_quests} 015 <tr> 016 <td width="100%" class="plausi3"> 017 <img src="{$baseurl}pixel_t.gif" width="15" height="1" border="0"> {$dac_quests[i]} 018 </td> 019 </tr> 020 {/section} 021 {if $plausi_text ne ""} 022 <tr> 023 <td class=plausi>
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024 <img src="{$baseurl}layout/pixel_t.gif" width="15" height="1" border="0">{$plausi_text} 025 </td> 026 </tr> 027 {/if} 028 </table> 029 <br>
Line 5 9 15-21 Meaning Outputs the first introductory text, $msg_complete_header. These lines can be removed or modified through a fixed value, if desired. Outputs the first introductory text, $msg_complete_quest. These lines can be removed or modified through a fixed value, if desired. These lines output the question texts of the questions that have not been fully answered. The entire area can be removed if its output is not desired (e.g. because too much space would be lost). These lines output the plausibility error messages, if a plausibility check has detected errors. The lines can be re-written as desired. Meaning of the individual lines in the template code
26 Table 8.6
8.5.7
Detecting Specific Browsers

Sometimes you will be forced to output different code depending on the browser. For example, you will wish to output a different CSS file, if the respondent is using Netscape 4.7. EFS Survey offers a function that will return the browser being used in a system variable: Insert the following line, for example into the header of the main template (main.tpl):
{detect_browser p_ver=#detect_browser#}
The function invoked will fill in three system variables:

Variable $NN47 Contents Is the respondents browser Netscape 4.7? You can use the information, for example, to differentiate between two CSS files: {if $NN47} <link href="alterbrowser.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> {else} <link href="bessererbrowser.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> {/if} Which browser is being used? $agent_type will take on the following values: Netscape, Opera,MSIE,Lynx,WebTV,Konqueror,Bot,Other Version number for Netscape and Internet Explorer, e.g. 5.0.
agent_type
agent_version Table 8.7
Meaning of system variables
8.5.8
Making Surveys Appear in a Frameset

Anonymous and personalized surveys can be represented in a frameset. This requires that the frameset be located within the surveys directory.
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Please note: Framesets can be used for anonymous and personalized surveys, they do not work for panel and master data surveys. Please proceed as follows: 1. Create the project. 2. Choose the Layout menu item. 3. Choose Pro editor from the submenu. 4. Create a new template named index.tpl. (Alternatively, you can also copy an existing template. However, its contents will then be overwritten and lost.) 5. Insert the HTML code for a frameset into the template:
001 002 003 004 <html> <head> <title>Our Survey</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso -8859-1"> 005 </head> 006 <frameset rows="60,*,45" frameborder="NO" border="0" framespacing="0"> 007 <frame src="http://www.your-domain.com/header.htm" name="header" scrolling="NO" noresize > 008 <frame src="#LINK#" name="main"> 009 <frame src="http://www.your-domain.com/footer.htm" name="footer" scrolling="NO" noresize > 010 </frameset> 011 <noframes><body> 012 Please use a browser that supports frames. 013 </body></noframes> 014 </html>
6. Save the changed version of the template. The frameset definition shown above is meant as an example and can be adjusted to meet different layout wishes. The survey URL will be included at the corresponding position in the frameset via the #LINK# wildcard. Required parameters will be dynamically attached to the URL (e.g. the code).
8.5.9
Creating Language-dependent Survey Layouts

Since summer 2010, a new feature is avaiable in EFS 7.0, enabling you to change the templates and CSS files of a survey depending on the language selected. Thus, you can, for example, use different templates for the french and english version of a survey. Please mind that this feature is not included in the standard version of EFS Survey. If you are interested in using it, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information. To integrate the additional layouts, please proceed as follows: 1. Create the desired languages. 2. Copy the desired templates resp. create new templates in the Pro editor on the Structure tab. Please mind that the language version ID must be inserted in the file name, e.g. main.tpl -> 2_main.tpl for the language version with ID 2.
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8.6 How are Survey Layouts Generated?
Now, the name of the language will be displayed besides the templates in the template list. If you set up a layout for mobile output (EFS Mobile Extension), various templates are used for the various output types. When creating language version-specific copies of these templates, the ID is inserted at the start of the file name, too. E.g. wml_main.tpl -> 2_wml_main.tpl 3. Copy the existing CSS file to get language-specific versions, too. Name them according to the same pattern. 4. The references to CSS files in the templates are hard-coded and must be modified manually. Please change the name of the CSS file in the following line:
old: <link rel="stylesheet" href="{$baseurl}css/layout.css"> new: <link rel="stylesheet" href="{surveyfile file="css/layout.css"}">
5. On the tab Layout->Pro editor->CSS editor, you can select the various CSS files via a drop-down list and edit them. If you want to edit the various layout versions via the tab Layout->Formatting, you can also select the desired CSS file via a dropdown list. Then, the display is modified accordingly (the system identifies the appropriate templates automatically).
8.6 How are Survey Layouts Generated?

The survey layouts will be generated via a system that draws the output information from various sources: The entire area outside the actual questionnaire (i.e. header and footer area) will be generated via so-called templates (HTML code with inserted wildcards). The questionnaire itself can be partially modified via templates. Due to the complexity of the output, however, most outputs will be conducted via an internal system library (PHP script), which cannot be modified externally. In the default settings, which are used for unedited layouts, some settings such as logos, spaces, width values and message texts are stored in the database and can be edited by the user via corresponding entry dialogs in the standard editor. When editing the structure files in the pro editor, you can overwrite these settings with fixed values. However, they can then no longer be edited via the standard editor.
8.6.1
Technical Background Information on the Template System

We output the templates via an Open Source system called Smarty. Smarty is a compiling template class, i.e. a PHP file will be produced from the HTML file through the compiler operation and then invoked for output. Smarty has an extensive syntax that, among other things, offers interesting options for modifying dynamic variables before they are output. For example, you can customize the qtext.tpl template as follows:
{$qtext|capitalize}
All question texts on all pages will now be output in capital letters. The documentation for Smarty can be found at http://smarty.php.net. The section on modifications will be of particular interest.
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8.7 Saving and Re-Using Layouts

8.7.1 Saving Settings as a Template
You can save your changes to the project layout to a template. For the next survey using the same layout, you will only have to select the saved template and assign it to the project. To save the settings, choose the Layout->Save settings in template menu item. You can either overwrite an existing template or create a new template. The name and description are for your orientation. When you save a layout template, you can specify which files are not part of the layout (e.g. images that are only used for a specific questionnaire). A list from which you can select these files is displayed in the Advanced options under the [+] icon. The list of excludable files comprises the following: all files that were uploaded via the media library, buttons created using the form elements generator, logos created via the standard editor, image files used by EFS Survey functions such as the pretest tool and the preview, all CSS files and all template files.
8.7.2
Loading Saved Settings

You can find a list of your templates in the Layout templates menu on the tab Layout list.
Figure 8.19
Layout list
8.8 Exporting and Importing Layouts

You can transfer a layout template from one installation to another by exporting the template as a zip file and the importing it into the destination installation. The work process required for this consists of three sections which are described below: Saving the layout setting as a template Exporting the layout template from the original EFS installation
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8.8 Exporting and Importing Layouts
Importing the layout template into another EFS installation
Saving the layout setting as a template

1. First, save the desired layout as a template in the EFS installation in which you set it up. To do so, choose Layout->Save settings in template from the menu of the respective project. 2. Now you have the option to either overwrite an old template or create a new template. If you wish to create a new template, enter the name and a short description for your orientation. 3. Click on Save. A green text bar will indicate the successful performance of the action.
Exporting the layout template from the original EFS installation

1. Switch to the Layout templates menu. 2. Select the desired template from the Layout list tab and click on the Export icon. 3. The File download dialog will open. Check that Save file to disk is selected, and confirm by clicking on OK. 4. In the window that will then opens, select the folder on your hard disk to which you want to store the layout file, and specify the name of the file. 5. The layout template will now be stored on your hard disk as a zip file. The export operation is completed.
Importing the layout template into another EFS installation

6. To use the exported layout template for a project in another EFS installation, select the respective project, switch to the Layout->Layout templates menu. 7. Subsequently select the Import template button. 8. In the File field, you can enter the file path where the file you exported under the first step is located on your computer. Alternatively, you can also find and insert the file using the Browse button.
Figure 8.20
Importing layouts
9. If you wish to use your layout for the current project, tick the Activate template checkbox. 10. Complete the work process by clicking on Upload file. 11. A green text bar containing the text The template was successfully added will inform you about the successful transfer of the template. On the Layout list tab, it will now also be available for all projects located on this second EFS Survey instal-
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lation. If you have decided to directly activate the template under Step 9, a second green text bar will report the successful activation.
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9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 Checking the Completion Status of a Project . . . . . . . . . . 387 Using Simulated Test Sessions to Identify Problems . . . . . 388 Checking Conditions for Logical Consistency . . . . . . . . . . 394 Checking Media Links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 Skipping Checks During Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Changing the Language During Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 Switching to Language Editor During Testing . . . . . . . . . . 397 Checking Filters, Quotas and Triggers in the Course of the Survey 398 Managing the To-Dos of the Project Team . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Capturing Pretest Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
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9.1 Checking the Completion Status of a Project
Testing Projects
Running a survey project is a complex task that involves planning, questionnaire creation and evaluation as well as various quality assurance measures. From the functionality of individual settings made in the questionnaire editor to the appearance of the questionnaire, everything must be checked, discussed, changed if necessary and tested under real-world conditions before the beginning of the field phase. This chapter introduces the quality assurance features for EFS surveys: The project check enables you to check the completion status of a project. See Chapter 9.1, p. 387. The project test function, which allows you to automatically check e.g. the setting of filters, will be introduced in Chapter 9.2, p. 388. The consistency check tests the conclusiveness of the configuration of filters, hiding conditions, triggers and plausibility checks. See Chapter 9.3, p. 394. The media check presented in Chapter 9.4, p. 394 makes it easier for you to identify problems with links to images and other media files. The boss button, which allows you to skip plausibility and completeness checks, is introduced in Chapter , p. 401. The language selection feature described in Chapter 9.6, p. 397 is helpful for testing multilingual projects. As of version 7.0, EFS features a runtime check for checking the conditions of LUA filters, quotas and triggers in the course of the survey. See Chapter 9.8, p. 398. In addition to specific test features, EFS also provides tools for work and test organization: To-do management is used to capture and manage internal notes made by those responsible for the project. See Chapter 9.9, p. 399. Chapter 9.10, p. 401, introduces the pretest tool, which allows you to capture the testers comments during the pretest phase. More tools for testing individual settings in the questionnaire are introduced in Chapter 4, p. 119: - The preview (Chapter 4.11, p. 170). - The filter test, which allows you to test the functionality of individual filters (Chapter 4.7.5, p. 154).
9.1 Checking the Completion Status of a Project

The project check informs you about the progress and faults made during project creation. The upper part of the dialog contains an overview on central topics, see Table 9.1. Furthermore, questionnaire structure, filter conditions, timing etc. are checked for logical consistency. Potential problems are listed with the respective problem grade.
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In the example below, an older project has been imported to a new installation. The project check now complains that the layout does not support all project features. This problem is easy to solve: Click on the link Check layout to switch to the pro editor and use the available correction functions (Chapter 8.4.7, p. 374).
Figure 9.1 Check
Results of the project check Meaning EFS checks for errors in LUA filters, quotas and triggers while processing the survey. Indicates whether a static start page has been set up. Indicates the standard language. Indicates whether all of the text elements of the different survey languages have been filled and has a link to the overview of the To-dos. Provides information on the correctness of the layouts in use. If the layout is no longer current, you have the option of clicking on the Check layout link to switch to the Pro editor, where you can fix the problem. Number of variables. The number may change when compiling the project. Chapter Chapter 4.7.8, p. 158 Chapter 4.5.9, p. 136 Chapter 15.2.5, p. 575 Chapter 15.3.1, p. 578 Chapter 8.4.7, p. 374
Errors while processing the survey Static start page Current selected language In multilingual projects: Translation status Layout status
Number of variables in survey table Table 9.1
Chapter 13.9.2, p. 538
Results of a project check
9.2 Using Simulated Test Sessions to Identify Problems

The Project test function, located in the Project checks menu, makes it easier for you to test the setting of the filter by automatically simulating a large number of test sessions. The resulting statistics make it easy to detect setting problems with filters and internal quotas. The following explains the usage options offered by this function: Producing test data Interpreting test data Deleting test data
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What can and cannot be checked using Project test?

Project test enables you to check the operability of basic questionnaire features: filtering on project variables and numeric URL parameters exclusively numeric URL parameters internal quotas triggers Please note, though, that you should not exclusively rely on project test, but run additional manual tests. Also, please take notice of the restrictions mentioned below, e.g. regarding automated testing of triggers. Complex questionnaire features and layout cannot be checked automatically. These include, among others, various routing features, as e.g. hiding conditions at the question and item levels, Random Selection and Random Rotation. all checks, notably plausibility checks, type checks and exclusive checkboxes. most dynamic questionnaire elements, as e.g. dynamic output of contents via wildcards, lists, loops and self-assignment questions in employee surveys. most features which rely on external data, as e.g. external quotas, non-numeric URL parameters (including filters querying these URL parameters) and combinations of external and internal quotas. all layout issues, including output of Flash question types, browser-dependent problems. Project test is available for all project types, but please mind the project-type specific restrictions mentioned below, notably regarding project types with participant administration.
General notes on using Project test

Deactivate non-numeric URL parameters: Project test cannot be used if nonnumeric URL parameters are set up at the same time. Projects in which these URL parameters are to be used must therefore be tested before you create the URL parameters. Avoid undesirable side effects: If the Project test tool simulates participants click paths, triggers may be activated. Make sure that either the projects triggers are not tested or that, at the time of the test run, the triggers are configured in such a way that they will not trigger, for example, a mass dispatch of e-mails (in the case of mail or reinvitation triggers). Delete data after completion of the test phase: Project test was developed to facilitate testing of the questionnaire before the beginning of the field phase. Make sure that the use of this feature is completed and all test data have been deleted according to the instructions in Chapter 9.2.3, p. 393, before you launch the project. This applies particularly to projects with internal quotas: During the test run, the current allocation and the status of the quota will be changed under Edit questionnaire->Quota management. In order to reset the allocation to zero, the project must be newly generated after completion of the test. For this purpose, the Delete all survey data option must be selected.
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Tips for using the project test in projects with participant administration
In personalized projects, you may either have tester datasets automatically generated, or you can use copies of existing participant datasets for testing. Using automatically generated test participants: Test participants are automatically generated and saved in participant administration. These test participants are marked as testers and can therefore be easily removed with Delete test data or be removed manually from participant administration. Using copies of existing participants for testing: The project test uses copies of the participants available in participant administration with disposition code <20 instead of creating new test participants. If the number of test runs desired is greater than the number of participants with disposition code <20, no new participants are additionally generated, but the project test discontinues after all open datasets are used up. These copied test participants are marked as testers, too, and can therefore be easily removed with Delete test data or be removed manually from participant administration. Employee survey project type: As a rule, the project test always uses copies of existing participant datasets available in participant administration for these project types (see above). This ensures that realistic data are available for the organizational structure. As already mentioned above, you can easily identify and remove these test participants.
9.2.1
Producing Test Data

After you have finished your questionnaire, open the Project checks ->Project test menu. This will open the entry page of the Project test menu which provides an overview of the filters and variables used in the project.
Figure 9.2
Overview of the filters and variables used in the project
Click on the Produce test data tab and enter the conditions for the automatically generated test runs: In the Number of interviews to create field, enter the number of questionnaire sessions that are to be automatically generated. The advisable number of sessions depends on the complexity of the project and the robustness of the server. On the one hand, high numbers of sessions (in the hundreds) deliver more meaningful results. On the other hand, projects with a complex filter structure can cause a considerable server load even with one hundred sessions. Before you enter a larger number of times participated, you should therefore make sure that there is no survey with a high number of participants running at the same time on the same installation. In the second field, you can specify the Maximum number of pages sent per session. The number entered should be greater than 0. If the Delete test data prior to execution? option is enabled, data generated in preliminary test runs or automatically generated test participants are deleted.
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Personalized survey project type only: If the Use copies of existing participants? option is enabled the project test will use copies of the datasets with disposition code <20 already available in participant administration instead of creating new participants. If the number of test runs desired is greater than the number of participants with disposition code <20, no new participants are additionally generated, but the project test discontinues after all open datasets are used up. If the project contains numeric URL parameters, you can specify individual values or number ranges for them. Please note that Project test does not support nonnumeric URL parameters. With projects containing such parameters, Project test must be run before the URL parameters are configured. If the project contains triggers, you can choose separately whether these may be activated during the project test. Before activating the trigger test function, make sure that this cannot inadvertently trigger infinite loops or the bulk dispatch of mails. Usually, however, a manual test is more advisable for checking the functionality of triggers than using the automatic project test.
9.2.2
Interpreting Test Data

1. Routing statistics
The routing statistics are located on the Routing tab. The following guiding questions will help you to interpret them.
Figure 9.3
The routing statistics of a test run in a sample project
Have all sessions been completed successfully?

After the test run, first check whether the number of sessions completed (disposition code 31, 32) equals the number of times participated you originally entered. To do so, open the Routing tab and click on the Evaluate complete data records only link.
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Figure 9.4
Example of routing statistics with incomplete data records
If all sessions were completed successfully, you can limit your analysis to this statistics, labeled Evaluate completed data records only. If test sessions were interrupted as in the example shown, you should first identify the cause of the drop-outs. To do so, click on the Evaluate all data records link. Note that drop-outs do not necessarily indicate problems. In the example shown, for instance, the drop-outs are participants who were screened out after a quota was fulfilled.
Have the filter conditions and internal quotas been defined correctly?
To test the mere functionality of the filters, you can use the filter test described in Chapter 4.7.5, p. 154. In the routing statistics of a test session that was automatically generated using Project test, you can also check whether the filtering concept is sensible, i.e. whether your settings have the anticipated effect with high numbers of participants. In the example shown in Figure 9.3, for instance, only 49 of 100 participants have gone through one of the two possible filter branches. This suggests checking whether the selection was required by the projects concept or whether the filter conditions were not correctly defined. If you find errors, you can correct them in the questionnaire and then launch another test run. Before launching the new test run, however, be sure to delete your old test data: Otherwise, the routing statistics will give you an evaluation of the test data for all previous test sessions, which will be worthless for your error analysis.
2. Field report
By clicking on the Field report menu item, you can view the field report for the automatically simulated test phase.
3. Participant administration in personalized surveys a) Personalized survey, Use copies of existing participant option not enabled:
For each participation in a test run, an automatically generated participant should be entered in the participant administration of the project concerned. The fields first
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name, name and e-mail will be filled with the text __Projekttest__. This content and the tester status allows to identify them easily.
b) Personalized survey with Use copies of existing participants option enabled, employee survey:
As explained above, in these cases copies of existing participants with disposition code <20 are used for the project test. If the number of test runs desired is greater than the number of participants with disposition code <20 no new participants are additionally generated, and the project test discontinues after all open datasets are used up.
4. Internal quotas
In projects with internal quotas, the current allocation and status of the quota shown under Questionnaire editor->Quota management should match the test results.
9.2.3
Deleting Test Data

Deleting test data in the Project test menu and the field report
The automatically generated data must be deleted if you have completed the evaluation of the routing statistics and field report. Otherwise the data will be maintained and included in the next test session or even in the evaluation of the field phase, thus influencing the results. To do so, click on the Delete test data tab, and then confirm by clicking on Delete test data.
Deleting quota data

In projects with internal quotas, the test run will change the current allocation and the status of the quota under Edit questionnaire->Quota management. In order to reset the allocation to zero, the project must be newly compiled after completion of the test. For this, the Delete all survey data option must be selected (see Chapter 3.3, p. 62).
Deleting automatically generated participants in personalized surveys

If Use copies of existing participants was disabled for a test run in a personalized survey, then an automatically generated participant is automatically entered for each participation in the project's participant administration. The test persons will then receive the e-mail address of the staff member who launched the test. You should delete these automatically generated persons and their test data before the project goes into the field phase. To do so click on the Delete test data tab, and then confirm by clicking on Delete test data.
Delete automatically generated data in personalized survey participant datasets

If in a test run in a personalized survey Use existing participants was enabled or if it is an employee survey, datasets of existing participants are used for the project test. This artificially generated test data must be deleted before the project enters the field phase. To do so, you can either apply the Reset with data deletion action to all participants in participant administration (see Chapter 10.2.5, p. 422) or compile the project anew (navigate to Projects->{Selected project}->Compile and select the Delete all survey data option).
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9.3 Checking Conditions for Logical Consistency

The Project checks menu contains the Consistency check function. Clicking on this menu item will open an additional window with a codebook displaying the conditions for filters, hiding conditions, triggers and plausibility checks and containing information on the consistency of the setting. Traffic-light icons will tell you whether the setting is consistent: Green: The setting is consistent (i.e. all variables used actually exist in the project). Yellow: The yellow color is only used with filters. It indicates that the filter conditions are consistent but the filter has not yet been checked using the filter test (see Chapter 4.7.5, p. 154). Red: The setting is not consistent (i.e., for example, it accesses variables that no longer exist). The consistency check covers project variables (v_100n), user-defined variables (c_000n) and URL parameters (p_000n).
Figure 9.5 The consistency check reports an incorrect hiding condition and a consistently defined plausibility check
9.4 Checking Media Links

Identifying problems with links to images and other media files is quite time-consuming, particularly for questionnaires that contain large numbers of images. The check functions located in the newly introduced Project checks->Media check menu will make your work easier. You can display either all media, only valid media or only media that are not available. This process will check not only multimedia elements from the questionnaire, but also buttons, layout elements and images used in the templates. The following figure shows an excerpt from the list of all media.
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9.4 Checking Media Links
Figure 9.6
Display of available media
The display contains the following information for each media file: URL Preview Source element Context of use Media type Language: In the case of multilingual projects, this column contains the language of the questionnaire in which the file is used. Status: The traffic-light icon indicates whether a media file is available or invalid. Using the link in the Actions column, you are able to open the menus and edit the respective media file.
Example
In the following example, a search for invalid media will be made: 1. First, select the status of the resources. The available options are no matter what status, status available and status not available. Select Only show invalid media (status not available). 2. In multilingual projects, the language must be specified. 3. You have the option of suppressing recurring media from being displayed twice. 4. Click on Execute check to trigger the function.
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Figure 9.7
Searching for invalid media
5. The resulting list will show the image digital-camera.bmp, which is linked to the question entitled Digital Camera on the Prize Draw page, but is not available.
Figure 9.8
Identifying invalid references
6. The information provided on the context and URL can be used, for example, to check whether the link is correct and the image is still available in the media library.
9.5 Skipping Checks During Testing

Depending on the aspects under which you are going through the questionnaire during the test phase, completing plausibility checks (see Chapter 5.14, p. 231) and completeness checks (see Chapter 5.12, p. 227) may get tiresome. Therefore, the socalled boss button in the toolbar allows you to skip plausibility and completeness checks.
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9.6 Changing the Language During Testing
Figure 9.9
Skipping a plausibility check using the boss button
It is activated respectively deactivated via the Show 'boss button' in survey dropdown list in the Project properties menu. By selecting the appropriate options disabled display for all participants display for testers only you can define which target groups should be able to use it and where.
9.6 Changing the Language During Testing

The Switch language drop-down list, which can be activated optionally, allows to change the language when going through the survey, in both preview and productive modes. All you need to do is choose the desired language: the change is performed automatically. The function is activated respectively deactivated via the Language selection dropdown list in the Project properties menu. By selecting the appropriate options disabled display for all participants display for testers only you can define which target groups should be able to use it and where.
9.7 Switching to Language Editor During Testing

Optionally, you can enable links in the questionnaire and in the preview which will allow you, your staff members, or translators - depending on respective access rights to directly access the corresponding editing pages in the Language editor or in EFS Translator Interface. If, for example, you want to amend any details in the source text of the questionnaire, if translators want to make any changes in the proof-reading
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stage, or when you are controlling the work of a translator, this link will save you the time-consuming effort of scrolling back and forth: you can click through the questionnaire and switch directly to the appropriate editing page whenever you detect a problem.
Figure 9.10
Jumping straight to the editor from the preview
Please note: The question types 911, 921, 998, and 999 do not support this link function. The link function is activated respectively deactivated via the Activate link to EFS Translator Interface drop-down list in the Project properties menu. By selecting the appropriate options disabled display for all participants display for testers only you can define which target groups should be able to use it and where.
9.8 Checking Filters, Quotas and Triggers in the Course of the Survey
As of EFS 7.0, the functioning of LUA filters, quotas and triggers is checked in the course of the survey, i.e. while the participants are clicking through the questionnaire in the field phase. If errors are detected, a highly visible notice will be displayed in the survey menu. The corresponding details can be viewed in the runtime error log. Runtime errors can also be viewed in the preview. See Chapter 4.11.1, p. 170. Optionally, you can have the error messages e-mailed to you.
9.8.1
Viewing Runtime Error Details

If errors are detected in the runtime check, a highly visible notice will be displayed in red in the survey menu. In order to view details, open the Project checks->Project check menu and click on the link in the field Errors while processing the survey.
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9.9 Managing the To-Dos of the Project Team
Figure 9.11
Error message in the Project checks menu
A table lists each detected runtime error along with the corresponding error message, the number of occurrences, the time of the last occurrence as well as the consecutive number (lfdn) of the last affected participant. By clicking on the link To the filter, you can switch to the respective filter condition. By clicking on the Delete all errors button, you can reset the log after fixing the errors.
Figure 9.12
Detailed runtime error log
9.8.2
Subscribing to Notification Mail for Runtime Errors

Optionally, you can subscribe to e-mail notifications which will be sent if errors occur while processing the survey. To do so, please proceed as follows: In the survey menu, click on the Change link in the Project type field to open the dialog for editing the project data. This dialog contains the field Notification on errors which occurred while processing the survey (e-mail list). Enter the desired recipient addresses.
9.9 Managing the To-Dos of the Project Team

To-do management facilitates planning and improvement of the internal organization. It allows those responsible for the project to make internal notes on individual questionnaire pages directly in the questionnaire editor or in the questionnaire.
Activating the to-do marker

The to-do marker is activated in the Project properties menu of the respective project. By selecting the appropriate options, you can define which target groups should be able to use it and where: Show to-do markers in the editor: The to-do marker will be displayed in the questionnaire view of the questionnaire editor.
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Show to-do markers in the questionnaire: Depending of the settings of the dropdown list, the to-do marker will be displayed either for all participants, or in personalized projects only for participants with tester accounts, or it will be disabled.
To-do markers in the questionnaire editor

The To-do icon is located in the questionnaire view of the project, directly beside the title of the questionnaire pages. Clicking on this icon will open the to-do window and you can enter a note. Once a staff member or customer stores a to-do, the icon of the respective page will be displayed in yellow.
Figure 9.13
View of the questionnaire editor with the to-do marker activated
To-do markers in the questionnaire

If you have selected the option display for all participants or display for testers in the Show to-do markers in the questionnaire drop-down list, the to-do marker icons are visible for the selected target group both in the preview and in productive mode. Staff members with an account for the admin area of the installation who are logged in, can now click the to-do icon and enter comments on the respective questionnaire page.
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9.10 Capturing Pretest Comments
Figure 9.14
View of the questionnaire with the to-do marker activated
Caution: If you have selected the option Display for all participants in the Show to-do markers in the questionnaire drop-down list, the to-do marker icon will be visible for every survey participant. The to-do marker should therefore be deactivated before the survey is launched.

Before a survey goes into the field, it will normally be subjected to a pretest. This involves selected persons making methodical, content-related or technical comments on the questionnaire. The pretest feature supports you and your testers in systematically capturing the pretest comments. This makes it a convenient supplement to the to-do marker which allows staff members with admin area access to note their comments directly in the questionnaire. If the survey is in pretest mode, the questionnaire will show the Pretest icon to the right of the Submit button.
Figure 9.15
The Pretest icon in the questionnaire
By clicking on this icon, the tester can open a pop-up window and enter their pretest comment. In anonymous projects, a field will be provided for the respondent to leave their contact data. In all other project types, the name and e-mail address of the participant giving the comments is automatically retrieved from participant administration.
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Figure 9.16
The pop-up window allows the tester to comment on the questionnaire
As with the to-do marker, you should make sure you do not forget to deactivate the feature after the pretest phase has been completed.
9.10.1
Activating the Pretest Mode

The pretest function is activated respectively deactivated via the Show pretest icon in survey drop-down list in the Project properties menu. By selecting the appropriate options disabled display for all participants display for testers only you can control which target groups should be able to use it. As soon as the pretest mode is activated, an additional option Gather contact information in pretest window will be displayed. If you tick the checkbox, the contact data of the commenting respondents will be collected: In anonymous projects, an entry field will be displayed in the pretest window, inviting the respondents to enter their contact data. In all other project types, name and e-mail address of the participants will be transferred automatically from participant administration or panelists administration.
9.10.2
Changing the Labels of the Pretest Window

If necessary, you can modify the texts displayed in the pretest window. To do so, open the Project properties->Survey messages menu. In the Texts on the pretest comment window section, you can change the labels. See Table 3.16.
9.10.3
Viewing and Managing Pretest Comments

In the documentation area of the respective project, under Projects->{Selected project}->Documentation->Pretest comments, you can view the testers comments.
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Figure 9.17
The archived pretest comments
The Extended search, which you can open by clicking on the link, provides various options for searching the comment list and restricting the results displayed. For example, you can search for a keyword from the comment or for the page title. After the search is completed, you can tick the checkbox in the Clear search form field to return to the full comment list. The pretest comments will be shown in the table. The following additional information is available for each comment: ID (of the comment) Inserted on: creation date User ID Consecutive number: The testers are assigned consecutive numbers. Contact information: In the case of personalized projects, the names and e-mail addresses of the testers will be taken from participants administration. For an anonymous project, contact information will be displayed only when capturing has been enabled and the testers have entered data. Page ID: The ID of the questionnaire page. Page title: By clicking on the page title, you can open the commented pages directly in the questionnaire editor. Comment Language: The language of the questionnaire in multilingual projects that was tested. Browser: The browsers used by testers will be logged. This makes it easy for you to check, for example, whether layout tests have been performed with all major browsers or whether an error message is browser-specific. Status: You can assign processing statuses to pretest comments. This facilitates coordination, particularly if you are preparing the project together with other staff members. You can select the statuses not decided, to do, done and not relevant. Furthermore, the Actions column provides the following icons: Page preview: Shows the commented questionnaire page in the preview. Edit page: Opens the commented questionnaire page in the questionnaire editor.
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Edit language elements: Opens the commented questionnaire page in the language element editor. Delete comment.
Exporting pretest comments

Via the Export pretest comments as Excel file, you can trigger a download of the comments.
Printing pretest comments

If you want to print the questionnaire with the pretest comments, you can use the regular print function under Projects->{Selected project}->Documentation->Print version. Then, you only need to tick the Show pretest comments checkbox.
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10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Recruiting and Inviting Participants to Anonymous Projects 407 Managing Participants in Personalized Surveys . . . . . . . . 411 Drawing Samples for Panel and Master Data Surveys . . . . 437 Defining the Distribution of Specific Characteristics in a Participant Group with Quotas453
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10.1 Recruiting and Inviting Participants to Anonymous Projects
10
Recruiting and Inviting Participants

In the jargon of market and social research, the performance of data collection is called a field. An important element of field control is the recruiting of participants and their management during the field phase. Before you plan your survey and determine its target group, ask yourself questions such as: Whom do I want to interview on this topic? How can I find this group of persons? In many cases, the target group is fixed from the start, for example in employee surveys conducted on the entire staff or in customer surveys. Sometimes you will be able to name the target group, but not yet know any persons from the target group who could be addressed directly. In yet other cases, the desired information is obtained using a pool of persons who have agreed to participate in surveys. Depending on the survey type, the following cases are possible: Anonymous surveys: The potential participants are not known before the start of the survey. Personalized surveys and employee surveys: The potential participants have been determined before the start of the survey and can be personally addressed. Panel- and master data surveys: Respondents are known persons from panels who have agreed to participate in surveys. EFS provides various functions to support you in identifying and controlling these fields that vary depending on the survey type: various options for restricting access and defining the way of entry for anonymous surveys (Chapter 10.1, p. 407) participant administration for personalized surveys (Chapter 10.2, p. 411) In EFS Panel installations: drawing samples for panel surveys and master data surveys (Chapter 10.3, p. 437) using quotas to control anonymous, personalized and panel-based surveys (Chapter 10.4, p. 453)

10.1.1 Inviting Participants Via a Link
One possible way of inviting participants is to publish a link to the survey on a website or in a newsletter or an e-mail. You will find the survey link under Project info, in the URL row. Chapter 3.7.3, p. 77 explains how you can change this URL.
10.1.2
Inviting Participants via QR Code

QR codes (QR = quick response) are two-dimensional codes used, among other purposes, for communicating URLs: a QR-encoded URL can be printed on a billboard or shown in a TV commercial. An interested viewer can capture this QR code with a
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camera-equipped mobile device. Various applications for Android, iPhone, and Windows Mobile allow the decoding of the image and the opening of the URL. With EFS, you will find it particularly easy to communicate the URL of your survey not only online and through e-mail, but also in QR code via print media, for example. In the survey menu of anonymous projects you will find the new field QR code: clicking on the Display link opens a pop-up window containing the QR code of the survey URL. In order to save the QR code image to your PC, right-click the image and select the option Save image to.... By clicking on Print image, you can trigger the print function of your browser. To store the QR code image locally and e.g. forward it to an advertising agency, use the Save image button.
Figure 10.1
QR code
Please note that it is not possible to communicate any URL parameters via the QR code image.
10.1.3
Inviting Participants Via a Pop-up Window

If your survey is intended to appear in a pop-up window you can generate the requisite code in the Layout->Pop-up generator menu. Integrate the code into the homepage on which you want to publish the survey. You can set the size of the pop-up window, determine the position on the screen and choose between a range of other options. Pop-up blockers are a standard feature of most browsers. You can evade the blockade ussing layers. In the Helpful Material->Scripts & Programming section of the customer center, you can download a script that enables you to create such a layer.
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Figure 10.2
The pop-up generator
Settings
Option Width Height Position of popup window on the screen toolbar Explanation Width of pop-up window in pixels Height of pop-up window in pixels Available options: Centered (default setting) Left upper corner of screen Pop-up window property Value yes: Window has own toolbar. Value no: Window has no toolbar. Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however only if the option character chain contains at least one option. Pop-up window property Value yes: Window has own address line. Value no: Window has no address line Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however only if the option character chain contains at least one option. Netscape 6.1 does not interpret this property. Pop-up window property Value yes: Personal links list is shown Value no: Link list is not shown. Pop-up window settings
location
directories
Table 10.1
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(cont.)Option status
Explanation Pop-up window property Value yes: Window has own status line. Value no: Window has no status line. Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however only if the option character chain contains at least one option. Pop-up window property Value yes: Window has own menu bar with browser commands Value no: Window has no menu bar. Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however only if the option character chain contains at least one option. With Safari, the menu bar is not a component of the window and therefore cannot be hidden. Pop-up window property Value yes: Window has scroll bars. Value no: User cannot scroll in window. Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however, only if the option character chain contains at least one option. Pop-up window property Value yes: User can resize window. Value no: User cannot resize window. Preset is no, but with Internet Explorer however only if the option character chain contains at least one option.
Menu bar
scrollbars
resizable
Table 10.1
Pop-up window settings
Detailed information regarding configuration of pop-up windows can be found for example at SELFHTML at http://de.selfhtml.org.javascript/objekte/window.htm#open
10.1.4
Inviting the Nth Visitor

Pop-ups are often displayed according to the nth visitor method (n-viz method). The table below illustrates the most important aspects of this method. JavaScripts which you can use to realize nviz projects are available from the customer center at http:// my.globalpark.com.
Question What? Answer The nth visitor method is a sampling method which is used for website surveys (e.g. website tests). It is a probabilistic sampling method, in which a random sample is drawn from the visitors to a website. The population from which the sample is drawn is composed of the visitors to the website within a specific period. Visitors selected for an interview will be shown a pop-up window prompting them to participate in the survey. This method ensures that each visitor to a website has the same chance of getting into the sample. Since the participant is addressed directly, the participant rate for this method is between 30 and 40%. The nth visitor method
How? Why?
Table 10.2
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10.2 Managing Participants in Personalized Surveys
(cont.)QuesVariations
Answer A distinction is made between two variations: Each participant who visits the website during the field period has the same chance of being prompted to participate. All participants visiting the site have the same probability p of being shown the pop-up window. In order to prevent the participant from getting another chance to participate in the survey on a later visit, a cookie is set. The second variation does not require setting a cookie. Every visitor to the website has the same chance of getting into the sample. Participants are allowed to participate more than once. The frequency of their visits is the subject of a question in the questionnaire. This variation may be advisable for sites with changes in content. The survey can be displayed at different points in time: On enter: the visitors are surveyed when they enter a website. Clickstream: cookies are set when various content areas are visited. The pop-up window will only be displayed when a certain number of cookies has been set or specific content areas have been visited. On exit: visitors are not invited to participate in the survey until they leave the site. The procedures described are based on the use of cookies and JavaScript. These functions are implemented with 97.4% of users (for cookies) and 99.8% of users (for JavaScript), respectively.
Point in time chosen for the survey
Technical requirements Table 10.2
The nth visitor method
10.1.5
Restricting Access
Chapter 3.7.11, p. 83 explains how you can restrict access to an anonymous survey to specific participant groups.

Personalized surveys require defining the sample in advance by filling in the so-called Participant administration. During the field phase, you can include additional participants in the survey at any time. This allows you to interview any number of persons.
Definition of a sample Sample (personalized survey) Table 10.3 In the case of a personalized survey, a sample is the number of persons who have been released as participants for this survey.
Definition of a sample for a personalized survey
In personalized projects, participant administration is located under the Projects-> {Selected project}->Participant administration menu item. The topmost tab in the content area of participant administration contains its centerpiece, the List of participants. On the remaining tabs, you will find various selection and edit options.
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Figure 10.3 Participant administration for a personalized survey
The following will be explained below: how to configure the fields of the participant administration. See Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412. which information the participant administration contains, how you can change the display of the participant list and how to restrict the list to subsets. See Chapter 10.2.2, p. 419 to 10.2.4, p. 421. which actions can be executed in relation to individual respondents, to all respondents or to a subset, including e-mails to respondents with specific disposition codes. See Chapters 10.2.2, p. 419 and 10.2.15, p. 433. how you can add participants and change the participants data. See Chapters 10.2.6, p. 423 to 10.2.9, p. 429. how participant data can be exported. See Chapter 10.2.11, p. 431. The participant administration of personalized projects is designed to manage up to a million participants. Please note: The participant number is one of the factors which can affect the performance of a project considerably. Other important factors are e.g. size and complexity of the questionnaire. When planning a project with a lot of participants, please mind advice given in this manual regarding performance optimization, in particular when planning participant variables (Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412) and when using dynamic features as e.g. lists and triggers (Chapter 7, p. 293). Your contact at Globalpark can provide advice, too.
10.2.1
Editing Participant Variables

Before importing participants, you should adjust the structure of participant administration to the requirements of your current project. This is done in the Participant administration->Participant variables menu.
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Before you start

It is recommended to use not more than 200 participant variables. First, the overall number of variables is limited (7,000 variables per project in EFS 7.0 and later, 2,400 variables in older versions). Second, the variable number affects the performance of the project. See Chapter 13.9, p. 537. Often you need to be able to select specific participant groups in a targeted manner, e.g. to successively send invitation mails to the various departments of a company or to be able to split according to particular characteristics such as customer type, for expample, in the evaluation process. Consider precisely which subsets you will need in the course of the project and in the evaluation process and how they can be optimally represented in the participant administration. Then create the additionally required variables.
1. Overview of the participant variables

Switch to the Participant administration->Participant variables menu. You will find an overview table listing the existing participant variables. (See Table 10.4 for an overview of the defaulted variables.)
Figure 10.4
The standard variables of a personalized project
The table contains the following information for each variable: Order: The order of the variables, which is defined via the Arrow icons in the Move column, is used both for the entry and search froms of the participant administration and for the export data records. Internal label: The actual name of the variable. In the format #internal_label#, this is used as a wildcard in the questionnaire and in e-mails (see Chapter 7.2, p. 297). All the participant variables begin with the prefix u_ so that they can be unambiguously identified, for example, during filtering. Label. Please note: The field does not have multilingual capability. For projects with international staff you should therefore choose a name which can be understood by all of those involved. Type: The available display types are Text field, Checkbox, Select box and Radio buttons. For variables of the Select box or Radio buttons type, you can
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specify answer categories that can be selected via select boxes in participant administration. In the case of u_gender, for example, you can choose between Male, Female and Not entered. See Section 3. Variable types, encoding and missing values, p. 415, for further information. Properties: This column indicates whether a variable is visible in participant administration, can be filled with data (see Section 4. Detail Settings, p. 416), if new characteristics can be created by import or if it serves as the language variable (see Chapter 15.2.6, p. 576). The following editing options can be used: Using the Arrow icons in the Move column you can change the order of the participant variables both in the entry and search form of the participant administration and in the export data records. Particularly in projects with large numbers of variables, this facilitates operating in the participant administration and working with the exported data. Clicking on the internal label or on the Edit icon will open the dialog in which the respective variable is configured. User-defined variables can be deleted by clicking on the familiar Delete icon. If you do this, please note the tips given in Section 7. Deleting variables and answer categories, p. 419.
2. Overview of the standard variables of participant administration

The following table lists all defaulted participant variables. The list also contains the project types for which each variable can be used (PE: Personalized project, ES: Employee survey).
Label User ID: Unique User ID Variable name uid PE x ES x Data type int Size 11 places Threshold values: 214748364 8 bis 214748364
Account name (optional) First name Name E-mail Password (unencrypted) Title Gender Group Language version Date of creation: Date and time of creation of the participant record Table 10.4
u_account u_firstname u_name u_email u_passwd u_title u_gender u_group u_language c_date x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x varchar varchar varchar varchar varchar tinyint int int timestamp 255 255 255 255 255 1 11 (see above) 11 (see above)
Participant variables in personalized surveys and employee surveys
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(cont.)Label Date of change Mobile number Reminder date (This variable is not visible in the overview, but can be imported or exported.)
Variable name m_date u_mobile internal: date_of_ remind / external: dateofremind internal: date_of_ expire / external: dateofexpire
PE x x x
ES x x x
Data type timestamp
Size
timestamp
Expiry date (This variable is not visible in the overview, but can be imported or exported.)
timestamp
Table 10.4
Participant variables in personalized surveys and employee surveys
For an overview of the participant variables in the panelists administration of EFS Panel installations, please see the EFS Panel 8.0 manual, Chapter 4.1.
3. Variable types, encoding and missing values

The following table lists the different display types with related encodings and missing value definitions.
Display type Text field Meaning Input field. Missing values Unfilled text fields are filled with 0. Please note that participant administration variables of the text field type and project variables that refer to text fields are preallocated differently: Participant variables that are imported by the project manager and not filled by the participant are set to 0. Project variables that refer to text fields are preallocated with the value -66 or 99, depending on whether the participant did not see the question or saw, but did not answer, the question. Export data record Text entered into the open entry field
Checkbox
Used to output information that can be given by answering Yes or No. Variables of the type Checkbox can only assume the values 0 and 1. Imported values which are not 0 are recoded to 1. Display types and their usage
Variable with codes 0 (disabled) and 1 (enabled)
Table 10.5
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(cont.)Display type Select box
Meaning Generates a select box in which user-defined answer options can be selected. If a Selectbox type variable is created anew, all existing participants are assigned the value 0. Generates a single response list in which user-defined answer options can be selected. If a radio buttons type variable is created anew, all existing participants are assigned the value 0.
Missing values Select boxes which are set to Please select by default will be preset at 0. This is the case, for example, with the standard variables u_gender, u_language and u_group.
Export data record Variable with user-defined codes
Radio buttons
Variable with user-defined codes
Table 10.5
Display types and their usage
Please note: The display type of standard variables cannot be changed.
4. Detail Settings
You can control whether a variable is visible in participant administration, whether the data stored in the variable can be edited and how codes that do not yet exist are to be treated upon import.
Allow editing of the content of a variable

The content of a variable for which editing is allowed can be changed via participant administration. If a variable has not been released, you cannot change the corresponding participant data in participant administration.
Show the content of a variable in participant administration

A variable for which the corresponding option is enabled is displayed in participant administration.
Create new characteristics of this variable during the import process

If this function is enabled numerical values are interpreted as new codes on import in radio button and select box type fields. The required characteristics are automatically created and the numerical value is also used as a label. If the function is not enabled numerical values which differ from the coding are imported with radio button and select box question types but are marked in the display with a question mark prompting the user to check and subsequently create the missing characteristic.
Data from participant import can be used to expand characteristics of this variable
If this function has been activated and data are imported into the radio buttons and selectbox fields that do not correspond to codes of an existing characteristic, this will result in the following: Numerical values that do not correspond to any existing code are interpreted as new codes. Required characteristics are automatically generated, using the numerical value as a label.
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New characteristics are also generated for entries not interpretable as code, such as texts or combinations of letters and numbers. The codes of these characteristics are allocated by the system. If the function is not activated, this will result in the following: Numerical values that differ from coding are imported, but displayed with a question mark prompting you to check and subsequently create the missing characteristic. Entries not interpretable as code are set to the default value 0.
5. Creating new variables

1. Click on the Create variable button.
Figure 10.5
Creating a new variable
2. The following details are required: Internal label: This is used within EFS to label the variable. You may use up to 255 characters. Only letters and numbers (i.e. ASCII characters) may be used; special characters or Japanese kanji, for example, are not allowed. The prefix u_ will be attached automatically.
Please note: The internal label cannot be subsequently changed. Label. The field does not have multilingual capability. For projects with international staff you should therefore choose a name which can be understood by all of those involved. Display type: See Section 3. Variable types, encoding and missing values, p. 415. Allow editing of the variable: See Section 4. Detail Settings, p. 416. Show the content in participant administration: See Section 4. Detail Settings, p. 416.
3. Confirm by clicking on Save. 4. If the display type of the variable is Select box or Radio buttons, a table for creating the answer categories will be shown. Please note: The value 0 is treated as a default value. This means, for example, that with select box type variables the Please select option is preset with this value and this value is assigned to empty cells on import. For that reason when creating answer categories similarly use the 0 code only for settings preset as default such as Please select.
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Figure 10.6
Entering answer categories
5. Enter the label of the first answer category. 6. Confirm by clicking on Save. 7. Create all other required answer categories. 8. Lastly, click on the Back to Overview link to return to the overview of participant variables.
Figure 10.7
The newly created variable in the overview
9. The newly created variable will be listed in the table. If many variables are used, the table page will wrap. Use the Previous page and Next page icons to scroll.
6. Recoding the answer categories of participant variables

You can recode answer categories as desired. However, please note the following: The recoding may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Therefore, after recoding, you should check all functionalities that depend on the recoded code.
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If participant administration already contains data records, all those in which the code to be recoded appears will be recoded accordingly. Please proceed as follows: 1. Switch to the Participant variables menu, and click on Edit to open the dialog for the desired variable. 2. Change the code. 3. Then click on Save. Please note that renamings comprising several steps must be performed in individual steps, i.e. if you wish to recode code 1 to code 2 and code 2 to code 3, you must first recode code 2 to code 3 and the code 1 to code 2. 4. The recoding dialog will be opened. Here, you must re-confirm the recodings explicitly. 5. You can trigger the recoding by clicking on Save.
7. Deleting variables and answer categories

In general, standard variables cannot be deleted. Answer categories and user-defined variables can be deleted. However, this function should be used with care.
Deleting user-defined variables

Please note: If participant administration already contains data records, the contents of the respective variable will be irretrievably deleted from all participant records containing the variable. If participant administration is still empty, deleting the variable may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Please check all functionalities to make sure that no dependency has been overlooked.
Deleting answer categories

Please note: If participant administration already contains data records, the respective answer category will be recoded to -77 in all participant records containing the current variable with the code of the answer category. If participant administration is still empty, deleting the answer category may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Please check all functionalities that depend on the recoded code. Please be very careful in making use of the possibility to delete variables or answer categories. Once participant administration contains data, you should avoid deleting variables or answer categories entirely, if possible.
10.2.2
The List of Participants

In the List of participants you will find all participants of the survey, their data, additional information, and various edit options.
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Figure 10.8 List of participants
The actions and the display and search functions are described in the following chapters. The following additional information and functions are available for each data record: All participant data. The participants names are active links. Clicking on a participant will open the entry form described in Chapter 10.2.6, p. 423, where you can change the participants data. Password and code: depending on whether the login option set for the project is Password or Code, the corresponding column will contain an activated link which can be copied and passed on (e.g. to a tester who wants to check the questionnaire under real conditions). The Direct link column displays an icon which can be used to open and view the questionnaire intended for the respective participant in a pop-up window. Please note that, by viewing the questionnaire from the perspective of a regular respondent, you will not only change the participants disposition code, but also capture all your entries as entries made by the participant. It is therefore recommended that you create special tester accounts. See Chapter 10.2.16, p. 434, for further information. If you have read rights to show_dispcode, you can see the disposition code of the participants. Question mark icons indicate values for which there is as yet no corresponding characteristic for radio button or checkbox type variables. This may occur if you use values in the imported dataset for which you have not yet created any characteristic and for which, at the same time, the function for automatic creation of new characteristics on import is disabled (see Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412). Via the checkbox in the Actions column you can select participants to whom you wish to apply the actions listed in Chapter 10.2.5, p. 422.
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10.2.3
Display and Search Functions

As the participant administration usually contains a large number of extensive participant data records, only selected data are normally displayed in the overview list. However, there are several functions that enable you to specify which participant data and how many participants per page will be displayed. As of EFS 7.0, you will find a simple and an extended search function in the upper part, like the ones you know from other areas of EFS. It allows you to limit the list to individual or multiple participants. Then, in the next step, you can apply actions to these subgroups. See Chapter 10.2.4, p. 421. The links labeled > (Next page) and < (Previous page) allow you to scroll forward and back through the list of participants. By clicking on the View button you can display a dialog that allows you to specify whether the various table columns are to be shown or hidden. You can also change the number of rows per page. After you have confirmed by clicking on Send the table will be expanded accordingly. Clicking on a column title allows you to sort all participant data by the content of the respective column. For example, clicking on Participant will sort all participants alphabetically by their names.
10.2.4
Search Functions in Detail

The search functions of the participant list allow you to limit the list to individual participants or participant groups. Then, in the next step, you can apply actions as e.g. Invite, Generate code, Delete etc. (Chapter 10.2.5, p. 422) to these subgroups. Usually, the simple search function is displayed. In the extended search mode, which is opened by clicking on the link of the same name, you can combine the following search criteria: all participant data the Tester flag access code of participants Sent mails greater than or equal to / less than or equal to: This allows you to select participants according to the number of mails they have already received. Disposition code Search multiple e-mail addresses: Allows to simultaneously select a large number of respondents via their e-mail addresses. See Chapter 10.2.13, p. 432. The following rules apply: Upper- and lowercase spelling will be ignored. When searching for a specific term, all entries containing the term will be shown in the results list. If you enter the search term park, both park and globalpark will be found. Instead of one single search criterion, you can also enter a combination of criteria. The criteria will be joined by an AND, i.e. the results must fulfill all criteria. You can perform several search operations in succession to progressively further restrict a set of results.
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With a large number of results, the first page of the results list may not display all participants found. In such a case, you will find the exact number of currently selected participants in the title bar for the list of participants. You can scroll through the results list using the > (Next page) and < (Previous page) links. Therefore, note that the group of selected participants may be larger than the number of participants listed on the first results page, in particular when you are using the All found participants checkbox.
10.2.5
Actions
The following key processes can be invoked via buttons: Add participant: Opens the entry form for manual storing of participant data (see Chapter 10.2.6, p. 423). Import participants: Allows you to import participant data from CSV files (see Chapter 10.2.7, p. 424). Contact participant groups: Allows you to send e-mails to participant groups with specific disposition codes. See Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433. Excel export: Allows to download the entire content of the list of participants as an Excel file. See Chapter 10.2.11, p. 431. CSV export: Allows to download the entire content of the list of participants as a CSV file. Siehe Kapitel 10.2.11, p. 431. Furthermore, the actions listed in the following table can be applied to selected participants or all. To do so, you select the desired participants by ticking the checkboxes in the Actions column or alternatively via either of the checkboxes All entries of this page and All entries. Then you specify the desired action in the dropdown list and confirm by clicking Execute.
Action Generate codes Invite Meaning If you choose this action, it will generate the access codes which the participants can use to log into the survey (also refer to Chapter 3.7.11, p. 83). Using this action, you can send invitation mails to the selected participants. You can customize the template for an invitation mail. Other options for contacting the respondents will be introduced in Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433, below. Using this action, you can send reminder mails to the selected participants. Other options for contacting the respondents will be introduced in Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433, below. This action allows you to delete the allocation of the selected participants to a particular unit. See Chapter 10.2.10, p. 429 and the EFS Employee project managers manual.
Remind
Only in project type Employee survey: Delete allocations to organizational structure Only in project type Employee survey: Allocate participants to organizational unit Bulk edit Table 10.6
This action allows you to allocate the selected participants to a specific organizational unit. When using the additional feature Function, you can also define the function. See Chapter 10.2.10, p. 429 and the EFS Employee project managers manual. This action allows you to modify several participant records in a single step. See Chapter 10.2.10, p. 429.
Actions in the list of participants
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(cont.)Action Reset and delete data
Meaning The participants will be reset; the participants disposition codes will be reset to 11 = not yet invited or 12 = active (11: participants who have not been invited yet; 12: participants who have already received an invitation mail). Already collected result data of the participants will be deleted. Participants who have already taken part in the survey may participate again. The participants disposition codes will be reset as described above; however, the already collected result data will not be deleted. When using paper-pencil questionnaires in the respective survey these can be downloaded for selected participants with this action. This option can only be used to generate the standard offline version. If you want the paper-pencil questionnaire to contain participant codes, these will be printed. When selecting more than one participant, the PDF documents will be made available for download in a zip file. If invitation mails are bounced, you can set the corresponding participants to disposition code 15. This code will be taken into account in the field report during evaluation. This action deletes the selected participants from participant administration. Please note: Deleting participants in personalized projects also irrevocably deletes all data belonging to these participants, including existing survey data.
Reset without deleting survey data Only in installations with EFS Hybrid Extension: Create offline version Standard
Disposition code 15 (not available) Delete
Table 10.6
Actions in the list of participants
10.2.6
Adding Participants
New participants can be either added individually or imported from a list of participants in CSV file format (see next chapter). The function for including individual persons is useful in cases such as the following: if you wish to have the questionnaire checked before the field phase by test persons with a specific tester status (see the tips in Chapter 10.2.16, p. 434). if you wish to subsequently add individual persons. Otherwise, using the import function is more effective in most cases. To manually create a new participant, please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Add participant button to open the entry dialog.
Figure 10.9
Entry form for participant data
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2. Enter the participant data. The following rules apply: The E-mail field must always be completed. Use of the other fields is optional. In the Password field, the Generate new password checkbox is ticked by default. If you enter a password yourself, this will be used, and no automatic password will be generated. If you want to have the questionnaire checked by test persons with specific tester status prior to the field phase, then tick the checkbox yes in the field Tester for these test persons. For further information on the use of testers, see Chapter 10.2.16, p. 434.
3. If variable characteristics are missing, use the Edit variable icon to open the dialog shown in Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412 and add the new characteristics as required. 4. After entering all required information, click on the Save button to save the data. 5. The new participant will appear in the list of participants.
10.2.7
Importing Participants
Usually, you will not create the individual participants of your project manually but rather import the list of participants. In the following, the sequence of the import operation is first explained. After that, the structure of the import file is explained in detail.
Before you start

Please note: Do not start preparing the import until you have created all the required participant variables according to the instructions in Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412. When using Excel, consider the following restrictions imposed by manufacturer specifications: Only the first sheet of the file will be processed. You should not exceed the maximum of 256 columns and 65,000 rows. Should you require more columns or rows, select a different program and save your import file in CSV format. Excel import is only possible for files created or saved using Excel 97+. Excel files that were created or saved using Excel for Mac, Neo Office or Numbers, for example, cannot be imported. The file format XLSX, newly introduced by Microsoft with Office 2007, is not supported by EFS. Please save your files as XLS files before starting the import process.
Importing participants 1. Downloading the import template

1. Switch to the Projects->{Selected project}->Participant administration menu. 2. The dialog where the import takes place is opened by clicking on the Import participants button.
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Figure 10.10
Downloading the import template
3. EFS provides a preformatted import template already containing all necessary columns. It can be downloaded by clicking on Download import template.
2. Filling the import template with participant data

4. Open the template in a suitable program, e.g. in Excel. 5. Enter the data. Please refer to Chapter 10.2.8, p. 428 for a detailed explanation of the file structure.
Figure 10.11
Entering participant data
6. Save the file in Excel or CSV.
3. Matching the fields of the import file with the database fields
7. Again, open the import dialog by clicking on the Import participants button. 8. Select the appropriate character set. 9. Use Browse to select the import file on your computer. 10. Verify that the checkbox in the field First row includes column labels is set appropriately. Normally, it should be activated. 11. Verify that the checkbox in the field Allow duplicate e-mail addresses is set appropriately. Normally, it should be deactivated. (See Chapter 10.2.12, p. 432.) 12. Click on the Send file button to start the import operation. 13. In the next step, all columns of the import file must be matched with the appropriate database fields. If you have used the template without changing the column labels, as recommended, the software will carry out the allocations automatically.
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Figure 10.12
Matching import file columns and database fields
14. After checking the allocations confirm by clicking on Proceed to preview.
4. Checking import data in the preview

15. In the import preview all the data records are displayed as they will be imported into the project. The traffic-light icon in the Status column indicates whether the data record is complete and logically coherent. If the icon is red, i.e. if an error occurred, the reason for this will be indicated when hovering the cursor over the icon. In one of the data records shown in Figure 10.13, for example, the e-mail address has not been entered properly.
Figure 10.13
Checking import data
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16. If necessary, use the Edit and Delete icons to open and subsequently edit resp. delete specific data records. Afterwards, use the Back link to return to the overview.
Figure 10.14
Subsequently modifying a data record
5. Executing import and downloading results

17. If you are satisfied with the data in the preview, click on Import to trigger the actual import. 18. After completion of the import operation, you will be shown how many data records have been created and how many have not been created due to problems.
Figure 10.15
Checking the results
19. By clicking on the Download results button you can retrieve an Excel file containing the following information: all data contained in the import file the result column contains the import result, i.e. a message Data record import successful or Data record not imported. in case of problems, the reason will be indicated in the messages column.
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20. If necessary, you can correct the data records that were not successfully created directly within this file, delete the data records created successfully, and use this file for a new import attempt.
10.2.8
Formatting of the Import File in Detail

When filling in the import template or creating your own import file you have to consider various formatting rules.
File format
The import file can be created in Excel or CSV. Data columns may be separated by tab, comma, or semicolon. When using Excel, consider the following restrictions imposed by manufacturer specifications: Only the first sheet of the file will be processed. You should not exceed the maximum of 256 columns and 65,000 rows. Excel import is only possible for files created or saved using Excel 97+. Excel files that were created or saved using Excel for Mac, Neo Office or Numbers, for example, cannot be imported. The file format XLSX, newly introduced by Microsoft with Office 2007, is not supported by EFS. Please save your files as XLS files before starting the import process.
File structure
An individual column is created for each participant variable to be imported. We recommend entering the respective column labels in the first row. Where possible use the name of the respective variable as the label: The software will automatically identify the columns and assign them to the appropriate database fields. If you choose this option, make sure to tick the checkbox First row includes column labels in the import dialog. Should you deviate from these recommendations, make sure that the first row does not contain any blank spaces or special characters such as dots or umlauts. Otherwise, these will be uniformly replaced with _.
Optionally, you can dispense with using the column labels in the file. In this case, untick the checkbox labeled First row includes column labels in the import dialog. The values of the individual data records are entered in the rows of the file. See Table 10.4 for data type and size of the default variables. The code of the desired characteristic must be specified for data imported into radio buttons, selectbox or checkbox fields. You will find it in the Codebook. (Tick the checkbox labeled Show participant variables in order to display the respective section.) Empty cells are automatically set to the default value 0 upon import. How codes that do not yet exist or entries that cannot be interpreted as code are treated depends on the display type and fine-tune settings; see Table 10.5 and Section 4. Detail Settings, p. 416. Optionally, you can create new characteristics for an existing variable during import. To do this, the relevant option must be activated for the respective variable, see Section 4. Detail Settings, p. 416.
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Special features of certain standard variables

Some variables require special consideration: In principle, an e-mail address should only be registered once, unless you wish to permit duplicate participation and explicitly select the Allow duplicate e-mail addresses field. See Chapter 10.2.12, p. 432. Sometimes it is necessary to create dummy accounts. In such cases, you can use e-mail addresses on the @3uu.eu domain: these addresses are owned by Globalpark, mails sent to them are deleted automatically. Normally, passwords and access codes are created automatically during the import operation. You can also import them. The access code must not be longer than 20 characters. If you use passwords that contain non-ASCII characters, pay attention that characters and character set of the project are compatible with each other. Otherwise registration will not function, because the entries made by respondents will not correspond correctly with the contents of the database due to transfer problems. It is not possible for example to register for an ISO-88599-1 coded survey with a Japanese password. These kinds of problems can be avoided through the use of the international character set UTF-8, because UTF-8 can display all languages. Further information on the topic of character sets can be found in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100. The special status of tester accounts can be set via the tester column of the import file. The values in this column are coded as follows: 0 and blank field: normal participant 1: tester
10.2.9
Changing Participant Data

If you wish to subsequently change or correct the data of a participant, you must first select the participant from the list of participants. With a large number of participants, this requires using the Search participant function (see Chapter 10.2.2, p. 419). In the list of participants, the participants name will be displayed as a link you can click on to open the same entry form that was described above in Chapter 10.2.6, p. 423. Now you can change all required data and then transfer them to participant administration by clicking on Save.
10.2.10
Bulk Editing Participant Data

It is often the case that already uploaded participant data records need to be subsequently modified or extended. For example, titles used to personalize e-mails and questionnaires need to be changed (Dr. -> PhD it turns out during evaluation that a variable necessary for a particular split has not been created and filled in in the participant administration (e.g. customer type). The Bulk edit feature allows to realize such changes with reduced effort. If you limit the list of participants to the relevant data records (or at least to a subset) using appropriate search criteria, you can modify all these in a single step. For employee surveys in EFS Employee, two additional actions are available. Designed analogous to bulk editing, they allow to change the allocation of participants to units: Delete allocations to organizational structure Allocate participants to organizational unit
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Please proceed as follows: 1. To do so, switch to the Participant administration. 2. Use Search participants to restrict the list of participants as far as possible to those participants affected by the change. 3. Mark the participants to be changed. 4. Select the Bulk edit action from the drop-down list.
Figure 10.16 Select participants and Bulk edit action
5. Confirm by clicking on Execute. 6. The form where you can specify the desired change will be displayed. Select the variable to be changed and the value you want this variable to have after the change. In the given example, the value of the variable u_group is to be changed within the selected data records from 1 = Development to 5 = System administration as the employees have been transferred.
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Figure 10.17
Specifying a change
7. Click on Preview to check the result.
Figure 10.18 Preview of the planned change
8. Check whether the change appears as you had planned it. If so, confirm by clicking on Save.
10.2.11
Downloading Participant Data

The entire content of the list of participants can be downloaded as one CSV or Excel file. If you wish, for example, to invite project participants to take part in a follow-up project, this feature allows you to easily export all necessary data into this follow-up project. If you have the read right show_dispcode necessary for viewing the disposition codes, the export file also contains the dispositon codes of the participants. To trigger the export, click on either of the Excel export or CVS export buttons. Please note:
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The Excel export may take some time, depending on the number of data records and variables contained in the list of participants. For large projects we therefore recommend the CVS export. If an Excel file is opened on a computer running with Windows 7 and Excel 2007, depending on the circumstances, a message may be displayed which notifies you that the file is corrupted. This problem is caused by an extension provided by a third-party supplier. Until further notice, please proceed as follows: Save the file locally. Then, open the saved file, allowing Excel to repair it. Finally, save the file again. Alternatively, if you are using the optionally leasable platform EFS Survey Status, you can offer your customers access to the so-called respondent export. This export contains all those participants who actually participated in a survey. See Chapter 12.9, p. 513.
10.2.12
Allowing Duplicate Participation

It is possible to use duplicate e-mail addresses in personalized projects, i.e. a participant can appear more than once. This function makes it possible, for example, to perform projects in several waves with the same participants. It is also useful for trade fair servers. In this case, the participant data records are not uniquely identified by the email address alone, but by the unique combination of e-mail address and password. If you wish to use duplicate e-mail addresses, your import file should therefore contain at least the names of the participants, e-mail addresses, passwords, and usually additional information on wave membership. For a participant to receive a duplicate invitation, you must create two rows that contain the same e-mail address, but different passwords. The waves to which the duplicate participants belong are usually defined via the content of the u_group field. The import is performed as described above in Chapter 10.2.7, p. 424. For this, the checkbox in the Allow duplicate e-mail addresses field must be ticked.
10.2.13
Selecting Participants via Their E-Mail Addresses

Using the Search multiple e-mail addresses function in the extended search, you can simultaneously select a large number of participants via their e-mail addresses. This is useful if, for example, you wish to set a large number of participants whose invitation mails have been bounced back to disposition code 15 (not available). Just copy the e-mail addresses of the participants you are searching for into the entry field. In doing so, limit each line to just one e-mail-address. After that, confirm by clicking on Search. The participants will then be located. There are different shareware tools, which can be used for extracting e-mail addresses from bounced e-mails. For example, you can download the eMail Bounce Handler from http://www.maxprog.com/EmailBounceHandler.html.
10.2.14
Dispatching Reminders and Deactivating Accounts Automatically

You can send reminders to participants or have their accounts deactivated automatically in personalized projects and employee surveys. To do so, you have to define a reminder date and/or an expiry date for each participant. If the date is reached and the participant has not participated yet (i.e. disposition code
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11 or 12), either a reminder will be sent automatically or the account will automatically be excluded from participation. Please mind: The system checks once per hour which participants require a reminder or should be deactivated. I.e. these functions are accurate on an hourly basis. Smaller time units cannot be considered.
Defining reminder and expiry dates

You can define the reminder or expiry dates in the fields Expiry date and Date of reminder in the detail view of the participants in the Participant administration. when importing the variables date_of_remind and date_of_expire. Use the format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS. Please note that it is not possible to bulk-edit (Chapter 10.2.10, p. 429) expiry and reminder dates.
Linking mail templates for reminders

When using the reminder function, you should link to an appropriate mail template: Create a mail template of the Reminder type. Select this template in the field Mail template for automatic reminders in the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu.
Defining a rejection message for expired accounts

When using the account expiry function, you should create an appropriate rejection message: Enter the desired message in the field The time frame for the participant to complete the survey has expired in the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties->Survey messages menu.
10.2.15
Sending E-Mails to Participants of Personalized Projects

The e-mail dispatch options, which are opened via the Contact participant groups button, allow you to target mails to specific participant groups without having to first perform a search in participant administration.
Figure 10.19
E-mail dispatch options
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The tab contains an overview of the dispatch options available as well as the number of participants who have the respective status. You can trigger the following actions by clicking on the respective link: Send test e-mail to yourself: Enables you to send a test e-mail to a user-defined email address and optionally create a corresponding tester account at the same time (Chapter 10.2.16, p. 434). Send invitation mails: Will automatically select all persons existing in participant administration, irrespective of their disposition code. Clicking here will open the mail dispatch window, and you can either write an e-mail or select a mail template (Table 11.4, p. 484). Send invitation mails (only those who didnt get an invitation so far): Will automatically select all persons who have not been invited yet (disposition code = 11). Invitation mail type templates are available in the mail dispatch window. Send reminders: Will automatically select all persons who have not yet started the survey, i.e. activated the link to the survey (disposition code < 12). In the mail dispatch window, you can then select the template for the reminder mail. Inform successful participants: Will automatically select all participants who have completely finished the survey (disposition code 31,32). Therefore, this function is particularly well suited for thank you-mails. Invitation mail type templates are available in the mail dispatch window. E-mail to first page viewers: Will automatically select all persons who have viewed the first page of the survey but have not clicked on the Submit button (disposition code 20). These participants can then be sent a specific reminder mail. Chapter 11.1, p. 467 walks you through the invitation process from filling out the form until checking for successful dispatch.
10.2.16
Testing Personalized Projects

For the testing of personalized projects tester accounts are used. These are participant accounts specifically created for testing purposes, which have special characteristics due to their tester status: Testers can complete a questionnaire several times, whereas normal respondents can do this only once. If a tester with the Completed disposition code accesses the questionnaire for a second time, the existing data will be deleted. The tester will begin the new entry on the first page of the project. Testers do not resume their work. If a tester interrupts editing the questionnaire for a prolonged period of time (more than 30 minutes) and then accesses the questionnaire again, they will resume the questionnaire on page 1. Normal respondents see the page last sent. Within the export record, tester records can be identified by the tester export variable which is 0-1 encoded. Tester data can be selectively deleted using the Compile function. Sometimes you need dummy accounts for testing purposes, which do not correspond to any real mail recipient. In such cases, you can use e-mail addresses on the @3uu.eu domain: these addresses are owned by Globalpark, mails sent to them are deleted automatically.
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Creating tester accounts

When creating the participant account select yes in the tester field.
Importing tester accounts

It is easy to import tester accounts: The import template contains a tester column. In this column, enter the desired value for the variable tester for all participants : 0 and blank field: normal participant 1: tester When matching the column of your import file with the database fields the tester column is automatically allocated to the tester database field.
Testing mail dispatch

With the Send test e-mail to yourself option you can send a test e-mail to a userdefined e-mail address and optionally create a corresponding tester account at the same time. You can enter your own or any other e-mail address. If the specified e-mail address already exists in the participant administration of the project, the e-mail will be sent to the respective participant. If there is no participant with the specified e-mail address, a new tester account will be created based on your input and the e-mail will be sent to this account.
You can select the mail template (type: invitation mail). If you want the recipient of the test e-mail to log in and test the survey, the template should contain wildcards for the login data, i. e. survey link, code and/or password. When sending the mail, these wildcards will be replaced with the corresponding data of the tester. If you are not using an already existing tester, you can, in addition to e-mail address and mail template, also specify the first name and name of the new tester account to be created. If the mail template contains the wildcards #u_firstname# and #u_name#, these will be replaced with the respective details. Other wildcards will be replaced only if an appropriately prepared set of participant data is available. If you want to test the complete mail process, i.e. receive the mails, you should only use either your own e-mail addresses or addresses of users who have given their consent. 1. In order to try out the test function, click on the Contact participant groups button in the participant administration. 2. Select the action Send test e-mail to yourself. 3. This will prompt a dialog where you can enter various basic data required for sending e-mail. Enter the tester data and select the mail template.
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Figure 10.20
Defining an e-mail recipient
4. Click on Send test mail to initiate the test.
10.2.17
Walking Participants through the Questionnaire

The monitoring function of EFS enables you to walk a participant through the questionnaire. Originally developed for phone introductions to EFS, it can also be used e.g. to introduce testers to a project. Monitoring can be used in personalized surveys, employee surveys, panel surveys and master data surveys. As far as employee surveys are concerned, please mind that monitoring mode is not available for surveys with self-allocation questions. You can see those parts of the questionnaire which the participant has already leafed through. Pages in filter branches will only be visible if the participant enters the filter branch. As soon as the participant has completed the survey, you cannot skip back anymore. If you leaf back using the Back icon in the right upper corner, you can see the answers of the participant. Read rights for monitor_mode are required for using the monitoring mode.
Opening a survey in monitoring mode

To open a personalized survey or employee survey in monitoring mode, use the respective link in the detail view of the participant whom you want to monitor.
Figure 10.21
Opening a survey in monitoring mode via participant administration
In panel surveys and master data surveys, you can find the links on the Sample contents tab in the Monitoring column.
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10.3 Drawing Samples for Panel and Master Data Surveys

Please note that the functions described in this chapter are only available for panel surveys and master data surveys on EFS Panel installations. They are not within the scope of EFS Survey. Surveys in panels are usually not comprehensive but rather based on smaller samples from the overall pool of panelists. EFS Panel provides a number of functions for controlling the sampling process: Depending on the type of survey and on the situation, the sampling is either performed manually by the panel administrator (Chapters 10.3.1, p. 437 ff.) or the participants are automatically added to an internal sample (Chapter 10.3.11, p. 452). There is a number of functions available that allow you to limit the sample according to your needs. Convenient features, already familiar from the participant administration of personalized projects, will help you manage the participants in your sample.
Before you start

Please mind: You can create several samples per project. A panelist can be allocated to only one sample per project. A sample may contain up to 500,000 panelists. Please mind: The size of the sample can affect the performance of your project. If you run a large panel and/or plan a large, complex survey project, it is recommended to draw several small samples and to send the invitations consecutively. Samples are protected by their own sample_access right. With read rights, you have access to the samples already available for a panel project and can edit them. With write rights, you can create new samples.
10.3.1
Example: Drawing a Sample

To learn how to draw a sample in practice, please proceed as follows: 1. Create a panel survey. Make sure that you use the Panel survey project type, which is only available for EFS Panel installations (Chapter 3.1, p. 55). 2. In the Sample menu, click on the Create sample button.
Figure 10.22
Creating a sample
3. Enter a title and description.
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4. Confirm by clicking on Submit. 5. The edit dialog of the new sample is opened. The Overview tab contains basic information about the new sample. Further tabs contain various setting and editing functions. However, it is not yet possible to select all tabs.
Figure 10.23
Extract from the edit dialog of the sample
6. Open the Define basic set tab.
Figure 10.24
Defining the basic set for a sample
7. In the top section of the tab, you specify which panel group shall form the basic set for drawing the sample. For detailed explanations of the various options, please see Table 10.7. First select the group category and then the panel group from which you want to draw the sample.
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Optionally, you can use grouping filters and capacity filters to restrict the basic set further. Optionally, you can restrict the sample to panelists with specific panel statuses. Also, a maximum number of participants can be defined. Please note: this is only recommendable if you do not use stratification. If the basic set is narrowed down unnecessarily from the beginning, it might not be possible to reach the target values which are explicitly specified during the stratification process.
8. The Extended settings allow to further narrow the sample. For example, you can specify how many surveys the members of the new groups must have participated in or how many bonus points they must have. For detailed explanations of the various options, please see Table 10.8. 9. In the Choose the projects... section, you can optionally exclude the participants of specific projects from the sample draw. To do so, tick the Exclude checkbox after the desired project. 10. After specifying all criteria, click on the Test filter button. 11. This will first test-create the sample. A bar will indicate whether panelists meet the conditions and how many of them do. Furthermore, in addition to the Test filter button, you will now see the Activate filter button. 12. You can make further changes to the filter conditions and test them by clicking on Test filter until the result is to your liking. 13. After that, click on the Activate filter button. 14. The tab Overview now contains information on the size of the new sample. The sample shown in the figure comprises 13 participants.
Figure 10.25
Checking the defined basic set
15. Optionally, you can define the distribution of certain attributes within the sample in detail on the Stratification tab. This option will only be available until you have
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created the sample by activating the Draw sample function on the following tab. See Chapter 10.3.5, p. 443 for a detailed explanation of the stratification function. 16. After you have applied all desired filter criteria to the members of the new sample and also - if stratification is required - performed all necessary stratifications, open the Draw sample tab. Click the Draw sample button: The sample will now be drawn. 17. After the sample has been drawn, the Define basic set, Stratification and Draw sample tabs are disabled, the Statistics, View tester list, Sample contents, Inform and Remind again tabs are activated.
10.3.2
Managing Samples
The Sample menu contains an overview of all samples which exist within the respective project.
Figure 10.26 Overview of the samples within a project
An internal sample is available for all panel surveys and master data surveys. This sample lists all panelists automatically taken to a survey. See Chapter 10.3.11, p. 452. The following information will be displayed: Title Description Size: The number of panelists assigned to this sample. Completed interviews: Number of sample participants with disposition code 31 and 32. Screened-out participants: Number of sample participants with disposition code 35, 36, 37 and 41. Tester: Number of testers assigned to this sample. See Chapter 10.3.10, p. 451. Status Filter: Shows whether a filter has already been set. Stratification Accessible: Surveys that are not accessible are marked with a red traffic-light icon. Move the cursor over the icon to display the reason for non-accessibility.
Editing options
Via buttons you can call up the following actions:
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Create sample: Opens the dialog for creating a new sample, see Chapter 10.3.1, p. 437. Send reminders: Allows for a centralized reminder dispatch. Opens a list of all samples from the current project that are currently available. You can select the desired sample. By default, reminders are sent to participants with disposition codes 11, 12, 13 and 17. A drop-down list below the mail form allows you to optionally specify the disposition code of the recipients yourself. You can choose from the codes 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22, or 23.
The following Action icons are available for editing individual samples: By clicking on the title you will open the edit dialog of the respective sample, see Chapter 10.3.3, p. 441. Edit: Opens the properties dialog where you can change the title and description of an existing sample. Add tester: Opens the View tester list tab, see Chapter 10.3.10, p. 451. Save in group: Clicking on this icon will create a new panel group including all participants from the sample. Optionally, the Include participants with completed interviews only feature can be used to restrict the group to those participants who have completed the survey (disposition codes 31, 32).
10.3.3
Editing a Sample
Clicking on the title of a sample will open the edit dialog. On its various tabs you will find the following information and functions: Overview: This tab provides basic information on the sample. Basic set: On this tab, you specify which group will serve as the basic set for drawing the sample, which additional criteria the participants are to meet, and how many participants are required. See Chapter 10.3.4, p. 441. Stratification: On this tab, you can define the distribution of certain attributes within the sample in detail. See Chapter 10.3.5, p. 443. Draw sample: After defining the basic set and optionally applying stratification, the actual drawing of the sample is performed on this tab. Statistics: On this tab, you can create an ad hoc statistics to get an overview of how the sample is composed. See Chapter 10.3.6, p. 448. View tester list: On this tab you will find all the testers allocated to the current sample. See Chapter 10.3.10, p. 451. Sample contents: This tab lists the sample participants. See Chapter 10.3.7, p. 448. Inform / Inform again / Remind again: Via these tabs you can contact sample participants with specific disposition codes. See Chapter 10.3.8, p. 450. Which tabs may be opened and edited depends on the respective stage in the sample drawing process.
10.3.4
Limiting the Basic Set

On the Basic set tab, you specify which panel group shall form the basic set for drawing the sample and which criteria are to be used for further limiting this basic set. The criteria are explained in the following section.
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Basic set
Field Group category Group Filter Capacity filter Panelstatus Maximum number of participants Meaning See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 8.1.2. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 8. You can use grouping filters for creating samples. The capacity filters can be used for organizing the panelists capacity in an optimal way. Panel status. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.2.2. Optionally, you can define how many participants are to be contained in the sample. Please note: limiting the maximum number is only recommendable if you do not use stratification. If the basic set is narrowed down unnecessarily from the beginning, it might not be possible to reach the target values which are explicitly specified during the stratification process.
Tabelle 10.7
Basic set
Extended settings
Field Number of completed surveys (based on variable n_poll) Meaning Evaluates the n_poll system data item. Please mind: If tracking is activated, evaluation of the variable track_num_completed (e.g. via grouping filter) provides you with more precise information. Evaluates the current sum of the bonus points in the panelists account. Evaluates the system data item last_poll_date. Please mind: If tracking is activated, evaluation of the variable track_num_completed (e.g. via grouping filter) provides you with more precise information. Calculates the time for which the panelist has been a panel member based on the system data item penter_date.
Number of bonus points Last completed interview at least / not longer than x months ago
Panel member since x months Last updating of master data for x months PCI value E-mail verification status Variable used to define uniqueness
PCI value. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 9.4. Status of the double opt-in e-mail verification. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 6.5. Each characteristic of this variable will be in the sample not more than once. Please note that finding unique values requires an extra internal processing step. Therefore, if you use this feature, queries will be considerably slower.
Tabelle 10.8
Extended settings
Excluding panelists already participating in other panel surveys

Panelists who are already participating in other projects can be excluded from the sample draw. This may be useful if you want to avoid overburdening your respondents. Sometimes it may also be the case that several surveys are conducted on the same range of topics at the same time, while you want the panelists to participate in only one of these surveys.
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At the bottom of the Define basic set tab, click on the [+] icon to open the section Choose the projects whose participants shall be excluded from the basic set. This will open a list of all panel surveys. Select those whose participants you do not want to include in the basic set of the current sample. If you create several samples in the same project, each panelist can only be allocated to one of these samples.
10.3.5
Controlling the Attribute Distribution Within the Sample

If necessary, you can define certain attribute distributions within the sample in detail. This process is also known as stratification. You define the distribution of attributes for each combination of attributes or for each individual attribute. You can either enter the target values by hand or import them. You can enter either absolute numbers or percentages. The following sections first explain the available definition methods and cell value specification modes. This is followed by a description of both the manual definition and the import.
Available definition methods

The table provides an overview of the definition methods available.
Option Manual selection of the stratification variables and entry of the target distribution (absolute values) Manual selection of the stratification variables and entry of the target distribution (percentages) Import of a file containing the stratification settings (absolute values) Import of a file containing the stratification settings (percentages) Table 10.9 Meaning The stratification is defined manually as usual, the target distribution will be specified in absolute values.
The traditional stratification method involving entry of target distribution as percentage.
The stratification is defined by import, the target distribution will be specified in absolute values.
The stratification is defined by import, the target distribution will be specified in percentages.
Definition methods
Cell definition mode

Similar to the quotas (Chapter 10.4, p. 453), there are two ways to define the target values for stratification: Interlaced: The distribution is defined in detail for all possible combinations of attributes. In the example below, it is defined exactly how many male soccer fans, female soccer fans, male and female baseball fans the sample contains. Non-interlaced: The stratification distribution is defined for each selected answer category of the stratification variables. The internal distribution is ignored. If this mode was applied in the example below, this might mean that soccer and baseball
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fans would each account for 50% of the participants, 50% of the participants were male, while the soccer fans could be made up of 20% men and 80% women.
Figure 10.27 Geschachtelt
Manual stratification
1. Create a sample as usual and define the basic set. 2. Switch to the Stratification tab.
Figure 10.28
Selecting definition method
3. Select one of the manual stratification methods and confirm by clicking on Continue.
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Figure 10.29
Selecting cell value specification mode and stratification variable(s)
4. Select the appropriate cell value specification mode. You can choose between interlaced and non-interlaced. Per default, interlaced is activated. If you change the setting, please confirm with Restrict. 5. Optionally you can restrict the list of available variables to a specific master data category. If you do so, confirm with Restrict. 6. The variables available for stratification are listed in the bottom section of the tab. Select the appropriate stratification variable(s) and confirm by clicking on Continue. In the example, the variables u_gender and m_favoritesports are used. 7. All answer categories of the selected stratification variables are listed.
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Figure 10.30
Selecting answer categories
8. Select the answer categories you wish to use for stratification. It is advisable to exclude missing categories such as no answer. Confirm by clicking on Continue. 9. An overview of the stratification cells with their current proportions will be displayed. The number of surveys completed by the prospective sample members over the past weeks will also be indicated: Thus, you can check in time whether a high percentage of the panelists might be overworked or whether many candidates have not participated in any survey for some time i.e. might be inactive.
Figure 10.31 Entering target values
10. Enter the target values in absolute numbers or percentages, as required. When expressing target values as percentages, you also have to predefine the absolute
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total amount to be reached. It should be defined in such a manner that the specific target values can be met based on the number of existing candidates. 11. Click on Check to see whether your stratification can be achieved with the current basic set. Target values or the total number may have to be adjusted. Please bear in mind that the values may diverge due to rounding. In the example above, the sum total of the values of the individual cells (10) slightly differs from the absolute total number of the panelists in this stratification (13). It may also be necessary to modify the basic set and the stratification criteria in order to reach the target values.
12. If the values are valid, this will be indicated by a green success message. In this case you can complete the process by clicking on Perform stratification. 13. On the Overview tab, you will now find a Stratification section. This section lists the stratification cells, the target values and the total number. In the course of the sample draw, the following additional data will be displayed: Number of allocated participants: Number of participants in the sample that are allocated to a particular cell. This is displayed after the sample draw. Completed or screened-out: Number of participants with disposition codes 31, 32, 36 and 37, allocated to a particular cell. Completed or screened-out %: Percentage of participants with disposition codes 31, 32, 36 and 37, allocated to a particular cell.
Figure 10.32
Stratification statistics in the overview
Defining stratification via import Formatting the import file

The import file should be formatted as follows: Format: CSV or Excel format For each master data variable used a corresponding column has to be created; an additional column has to be created for the target values. The first line of the import file must contain the names of the variables and the title of the target value column, target. In the following lines of the import file the target value for each single combination of master data characteristics is specified. If the values entered have decimal places, please use a point as decimal separator. Example: m_0001;m_0002;target 1;1;1000
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1;2;1150 2;1;950 2;2;1200 This file describes a stratification employing the variables m_0001 and m_0002. Both variables have the characteristics 1 and 2 each. Each line contains the target value for a combination of the characteristics of these variables. For example, the second line 1;1;1000 specifies that for the combination of m_0001 = 1 and m_0002 = 2 the target value 1000 is to be obtained.
Import
Please proceed as follows: 1. Create a sample as usual, define the basic set and switch to the Stratification tab. 2. Select one of the stratification methods using import and confirm by clicking on Continue. 3. Locate the import file on your hard drive and upload the file by clicking on Import file. 4. You will be directed to the dialog showing you the current proportion of characteristics. Check the selection of the variables and the target values. Then perform check and stratification as described above.
10.3.6
Checking the Composition of the Sample

As of EFS 7.1, on the Statistics tab, you can create an ad hoc statistics to get an overview of how the sample is composed. You can select the report variable and optionally two split variables. This ad hoc statistics is always based on the current sample.
Figure 10.33 Creating ad hoc statistics
10.3.7
Viewing and Managing the Participants of a Sample

The Sample contents tab contains a list of all panelists assigned to the sample.
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Figure 10.34
Panelists in a sample
Listed for each panelist are: First name Name E-mail Panel status Code: This is the panelists survey access code. You can copy this code to an e-mail or use it to examine the survey from the perspective of this panelist. Mails sent: Number of e-mails sent in the course of this sample. Status: Panelists disposition code in this panel survey. Date of first invitation Last access: Monitoring: With the monitoring function you can observe passively as another staff member clicks through a survey with a panelist account (Chapter 10.2.17). It is used for example during telephone introductions. By clicking on the name or the Edit icon, you can open the detail view of the respective panelist. Additional information can be displayed via View.
Searching the sample

To search sample members you can use the usual simple search. However via extended search you can use additional limitation criteria: Always available for selection are panel status and the participants status in the sample.
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If you have used stratification, the stratification variables can be used as search criteria, too.
Editing options
A range of participant administration actions are available for editing sample members, such as, for example, the dispatching of e-mails to selected participants, or reset with or without deleting data.
Actions Reset and delete data Description Status of the panelist in the sample is reset to active. If the panelist had already participated in the survey he can participate again. Participant's results data already recorded are deleted. Status of the panelist in the sample is reset to active. Participant's results data already recorded are not deleted. Panelist is removed from sample. Using this function, you can send mails to the selected panelists. If invitation mails are bounced, you can set the corresponding panelists to disposition code 15. This code will be taken into account in the field report during evaluation.
Reset without deleting data Delete panelist from this sample Send e-mail Disposition code 15 (not available) Figure 10.35
Overview of the newly available actions
When using an action proceed in a manner analogous to participant administration: Search the desired panelists and mark them in the Selection column. Then set the desired action and confirm with Send request.
10.3.8
Inviting and Reminding Sample Members

Dedicated tabs allow you to e-mail the sample members in a centralized manner during various work phases: Inform: This tab is displayed after creating a new sample. You can use it to reach all participants with disposition codes 11, 12, 20 and 22. Inform again: This tab is displayed after sending the first invitation e-mail. You can use it to reach all participants with disposition codes 11, 12, 20 and 22. Remind again: This tab is visible after creating a new sample. After sending the first invitation e-mail, it is activated. By default, reminders are sent to participants with disposition codes 11, 12, 20 and 22. A drop-down list below the mail form allows you to optionally specify the disposition code of the recipients yourself. You can choose from the codes 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, or 23.
10.3.9
Managing Personalized Links for External Survey Start

When redirecting sample members to an external survey, personalized links must be used. The following features for managing these links are available: Import links: Opens the import dialog. The CSV file must contain the survey link in the first column. Optionally you may add the panelists pseudonym, u_account, u_other_id, or panelist_code in
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the second column. In this case the links will be assigned to the panel members accordingly. You can only import or update links for panelists that have not yet started the survey.
Export links: Triggers the export of all links. Delete links: All links are deleted after a confirmation prompt. For details on external survey start, please see the dedicated manual which is available in the customer center.
10.3.10
Testing Panel Surveys and Master Data Surveys

If you want to test a panel survey or master data survey, you have to use a tester account that is assigned to a sample from this survey. This requires three steps, explained in the following section: Creating a tester account Allocating testers to a sample Testing the panel survey
Assigning the Tester status to a panelist

In the first step, a panelist account with panel status Tester is created. Respondents with the Tester status can participate in a survey as often as they want, and they will be identified as testers in the result data record. Therefore, you can also use these testers to test a survey in progress without skewing the result data record: in the result data record, you can identify the testers by the value 1 for the Tester data field. For regular participants, the value in this column is 0. One method is to create a new entry in the panel. To do so, open the Panelists administration->Panel menu and click on the Add panelist button. Enter the data into the appropriate fields, select the Tester panel status. After that, click on the Create account button. Alternatively, you can also assign Tester panel status to an existing panelistd. To do so, switch to the the Panelists administration->Panel menu and enter the panelists name into the corresponding field. Trigger the search function by clicking on Search. The data of the panelist you are searching for will be output as a result. Use the drop-down list to set the panelists panel status to Tester and then confirm by clicking on Submit.
Assigning testers to a sample

In the next step. assign the tester to the sample of the panel survey which is to be tested. 1. Create the sample. 2. Open the tab View tester list. Es wird eine bersicht aller Tester eingeblendet, die der Stichprobe bereits zugeordnet sind. blicherweise ist sie zuerst noch leer. 3. Click Add tester. An overview of all the panelists with the Tester status available on the EFS Panel installation will be displayed. Select the desired testers and confirm the selection by clicking on Add. 4. The testers will be assigned to the sample and appear both in the list of testers currently assigned to the project and on the tab Sample contents. This list can also be opened by clicking on the Tester overview link.
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Testing the panel survey

If you want to log in directly to the survey with your tester account, click the link in the column Link. If you invite the respondents in the sample using the Inform function, the tester will also be invited. Alternatively, you can copy the URL from the Link column into an e-mail to invite only the tester, e.g. for a pretest.
10.3.11
Viewing and Managing Participants Who Were Added Automatically to the Survey
An internal sample is available for all panel surveys and master data surveys. This sample lists all panelists automatically added to the survey: In master data surveys, all panelists who were invited by e-mail or who accessed the survey by clicking on a link are added to the internal sample. In panel surveys in which the function All panelists may participate is activated, all panelists that participated without belonging to another sample are added to the internal sample (see Table 3.3.). This allows you to view, edit and analyse information on these survey participants just the same as in normal, manually created samples: You can see which panelists participated and whether or not they completed the survey. If you send out e-mail invitations to a master data survey, you will find all invited panelists in the internal sample and can keep track of who actually participates. You can send e-mails and reminders to the panelists in the internal sample, reset these panelists and assign them disposition code 15. For panel surveys, you can limit the export to the internal sample. The internal sample is automatically generated and cannot be edited.
10.3.12
Tips & Tricks

Letting all panelists participate in a survey
If you want all panelists of the panel to participate, please use the project property All panelists can participate in the survey in combination with the internal sample instead of a manually-created sample (Chapter 3.7.9, p. 82).
Allowing repeated participation in a survey

If you want to allow repeated participation, please use the project property Allow multiple participations in this survey (Chapter 3.7.10, p. 83).
Calling up and transferring the sample ID using a wildcard

The sample ID of panel surveys and master data surveys can be called up and transferred using the wildcard #sid#. This is particularly useful if you wish to transfer the sample ID to an external application, e.g. to another survey at the external survey start or to a transparent pixel for tracking.
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10.4 Defining the Distribution of Specific Characteristics in a Participant Group with Quotas
In many surveys, you will need samples containing certain characteristics in specific proportions. For example, you may want the sample to reflect the distribution of age, gender, income etc. within the total population. This can be achieved by using quotas to limit the total number of participants to those displaying the desired characteristics. The project quotas offer you the greatest possible freedom in defining the quotas and the quota process. The following variables can be used in the quota conditions: Project variables, userdefined variables and GET parameters, various system data and, depending on the type of project, participant data, address data of panelists, all master data and tracking variables in the panel. A wide range of configuration options allows you to adjust the quota process to your requirements. For example, it is up to you to decide whether participants shall be excluded right from the start of the survey if they are no longer required, or you can have the participants allocated to all matching open quotas instead of only one quota. An overview is provided in Chapter 10.4.7, p. 458. Chapter 10.4.5, p. 456 presents frequently-used scenarios. In particular, the quota function is able to react dynamically to allocation figures. This can be used to fill up especially those quotas with lower allocation figures. Participants that are no longer required may be screened out using filters. The runtime check covers errors that may have occurred in quota while processing the survey. See Chapter 9.8, p. 398. Quota statistics and field report will always give you an up-to-date overview of the quota status. The variables quota and quota_assignment and a number of special disposition codes in the export data record will tell you exactly which status a particular participant has achieved. The following chapters will introduce you to the possibilities offered by the project quotas: Chapter 10.4.1, p. 454 will present an overview of the work steps involved in setting up the quotas for a project. Chapters 10.4.2, p. 454 through 10.4.5, p. 456 will provide you with the basics for planning the quotas. Chapter 10.4.6, p. 457 will teach you how to create and manage the quotas for a project. Chapters 10.4.7, p. 458 through 10.4.9, p. 461 will explain how you configure the quota process and adjust the questionnaire accordingly. Chapters 10.4.10, p. 462 through 10.4.13, p. 464 will explain where you can view the results of your quotas and which options are available for subsequent adjustment or correction. Please note: The number and complexity of the quotas in a project affects the performance. Therefore, it is recommended to use not more than 300 quotas per project.
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10.4.1
Work Steps for Creating a Quota

1. Plan the quota: Chapters 10.4.2, p. 454 through 10.4.5, p. 456 will provide you with the necessary basics. Create your quota schedule and calculate the target values for the various quota cells. Target values are always absolute numbers. See Chapter 10.4.2, p. 454. Define the exact sequence of the quota process. Chapter 10.4.5, p. 456 presents the most common scenarios. Please bear in mind that values for all variables used in the quota conditions must already exist when you perform the quota check.
2. Enter the questionnaire before starting with the actual creation of the quotas. Participants should also already exist or, in the case of a panel survey, the sample should already be drawn. 3. Define the quotas in the Survey menu->Questionnaire editor->Quota management menu. 4. Specify the sequence of the quota process on the Configuration tab. Chapter 10.4.5, p. 456 explains how to combine the options in order to yield the most frequently desired scenarios. 5. If you make use of the possibility of excluding participants from the survey due to external quotas, it may be the case that respondents cannot open the questionnaire in the first place. In the Project properties->Survey messages menu, adapt the text of the message these respondents will receive when trying to log in (The participant is not accepted for the survey, as the quota is already full (status: status: filtered out).). 6. If you have defined internal quotas (i.e. quotas whose conditions contain variables that are determined only in the course of the survey), you have to specify after which questionnaire page the checking for these quotas is to be performed. To do so, select an appropriate page in the questionnaire editor, click on the Edit page properties icon, and select the option Check internal quotas. See Chapter 10.4.8, p. 460. 7. Set up the questionnaire so as to appropriately screen out any respondents no longer required. This is commonly achieved with a filter which redirects respondents with quota = 0 (i.e. respondents that have not been allocated to any open quota) to an intermediate final page. See Chapter 10.4.9, p. 461.
10.4.2
Basics: The Quota Schedule

The quota schedule is fundamental to defining quotas. In this schedule, you list in detail which characteristics are to be displayed by how many participants. To create such a schedule, you enter the relevant characteristics into a matrix. Then you specify the target values for the individual cells. There are two options, producing different results: interlocking: The quotas are defined by means of the inner cells. Thus, the feature combinations for the total of 100 participants admitted in the example shown below will be specified in detail: 25 young men, 25 old men, etc. non-interlocking: The quotas are defined by means of the margin values, without regard to the distribution in the inner cells. In the example shown below, this means: a total of 100 participants will be admitted, among them, firstly, 50 men and 50 women and, secondly, 50 young people and 50 old people. The internal distribution of the quota is not defined, i.e. there may be, for example, 40 young men and 10 old men, 10 young women and 40 old women participating.
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Figure 10.36
Non-interlocking and interlocking
10.4.3
Basics: Internal and External Quotas

There are two types of quotas that are processed at different times and therefore configured in different ways to some extent: Internal quotas: These quotas contain variables whose value is determined only in the course of the survey. External quotas: These quotes refer solely to variables originating from external sources and existing beforehand, i.e. variables that are not determined in the course of the survey. External quotas are used only in surveys with a predefined pool of participants. If a quota condition contains both survey variables and external variables, it will be treated as an internal quota, i.e. it will not be automatically executed before login. Caution: A quota that accesses URL parameters is an internal quota.
10.4.4
Basics: Quota Timetable

Depending on what kind of quota there are in a project and which process has been configured, events can be triggered at different stages in the course of the survey. 1. Optionally, the participants can be checked for external quotas already before the start of the survey. To do so, select option 1 on the Configuration tab, see Chapter 10.4.7, p. 458. The checking procedure is as follows: Every time a participant has completed the questionnaire and the allocation figures in the quota statistics are changed accordingly, all those participants that have not yet started the survey (disposition code < 20) will be checked for external quotas. Of these participants, the system will exclude those that fall within a full external quota from participating, i.e. they are assigned disposition code 41 (quota closed) in the participant administration. If these participants try to log in, they will be rejected and assigned disposition code 35 (rejected at login (quota closed). The quota variables of the excluded participants are allocated as follows: quota = -77, quota_assignment = -66.
2. If the check for external quotas is not performed beforehand as described above, it will be carried out at the start of the survey. 3. The check for internal quotas is triggered by sending a questionnaire page predefined by you. See Chapter 10.4.8, p. 460. 4. The allocation figures in the quota statistics will be changed according to the check results mentioned above when the participant completes the questionnaire (i.e. when reaching the final page or an intermediate final page and receiving disposition code 31 or 32). If the participant has been allocated to an open quota i.e. if quota is greater than 0, the quota count for the respective quota will be increased by 1. Depending on the configuration, the quota count for all other open quotas whose conditions the respondent has met might be increased by 1, too.
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When the target size of a quota has been reached, the quota is closed. If this is an external quota and you have chosen the option of excluding participants already prior to their login (see 1. above), then all respondents with disposition code < 20 falling within this quota will be set to status 41 (quota closed).
Please note: For external quotas, the quota check is performed already at the start of the survey; for internal quotas, in the course of the survey. The allocation figures (quota count), however, will not be changed before completion of the survey. If the questionnaire is very long and/or many participants start taking the survey at the same time, it may therefore be the case that slightly more participants will pass the quota check and complete the questionnaire than planned.
10.4.5
Basics: The Most Important Quota Processes

EFS offers a great degree of freedom in designing the quota process. The following table presents the most frequently desired scenarios. The Configuration column lists the combination of options and allocation mode that allows you to realize the respective scenario. See Chapter 10.4.7, p. 458 for more information.
Quota type non-interlocking Previous name Standard mode Rule If at least one already filled quota applies to the participant, he will be screened out by quota. Otherwise, the participant will be allocated to all matching, open quotas. If at least one open quota applies to the participant, he can participate and will be allocated to all matching quotas. If at least one already filled quota applies to the participant, he will be screened out by quota. Otherwise, the quota conditions will be processed in the predefined order and the participant will be allocated to the first matching, open quota. If at least one open quota applies to the participant, he can participate. The quota conditions will be processed in the predefined order and the participant will be allocated to the first matching, open quota. Difference from the prioritized extended quotas: The prioritization is dynamic. If at least one open quota applies to the participant, he can participate. The quota conditions will be processed in the predefined order and the participant will be allocated to the quota with the fewest participants. Sample scenarios Configuration Options 1, 2, 3 Allocation mode: First matching open quota
interlocking
Extended mode
Option 3 Allocation mode: First matching, open quota Options 1, 2, Allocation mode: First matching, open quota
Prioritized quotas standard
Mode 3
Prioritized quotas standard
All options disabled Allocation mode: First matching, open quota
Low Bucket Filll (Fill up the quotas with the lowest allocation figure first)
All options disabled Allocation mode: Matching, open quota with the fewest participants
Table 10.10
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10.4.6
Managing Quotas
The quotas of a project are managed in the Projects->{Selected project}-> Questionnaire editor->Quota management menu. In this menu, you will find three tabs: Quotas: This tab is used for managing the existing quotas and creating additional quotas. The corresponding processes are described in the following sections. Configuration: On this tab, you can specify in detail the sequence of the quota process in your project. See Chapter 10.4.7, p. 458. Quota statistics: On this tab, you will find the current allocation figures. See Chapter 10.4.10, p. 462.
1. Quota overview
When you open the Projects->{Selected project}->Questionnaire editor->Quota management menu, you are automatically directed to the overview of the existing quotas. They are listed along with information on status, current allocation (quota count), and quota condition.
Figure 10.37
Overview of the existing quotas
Managing the quotas - and, in particular, editing several quotas en bloc - is done via the Actions checkbox and the drop-down list below the table: Delete quotas: The respective quotas will be deleted. Activate quotas: This option allows you to activate several quotas en bloc. If you want to activate an individual quota, you can simply click on Edit and open the edit dialog. Deactivate quotas: This option allows you to deactivate several quotas en bloc. If you want to deactivate an individual quota, you can simply click on Edit and open the edit dialog. If you want to edit individual quotas, the following actions can be applied by clicking on the corresponding icons: Order: The arrow icons allow you to change the processing order.
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Edit condition: Clicking on this icon opens the condition editor. Delete condition: The respective condition will be deleted. Please note that the allocation figure of the quota will be maintained. Edit: Clicking on this icon opens the edit dialog of a quota. Here you can change the name and size of the quota; you can also activate or deactivate the quota. Copy: This icon allows you to copy a quota. When doing so, you will also copy the status, but not the allocation figures, i.e. the new quota is initially empty, activated, and open. Delete: The quota will be removed following a confirmation prompt.
2. Creating quotas
Please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Create quota button. 2. Enter the name and the size of the new quota. 3. Confirm by clicking on Save. 4. The condition editor will open automatically. Define the deisred quota condition and click on Save. (If you do not define any condition, the quota will not be activated in this step.) 5. After saving, the quota overview will be displayed. There you will find the new quota. It will already be activated.
2. Importing quotas
Alternatively, EFS allows you to import new quotas. Click on the Import quotas button to open the CSV-based import dialog. You can enter one quota per row, using the format
label;size;(alternative)condition.
This syntax is easily generated by filling in a 4-column Excel table and saving it in CSV format.
10.4.7
Configuration Options for the Quota Process

EFS allows you to specify in detail the sequence of the quota process in your project. You will find the configuation options on the Configuration tab. The following table lists all available setting options. By combining these options, you can realize a wide range of processes. Table 10.10, p. 456 explains how to realize various frequently-desired scenarios. By default, all options are activated for new projects and the pre-set allocation mode is First matching, open quota. This corresponds to the previous standard mode.
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Options
Option Option 1: If matching external quota is full, reject participants at survey start Meaning This option only applies to external quotas. I.e. usage is only reasonable in personalized surveys, employee surveys, multi-source feedbacks, panel surveys and master data surveys with external quota. If this option is not activated, participants falling within a full external quota can still open the survey. How they will be handled in the course of the survey, i.e. whether they will be screened out by quota, for example, depends on the further configuration and on the structure of the questionnaire. If this option is activated, the system will continuously check during the course of the project whether any participants that have not yet started the survey fall within a full external quota. If this is the case, these participants will be excluded from the outset, i.e. they are assigned disposition code 41 (Quota closed) in the participant administration. If these participants try to log in, they will be rejected and assigned disposition code 35 (rejected at login (quota closed)). The quota variables of the excluded participants are allocated as follows: quota = -77, quota_assignment = -66. When activating this option, make sure that respondents who are rejected at login will not be confused: In your invitation, indicate that only the first participants may be able to see the questionnaire. In the Project properties->Survey messages menu, adapt the text of the message for the rejected participants (The participant is not accepted for the survey, as the quota is already full (status: filtered out).). If in the course of answering the questionnaire the participants fall within a full quota and this option has been activated, then the quota variable will be set to 0, i.e. they will not be allocated to any quota. In this case the quota variables of the participants are allocated as follows: quota = 0 quota_assignment = -99. In order to screen out these participants by quota, you may, for example, set a filter to quota = 0 and redirect the participants to an intermediate final page. They will then receive e.g. disposition code 36 (rejected (quota closed)). With this option you can control how the allocation figures (quota count) are to be changed at the end of the survey: If this option is not activated, the participants will be allocated to one matching, open quota after completing the survey. Which quota this will be depends on the selected allocation mode and on the defined order. If this option is activated, the participants will be allocated to all matching, open quotas. In this case, all these quotas will be increased by +1. The quota variables of the participants are allocated as follows: quota = one quota, depending on the selected allocation mode and the defined order. quota_assignment = all quotas whose allocation figures (quota count) have been changed. If this option is deactivated, quota_assignment contains the same quota ID as quota. Preallocation yes
Option 2: If matching quota is full, do not allocate participants to any quota (quota=0)
yes
Option 3: Increment any matching, open quota at survey end by 1
yes
Tabelle 10.11 Options
Allocation mode
Via the allocation mode you control to which quota a participant will be allocated if there are various matching open quotas. This selected quota will then be recorded in the variable quota and may be used e.g. for filtering. The following options are available: First matching, open quota: The matching open quota that is first in the sorting order will be allocated to the participant and recorded in quota. If
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quota_assignment contains various quota IDs, these will be sorted in ascending order. Random matching, open quota: From the matching open quotas one is chosen at random. Last matching, open quota: The matching open quota that is last in the sorting order will be allocated to the participant and recorded in quota. If quota_assignment contains various quota IDs, these will be sorted in descending order. Matching, open quota with the fewest participants allocated to it: The system will select the matching open quota that currently has the lowest allocation. If two quotas have equally few participants, the system will select the one that is first in the sorting order.
10.4.8
Selecting a Suitable Point in the Questionnaire for Checking Internal Quotas

Whether the participants fulfill internal quotas can only be checked when there are values for all required variables, i.e. in the course of the survey. For reasons of performance, this check will not be done automatically after each questionnaire page, but only after a page that you have tagged accordingly. The Figure below shows a sample questionnaire. On the page marked with a Q icon, the internal quota are checked.
Figure 10.38
Structure of a sample questionnaire with quota
Selecting the appropriate questionnaire page(s)

Please note: At the time that the check is to be performed, there must be values for all required variables. As the check is triggered when the page is sent, you can, for example, select the page which contains the last question needed for the quota. You should select a page which all participants will have to view, i.e. it should not be located in a filter branch, for example.
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Tagging the appropriate questionnaire page(s)

1. In the questionnaire editor, locate the page following the processing of which the quotas are to be analyzed. 2. Click on the Edit page properties icon. 3. Select the option Check internal quotas. 4. Click on Save. The page will now be marked with a Q icon in the questionnaire view.
10.4.9
Screening out Unsuitable Respondents by Quota

Respondents that are identified as unsuitable due to the quota must be screened out. They are usually redirected to an intermediate final page by means of a filter: On this intermediate final page, the survey supervisor will thank the respondents for their willingness to participate. Upon reaching the intermediate final page, the participants can optionally be assigned a special disposition code (36, 37) by which they can be recognized in the subsequent analysis. See Chapter 10.4.11, p. 463. You can see this typical routing structure in the sample questionnaire shown in Figure 10.38, p. 460.
Selecting a suitable point in the questionnaire

Please note: The screening out should not be performed until all quotas have been checked. You should select a point in the questionnaire which all participants will have to pass, i.e. it should not be located in a filter branch, for example.
Setting up filter and intermediate final page

1. In the questionnaire editor, locate the page following the processing of which the unsuitable respondents are to be screened out. 2. Create a filter. In most cases, the filter condition will be quota = 0, i.e. the system will screen out all those respondents who have not been allocated to an open quota. If you want to screen out respondents that have been allocated to the quota with the ID 1, you will select quota = 1 instead. 3. Create an intermediate final page under the filter. 4. Click on the Edit page properties icon of the intermediate final page. 5. In the field Status, select the disposition code that the participants are to be assigned upon reaching this intermediate final page. Available are the disposition codes 31, 36, and 37 (see Chapter 10.4.11, p. 463).
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Figure 10.39
Selecting appropriate disposition code
6. Confirm by clicking on Change.
10.4.10
Viewing the Quota Statistics

You will find the current allocation figures of the project on the Quota statistics tab in the Quota management menu. in the section Quota statistics of the field report.
Figure 10.40
Quota statistics
If there are 200 or more quotas in a given project, the Quota statistics section in the Field report will only be expanded when you click on the [+] icon. This prevents unnecessary delays caused by long processing times. Each quota is listed along with the following information: Quota ID: Unique identifer of the quota, assigned by the system. Name Quota limit: The quota size specified when creating. Quota count: Current allocation figure. Status: Indicates whether a quota is open, full, or inactive.
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Number of interviews which meet the quota condition: Indicates how many of the completed interviews (disposition codes 31, 32) meet the respective quota condition as currently defined. Depending on the selected configuration, this value may differ from the quota count. Filling degree: (number of interviews which meet the quota condition) / quota limit By clicking on the Recalculate quota button you can trigger a recalculation of the quotas. Please make sure to refer to Chapter 10.4.13, p. 464 before making use of this option.
10.4.11
Using Quota Data for Routing and Evaluation

Quota variables
The quota results will be recorded in two variables: quota: This variable contains the ID of the allocated quota (i.e. the quota selected via allocation mode). It is used to screen out unsuitable participants. quota_assignment: This variable contains the IDs of all quotas in which the respective participant has been counted. It may help with the evaluation if you have activated option 3, for example, and thus allocated participants to all matching open quotas. In this case, quota will contain only the quota selected via allocation mode. quota_assignment will contain all the quotas to which the participant has been allocated, i.e. it allows you to understand exactly how the allocation figures are generated. Please bear in mind that quota_assignment cannot be used for filtering and other routing processes.
Disposition codes of screened out participants

At which point in the quota process a participant has been excluded from participation will be recorded i.a. in the field report, in the participant administration, and in the export data record via the following disposition code.
Disposition codes Rejected at login (quota closed) (code 35) Rejected (quota closed) (code 36) Meaning Is set for respondents in personalized projects who want use the link from the invitation mail to log into the survey after a quota has been closed. Statuses 36 and 37 are set in a project with quotas when an intermediate final page has been reached. The survey administrator can use these codes to mark respondents as rejected (i.e. screened out by quota; there are already enough participants with the respective features) or screened out (= unsuitable). The status to be set is manually specified by the administrator at the intermediate final page. Statuses 36 and 37 are set in a project with quotas when an intermediate final page has been reached. The survey administrator can use these codes to mark respondents as rejected (i.e. screened out by quota; there are already enough participants with the respective features) or screened out (= unsuitable). The status to be set is manually specified by the administrator at the intermediate final page. If a quota is full, this status will be assigned to all participants, who match the quota condition, but nevertheless have not started with the survey yet. If one of these participants tries to log in, then he will be rejected and the disposition code will be set to 35.
Screened out (code 37)
Filtered out before the beginning of the survey, because quota is already closed (code 41) Table 10.12
Quota disposition code
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10.4.12
Reactivating Participants when Increasing Size of an External Quota

Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary to subsequently increase the quota size during the field phase. In projects with a preset pool of participants (personalized survey, panel and master data surveys), this is problematic if external quota is used, the option to reject participantts on survey start is activated and one of the external quotas has already been closed. That is because, in this case, all respondents who have not yet participated but fall under the quota which has already been closed are automatically set to the Quota closed status. In projects that use external quotas exclusively, it is possible to reactivate the respondents in such a case, thus allowing them to participate. To do so, increase the quota size, change the status to active, and confirm by clicking on Change. After that, you can choose for which of the changed quotas the participants are to be reactivated. After you have confirmed by clicking on Submit, the participants status is changed to active.
10.4.13
Recalculating Quotas
It is possible to manually trigger a recalculation of the quotas. Occasionally, this may be necessary to adjust the quota allocation to the actual number of participants. Possible applications: If you delete participants that have already taken part or apply Reset and delete data, from EFS 7.1 quota statistics is automatically updated. If you delete or reset participants in EFS 7.0 or earlier versions, the value was not automatically updated in the quota statistics. Updating quota allocation corrects the value. If you, for example, check the project using a tester account for which a quota is set only once but which generates entries for the allocation every time you click through the project, you can use the update function to undo this effect. Before using the function please note the following: In the course of recalculation, the existing quota results will be irretrievably overwritten. Recalculation should not be triggered during an ongoing field phase. The following takes place during recalculation: All quotas are reset to zero allocation and opened. After this the quotas are checked individually for each participant. In larger projects (i.e., many quotas and/or many participants) this process may take quite a while.
During recalculation new participants may enter into the project and additionally fill up quotas where they would normally be rejected. At the same time it may happen that participants who have already completed the questionnaire are subsequently screened out by quota.
Triggering recalculation
Recalculation is triggered by clicking on the Recalculate quota button on the Quota statistics tab in the Quota management menu.
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11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Example: Sending Invitation Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 The EFS Mail Form in Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 Using Ready-made Mail Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 Defining Senders Addresses for Mail Dispatch . . . . . . . . 486 The Mail Dispatch Process in EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Viewing Archived Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
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11.1 Example: Sending Invitation Mails
11
Writing and Sending E-Mail

You already got to know various ways to send e-mail from EFS. In Chapter 7.5.1, p. 325, for example, the feedback from the survey participants was forwarded to the project manager by mail trigger. Chapters 10.2.5, p. 422 and 10.2.15, p. 433 presented functions for contacting individual participants or groups of participants from within the participant administration of a personalized project. EFS Panel installations also provide options for contacting the panelists via e-mail in several places. This chapter describes the mail dispatch functions of EFS in detail. Chapter 11.1, p. 467 walks you through the entire mail dispatch process using the example of an invitation. The following chapters will introduce you to the various features that are used when writing and sending e-mail: the setting options and input fields of the mail form, see Chapters 11.2.2, p. 470 and 11.2.3, p. 474 additional functions for personalizing e-mail texts, see Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477 functions for configuring the dispatch process, see Chapter 11.2.5, p. 480 the preview and its respective features, see Chapter 11.2.6, p. 481
Chapters 11.3, p. 483 and 11.4, p. 486 explain how to make the process of creating e-mails more effective using predefined mail templates and mail sender addresses. Chapters 11.5, p. 487 and 11.6, p. 489 present the dispatch process and its relevant monitoring and archiving functions in detail.

In this chapter, you will go through the entire mail dispatch process, from selecting the recipients and filling in the form to checking that the mail has been sent successfully. 1. Switch to the Contact participant groups tab in Participant administration (see Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433). It offers various options for contacting participants with a specific status.
Figure 11.1
Contacting participant groups
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2. Click on the Send invitation mails link. 3. Select the desired mail template, and confirm by clicking on Apply mail template.
Figure 11.2
Selecting a mail template
Please take into consideration that only those mail templates that fit the respective action area will be offered for selection. For example, if you are in the area of the Send invitation mails function, only the templates of the Invitation type and of the Default type, which can be used anywhere, will be offered.
Figure 11.3
Writing an invitation
4. Make sure that the proper mail format has been selected. Otherwise change the mail format and confirm by clicking on Apply mail format. It is important to select the proper mail format before entering content: different input boxes are used for the various formats.
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5. If you wish to make use of the advanced mail settings described in Chapter 11.2.2, p. 470, click on the [+] icon to open this section and make the desired changes. 6. Check the content and settings of the mail template. If you are satisfied, you can skip the following steps and continue directly with Step 11. 7. Tick the Personalized dispatch checkbox if you wish to use the recipients real name. 8. Enter the subject. 9. Select the sender. If the desired sender is not available, you can click on the Add mail sender link to open the menu for creating new senders (Chapter 11.4, p. 486) in a new window. 10. Formulate the content of the invitation mail. You can display an overview of the wildcards you can use by clicking on the question mark icon (see also Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477). 11. If you wish to add an attachment, it should be uploaded in the Add an attachment field. Locate the desired file, and click on Attach file to add it. 12. Click on the Preview mail button to check the result.
Figure 11.4
Preview of an invitation mail
13. In particular, check whether the wildcards are replaced correctly. 14. If you want to save the mail for future use, tick the Save as mail template (including wildcards) checkbox and enter a title for the new template. 15. If you are satisfied, click on Send. 16. The Mail transmission report menu gives you an overview of the mails that have been sent. Please note: The e-mails will not be sent immediately but, depending on the mail volume, will be placed in a queue and processed in groups in ten-minute intervals (see Chapter 11.5, p. 487).
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11.2 The EFS Mail Form in Detail

11.2.1 Using Mail Templates
Usually, e-mails are written on the basis of existing mail templates, which are centrally created, edited and managed in the Options->Mail templates menu (Chapter 11.3, p. 483). In the mail forms Mail template drop-down list, you can select one of these templates and upload it by clicking on Apply mail template. To create a new template, click on the Manage mail templates link. The Options-> Mail templates menu, which allows you to create the desired new template (Chapter 11.3, p. 483), will be opened in a pop-up window.
11.2.2
Configuring Advanced Mail Settings

The Advanced mail settings area, which provides various special functions, is usually hidden. By clicking on the [+] icon in front of the word Advanced mail settings, you can easily show or hide this dialog as required.
Figure 11.5
Clicking on the [+] icon will open the Advanced mail settings section
1. Character set
The character set for e-mails is set separately and can depending on your requirements vary from the settings for the character set for the overall project. This can be sensible, if in a project carried out using UTF-8, you are not sure whether the mail program of the majority of respondents is compatible with this character set. Most modern mail programs can display UTF-8 correctly, in particular with internet-based mail programs complications can arise. if you will be carrying out a project, that will use a character set other than UTF-8 or diverse character sets, where you would like to use UTF-8 or another divergent character set for the display of special characters in e-mails. For the mail form, the character set ISO-8859-1 is preset by default.
Conversion problems with Windows-specific characters

When you copy and paste from a Microsoft program, such as MS Word or Excel to a e-mail form, that is coded in a character set other than UTF-8, the conversion problems explained earlier in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100 may occur: If the text contains Win-
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dows-specific characters that are not in the character set of the mail form, then these must be converted. EFS Survey is able to convert many Windows-specific characters correctly, however the conversion will still require checking. Characters, for which there is no match, will be deleted completely from the mailtext, because they could not be sensibly converted (for example Chinese characters could not be displayed in a ISO-8859-1 coded questionnaire). Therefore a warning message will be displayed in the mail preview, that ask you to make a check, as soon as you open an e-mail with characters that have been converted or cannot be displayed.
2. Reply-To: = From
The Reply-To information in an e-mail indicates where the recipient is to send any replies. Making different entries may be advisable, for example, in surveys you conduct for a third party. Under Sender, you can then enter your customers address: This will be displayed for the recipient and may increase their willingness to respond. However, the Reply-To address makes sure that the reply mail will be sent to you as the supervisor of the survey. Furthermore, server messages indicating that an e-mail could not be delivered will also be sent to the Reply-To address. You can set the Reply-To address using the drop-down list contained in the row of the same name. Read rights for mail_reply are required for accessing and using this field, plus the Return-Path and Read confirmation options explained in the following sections. The default setting is Reply-To = From, i.e. the senders address will be used. If you complete a mail form without read rights for mail_reply, i.e. without seeing the Reply-To and Return-Path options, the default setting ReplyTo = From will be used. Read confirmation will be deactivated as per default. If you do not have read rights and use a mail template in which Reply-To, ReturnPath or Read confirmation have been defined, the values from the mail template will be used. Additionally, the same addresses as in the Sender field are available for selection. If you wish to change the sender addresses, you can do so in the Options->Mail templates->Mail senders menu (Chapter 11.4, p. 486). Before you use a third partys address, remember to make sure they approve! Also, contact the recipients post master to find out whether the sender address is permissible. Some mail gateways of larger companies, in particular, do not permit any emails from the Internet if the sender indicated is a faked address for their own mail domains. Sometimes, auto responders (e.g. notifications of absence, such as vacations) are poorly configured. Normally, the automatic message should not be generated at all because EFS Survey has placed a corresponding mail header. Nevertheless, there are mail systems which have been carelessly configured. Often, such mail systems do not evaluate the information in Reply-To, either, but send the automatic replies to the (assumed) sender address.
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3. Return-Path
Error messages and other transfer errors (e.g. bounce messages) will be sent to the address configured in the field Return-Path. These messages will be forwarded to the mail sender, if no address has been configured. Access to the Return-Path option is controlled by the mail_reply right described above. The default setting is Reply-To = From, i.e. the senders address will be used. Assuming that you have the required read rights, the addresses in the drop-down list are the same as those found in the drop-down list in the field Mail sender.
4. X-Priority (importance)
This information allows you to assign the e-mail a status. Commonly used mail clients can use this information to highlight or arrange your e-mail according to the recipients settings. Five statuses are available, 1 being used for the lowest significance and 5 for highest priority. As senders of unwanted advertising mails (spammers) also frequently use this option to attach greater importance to their e-mails, using this feature may also turn out to be disadvantage. Some mail clients or mail filters in gateways are set up to simply delete e-mails indicating a (high) priority. Therefore, if you have set a high priority in an invitation mail, be sure to avoid using another priority setting for a reminder mail.
5. Sensitivity
For recipients using Outlook, you can set the messages sensitivity.
6. Read confirmation
Commonly used mail clients support sending automatic read confirmations. Once the recipient opens the e-mail, a message is automatically sent to the recipient you selected (sender or Reply-To). Since this happens automatically, such a read confirmation of course does not mean that the recipient has actually read or even understood your e-mail. It merely indicates that the message has been displayed in the recipients mail program. Also, it is not mandatory for a mail client to send a read confirmation. The recipient may also have deactivated this option or deliberately decided not to send a read confirmation for this particular mail. They may nevertheless have read the mail. Also, in particular in the case of recipients in larger companies, the header line may have been removed by a mail filter. Access to the Read confirmation option is controlled by the mail_reply right described above in the Reply-To section. It may well be that you receive read confirmations from recipients whose mail addresses are not stored in your project at all. Some Internet users use e-mail addresses for mere forwarding purposes. In this case, if the recipient sends an automatic read confirmation, the sender indicated in the read confirmation will usually be the mail address at which the Internet user actually received your mail. Some Internet users consider read confirmations a nuisance. If a warning message appears, pointing out that you have requested a read confirmation, this, in particular, can cause uncertainties. For inexperienced recipients, the mere mail text does not make it clear that their client has been prompted to send an automatic reply.
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7. Send mail copy to sender (without substitutions)

If this checkbox is ticked, a copy of the e-mail will be sent to the sender. This copy will be sent as the first e-mail of the operation. Any existing wildcards will not be substituted because the sender (administrator) is usually not a survey participant. Please note that this feature currently only functions for mail submission from a form. In the case of automatic submission, for example of password or welcome emails on an EFS Panel installation no copies are sent.
8. Forwarding copies of all mails to additional mail recipients

You can, for example, within the context of a test forward copies of all mails, which are to be sent out in a dispatch process, to an additional mail recipient. In this process the wildcards will be replaced and the additional mail recipient will see the mails in exactly the same way as the real recipients. To do this enter the e-mail address of the additional recipient in the field Additional mail recipient (CC) or, if the address should not be visible to other recipients, in the field Additional hidden mail recipient (BCC). Read rights for mail_cc are required for accessing and using the CC and BCC options. Per default, both fields are empty. If you complete a mail form without read rights for mail_cc, i.e. without seeing the CC and BCC options, the fields will be empty i.e. the mails will not be forwarded to additional recipientsd. If you do not have read rights and use a mail template in which CC or BCC have been defined, the values from the mail template will be used. Please note: - the specified recipient will receive the e-mail with wildcard replacements. Depending on purpose and data protection agreement this could lead to a data protection infringement (e.g. with the dispatch of passwords). - This feature is intended for use within the context of test processes, in which only a few test persons will be written. Use with larger pools of participants is not recommended, as the amount of mails doubles.
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11.2.3
Editing Mail Content
Figure 11.6
The content area for writing e-mails with hidden options
1. Using the recipients real name in the e-mail address

You have the option of entering, in addition to the e-mail address, the real name as the recipient address. Among other things, this has advantages with spam detection software. To activate this function, tick the checkbox in the Personalized dispatch field. The real name is composed from the contents of the First name and Name fields in participant administration. Of course, this is only possible if these field have actually been filled with contents.
2. Sender
The drop-down list in the Mail sender row allows you to select the sender address. The default setting is the e-mail address of the staff member logged in. Additionally, addresses which were created in the Options->Mail templates->Mail senders menu and for which you have access rights will be available for selection (Chapter 11.4, p. 486)
3. To
Only for EFS Panel installations: The Panel->Contacts->Send e-mail menu contains a mail sending function that allows you to contact individual recipients in a targeted manner. Whereas in all other action areas the group of recipients is determined in advance (e.g. a group of participants identified through the disposition code or the
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sample drawn from a panel), the mail sending function in this menu allows you to contact individual recipients whose data are not even present in the EFS Panel system. Enter the address in the To field.
4. Mail format
You can send either text or real HTML mails from EFS Survey. To do so, you must specify the format before writing the mail. The following options are available: Text only (default) HTML only Text and HTML After you have confirmed the selection by clicking on Apply mail format, the appropriate input field(s) will be shown.
HTML format
By default, EFS sends e-mails in plain text format. Alternatively you can also send HTML mails. Please note that line breaks are not automatically inserted with the HTML format checkbox ticked. EFS generates the HTML mails as content type multipart/alternative. This means: The actual text is contained in the e-mail in duplicate. This allows mail clients that cannot display HTML to display the alternate text. Web mail services, in particular, often warn users against displaying e-mails in HTML format and suggest displaying the alternate text (if available). As described in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100, the alternate text may contain encoded special characters which are not easy to read for users.
Disadvantages of e-mails in HTML format

In particular, the doubled amount of data in HTML mails is considered unnecessary by some Internet users and, because of the longer loading time, often also as impolite. Since both scripts and so-called web bugs may be hidden in HTML code, some mail systems classify these messages as potentially dangerous. Insofar, it cannot be ruled out that the post master of a recipient system may remove the HTML code or tag it with a security alert. If you still want to send HTML mails and can easily narrow the group of the recipients of your mailing (e.g. in the case of employee surveys), you should contact the recipients post master in advance to find out how they deal with these mails.
5. Subject
In the Subject field you enter the title of your e-mail. Wildcards can be used (see Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477). Please note: You should avoid special characters, such as the German umlauts, in this field. The line is part of the so-called mail headers. Encoding special characters, as in the emails content, is not possible here. Please note that mail subjects should in general not be longer then 60 characters. Many servers make a cut after 248 characters for security reasons.
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Masking special characters in the subject

If you still need special characters, you will have to mask them appropriately. For example, (A umlaut) will then become =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=C4?=. However, please note that theses maskings are not supported by all mail clients and that some mail gateways or virus scanners shorten very long subject lines. In extreme cases, a virus scanner may even mistake very long subjects for an attack on the mail client and immediately delete the entire mail. EFS therefore limits the permissible number of characters to 254, which is within the commonly used limits. The best way to create a subject with masked special characters is to use your mail program and send yourself an e-mail with the subject. Then, copy the masked string from the source text of your mail into the entry forms subject row.
6. Mail text
In the Mail text field, you can enter the actual content of the mail or edit the content of the chosen template. Depending on the format you select in the Mail format field (see Chapter 11.2.2, p. 470), you will be provided with either an input field for a text mail, a form for an HTML mail or two fields: Mail text in normal text format: You merely have to enter the text. You have no option to design the text, e.g. by formatting characters. Wildcards and conditional replacement can be used (see Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477). Mail text in HTML: The mail must be formatted in HTML. Accordingly, you have various design options. Images inserted as an attachment can be incorporated, and even the use of wildcards and conditional replacement is also possible (see Chapter 11.2.4, p. 477).
Automatic line breaks

In text mails, a line break is automatically generated after 72 characters. In HTML mails, you must insert the line breaks yourself. The length of 72 characters is a quasi standard which is generally recognized for electronic messages. The origins of this are in the so-called text mode of earlier PC systems which is used, to this day, with a line length of 80 characters for 25 lines. Therefore, some mail clients generally insert a line break after 80 characters. To make it easier for an e-mails recipients to use quotations in their replies, this limit has become established as a rule of courtesy when working with electronic messages (news messages, mailbox messages and e-mails). If you insert a line break yourself, e.g. to mark the end of a paragraph, this will be respected and kept. Also, words will not be hyphenated. If the width limit of 72 characters is exceeded with the last word in a line, the whole word will be moved to the next line. Uninterrupted character strings, such as very long web addresses (URLs), are not subject to automatic line breaks. It may occur that the recipient system inserts a line break into a very long line. Any existing text link with access code (#code_complete#) may then be rendered unusable. If you cannot sufficiently shorten the projects URL yourself due to a long domain name, you should have a domain alias for your installation set up.
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Incorporating images in HTML mails

You can insert attached images via wildcards into the text of a HTML mail. To do this the desired pictures must be uploaded first as an attachment as described in the following section. You can then integrate the images into the HTML mail using a wildcard #file name#. Example: The name of the appended image is image.jpg, the wildcard is therefore #image.jpg#. You can insert the image in the HTML mail with <img src=#image.jpg#>. Do not use hard-coded links to embed resources, such as those located in the media library (hard-coded links are links that display the current file path, e.g. http:// www.yourdomain.com/uc/1234/images/image.jpg). First of all, hard-coded links are a typical characteristic of spam mails: They allow spammers to check whether or not their spam mails were read. Your invitation will therefore most certainly be filtered out as spam. Secondly, the links would no longer function if the project were to be moved to a different installation, for example, or if the media library in which the mail template resources are stored were to be cleaned up or deleted. Whats more, linked images would not be available for reading in offline mode. If, however, you attach the required resources to the mail or mail template and link them with the help of wildcards, as described above, your mail will still function after moving it to a different installation or after a media library clean-up. Please also note that attachments increase the size of mails: The bigger the attachment and the larger the number of recipients, the more strain this places on the server. We therefore recommend using this function with care and using smallsized files.
6. Adding attachments
It is possible to send e-mails with attachments. The maximum size for the attachments is 1 MB. You can use all the file types which are permitted for the media library. See Chapter 5.17.2, p. 255. If you intend to attach not only normal attachments (e.g. pdf files), but one or several of the incorporated images described above, to an e-mail, take care to upload the normal attachments first. Otherwise, mail recipients using Outlook wont be able to open the attachments. The attachments can be saved as an attribute to mail templates. In order to add an attachment to an e-mail or mail template, select the desired file in the Add an attachment field. Once confirmed with the Attach file button, the attachment will be uploaded and attached to the e-mail. You can remove an unwanted attachment by clicking on the respective Delete icon. The functionality is protected by the mail_attachments right, with read rights required to use it.
11.2.4
Additional Functions for Personalizing E-Mail Texts

1. Wildcards
You can use wildcards in your e-mail to personalize the text.
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Chapter 7.2, p. 297, contains an introduction to using the EFS wildcards in questionnaires and e-mails. Table 10.4 contains an overview of the wildcards you can use to access participant data. The wildcards that can only be used in e-mails are listed in the following section. If you click on the Help icon above the text entry field in the mail form, you can open a context-sensitive overview.
Wildcards that can only be used in e-mails

The following wildcards are only used for sending mails, for example, to insert system data, to send access codes and to output various panel data.
Wildcard #url# #ptitle# #startdate# #starttime# #startdatetime# #enddate# #endtime# #enddatetime# Table 11.1 Wildcard #code# #code_complete# Meaning URL of the project The title of the project. The start date in DD.MM.YYYY format. The start time in HH:MM:SS format. The start date and time in DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM:SS format. The end date in DD.MM.YYYY format. The end time in HH:MM:SS format. The end date and time in DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM:SS format.
Wildcards for all project types Meaning Participants code. Participants code including survey URL. If youre logged in as usual with http, the wildcard is filled with the unencrypted http URL. If youre logged in with SSL, the wildcard is automatically filled with the https URL. When you create an HTML mail please note: In order to generate an active labeled link in a new e-mail or mail template you must define the corresponding HTML tags. E.g. <a href=#code_complete#>Label</a>. http survey URL including the code of the participants. If youre logged in with SSL, the #code_complete# wildcard will always be filled with the https URL. By using the #code_complete_http# wildcard, you can enforce use of the http URL. This may be useful, for example, if for reasons of safety you work with SSL encryption in the admin area but want the survey to be conducted without encryption. https survey URL including the code of the participants. If youre logged as usual with https, the #code_complete# wildcard will always be filled with the http URL. By using the #code_complete_https# wildcard, you can enforce use of the https URL.
#code_complete_ http#
#code_complete_ https#
Table 11.2
Wildcards for personalized surveys and panel projects
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Wildcard #panel_url# #site_id# #panelist_code# #panelist_login_ code#
Meaning A link to the panel. Language version. The panelist code, i.e. access code to the panel. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 7.3.6. Wildcard which allows to create a shortened login link. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 7.3.6. URL parameter for direct login with shortened code: lc Sample link: http://your-domain.com/panelwebesite/ ?lc=QAplygBpxAoPhVL3ceoIL8ztW5g Usage of the shortened login link is recommended, in particular, if the domain of the panel itself is quite long: If the normal 40-digit code is used, the complete URL might become too long for mail programs to forward it correctly. The pseudonym, i.e. encoded unique panelist ID. The type of incentive (prize draw or bonus points). Please mind that in EFS 7.1, the old incentive types are replaced by a new, more flexible labelling system (see Chapter 3.7.20, p. 106). In context of this change, the #bonustype# wildcard has been dropped. Number of bonus points (format). The panelists current account balance (p.pcredit_points). The value of the variable from the respective master data item.
#pseudonym# Until EFS 7.0: #bonustype#
#bonus# #panelpoints# #m_[number]# and #md_[number]# Table 11.3
Wildcards for panel projects
Limits
The permissible number of wildcards is not directly limited. However, there is a limit with regard to the overall length of the text. It must not exceed 20 MB (excluding wildcards). That said, many Internet users regard mails of this size as impolite because the can quickly exceed the storage capacity allotted by their e-mail provider. Also, some mail servers are set up to simply delete messages of more than 1 MB, assuming an attack on the mail system (mail bombs). EFS is capable of generating hundreds of personalized e-mails within a few seconds. The procedure used for this purpose is also subject to an installation-related limit. You can approximate the number of permissible wildcards as follows: 2 * text length in byte ^ number of wildcards < 20 MB One text character equals one byte. Please note that the text of mails in HTML format is about 2.2 times larger than the actual text. The amount may even grow sixfold if you use Unicode characters. The so-called Dr. Grauert letter (ISO 10561), which is commonly used in printer tests, contains about 1500 characters. 20000000 bytes / 1500 bytes = 13334 For a plain text mail, this equals about 213. This means that you could use a total of 13 wildcards. Most mails, of course, are much shorter and also contain fewer wildcards. However, the installations limit can also be changed by system administration if required.
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2. Conditional replacement of e-mail text

The EFS e-mail functions allow you to use conditional replacement. This means that, in the future, it will be possible to output various mail contents depending on data from participant administration or on other pre-set conditions. The syntax for conditional replacement, in a generalized form, is as follows:
001 002 003 004 005 {if operand1 operator operand2} text to be output if the condition is met {else} text to be output if the condition is not met {/if}
In this, the following variables must be adjusted to specific projects: operand1 and operand2: Wildcards or fixed values. operator: One of the comparative operators (=, !=, < or >). Please make sparing use of conditional replacement: A growing number of if blocks increases the risk of triggering an infinite loop. Therefore, make sure not to create too many if blocks.
Example
An invitation mail to the respondents in a personalized project is to contain German text if the participant lives in Germany. Participants from other countries are to receive an English text. The information on which country the participant lives in is stored in the corresponding column of participant administration and accessible via the #country# e-mail wildcard. Code: 1 = Germany, 2 = other countries. In this case, the condition definition used to address the participant is as follows: {if #country# = "1"}Sehr geehrter Teilnehmer,{else}Dear participant,{/if} German participants will now be addressed in German, while participants from other countries will be addressed in English.
11.2.5
Setting the Dispatch Date, Dispatch Period and Status of E-Mails

Located below the actual mail form, the Delivery options section allows you to set the dispatch date and the dispatch period or to set the status of the mails to Hold.
Figure 11.7
Delivery options
Set mail status to Hold

If, before sending the e-mails, you want to check their number and content in the mail queue (see Chapter 11.5.4, p. 488), you can tick this checkbox. The mails will then be kept in the queue. Using this option is advisable if, for reasons relating to the organization of work, you have a staff member create the e-mails, but they are not to be sent until released by the project manager.
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When to send: .. : (Time at server = ...)

Instead of sending the prepared e-mails immediately, you also have the option of choosing a later date. The mails will then be kept in the queue until the sending date. This is advisable, for example, if the invitation to a survey is not to be sent until a certain event has occurred or outside of your office hours. For example, you can prepare the invitation mails for a survey which is scheduled to start on a weekend, but have the mails sent automatically only when the pre-set time is reached. This way, you can prevent participants from trying to access the survey before the start of the project. A group of drop-down lists in the When to send field is available for setting the date and time. You can use a calendar, which is opened by clicking on the Calendar icon, to set the date. The exact time of sending must be specified manually in GMT. The current time in GMT is displayed on the left below the menu. If you have taken advantage of the possibility to set your local time (see Table 16.15), this time will be displayed below, in the Local date field, to facilitate the conversion. Queued e-mails which have the same dispatch time will be sent in the order in which they were created. Any mails which have been set eight hours ahead due to a previous failed attempt but have an earlier or the same dispatch date will therefore be sent with priority.
Setting a dispatch period for dynamic dispatch

In large surveys, mail dispatch is often organized in waves in order to avoid server overload. In the past, in personalized projects, the organization of participants in waves was largely performed manually: In the participant administration, participants were assigned to the respective waves with specific variables or characteristics. In order to invite a wave, the project manager then looked for the participants with the appropriate value and manually completed the entire mail dispatching process. From EFS 6.0 on, the system can do this work for you: Instead of manually organizing the participants in different waves to be processed in daily intervals, you can specify a time frame within which the mails of your mailing action are to be sent. The system will then divide the total amount of mail into portions to be sent out in even distribution across the specified interval. You will find the corresponding function in the Dispatch period for dynamic dispatch field. Enter the interval in minutes. By default, the field is blank and no distribution is performed. Please note that the dynamic dispatch function does not override the technical limits of mail dispatch: An EFS 7.0 installation can process a fixed mail volume every 10 minutes. Per default, the maximum volume is 1,000 mails, up to 2,000 mails are possible (see Chapter 11.5, p. 487). If more mails are generated, they will be queued and processed successively.
11.2.6
Checking Finished E-Mails and Saving Them as Templates

The mail preview allows you to check your message to the respondent before finally sending it. Separate previews are output for text and HTML mails. Both wildcards and line breaks are taken into consideration.
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You can scroll through the e-mails to the various recipients and check them successively.
Figure 11.8
Scrolling through the e-mails in the mail preview
1. Special features of HTML mails in the preview

E-mails for which the HTML format has been chosen and used according to the instructions in the preceding chapter can only be displayed correctly in the preview if the HTML code used is also XML-compliant. They will, however, be sent in the correct format. Any HTML code characters you have entered will be displayed in a masked form. This means that the characters will also be displayed as HTML code. Therefore, they cannot have any impact on, for example, formatting. Before sending, they will be converted to the original tags you entered. Please note that HTML formats in plain text mails cannot be interpreted. Therefore, you must have specified the HTML format for the mail.
2. Passwords in the preview

The participants passwords are not displayed in the mail preview as clear text, but will be either masked using * characters or displayed, depending on the project type and on which team the user viewing the data belongs to: Personalized projects (PE): If you have read rights for mail_passwords, passwords will be displayed in the mail preview. Employee surveys (ES): The passwords should never be visible in the mail preview.
3. Saving the e-mail as a mail template

If you wish to re-use the e-mail at a later stage, simply tick the Save as mail template (including wildcards) checkbox below the preview and enter a title for the new template before you confirm by clicking Send.
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11.3 Using Ready-made Mail Templates

When writing and sending e-mail, you will be working with ready-made mail templates for the most part. If, for example, you invite the participants of a personalized project in several waves, you will have to write the relevant mail template only once: You can then use it as often as you want. The contents of mails which are mailed out automatically (e.g. welcome mails upon panel registration) are usually defined via mail templates, as well. The main points in brief: The mail templates of an EFS installation are managed centrally in the Options-> Mail templates menu. New mail templates can be created in the Options->Mail templates menu, as well. Additionally, you can save mails as templates during the mail dispatch process (see Chapter 11.2.6, p. 481). In EFS Panel installations, a particular set of mail templates is created for each language version. There are different types of templates available for use in different work situations (see Chapter 11.3.2, p. 484). Which staff teams may use or configure a particular mail template, is controlled via a corresponding object right for this template. Which staff teams may access or work in the Options->Mail templates menu, is controlled via the ACL right mail_admin.
11.3.1
Managing Mail Templates

In the Options->Mail templates, you will find an overview of all the mail templates for which you hold access rights along with their most important properties (Table 11.4).
Edit options
You have the following editing options: Create template button: The dialog for creating a new template will be opened. Detailed explanations of the mail template properties to be entered when creating can be found in Table 11.4. The other form fields for mail settings and mail text are familiar from the e-mail dispatch (Chapter 11.2, p. 470). Clickable links in the table and the familiar icons in the Actions column allow you to edit individual mail templates: Description link: The dialog for editing an existing template will be opened. Status link: The entries Active and Inactive in the Status column are also clickable links. You can change the status with a click on the respective link: An inactive mail template will no longer be offered in the mail forms. Preview: The template will be opened in the preview. As the project context is missing in the Mail template menu, wildcards will not be replaced in the preview. Edit mail template: The dialog for editing an existing template will be opened. Copy mail template: The template is copied. You can open the copy directly by clicking the link in the green confirmation message. Edit rights: The dialog for assigning object rights for the template will be opened.
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Delete mail template: The template will be deleted following a confirmation prompt.
Before deleting mail templates, please make sure that they are not linked to from a live project. As of EFS 7.1, EFS Panel installations feature a check to prevent deletion of mail templates that are still linked to a panel function (e.g. a CMS function module, an update rule, a promotional campaign, or a bonus). Instead, a list of the relevant panel functions will be displayed, so that you can either refrain from deleting or replace an unwanted template. However, mail template assignments in EFS Survey (e.g. mail trigger) or in EFS Employee will not be checked.
11.3.2
Properties of Mail Templates in Detail

Properties of mail templates
Mail templates are characterized by the following properties, which are partly defined by the user and partly set automatically by the system.
Column ID Type Meaning Each mail template in an EFS installation can be identified by its own unique ID. By assigning it to a particular type of mail template you define in which work situations the respective template is to be available. An overview of the different types of mail templates and their respective applications can be found in Table 11.5. Description of the template. This is only used internally for orientation in the admin area. The subject of the e-mail. Name of the last staff member who edited the template. The status indicates whether a mail template is available in the mail forms. Active templates are available, inactive ones are not. The status entry is a clickable link: You can change the status easily with one click. If the template is an HTML mail, this will be indicated in the overview table. Selected sender's address (see Chapter 11.4, p. 486). If a real name has been stored with the sender's address, it will be displayed in this field (see Chapter 11.4, p. 486). The mail templates are assigned to a particular language version of the panel.
Description Mail subject Modifier user name Status
HTML format E-mail address Name of the sender Only in EFS installations: Language version Table 11.4
Properties of mail templates
Mail template types

When selecting mail templates via the EFS mail forms, only those templates will be available that are appropriate to your current operation. For example, if you are inviting participants, only templates for invitation mails will be offered for selection. This is controlled by assigning the templates to certain mail template types. The following table provides an overview of the various types and their respective applications.
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Mail template type Default mail Invitation mail Reminder mail Notification before end of survey
Type
When it is used Is available in all non-automated dispatch processes. Used to invite participants to a survey project. See Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433. Used to remind participants of surveys they have not completed yet. See Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433. Used to notify staff of the upcoming end of the survey. This notification may be requested in the dialog used to create and change projects (Chapter 3.2.1, p. 58). If staff members have requested the notification in a given project, but no mail template has been selected (e.g. because the staff members do not have sufficient rights), they will receive a mail with default text. Only on installations with EFS Secure Exchange activated: Mail template used to notify staff of changes on the exchange platform. For more information on the optionally available platform refer to the special documentation EFS Secure Exchange. In employee surveys on EFS Employee installations only: Mail template that can be made available to users in the Org Processor. See EFS Employee: Project Managers Manual 8.0, Chapter 6.9.
Notification by exchange platform
Org Processor mail
Welcome mail Password recovery mail Duplicates check mail
Automatic Automatic
Only in EFS Panel installations: Automatically sent to the panelist after the registration has been submitted. Only in EFS Panel installations: If a panelist forgets their password, the content of this mail template will be sent automatically upon request. Only in EFS Panel installations: If the panel administrator performs the duplicates check and finds that this panelist apparently already exists, this mail template is used to contact the panelist via e-mail. Only in EFS Panel installations: If the panel administrator checks the data in the Candidates menu and wishes to send an inquiry mail to the respective panelist, this mail template can be invoked via the Registration error action. Only in EFS Panel installations: This mail template is displayed when you are inviting a panelist from the Candidates menu to the master data survey. Only in EFS Panel installations: This mail template is displayed when you are sending a reminder concerning the master data survey to a panelist from the Candidates menu. Only in EFS Panel installations: This mail template is displayed when you have conducted a prize draw and wish to inform the winners afterwards. Only in EFS Panel installations: Panelists can use this mail template within the scope of a campaign to recruit new panelists. Only in EFS Panel installations: This template is used to send vouchers to panelists. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 24.4.4.
Registration error mail
Master data invitation mail Master data reminder mail Winner mail
Tell-a-friend mail
Voucher mail Table 11.5 Mail template types
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11.4 Defining Senders Addresses for Mail Dispatch

Not only the mail contents but also the senders addresses are usually predefined in EFS. This is of particular importance if you want to use addresses other than your own, e.g. a common mailbox that may be accessed by other staff, as well: In order for you to be able to select these addresses in the EFS mail form, they must be registered in the system. This function in brief: The senders addresses are managed in the Options->Mail templates->Mail senders menu. Optionally, it is possible to enter a real name to be inserted next to the actual email address in the mail subject header. Usually, this is the name of the project owner. Please note that it is not possible to use names in double-byte languages (e.g. Chinese). Which staff teams may use or configure a particular senders address, is controlled via a specific object right. Which staff teams may access the Options->Mail templates->Mail senders, is controlled via read right for options. As of EFS 7.1, two functions have become obsolete in panel installations: - the assignment of mail senders to language versions (site IDs). As far as the mail senders are concerned, the unique assignment - originally implemented for the sake of greater clarity - did not prove to be very practical: As many users want to use the same e-mail addresses in all language versions, they had to create the same senders multiple times. Therefore, those mail senders for which you have access rights will be available in all language versions from now on. With regard to the mail templates, on the other hand, the assignment to language versions has proved useful and will therefore be continued. - the assignment of mail senders to various actions (standard mail sender, mails from promotional campaigns etc.)
11.4.1
Managing Sender Addresses

You need read rights for options to access the Options->Mail templates ->Mail senders menu and the functions described below. In the Options->Mail templates->Mail senders menu, you will find an overview of all those senders addresses for which you hold access rights.
Edit options
Click on the Add e-mail address button to open the dialog for creating a new sender. As of EFS 7.1, all you have to enter is the e-mail address, the corresponding real name, if desired, and the teams that are granted full access. Clickable links and icons allow you to edit existing mail templates: Rights: Opens the dialog where you can assign your staff teams read or write rights for the senders address. Delete: E-mail addresses can be deleted by ticking the checkbox in the Delete column and then clicking on the Delete button.
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11.5 The Mail Dispatch Process in EFS
Before deleting mail senders, please make sure that they are not linked to from a live project. As of EFS 7.1, mail senders linked to a mail template cannot be inadvertently deleted anymore. When you try to delete mail senders that are still linked to a mail template, a list of the affected templates will be displayed. Only after the senders address has been changed in all templates is it possible to delete the address.
11.5 The Mail Dispatch Process in EFS

1. Process
If you trigger the dispatch process, EFS forwards your mails to a dedicated mail server which is responsible for organizing the actual dispatch. From EFS 7.0, the mail dispatch is organized more efficiently. Previously, existing dispatch orders were processed in the order of their sending, i.e. smaller dispatch orders would have to wait quite a long time until an earlier and larger order was completely processed. From now on, the available dispatch volumes will be split up as follows: Single mails will be sent immediately. Instead of sending them immediately, dispatch orders for more than ten mails will first be put in a queue. Via the mail admin they can then be deleted from the queue or put on hold, see Chapter 11.5.4, p. 488. At the start of each interval (i.e. every ten minutes), all mail dispatch orders in the queue will be registered along with their size (i.e. the number of mails). It will be checked whether the sum total of the mails to be sent is greater than the maximum mail volume allowed per dispatch interval. The maximum mail volume can be configured, see Chapter 11.5.1, p. 488. If the sum total is smaller than the maximum mail volume, all mails will be sent. If the sum total is greater than the maximum mail volume, the dispatch resources will be split up proportionally among the dispatch orders. Example: Mail job 1: 100 mails, mail job 2: 200 mails, mail job 3: 250 mails. If the specified limit were 300 mails, there would be an excess of 250 mails in the mail jobs. Therefore, the follwing volumes would be processed in the next interval: Mail job 1: 55 mails, mail job 2: 109 mails, mail job 3: 136 mails. The remaining mails would be processed according to the same principle in the subsequent dispatch intervals.
If the mail server does not accept a mail at all, the sytem will try to dispatch it again eight hours later. After four failed dispatch attempts, the mail will be deleted and the recipient will be assigned disposition code 14. The number of repeats can be configured, see Chapter 11.5.2, p. 488.
2. Syntax check for e-mail addresses during dispatch

Generally, EFS performs a syntax check on every mail address. This happens once when entering mail addresses and also, to be on the safe side, a second time when generating and sending mails. If EFS detects a mail address which does not comply with the RFC, this address will automatically be excluded from mail sending, and a corresponding message will be output on the screen. EFS Survey only allows addresses with the following format:
487
local_part@domain
Please not that domain must be an Internet domain with a valid syntax. If, despite all this, an invalid mail address has found its way into the database, e.g. through subsequent corrections, the mail will be checked again when it is actually sent. The sender will then be notified that the e-mails address is incorrect and, therefore, the e-mail cannot be delivered.
3. Standard mail headers

As EFS performs mailings in the form of bulk dispatch, a corresponding header line (Precedence: bulk) is added to each e-mail, which enables automatic recognition as a bulk mailing. So-called auto responders should detect this. Unfortunately, not every mail system is properly configured. Therefore, it may still occur that you receive automatically generated notifications of absence as replies.
11.5.1
Limiting the Mail Volume per Mail Interval

The mails in the queue are processed in packages: per default, up to 1,000 mails (prior to EFS 7.0: 300 mails) will be processed in 10 minute intervals. You can change the value of 1,000 mails. To do so, open the Options->System settings menu and enter the new maximum value in the Job size for mail sending field. Up to 2,000 mails can be sent per package.
11.5.2
Defining the Number of Repeats for Dispatch Problems

If the mail server does not accept a mail or if it is not possible to connect to the mail server at all, the sytem will try to dispatch it again eight hours later. After four unsuccessfull attempts, the mail will be deleted and the recipient will be assigned disposition code 14. You can change the maximum number of dispatch attempts. To do so, open the Options->System settings menu and enter the new maximum value in the Maximum number of attempts to dispatch the mail field.
11.5.3
Using Installation-specific Mail Headers

As of EFS 7.0, it is possible to attach installation-specific mail headers to the mails sent from an EFS installation. This is particularly useful for external bounce systems, for example. To do so, the Globalpark support first has to activate this function and define the desired mail header values. In the mail form, you will then find a field Value for wildcard #extra_values# in additional mail headers. There you can specify the values that were predefined by the support. Please note: These mail headers are specified for an EFS installation, not for an individual project. They cannot be used in collective installations.
11.5.4
Controlling Dispatch Processes and Intervening in Processes

The Mail queue is designed to assist you in properly managing the large numbers of emails needed in bigger projects. You will find the mail queue
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11.6 Viewing Archived Mails
for project-specific mails: in the Survey menu of all project types. (Prior to EFS 7.0, it was not displayed for anonymous projects.) on EFS Panel installations: for mails sent from the Panel->Groups menu: in the Groups menu on EFS Panel installations: for mails sent from the Panel->Contacts->Send e-mail menu: in the Contacts menu. The mail queue displays all mails in the outgoing queue, sorted by sending operations. You have the following editing options: View: Allows you to display a mail that has been selected from the respective dispatch process at random with the wildcards replaced. Release: Allows you to release and execute a dispatch process with Hold status. Hold: The mail dispatch is interrupted, e.g. if a questionnaire requires re-editing. Delete: Mails are removed from the queue. In EFS Panel installations, this work process includes the option of saving the recipients of the deleted e-mails in a separate group. Caution: If you delete mails, the Globalpark Support department can no longer determine who has already received a mail and who has not in subsequent support requests.

Most of the mails sent from EFS are archived and can be viewed for a period of six months: Personalized projects, employee surveys, panel surveys and master data surveys feature an overview of all sent mails. In personalized projects and employee surveys, the mails are listed in the detail view of the respective participant. In panel and master data surveys, the mails are listed on the Contacts by system mail tab in the detail view of the respective panelist. With the appropriate rights you can view all project-specific mail processes of the installation in a centralized manner: See Chapter 11.6.2, p. 491. Please note: In the long run, the data volumes involved in the sending of mails will put an unnecessary strain on the installations performance. Once the project is over, the archived mails are usually not needed ever again. As of EFS 7.1, the mail archives will therefore be cleaned automatically at regular intervals: Archived mails will be deleted six months after dispatch.
11.6.1
Viewing Project-specific Dispatch Processes

Project-specific dispatch processes are archived. You can view the data here: personalized projects and employee surveys: Participant administration->Mail transmission report menu. See below. panel and master data surveys: Sample->Mail archive menu.
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Mail transmission report

The Mail transmission report, which is located in the participant administrations menu, gives an overview of all e-mails that were sent during the course of the survey. Every time you send one or more e-mails from participant administration, an entry is made in the transmission report. This enables you to subsequently check whether, for example, a certain group or individual has already received an e-mail.
Figure 11.9
Transmission report
In the overview list, the following information is displayed for the different sending processes within the respective project: Time: The time of dispatch. Details: The internal ID of the mail process. Via this link, you can retrieve information on all individual processes (see below). Subject: The subject line of the e-mail. Via this link, you can view the mail text sent (without wildcard replacements). Number of mails: The number of e-mails sent. Sent: The number of e-mails that were successfully transmitted. Canceled: The number of e-mails canceled. Staff member: The staff member who performed the dispatch. If you click on the ID of a dispatch process in the Details column, you will see detailed information on all individual processes: The Queued / Hold tab lists e-mails for which the dispatch process has not yet been completed. The Sent / Canceled / Other tab lists e-mails for which the dispatch process is completed, either by successful transmission, cancellation or otherwise.
Figure 11.10
Transmission report for e-mails with the status Queued/Hold
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11.6.2
Viewing Project-specific Dispatch Processes Installation-wide

The Project mail overview tab in the Options->Platform cockpit menu gives a central overview of all mail processes that can be initiated from the current installation. You can display mail activity from any desired period in time. Listed for each mail activity are the name of the project, precise dispatch date, project type, field time, e-mail subject and number of mails submitted. Excluded from the count are mail submission processes from deleted projects. Mail activities are arranged by project. Access to this tab is only possible for staff with root or admin rights. These members of staff may see mail activities for those projects for which their team holds read rights.
Figure 11.11
Overview of mail processes on an EFS Survey installation
Read rights for platform_cockpit are required to view and open the Options-> Platform cockpit menu.
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12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 12.10 12.11 Field Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 Reporting and Statistic Tools for Individual Projects . . . . . 496 Field Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 Online Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Open-ended Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Editing Individual Participant Records Online . . . . . . . . . 507 Deleting Result Data Selectively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Protecting the Results of Selected Questions from Unauthorized Viewing511 Enabling Customers to View Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . 513 Creating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 Importing Data from Other Sources for Evaluation in EFS. . 515
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12.1 Field Overview
12
Reporting
12.1 Field Overview

You can decide for yourself whether you want to use the new possibility to display forum discussions in the field overview (Chapter 3.1.6, p. 57). If you wish to use it, open the dialog Edit settings for all current forum topics and tick the checkbox Treat as qualitative project. If you subsequently create your forum topics from within the project list, this option will be enabled automatically. A field overview for the whole EFS installation is displayed in the Projects->Field overview menu.
Figure 12.1
Field overview
The Status of projects table lists all activated projects in alphabetical order. Optionally, forum discussions can be displayed from EFS 8.0. The following information is displayed for each project: Title: By clicking on the title, you can open the detailed field report of the respective project (Chapter 12.3, p. 497). Type: Displays an abbreviation for the respective project type. See Chapter 3.1, p. 55, for an overview containing explanations of all project types. Status: Project status, see Chapter 3.6.1, p. 69. Project start and end Size of random sample: Displays the total number of participants. Completed interviews: Displays the number of participants who have completed the whole questionnaire. Active: Displays the number of participants who are currently active in the respective project.
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Restricting the field overview

Using the search function, you can restrict the field overview to specific projects. E.g. the list can be restricted to those projects which are in the field and which have been accessed within the last two hours.The following search criteria are available: Project title Display type: The drop-down list provides you with often needed combinations of project status, field period and time intervals, e.g. Show only active projects in field, Show only expired projects or Show only projects that will expire within the next (7/14/21) days. Sorting by one of the following criteria: Project title, Size of random sample, Completed interviews, Active, Start of project, End of project Period considered for the column Active If several criteria are used at once, AND conjunctions will be used. For the forum discussions which can be included in the field overview from EFS 8.0, you can search or restrict the list only by the available statuses in the field and inactive. Other statuses are not used for this project type.
12.2 Reporting and Statistic Tools for Individual Projects

In the Statistics menu of individual projects, you can find various reporting features, and auxiliary functions for evaluating and processing data. The Field report that automatically appears in the content area when the menu is opened provides you with brief and concise information on the essential characteristic data of a study. See Chapter 12.3, p. 497. As early as during the field phase, the Online statistics show you the survey data which have been collected so far in a graphical format. After clicking on the Online statistics menu item, you can select individual questions from a list by clicking and then output univariate frequency distributions for the respective questions as a bar diagram or create the same for all questions combined. See Chapter 12.4, p. 506. Open-ended answers lists the answers to open-ended questions given by the survey participants in a table. See Chapter 12.5, p. 507. In the Detail view menu you can access the individual respondent records. See Chapter 12.6, p. 507. Quality correction helps to identify participants who simply clicked through. See Chapter 13.12, p. 549. Data cleaning enables you to remove irrelevant data automatically (e.g. if participants pass various parallel filter branches while skipping forward and backward). See Chapter 13.11, p. 544. The Delete data feature empowers you to selectively delete result data. See Chapter 12.7, p. 510. Furthermore, in the Reporting menu, you can create reports on your survey directly in EFS. See Chapter 12.10, p. 514.
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12.3 Field Report
From release 8.0, EFS Reporting + will be available, in addition to the standard reporting. EFS Reporting + is Globalparks new complete solution for the evaluation of results of EFS Survey and EFS Panel projects. The manual is available for download in customer center. EFS Reporting + is optionally leasable. If you are interested, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information.
Figure 12.2 The Statistics menu with a part of the field report
12.3 Field Report

The Field report provides information on the essential characteristic data of a study. It contains statistical information, broken down by gross and net sample access statistics listing, for example, the time of days with the most accesses and the average number of participants per day and week
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drop-out statistics which show you on which questionnaire page most participants dropped out. If the drop-out rate is too high, you can react by changing the questionnaire dramaturgy. Errors, for example in filter setting, can also be detected by analyzing the drop-out statistics. quota statistics You can invoke the field report by selecting the desired project from the project list and then clicking on the Statistics menu item.
12.3.1
Diagram
The diagram belonging to the field report gives you a quick overview of the progress made in the field phase.
Figure 12.3
Diagram representing the key data
The highlight colors indicate the participants disposition codes (see Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501).
Defining the target value for a project

On the Target value tab, you can define a target value for the project, which will be shown in the diagram and thus allows you to visually monitor your success.
12.3.2
The Field Report in Detail

The following table illustrates the values used in the field report. See the following Chapter for a breakdown of the disposition codes.
Section
Line
Description
Disposition codes Anonymous projects Personalised projects 11, 14, 15, 12, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 41
Total sample: gross 1
Total
Population (e.g. all cases in the list of participants or the number of popups) Please note the instructions regarding observance of disposition code 20 in Chapter12.3.3, p. 501.
(20),21,22,31,3 6,37
Table 12.1
Meaning of the terms used in the field report
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12.3 Field Report
(cont.)Section
Line Not yet invited
Description Not yet invited participants. These include the sample-neutral drop-outs counted in the total sample. Participants to whom e-mail could not be delivered. These include the sample-neutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Participants marked manually as not available. These include the sampleneutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Participants rejected at login. These include the sample-neutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Rejected participants. These include the sample-neutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Screened out participants. These include the sample-neutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Participants filtered out prior to survey commencement These include the sample-neutral drop-outs also counted in the total sample. Errors in the address list, addresses that do not exist (anymore), screened-out participants (incl. those screened out by quotas) The value for sample-neutral dropouts is the sum of participants listed in the rows in this regard. These participants are counted in the overall sample but are not included in the adjusted overall sample. Gross 2 equals gross 1 minus the sample-neutral drop-outs explained above. Please note the instructions regarding observance of disposition code 20 in Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501. Participants with disposition code 12. These are counted in the adjusted overall sample. Participants with disposition code 20 if the project is configured accordingly. These are counted in the adjusted overall sample. Please note the instructions regarding observance of disposition code 20 in Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501.
Disposition codes 11
E-mail could not be delivered
14
Cannot be reached
15
Rejected at login (quota closed) Rejected (quota closed) Screened out
35
36
36
37
37
Quota closed
41
Drop-outs neutral to the sample
36, 37
11, 14, 15, 35, 36, 37, 41
Adjusted overall sample: gross 2
Total
(20), 21,22,31
12,21,22,23,31, 32
Active
12
Not yet started
used-defined 20
Table 12.1
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(cont.)Section
Line Drop-outs relevant to the sample
Description This includes participants who are still unknown or have not begun the survey. This value is the sum of the participants listed in the two rows above with disposition codes 12 and 20 (if set accordingly). These participants are counted in the overall sample but are not included in net participation. The net sample includes the completed interviews as well as participants who are currently active or have interrupted the survey. Please note the instructions regarding observance of disposition code 20 in Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501. Participants with disposition code 31 and 32. These are counted in net participation. Participants with disposition code 21 and 23. These are counted in net participation. Participants with disposition code 22. These are counted in net participation. Participants with disposition code 20 if the project is configured accordingly. Please note the instructions regarding observance of disposition code 20 in Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501. Anonymous projects: With pop-up surveys, the number of pop-up call-ups is defined in a manner comparable with the number of invitations in the case of personalized questionnaires. With banner surveys and entry via a link, it is not recommended, from a methodological point of view, to calculate a response rate. Personalized projects:Percentage share of persons actually participating in the survey among those who were asked to participate.
Disposition codes 20 12
Net participation
Total
(20), 21, 22, 31
21, 22, 23, 31, 32
Completed
31
31, 32
Currently responding
21
21, 23
Suspended
22
22
Not yet started
used-defined 20
Key statistics
Response rate
Net / gross 2
Net / gross 2
Table 12.1
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12.3 Field Report
(cont.)Section Key statistics
Line Completion rate
Description The completion rate equals the share of completed interviews in the adjusted sample. Anonymous projects: Ratio of the number of completely finished interviews to the number of persons who have received a pop-up window to the survey or clicked on a banner or the link to the survey (gross 2). Personalized projects: Ratio of the number of completely finished interviews to the number of participants who have been invited and could be reached (gross 2). The variable rate is calculated from the number of those interviews which have been completed up to the questionnaire page X that is marked with a variable page marker. See Chapter 12.3.8, p. 505. The number of participants per hour is indicated for all participants irrespective of their disposition code. additionally for all participants who have fully completed the survey. The number of participants per day is indicated for all participants irrespective of their disposition code. additionally for all participants who have fully completed the survey. The number of participants per week is indicated for all participants irrespective of their disposition code. additionally for all participants who have fully completed the survey. The mean processing time is the mean value of the processing time for all those respondents who have completed the questionnaire without interruption; i. e. it is the sum of the processing times (variable duration, see Table 13.2) for all respondents with disposition code 31, divided by the number of those respondents. Participants who interrupted the survey and resumed it at a later stage (disposition code 32) will not be included.
Disposition codes 31 / gross 2 * 100 31+32 / gross 2 * 100
Key statistics
Variable rate
Number of participants up to page X / gross 2
Number of participants up to page X / gross 2
Key statistics
Participants per hour
All and 31, 32
All and 31, 32
Key statistics
Participants per day
All and 31, 32
All and 31, 32
Key statistics
Participants per week
All and 31, 32
All and 31, 32
Key statistics
Mean processing time
31
31,32
Table 12.1
12.3.3
Disposition Codes
Every participant in a field has a so-called disposition code which describes their status in the field. This records, for example, whether participants have already been invited
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and whether they have already begun the survey or completed it. The field statistics, which builds on these statuses, gives you extensive information on the status of your field, i.e. your survey, at any time. The disposition codes have two digits. The areas are defined as follows: 10s: before the survey 20s: during the survey 30s: after the survey The disposition codes are mutually exclusive: Any person can have only one disposition code at any given time. Therefore, the status variable can only assume one of the above characteristics at a time. The majority of disposition codes is assigned automatically and changed depending on the progress of the survey.
Overview
The following table lists the codes used in EFS.
Disposition code 11 12 13 Status Not yet invited Active Inactive The link has not yet been used. Only on EFS Panel installations: If you change the panel status of panelists to inactive or deleted, their disposition code will be changed to 13 in all samples in which they had disposition code 11 or 12 so far (i.e. they havent participated yet). Thus, the panelists can not start any new surveys, even if they have already been invited. Assigned automatically if the mail server does not accept a mail repeatedly or if it is not possible to connect to the mail server at all repeatedly. Per default, four attempts are made. The number can be configured, see Chapter 11.5.2, p. 488. This code is used in order to mark participants that cannot be reached. You will be notified that mails could not be delivered by a means outside the EFS system: through messages that take place offline (for example by post or telephone). through out-of-office mails, messages regarding a full mailbox, messages from the postmaster that an e-mail address no longer exists or that a further delivery attempt will follow, etc. Because these e-mails are directed at the sender of an invitation or follow a return path, they can not be documented by EFS. In all of these cases the assignment of the code must be done manually according to the instructions in Chapter 10.2.5, p. 422. You can use the trim participants function, described in Chapter 10.2.13, p. 432, to assist you. The first page of an anonymous project has been called or delivered (pop-up window) and cancelled. To find out what evaluation options this special disposition code involves, please see Chapter12.3.4, p. 503. Comment
14
E-mail could not be delivered
15
Cannot be reached
Only in anonymous projects: 20 Table 12.2
Not yet started
Disposition codes
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12.3 Field Report
(cont.)Disposition code 21
Status Currently responding
Comment The participant is answering the survey at the moment. In anonymous projects, this disposition code is assigned if at least the first page has been viewed and confirmed by clicking on the Submit button. In all other project types, this disposition code is assigned as soon as the first page has been opened. At least 30 minutes of inactivity have been observed. The survey has been resumed after an interruption. The survey has been successfully completed. The survey was interrupted during its course, but has been resumed and successfully completed. Is set for respondents in personalized projects who want to use the link from the invitation mail to log into the survey after a quota has been closed. Status 36 and 37 are set in a project with quotas when an intermediate final page has been reached. The survey administrator can use these codes to mark respondents as rejected (i.e. screened out by quota; there are already enough participants with the respective features) or screened out (= unsuitable). The status to be set is manually specified by the administrator at the intermediate final page. Status 36 and 37 are set in a project with quotas when an intermediate final page has been reached. The survey administrator can use these codes to mark respondents as rejected (i.e. screened out by quota; there are already enough participants with the respective features) or screened out (= unsuitable). The status to be set is manually specified by the administrator at the intermediate final page. If a quota is full, this status will be assigned to all participants, who match the quota condition, but nevertheless have not started with the survey yet. If one of these participants tries to log in, then he will be rejected and the disposition code will be set to 35.
22 23 31 32 35
Suspended Resumed Completed Completed after break Rejected at login (quota closed) Rejected (quota closed)
36
37
Screened out
41
Filtered out before the beginning of the survey, because quota is already closed. Disposition codes
Table 12.2
Access to the disposition code of the survey participants is protected with the show_dispcode right. If you hold read rights to show_dispcode, you can view, use, or export the disposition code in various places of EFS.
12.3.4
Allocating Code 20 to either Gross or Net

For anonymous surveys, disposition code 20 will be set when the first page is invoked. Depending on the type of survey, it may make sense in an evaluation to allocate participants with this disposition code either into gross or net: In the case of pop-up surveys using n-viz procedures, it makes sense to classify participants with this disposition code into gross, because the survey is shown to them automatically. In the case of banner surveys, participants with disposition code 20 would be allocated into net because the respondents actively invoke the survey.
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You can decide for yourself how participants with disposition code 20 will be allocated in a field report. To do so, switch to the Project properties->Survey options menu, and select the desired option from the field labeled This setting allows you to control how disposition code 20 is to be allocated in the field report.
12.3.5
Restricting the Field Report

The field report can be limited to specific disposition codes or variable characteristics. The following options are available: disposition codes completed = 31, completed after break = 32, screened out = 37 and all other status levels. project variables and URL parameters. Exception: Variables of text question types (141, 142, 143, 144, 363), user-defined question variables (question type 911) and user-defined variables cannot be used for restriction purposes. Please proceed as follows: 1. Click the Configuration button. 2. In the upper section disable, if necessary, the disposition codes not to be used to restrict the basis. 3. If you wish to make restrictions using a project variable, select the latter and confirm with Continue. 4. In the next step select the desired variable characteristic. 5. Confirm again. The restricted field report is issued. In order to undo the field report restriction, switch back to the Configuration dialog, select Delete current restriction and confirm with Continue. Read rights for config_fieldreport are required for accessing the configuration options.
12.3.6
Splitting the Field Report

You can split the field report by means of a specific variable. The following variables are available for all project types: project variables (v_000n), URL parameters (c_000n), user-defined variables (p_000n), quota IDs (quota), language ID (language) and outmode (outmode). Open-ended answers can be used as split variables. But if you do so, please mind that due to the high number of differing entries, it may not be possible to display the split data properly. Personalized surveys: Select box and radio button participant variables may be used, provided that answer categories have been defined. Employee surveys: To protect the privacy of participants, participant variables cannot be used for splitting. The Org Processor variables in Employee surveys (org_allocation_x, org_code_x, org_function_x) are not available for splitting either: The Org Processor provides a comfortable overview on the return data of individual units. Please proceed as follows: Switch to the Split tab, and select the desired split variable from the drop-down list. After that, confirm by clicking on Save. The data in the field report will now be split based on the variable you chose. You can export the data as an MS Excel file and process them externally (e.g. create diagrams using MS Excel).
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12.3 Field Report
Read rights for stat_split are required for accessing the split options.
12.3.7
Exporting the Field Report

You can download the field report in MS Excel file format, e. g. in order to pass the data on to your customers or to plot charts or graphs. This is particularly useful if you need the data of a field report that is restricted by configuration or has been split using the split function (see previous chapters): The field report will be exported in its current configuration. In order to initiate the export, click on the Excel export tab and save the excel file to your computer. The excel file has an appealing layout, i.e. if necessary, you can directly pass on or present your data.
Figure 12.4
Excel export of the field report
If an Excel file is opened on a computer running with Windows 7 and Excel 2007, depending on the circumstances, a message may be displayed which notifies you that the file is corrupted. This problem is caused by an extension provided by a thirdparty supplier. Until further notice, please proceed as follows: Save the file locally. Then, open the saved file, allowing Excel to repair it. Finally, save the file again.
12.3.8
Setting a Variable Page Marker

Using the so-called variable page marker allows you to determine how many people have completed the survey up to a specific questionnaire page X. Using this function is advisable, for example, if a prize draw or an order form for a newsletter which is not of interest to all respondents are offered at the end of your questionnaire. A respondent who drops out of the survey in such a situation would usually be classified as a dropout although the actual questionnaire has been completed. If you are using the variable page marker, the field report indicates the variable rate which results from the number of respondents who have reached the questionnaire page X marked with a variable page marker (variable rate = number of participants up to page X / gross 2). To set the page marker, switch to the questionnaire view via Questionnaire editor, click on the Edit page icon, and then select the Page properties tab (also refer to Chapter
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4.5, p. 131) of the required page. Tick the Set universal page marker checkbox, and then confirm by clicking on Change. The respective page will then be marked with an M in the questionnaire view.
12.4 Online Statistics

As early as during the field phase, the online statistics give you an overview of the survey data gathered up to that point. In a first step, you must specify which project data the statistics are supposed to cover: By ticking the checkboxes for a specific question or ticking the Tick all checkboxes checkbox, you can specify whether you want to view all survey results, only a selection or the results for a specific question. If you tick the Dump variable names and types checkbox, the online statistics will additionally display the names of variables, question types and labels. In this case, the online statistics will display the following information for the selected questions: the number of persons who have chosen a characteristic. the percentage of respondents is represented in numbers and as a bar diagram. the total number of persons who have given a valid answer to a question.
Figure 12.5
Online statistics for a multiple response question and a matrix
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12.5 Open-ended Answers
Please note: Online statistics have no anonymity boundaries. I.e. it is not possible to hide values if the return rate falls short of a given minimum requirement. If you compile data for customers you should therefore consider, depending on applicable data protection provisions, generating a report with appropriate anonymity criteria in the reporting (see Chapter 12.10, p. 514) instead of simply printing out the online statistics.
12.4.1
Restricting the Online Statistics

The online statistics can be limited to specific disposition codes or variable characteristics. This feature works analogous to restricting the field report (see Chapter 12.3.5, p. 504). Read rights for config_fieldreport are required for accessing the configuration options.
12.4.2
Splitting the Online Statistics

The representation of the frequency counts in online statistics can be split using a variable, i.e. you can create cross tables. This feature works analogous to splitting the field report (see Chapter 12.3.6, p. 504). Read rights for stat_split is required for accessing the split options.
12.5 Open-ended Answers

EFS 8.0 includes EFS Qualitative Analysis, Globalparks new solution for the evaluation of qualitative data. The manual is available from the customer center. EFS Qualitative Analysis is optionally leasable. If you are interested, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information. In this menu, you can view the answers to open-ended questions.
12.5.1
Restricting the Open-Ended Answers

The open answers can be limited to specific disposition codes or variable characteristics. This feature works analogous to restricting the field report (see Chapter 12.3.5, p. 504). Read rights for config_fieldreport are required for accessing the configuration options.
12.6 Editing Individual Participant Records Online

If you have the required access rights, you can view, edit and delete the data records of individual survey participants in the EFS admin area.
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12.6.1
Access Restrictions for Accessing Data Records

For reasons of privacy, the Detail view menu is protected by special rights, i.e. its information and functions are not automatically available to every user: Authorization for data access: If the viewer has read rights to report_testdata, they can open the menu Detail view and see the results of the individual participants. A staff member who has this right, but none of the following additional rights, can view various field data including the consecutive participant number (lfdn) and disposition code, browser information and system variables as e.g. language, flip variables and quota. They will not be able see the IP addresses or address data. If the viewer has additional read rights to ip_addresses, they will also see the IP addresses and host of participants. Additional read rights to export_with_lfdn enable you to access address data and result data combined. A staff member with this right can see the names, email addresses, code and tester status of participants, in addition to the field and result data.
Authorization for editing data: Editing of result data is protected by a specific right. Writing authorization to detail_view_edit is required.
12.6.2
Overview of Data Records

The Projects->{Selected project}->Statistics->Detail view menu provides an overview of the result data records. Depending on your access authorization (see Chapter 12.6.1, p. 508), the following will be visible: consecutive number and disposition code of the participants, and various additional field data, browser information and system variables. IP address and host of the participants, if you have reading rights to ip_addresses in personalized projects, name, e-mail address, tester status and code of the participants, if you have reading authorization to export_with_lfdn . Depending of your access rights and the project type, you can also edit the individual data records using the functions in the column Actions: Viewing, see Chapter 12.6.3, p. 509. Editing, see Chapter 12.6.4, p. 509. Deleting, see Chapter 12.6.5, p. 510. In the upper part of the dialog, you can find the selection criteria of the search function (period of access, disposition code, display of additional variables). From EFS 7.1, the data records can be searched for e-mail addresses and names of the participants, too. Also, using the View button you can open additional columns or hide superfluous columns.
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12.6 Editing Individual Participant Records Online
Figure 12.6
Overview of result data records in the menu Detail view
12.6.3
Viewing Individual Data Records

To view the result data of a participant, click the Detail view icon in the overview. The following will be visible: depending on your access authorization (see Chapter 12.6.1, p. 508) the following information: consecutive number (lfdn) and disposition code of the participants, and various additional field data, browser information and system variables. IP address and host of the participants, if you have reading rights for ip_addresses. in personalized projects, name, e-mail address, tester status and code of the participants, if you have reading authorization for export_with_lfdn.
the survey results of the participant.
12.6.4
Editing Individual Data Records

To edit a result data record, click the Edit icon in the column Actions.
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Figure 12.7
Editing a participants result data
You can change open-ended answers by simply overwriting them. To change closed answers, change the data by selecting another value in the drop-down lists.
12.6.5
Deleting Individual Data Records

You can delete individual records completely by clicking on the Delete icon. In personalized projects, this will remove not only the field and result data, but the data in participant administration as well. Please note that deleted records cannot be restored.
12.7 Deleting Result Data Selectively

Result data can be deleted selectively, i.e. the value of a specific variable for all participants (e.g. an e-mail address determined in the course of the survey) will be completely removed from the records. This makes it possible, for example, to anonymize data later on.
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12.8 Protecting the Results of Selected Questions from Unauthorized Viewing
When deleting, the respective variable is set to its default value, i.e. -77 for numeric fields and NULL for text fields. Delete operations are logged in project info under project documentation. Please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Delete data menu item. 2. Choose the variable whose content you wish to delete from the records of all participants. 3. Confirm by clicking on Delete data. For security reasons, this function is protected by a separate right: The menu item labeled Projects->{Selected project}->Statistics->Delete data is only visible to users who have read rights to report_erase_data.
12.8 Protecting the Results of Selected Questions from Unauthorized Viewing

Often surveys contain questions requesting personal data, the results of which are not allowed to be viewed by all staff with access to the project. Therefore, EFS allows you to set up special protection against unauthorized viewing for selected individual questions or for all questions. For example, if you ask participants to enter their address at the end of an anonymous survey, you can protect the results of this specific question from being viewed by unauthorized users: This will allow other staff members to edit the project as before, but they will only be allowed to view or export the results of that question if they have the corresponding read rights. Protection will be maintained even if export and import operations are performed, the project is copied or the question library is used.
12.8.1
protect_questions ACL Right

Access to the protection function is controlled via the protect_questions ACL right: If you have write rights for the protect_questions right, you will be allowed to mark questions as protected or to disable the protection of a question. If you have read rights for the protect_questions right, you will be allowed to view or export the results of protected questions. If you have neither read nor write rights, you can only see in the questionnaire editor that a question has been marked as protected. You will not be able to change the protection or view the results of that question.
12.8.2
Marking Questions as Protected

If you have write rights for the protect_questions right, you will be allowed to mark questions as protected or to disable the protection of a question. To do so, switch to the question view, tick the checkbox labeled Mark question as protected, and then click on Save.
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Figure 12.8
Marking a question as Protected
If you do not have read rights for the protect_questions right, you will be allowed to see which questions have been marked, but not to disable protection or mark a new question as protected. If the field is not shown in the question view, open the selection window by clicking on the more icon, and tick the desired checkboxes.
Finding protected questions

Protected questions are marked with an icon in the questionnaire and page views.
Figure 12.9
A page containing protected questions is marked in the questionnaire and page views
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12.9 Enabling Customers to View Survey Results
12.8.3
Effects of Protection on the Result Display

Export
If you have read rights for protect_questions, you can optionally restrict the range of exported data. The following options are available: Export all questions Export protected questions only Export unprotected questions only If a user who does not have read rights for the protect_questions right performs a result data export, all variables from protected questions will be removed automatically. If a user invokes a standard export template without having this right, variables from protected questions will be kept hidden. Such a user will also not be able to create export templates containing variables from protected questions.
Field report and online statistics

A staff member who does not have read rights for the protect_questions right cannot view the protected questions - not in the selection of questions for online statistics nor in the results display. Splitting the field report using the variables of a protected question is also not possible.
Open-ended answers
In the open-ended answers menu, a staff member without the corresponding read rights likewise will not be able to view protected questions. The related result fields will remain empty. The same restrictions apply to EFS Survey Status
Detail view
In the Detail view (see Chapter 12.6, p. 507), you can view the result data record for each respondent. Without read rights for the protect_questions right, the answers to protected questions will also be hidden here.
Data cleaning
If a staff member does not have read rights for the protect_questions right, he will be unable to see the values of variables from protected questions, neither in the cleaned column nor in the original column.
12.9 Enabling Customers to View Survey Results

If you wish to allow your staff and customers to view survey results without giving them direct access to internal project settings, the use of EFS Survey Status is recommendable. It provides a quick overview of all key information and results, as early as during the field phase. EFS Survey Status is separate from the admin area of the EFS installation, does not permit any alterations and thus prevents unintentional influencing of data. Users neither require introduction to the EFS software, nor are they given direct access to internal settings.
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EFS Survey Status provides the following functions: field report online statistics open-ended answers drop-out statistics respondent export: This export contains the so called respondents, i.e. all those participants who actually participated in a survey. Such a data record is useful, for example, if you want to inform an address provider which of his respondents actually participated: You can give your address provider an account for EFS Survey Status to log in and export lists of the respondents. EFS Survey reports: Result reports created with the EFS Survey Reporting (see Chapter 12.10, p. 514) can be published on EFS Survey Status. raw data export: export data records (the so-called raw data exports) can be created and automatically made available in EFS Survey Status at predefined intervals with the help of export macros. This can be useful, for example, when data have to be exported at regular intervals in a long-term study: You only need to configure the macro once, the exports are performed automatically. detail view, see Chapter 12.6, p. 507. For detailed information on EFS Survey Status, please download the dedicated manuals in customer center: The project managers manual explains how to set up EFS Survey Status accounts for your customers and how to make the features required available. The users manual can be passed on to those customers who have access to this platform. Please note: - From EFS 7.1, EFS Survey Status is available in French. - EFS Survey Status is an optionally leasable accessory tool. If you are interested in using it, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information.
12.10 Creating Reports

The Reporting allows you to create complete reports with evaluation tables and charts directly in EFS. The manual can be downloaded in the customer center at http:// my.globalpark.com. Here is a summary of the most important functions: An EFS Survey report can contain several table evaluations and charts. It is capable of creating not only frequency counts, but also evaluation tables with crossbreaks in up to 2 dimensions. Depending on the type of question, you can use simple or stacked bar charts, pie charts, polarity profiles or Web charts for the graphical display. You can generate new variables on the basis of existing questionnaire variables and use them in evaluations. You can use the user interface to program reports or create several syntax templates via a powerful syntax.
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12.11 Importing Data from Other Sources for Evaluation in EFS
The reports can be generated and exported in HTML or Excel format. If you are working on an EFS Survey installation with EFS Survey Status, you can make the reports available on it. Read rights for report_onlinereport are required to use the Projects->{Selected project}->Reporting menu. From release 8.0, EFS Reporting + will be available, in addition to the standard reporting described above. EFS Reporting + is Globalparks new complete solution for the evaluation of results of EFS Survey and EFS Panel projects. The manual is available for download in customer center. EFS Reporting + is optionally leasable. If you are interested, please contact your Globalpark sales representative for further information.

Externally collected data can be imported into an EFS project. This is particularly important in employee surveys: If parts of the data are collected using paper-pencil questionnaires, they have to be re-imported into EFS after scanning so that they can be evaluated together with the data collected online. The functional scope of the project data import in brief: This tool is available in personalized projects and employee surveys. The project data import is not implemented in anonymous projects, panel surveys and master data surveys. You can import all project variables (v_x), URL parameters (p_x), user-defined variables (c_x), participant variables (u_x), various system data (tester, code, date_of_first_access, date_of_last_access) and the disposition code. in project type employee survey the variables u_org_alloc (required for organizational mapping) and u_offline (used to mark data from paper-pencil questionnaires).
An import template is available in CSV format, which you merely have to download and fill in. Alternatively, you can import a result data file used in another EFS project: In this case, matching of the variables of source and target project is done via the external variable names. Read rights for ct42partadm are required to use the project data import.
Before you start

Please note: The participant accounts for which you want to import data will be created automatically during the import process. They should not be created beforehand, otherwise the import will be impossible as the data records already exist. The project data import is not meant for overwriting existing data. The variables in which the imported data are to be stored have to be created in advance. It is not possible to create new variables via this import. New characteristics can be created via the import if this is permitted for the respective variable. See Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412. It is not possible to upload externally collected loop data (Chapter 7.4, p. 314) into EFS via project data import.
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A Microsoft Excel worksheet can have a maximum of 256 columns, i.e. it allows the import of a maximum of 256 variables. If your project data import exceeds this value, you should use another program instead of Excel for editing your import file, then save this file in CSV format and import it. In some cases, import fails due to sheer file size of the Excel file. In this case, please save the file in CSV format and import it. Project data import is limited to 2,400 variables. The project data import is meant for importing the entire data of a project, in particular for evaluation purposes. If you wish to prefill individual variables with data from another EFS project, the Variable data import in the Project properties menu might be the better option. See Chapter 7.6, p. 346.
12.11.1
Performing a Project Data Import

The project data import can be found in the Projects->{Selected projects}-> Project data import menu. It works analogously to the participant import described in Chapter 10.2.7, p. 424. First, download the ready formatted import template. Open the template in an appropriate program (e.g. Excel) and enter the data. Please refer to Chapter 12.11.2, p. 516 for a detailed explanation of the file structure. Then save the file in Excel or CSV. Afterwards, import the data into EFS. During the import, you can use the preview function to double-check and, if necessary, change the data.
12.11.2
Formatting of the Import File in Detail

When filling in the import template or creating your own import file you have to consider various formatting rules. The import file can be created in Excel or CSV. An individual column is created for each variable to be imported. You can import the following variables: all project variables (v_x) all URL parameters (p_x) and user-defined variables (c_x) all participant variables (u_x) only in project type Employee survey: u_metaname. For details on formatting this variable, please check the EFS Employee project managers manual 8.0, Chapter 8.12. various system data (tester, code, date_of_first_access, date of last access) only in project type employee survey: u_offline. For details on formatting this variable, please check the EFS Employee project managers manual 7.0, Chapter 8.12. disposition code
The first line usually contains the column label, i.e. in this case the names of the respective variables. This has the advantage that the software will automatically identify and assign the columns to the appropriate database fields. If your import data are values exported from another EFS project, you may alternatively use the
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export file itself without re-formatting the column names: An option titled Use external variable names for matching is available for the import. As is the case with the normal participant import, the e-mail addresses must be unambiguous. Otherwise, please remember to activate the relevant option Allow duplicate e-mail addresses. If the participants do not have e-mail addresses, you have to create dummy accounts. You can use e-mail addresses on the @3uu.eu domain: these addresses are owned by Globalpark, mails sent to them are deleted automatically. Blank fields of the import file will be filled with default values: participant variables: text field = blank, selectbox = 0 project variables: Default missing values of EFS depending on data type default disposition code: completed = 31
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13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 General Tips and Tricks on Exporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 Detailed Description of Result, Master and Address Data Export 522 Exporting Participant and Status Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Exporting Answers to Open Questions for Quantum . . . . . . 529 Special Functions for SAS Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Special Functions for Fixed Format Export . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 Special Features for the Evaluation in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . 531 What do the Exported Result Data Reveal? . . . . . . . . . . . 533 EFS Survey Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 Defining Export Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Data Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Quality Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 RelevantID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
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Export
In the Projects module, various options for exporting project-related records can be found under the Export menu item of each individual project: Result or participant data can be exported, and diverse options are available for setting the export file properties and limiting the record (see Chapter 13.2, p. 522). The questionnaire can be exported as an XML file, e.g. to transfer a project from one EFS Survey installation to another (see Chapter 3.2.3, p. 60). SPSS macros and SPSS labels designed to facilitate the evaluation in SPSS can be exported (see Chapter 13.7, p. 531). If you export result data from a project with loops (Chapter 7.4.6, p. 323), you can check the status of your export job or download the complete file in the Export tasks menu. In EFS Panel installations, the Export menu item in the Panel module allows you to additionally export panel-specific data (e.g. master data or address data of panelists). Below, you will be first given a general introduction to the export process. Subsequently, a detailed description will be given of the extensive functions for supporting the export of result or address data. See Chapter 13.8, p. 533, for an overview of result data and possible preallocations. Chapter 13.7, p. 531 contains specific notes on the evaluation in SPSS. Finally, Chapter 13.10, p. 541 explains how to create your own export templates.
Before you start

Prior to exporting, you should consider exactly which data you need and which programs are to be used for further evaluation.
Example: Exporting result data for evaluation in SPSS

The example below illustrates the export of project result data. The following requirements should be met: Only the results of closed-ended questions should be exported. Only survey data of respondents who have completed the survey should be exported. Further evaluation is conducted using SPSS. Please proceed as follows: 1. Start the export process under Projects->{Selected project}-> Export by selecting the data type Data, and confirm by clicking on Next. 2. In the list which then appears for selecting the export template, format and extensive fine tuning adjustments, you can make the desired restrictions. In the Export settings area, choose SPSS as the file format and Project, closed-ended questions only as the export template. Leave the default settings for data compression (No compression) and language (English (default)) unchanged. 3. In the Restrict range of exported data area, select the respective example evaluation requirements in the Restrict export to disposition codes field: 31 (Completed), 32 (Completed after break). Leave the remaining default settings unchanged. 4. Then, click on the Export button and reconfirm the export by clicking on Copy file to local PC on the following page.
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5. The download will begin. A pop-up window will open, in which you can choose to either open or save the file. Click on the Save button. 6. A further dialog window will open, in which you can choose the folder you wish to save the file to. You can also rename the file. Confirm by clicking on Save. 7. Once the download has been completed you can close the window by clicking on Close window.
13.1 General Tips and Tricks on Exporting Data

The following applies to all exports:
1. Export duration
The exported data are not created in advance, they are created according to the settings you made the moment you click on the Export button. Depending on the desired content, selected format and number of records, the export can therefore take a considerable amount of time.
2. First save, then open the file!

Once you create the file after having made all settings, a dialog window will open, in which you can choose whether you wish to save the file on your local PC or open it directly. Please always save the file on your local PC. This procedure has several advantages: The file only needs to be created once. Newly creating the file each time would cause unnecessary load on the server. Depending on the browser used, you may not be able to open the actual application and specify the file type when opening the file directly. Instead the browser may attempt to automatically open the file itself. However, it may be the case that the browsers file type recognition was incorrectly implemented, i.e. the browser does not identify the file type correctly, cannot open the file and produces an error message.
13.2 Detailed Description of Result, Master and Address Data Export

13.2.1 Selecting the Appropriate File Format
The following formats are available:
Format CSV Table 13.1 File formats Properties CSV (Character Separated Values) is an exchange format that is mainly used for exchanging data between different computer programs.
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Format XLS
Properties The data can be directly exported to a file in the XLS format used by Microsoft Excel. As a maximum of 256 columns can be inserted into an Excel worksheet, the exported data are automatically distributed on several worksheets, as necessary. Please note: If you allow only numerical entries in an open answer (e.g. by using corresponding plausibility checks or input formats), these details will be exported nevertheless as strings. For evaluation purposes it occasionally makes sense to format these answers as numbers instead, Excel does not automatically make this format though. Please proceed as follows: In older versions of Excel you mark the corresponding cells first. Then choose in the Format->Cells menu the option number on the Numbers tab and confirm with OK. In newer versions of Excel the function for changing the cell format is hidden under the exclamation mark which you find beside the cells. For exports in Triple-S, an XML description file and a record file are generated. These files are always output in compressed format, by default as a zip file, unless other specifications were made. Please note: As Triple-S only supports character set ISO-8859-1, Triple-S exports are always in character set ISO-8859-1 even if another character set has been specified. As a result, problems may arise if non-ASCII characters are used. Should this occur, export the closed-ended question results as a workaround with Triple-S and select another format for open-ended answers. This export format provides an interface to TopComs offline evaluation software TopStud. Please contact TopCom directly at http://www.topcom.de if you have any questions about the TopStud format and the export interface. XML files can be converted into any other format, or displayed using self-written XSLT-style sheets. Address or result data exported as an HTML file have the advantage that they can be immediately opened and viewed in the browser. If you wish to forward survey data, this format has the advantage that it can be opened with an Internet browser without requiring a special program. File format for the SPSS evaluation program. Files in this format can be opened by SPSS and other statistics programs, such as Statistica. You can use it if you are editing the exported files in a statistics program other than SPSS. File format for the SAS evaluation program. In this format, the columns are separated by blank spaces. Fixed Format is employed, for example, if the Quantum program is being used for evaluation.
Triple-S
topStud
XML HTML
SPSS SPSS Portable file format SAS Fixed Format Table 13.1 File formats
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Format Quantum
Properties Data files for further evaluation in Quantum. The exported zip folder contains the actual result data and additionally the basic, tab, and axis files. To supplement this feature, the following optional settings are available: You can optionally adjust column widths or have them automatically expanded. The sys missings in the Quantum axis file can optionally be output. The text values can in be output in the Quantum data. The Quantum table names are automatically generated from the internal variable names. Please note: Quantum has limitations regarding the number of axes. If an exported file contains too many axes, you should edit them manually in Quantum. In the case of questions with multiple response lists, note the following: Quantum can only determine a name for the axis if the variable names for the items of a question begin with the same characters. (For example, Quantum can generate the name f1 from the variable names f1_1, f1_2 and f1_3). See Chapter 14.2.2, p. 561, for instructions on changing the variable names. File formats
Table 13.1
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Please take into consideration that, due to manufacturers specifications, some export formats are subject to certain restrictions: - A maximum of 256 columns can be inserted into an MS Excel worksheet. If you open an exported CSV file in Microsoft Excel, all further columns will by cut off by Microsoft Excel. You can alternatively use the Excel export function integrated in EFS Survey, which automatically distributes the exported data on several worksheets. - If an Excel file is opened on a computer running with Windows 7 and Excel 2007, depending on the circumstances, a message may be displayed which notifies you that the file is corrupted. This problem is caused by an extension provided by a thirdparty supplier. Until further notice, please proceed as follows: Save the file locally. Then, open the saved file, allowing Excel to repair it. Finally, save the file again. - SPSS is not UTF-8 compatible Therefore, please note the details in Chapter 13.2.5, p. 526 on selecting a character set for an SPSS export. - SPSS truncates string variables after 255 characters. It is therefore recommended that you export the answers separately to open-ended questions in another format (e.g. XLS, CSV) and use a different program for viewing the answers. - SPSS will only transfer user-defined missing values for text variables, if the variables field is no more than eight characters wide. - Both in Microsoft Excel as well as in SPSS, the file size is restricted by the amount of available RAM. - Up to Excel 2000, the maximum size of a Microsoft Excel file is 64 MB. As of Excel 2002 the maximum file size is 128 MB. - The size of editable files is also restricted by the amount of RAM available on the computer in use. - Microsoft Excel as well as OpenOffice are known to not correctly render or process very long cell contents. - All columns in Fixed format export files have at least the size of the missing defined for the data type (e. g. size of 3 for the missing value -77).
13.2.2
Compressing Files
The following options are available for exporting a file in compressed format: No compression Zip format: commonly used format on Windows machines Tape archive (.tar.gz): commonly used format on UNIX machines The default setting is No compression. Compression is automatically performed for exports of result data in Triple-S format. If you have made no settings yourself, a zip file will be created.
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13.2.3
Selecting an Export Template

The following export templates are available: Complete project: All project result data will be exported, including time variables, which provide information on survey processing time. Project without timestamps: All project result data will be exported, with the exception of time variables. Project, open-ended questions only: Only questions with varchar type openended text fields will be exported. Please note: From EFS 8.0, EFS Qualitative Analysis is optionally available. It is Globalparks new solution for the evaluation of qualitative data. Please check out the introductory video and download the manual from customer center. Project, closed-ended questions only: Only closed-ended questions (int type) will be exported. In personalized projects: Participant data for current project: Only the address data of the participants assigned to the project will be exported. Only if you have the required additional access right, you can access the combined participant data and result data export.
For panel surveys in EFS Panel installations, you have the additional option of exporting Master data for project: Only the master data of the participants assigned to the project will be exported. In the Template editor menu, you can create and save your own export templates. This is particularly recommendable, if you frequently only export data for a selection of variables: Selective export saves you from having to repeatedly choose variables.
13.2.4
Restricting Export to Individual Panel Groups

For panel surveys in EFS Panel installations, you have the additional option of either exporting data from the entire panel or restricting the export to individual panel groups by choosing the respective option from the drop-down list in the Restrict export to field.
13.2.5
Selecting the Language and Charset

For multilingual projects you can choose the language in which questionnaire texts are to be exported in the Language field. This setting only affects the language of text elements (e.g. questions texts, answer options) that are included in the SPSS export as labels, and does not affect exported survey data. See Chapter 15.6, p. 587, for detailed information on the evaluation of multilingual projects, in particular. If you export a SPSS file for a project encoded in UTF8, please note that SPSS is not UTF-8-capable. I.e. in order to ensure, for example, that umlauts will be correctly output in the labels for a German survey, the SPSS export must be performed in the appropriate Central European character set ISO-8859-1. For languages which require double-byte characters, the labels cannot be output correctly due to the technical restriction of SPSS.
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Set the character set of the exported data record in the field Character set. This setting affects the entire export data record, i.e. for both the questionnaire texts and any existing open-ended questions.
13.2.6
User-Defined Missing Values in Exported Data

You can define missing values for strings, numbers, calendar data and timestamps for further processing in SPSS. Here, the following applies: SPSS accepts user-defined missing values for calendar data and timestamps. Missing values for number fields can be numeric or empty. However, SPSS only accepts numeric values. In the case of numeric values, SPSS accepts a maximum of three variables per field. Missing values defined in the questionnaire editor are included in the process. SPSS does not accept user-defined missing values for string variables. For text fields, different missing values can be entered, depending on whether the fields were not seen (default value: 66) or were seen, but not edited (-99). The default setting for missing values is documented in Table 13.3. You should ensure that no values defined elsewhere in the questionnaire as characteristics for alternative answers are used as missing values.
13.2.7
Removing Line Breaks

Excel and OpenOffice are not able to process and display CSV files containing line breaks properly. If you activate the field Remove line breaks in values from export file the line breaks will be removed.
13.2.8
Replacing Codes with Labels in Excel Files

If you export result data in XLS format (MS Excel), you have the option of replacing numeric codes with labels. To do so, navigate to the Advanced options section of the export dialog, and tick the checkbox labeled Replace numeric codes with their labels.
13.2.9
Restricting the Range of Exported Data

Restricting the range of data to a specific period
You can restrict the range of data collected during a certain period by making the respective selection in the Last change from / until fields.
Restricting the range of data using consecutive participant numbering

By making a respective entry in the Lowest / Highest consecutive number fields, you can restrict the range to survey data of a specific block of respondents who have successively completed the questionnaire.
Restricting the range of data to certain disposition codes

If you are authorized to access disposition codes (read right for show_dispcode), you can restrict export to survey data of respondents with a certain disposition code. To do so, untick all disposition checkboxes in the Restrict export to disposition codes field, for which no survey data are to be exported.
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Available are the disposition codes greater than/equal 20 (you can find an overview of the disposition codes in Table 12.2). No result data exist for disposition codes < 20, therefore a result data export for such codes is not advisable. By default, the data of all participants with disposition codes between 21 and 42 will be exported.
Exporting protected questions

If your project contains questions which are marked as protected and you have read rights for protect_questions, you can choose between various options when exporting result data: Export all questions Export protected questions only Export unprotected questions only
Restricting to participant groups

In personalized projects, you can limit the export to specific participant groups, defined by the characteristics of the participant variable u_group. To do so, when exporting result data, select the appropriate group in the Restrict to participant groups field of the Restrict range of exported data section.
Selective export
If you have ticked the checkbox for the Selective export (Please click here, if you want to specify which variable shall be exported) field, you have the option of performing a selective export, i.e. you can choose from the range of available variables. Once you have confirmed the selection by clicking on the Export button, the list of possible variables will be displayed and you can choose those desired. See Chapter 13.8, p. 533, for an overview of variables used in EFS Survey.
13.2.10
Excel Export with Long Variable Names and Meta Information

If you export result data in XLS format (MS Excel), you have the option of adding meta information. In this case, additional columns with the following information will be inserted in the export file header: 1. Line: Question title 2. Line: Plain text description of the variable. In the case of questions with multiple response lists, the respective answer option is specified. 3. Line: external variable name If you want to use this option, tick the checkbox Display meta information as additional column heading (excel export only) in the Advanced options section.
13.3 Exporting Participant and Status Codes

The export type Participant and status codes, which is is available for personalized projects, enables you to determine the disposition code and last access for each survey participant. The export file contains the following information: Participant code: The code used to access the survey. Disposition code: The selected disposition codes.
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13.4 Exporting Answers to Open Questions for Quantum
Tester variable: Does the participant have tester status? Last accessed: Date and time of when the survey was last accessed. The exported data record contains only the participant codes, but does not contain respondent-specific information or result data. This will guarantee the participants anonymity if, for example, you pass this data record on to the customer who commissioned the project.
13.4 Exporting Answers to Open Questions for Quantum

Some evaluation programs, such as Quantum, place special demands on export records for open-ended questions: Answers should not only be separated from the answers to closed-ended questions, but their display should also be different. Whereas in the case of normal export records, consecutive numbers and result variables of a respondent are displayed side by side in the columns of a single row, the individual answers of a respondent should be displayed in rows one above the other. The Data (open end answers only; optimized for column display in Quantum) data type is available under Projects->{Selected project}->Export, and can be used to create such a record. When downloading, please proceed as follows: 1. Select the Data (open-ended answers only; formats e.g. SPSS, CSV, fixed format, Quantum, MS Excel...) data type. 2. After that, you can choose the format and make further settings as usual. 3. Confirm by clicking on Export, and download the file as usual. 4. Then open the record in the appropriate evaluation program. The exported record contains three columns: lfdn: the respondents consecutive number varname: the variable of the open text field value: the entry made by the respondent
Figure 13.1
Answers of three respondents to two open-ended questions, exported in CVS format
The above figure shows an example of a record exported in CSV format and opened in Excel. Please note that the consecutive number is displayed right-aligned. Depending on the program used to open the record, the consecutive number will be positioned right next to the variable name.
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13.5 Special Functions for SAS Export

The SAS export generates an SPSS Portable-file, a text file with labels and a macro that can be executed in SAS. The macro can be used to label the SPSS Portable file and convert it into an SAS data table. You only need SAS to edit the export files, SPSS is not required.
13.5.1
Notes on SAS
Since the SAS export is performed using an SPSS Portable file, it is subject to the technical default settings and restrictions of SPSS.
Character set
SPSS is not UTF-8-capable, i.e. in order to ensure, for example, that umlauts will be correctly output in the labels of the SAS table for a German survey, the SAS export must be performed in the appropriate Central European character set ISO-8859-1. For languages which require double-byte characters, the labels cannot be output correctly due to the technical restriction of SPSS.
Missings
The default settings for missing values (see Chapter 13.8, p. 533 and 13.2.6, p. 527) are interpreted as follows during SAS export: -77 is defined as a missing in both SPSS and SAS. Therefore, it is represented with a period (.) in SAS. -66, -99 and 0 are not defined as missings in SAS. Accordingly, they are interpreted and displayed as number values.
13.5.2
Making Default Settings for the Further Processing of the SAS Files
In order to apply the macro to the other files without any further configuration after the SAS export, you must make the following default settings in the Staff->Own account->Preferences menu on the Common settings tab before exporting the data: Standard directory for SAS exports on your computer: This directory path is copied into the SAS macro generated by EFS Survey. Therefore, the compressed file must be located in this directory for you to apply the macro to it successfully. Default setting: c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Desktop\ SAS library in which the SAS macro generated by EFS Survey is to store the converted data: The SAS macro will store the data temporarily in this library. You can access and then save the data from there. Default setting: work.export, where work is the name of the library and export is the user-defined name of the file.
13.5.3
Exporting and Opening SAS Files

Please proceed as follows: 1. In the Export menu, set the desired export options as usual, including the desired file compression (zip or tar). Also, please observe the above note on selecting the character set. After that, initiate the export process. 2. Save the compressed file locally in the directory that you chose under Staff-> Own account->Preferences.
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13.6 Special Functions for Fixed Format Export
3. Open the compressed file. It contains the three files export.por (SPSS Portable file containing the data), export.txt (text file with labels) and macro.sas (Macro). 4. Open the macro by double-clicking it. 5. To execute the macro, click on the Execute icon. If the macro is not executed correctly, check whether the right directory path has been set in the macro and whether the export files are located in the right directory. 6. The data table will now automatically be stored in the library you specified under Staff->Own account->Preferences. 7. Navigate to the library and open the file.
13.6 Special Functions for Fixed Format Export

13.6.1 Adjusting Column Widths
The export dialog (Projects->{Selected project}->Export->{Selected data type}) provides two special options in the Export settings area specifically for Fixed Format export, which particularly facilitate further processing of the data in Quantum: Adjust column widths to effective size of data: The columns are made as narrow as possible. Automatically adjust column widths if missing values are longer than column widths defined in export map: As explained in Chapter 13.2.6, p. 527, the export dialog allows you to define missing values yourself or use the default values (-77, 66, 0). If these missing values require more digits than provided for in the respective column, ticking this checkbox will widen the column. If the checkbox is not ticked, the value -77 will be exported only as -, for example. If you tick the new special checkbox Show field positions in export map in the codebook and select the suitable export template, the codebook will show the width, beginning and end of the columns (see Chapter 14.2.2, p. 561)
13.6.2
Downloading the Export Template

Another option that was set up specifically for Fixed Format export allows you to download the export template, including the information on the column width you configured yourself, as a CSV file. To do so, you must first perform export selection as usual. The dialog shown in the figure, in which you can finally download the file, also contains a green bar displaying the here link you can click on to download the CSV file. If, for a Fixed Format export, you additionally choose to compress the data into a zip file, this zip file will automatically also contain the export template in CSV format.
13.7 Special Features for the Evaluation in SPSS

Exporting SPSS macros to SPSS for simplified evaluation
The SPSS syntax code from the file created in spo format and the SPSS module Tables allow you to generate frequency distributions.
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Creating SPSS labels for own syntax jobs

Choosing this option will export a file in dat format, which contains labels and variable names. These can be used for relabeling in SPSS, for example. In the case of multilingual projects, you can select the language. The order of the variables can also be specified. The following options are available: Sort by external variable name Sort by order in the questionnaire
13.7.1
Excursion: Merging Records in SPSS (Matching)

Under certain conditions, various system files can be merged to create one system file. There are two possible ways of merging: Merging cases where variables are identical or almost identical (Add Files). Merging variables where cases are identical or almost identical (Match Files). For the 'add files' command, cases are added from one or more records to an existing record (vertical conjunction). For identical variables, syntax in SPSS is as follows:
001 002 003 004 add files file='c:\syntax\spss_1.sav' /file='c:\syntax\spss_2.sav'. save outfile='c:\syntax\Final_add.sav'.
For the 'match file' command, several records can be merged using a key variable (horizontal conjunction). Prerequisites for successful matching are: All files must contain the same number of cases. All files must contain a key variable with an identification number (e.g. lfdn). Each case must be assigned to a different identification number. A certain case must always have the same number in different files. All files must be sorted by identification number. In this case, the consecutive number 'Lfdn' is chosen as a key variable, and the records must be sorted by this variable. For an identical number of cases, syntax in SPSS is as follows:
001 002 003 004 005 006 match files file='c:\syntax\spss_1.sav' /file='c:\syntax\spss_2.sav'. /by lfdn. save outfile='c:\syntax\Final_match.sav'. execute.
Should problems occur when matching two EFS Survey data files in SPSS format, save the records in POR format (Portable Document) and repeat matching.
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13.8 What do the Exported Result Data Reveal?

13.8.1 Overview of Variables
Depending on project, choice of export options and authorization of the staff member who executes the export, the result data record may contain the following variables:
Internal variable name lfdn external_lfdn External variable name lfdn external_lfdn Description number external lfdn Meaning Every participant to the questionnaire will be assigned a consecutive number. If external survey start is used, external_lfdn is used in the secondary project to store the participants ldfn from the primary project. You can download a dedicated documentation for external survey start in customer center. If several surveys are linked by external survey start, the variable external_lfdn will contain the lfdn of the primary project in all following surveys. Indicates whether the participant in question is a tester (not for anonymous projects), 1 being for a tester and 0 for a normal participant. The participants disposition code, see Chapter 12.3.3, p. 501. Please mind that the disposition code is only part of the export file if the exporting staff member has read rights for show_dispcode. Displays the last page sent by the participant, i.e. if the participant dropped out of a survey, the cancellation occurred on the following page. The duration of survey completion, i.e. the time elapsed between the respondents first and last accessing of the questionnaire. The duration is computed as follows: A record is made of when the respondent first and last accessed the survey. These values can be found in the export record as the variables datetime (SPSS label: datetime of survey start) and lastaccs (SPSS label: date of last access). The difference of these two values is the time the participant took to complete the survey (duration = lastaccs datetime). If a respondent resumes the questionnaire after a break (disposition codes 23, 32), the duration is = -1 because a meaningful calculation is not possible. URL parameter User-defined variables Project variables. The project variables are sequentially numbered for each project, beginning with v_1. Only in EFS Panel installations: master data variables. external host Indicates the domain of the computer via which the participant is connected to the Internet, if it has a domain. Please also refer to the notes on the availability of remote_host and remote_addr in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81.
tester
tester
tester
status
dispcode
disposition code
last_page
lastpage
last page
time_to_comple te_survey
duration
time to complete survey
p_000n c_000n v_000n md_000n remote_host
p_000n c_000n v_000n md_000n ext_host
Table 13.2
Overview of the variables in the result data record
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(cont.)Internal variable name remote_addr
External variable name ip_addr
Description remote address
Meaning Indicates the IP address of the computer via which the participant is connected to the Internet. Please also refer to the notes on the availability of remote_host and remote_addr in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81. Indicates the name of the browser in the form in which it was transferred to the EFS Survey server. Examples can be found at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Agent. When filtering is done via browser types, it is advisable to use the matches regex condition, which is also new (see Chapter 4.7, p. 143). Indicates the Internet page from which the survey was invoked. Contains the ID of the allocated quota (i.e. the quota selected via allocation mode). See Chapter 10.4.11, p. 463. Contains the IDs of all quotas in which the respective participant has been counted. See Chapter 10.4.11, p. 463. Indicates the sequence of invoked pages. Here, the page ID (pgid) located beside the individual pages in the questionnaire editor is used. As of EFS 7.0, the current state of questionnaire processing is minutely recorded in the page history, i.e. the variable page_history will show you the movements of the participants within the questionnaire up to the last viewed page. In earlier versions of EFS, the page history only allowed you to track the state of questionnaire processing until the last submission, i.e. the variable page_history contained the sequence of visited pages up to the last submitted page. Please note: If a real Back button is activated in the form, and a participant leaves a page using this Back button, this page will be removed from page history. Variable for horizontal flipping, see Chapter 5.11.5, p. 226: 0 = not flipped 1 = flipped Variable for vertical flipping, see Chapter 5.11.5, p. 226: 0 = not flipped 1 = flipped Only on installations with EFS Mobile Extension: This variable is filled when the option Dynamically switch output format of survey depending on browser used by the respondent? in the Project properties menu has been enabled. It indicates the output mode in which the survey has been completed. 0: HTML 1: XHTML 2: WML 3: Offline
user_agent
browser
browser-id
http_referer quota quota_ assignment page_history
referer quota quota_ assignment page_history
http-referer quota quota_ assignment page history
hflip
hflip
hflip
vflip
vflip
vflip
output_mode
output_mode
output mode
Table 13.2
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(cont.)Internal variable name javascript
External variable name javascript
Description jscript
Meaning Contains the result of the check for JavaScript, which can optionally be performed at the beginning of the survey (see Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80): 0 = JavaScript switched off Other = Version number (e.g. jscript = 10 for JavaScript 1.0, jscript = 15 for JavaScript 1.5) When working on an EFS Panel installation, please note that the JavaScript check in master data and panel surveys has not been available until the release of EFS 6.0. Therefore, in older installations, the value of the variable javascript is always 0 for these project types. Contains the result of the check for the Adobe Flash plugin, which can optionally be performed at the beginning of the survey (see Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80) and is required for the Flash question types: 0 = Flash plugin not availablef Other = Version number (e.g. flash = 800 for Flash plugin 8.0, flash = 900 for Flash plugin 9.0) Indicates the session ID the participant received during the survey. The language in which the respondent has seen the questionnaire. The numbers correspond to the language ID (identification number) of the languages used in the project (see Chapter 15.2.1, p. 573). With the wildcard #language# you can display the language ID in the questionnaire or in templates. This is particularly important for language-dependent layouts and special programming. Indicates if the individual record has been cleaned, see Chapter 13.11, p. 544: 0= uncleaned data records and records of incomplete interviews which are excluded from the cleaning process 1 = cleaned 2 = checked but did not require cleaning Date and time of the last access to the survey. Date and time of the first invitation mail sent to the participant. The variable is used for all project types which include invitation processes, i.e. personalized projects, panel surveys, master data surveys and employee surveys. In anonymous projects , it is not filled. Only in panel and master data surveys from EFS 7.1 onwards: ID of the sample that the panelists belong in. For the SPSS export, the codes are labeled with the sample titles. Please bear in mind that the extra column added in EFS 7.1 may change the sequence of other columns in the export data record. Indicates the time in seconds elapsed since 01/01/1970 until the request of the first page of the questionnaire). Date and time of survey start, i.e. the invoking of the first page of the questionnaire.
flash
flash
flash
session_id language
session_id language
session id language
datacleaning
cleaned
datacleaning
date_of_last_ac cess date_of_first_ mail
date_of_last_ac cess date_of_first_ mail
date of last access date of first mail
sid
sample_id
sid
dt_begin dt_begin Table 13.2
ats datetime
absolute timestamp datetime of survey start
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(cont.)Internal variable name dt_send_pag_ 000n
External variable name rts_000n For pgid > 99999: ts_000n
Description relative timestamp for page xxxx
Meaning Time variables. These indicate the time in seconds elapsed since the ats until submission of the respective page. If the pgid (installation specific ID of a questionnaire page) is bigger than 99.999, the name of the variable is changed to ts_xxx, to prevent problems caused by the length of the variable name when exporting for SPSS. rts variables from non-standard pages can only be exported in projects that were created later than November 2004. If you would like to export rts variables to such a page from older projects, please contact Globalpark support. Random selected information. For each random selected block in the project, a variable rndPGID is created. PGID is the page-ID of the random-selected-page. In this variable, the PGIDs of the selected pages are stored, separated by commas. Random rotation information. For each random rotation block in the project, variables rnd_pg_PGID_NR are created. PGID is the page-ID of the random rotation page, NR is the number of randomized subpages. Each of these variables contains the PGID of that subpage which has been placed on the respective position in the current cycle. Example: The PGID of the random rotation page is 123, the subpages have PGID 124, 125 and 126. In the questionnaire, they are displayed to a participant in the following order: 126, 124, 125. Then, you will find the following data in the export file: r123_1 = 126, r123_2 = 124, r123_3 = 125
rnd_pg_PGID
rnd_pg_PGID
random page selection order
rnd_pg_PGID_x
rnd_pg_PGID_x
random rotation selection order
Table 13.2
13.8.2
Overview of Variable Preallocations

Preallocation value -77 Meaning Project variables of the v_000 type, with the exception of variables that refer to text fields: The participant did not see the question, for example because they dropped out or because the relevant page or question was not displayed due to routing. Master data for EFS Panel installations: Preallocation for master data of the md_xxx and m_xxx type. Project variables of the v_000 type, with the exception of variables that refer to text fields: The participant saw the respective question, but did not respond to it. Participant administration variables of the text field type: Preallocation if the variable was not filled. Participant administration variables of the select box type: Preallocation of those variables that are available per default and set to Please select. For example, the standard variables u_gender, u_language and u_group. Project variables of the v_000 type that refer to text fields: The participant did not see the respective question, because it was hidden. Prior to EFS 5.2 this missing was set if the participant had not seen the entire page containing the text field. Preallocation of variables
-66
Table 13.3
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13.9 EFS Survey Variables
(cont.)Preallocation value -99
Meaning Project variables of the v_000 type that refer to text fields: The participant saw the respective question, but did not respond to it. Prior to EFS 5.2 this missing was set if the participant had seen the page but not the respective question with the text field. System variable lastpage: The participants last page was the default last page of the survey.
Table 13.3
Preallocation of variables
You can specify the missing values in the export data records yourself. See Chapter 13.2.6, p. 527, for further information.

13.9.1 Overview of the Various Variable Types
The locations in the database, in which answers given by the respondents, participant administration data or system information regarding the course of the survey are saved, are identified using variables. In defining routing, e.g. via a filter or when importing saved contents via wildcards you can access the database contents via these variables. A range of variable types are used in EFS surveys: Project variables (v_000n): The results of the survey are saved in these variables. They are automatically created when new questions are created. Management of their designations is dealt with in the following Chapters. URL parameters (p_000n): These variables allow you to pass variables to a survey from outside. They are created and configured manually, see Chapter 3.7.13, p. 89 User-defined variables c_000n: These variables are used to store interim results. They are created and configured manually, see Chapter 3.7.14, p. 91. Participant variables (u_000n): Information regarding survey participants is stored in these variables. A set of frequently used variables is available by default and additional variables may also be created (see Chapter 10.2.1). System variables: The variables listed in Table 13.2 with their own respective individual names are used to store meta-information regarding participants and the course of the interviewing process. System variables are automatically generated when a project is created. For EFS Panel installations only: Participant data of the panelists (u_000n). These variables are preset by the EFS Panel and are not configurable. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.1. For EFS Panel installations only: Master data (m_000n). Fundamental panelist properties determined by the panel administrator, which are stored independently of the specific project and which are permanently available. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.3. For EFS Panel installations only: Panel system data. The variables listed in EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.2 are used to store meta-information regarding the panelists. These are preset by EFS Panel.
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13.9.2
Maximum Available Number of Variables

In EFS 7.0 or later versions, up to 7,000 variables are available per project. This value is the sum of all variables in the project, not only the sum of the project variables. The maximum number of variables which are available in a specific project depends on various factors, as e.g. type and size of the variables created, and may be lower than 7,000. In previous versions of EFS, the variable number was limited to 2,400. The number of master data available in an EFS Panel installation has also been increased, from 2,400 to 2,800 variables (see EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 4.3.1). The complexity of a project affects the performance. For example, the more complex the routing structures, number of participants, or number of variables, the more the project will be slowed down. With the previous maximum of around 2,400 variables available per project, the number of variables was a less important factor. This will change, however, with the numbers of variables that can be achieved in EFS 7.0: With up to 7,000 variables, a project can slow down considerably. Tip: Compile the project as usual before taking it into the field and delete any redundant variables.
13.9.3
Generating and Editing Project Variables and Codes

Project variables (v_000n) will be created automatically when you create a question. In the case of single response questions only one variable per question is required for each and the various answer options are allocated codes. In the case of multiple response questions, one variable is created for each answer option. Whether the respondent has selected an option is recorded via the coding: 0 = not specified, 1 = specified. For matrix questions, one variable matches each answer option, and the scale characteristics are encoded (exception: question type 362 with checkboxes and question type 363 with text fields). Entries in open text fields are similarly recorded in a variable. The variable names are assigned automatically for each project, beginning with v_1 and names cannot be edited. If required, however, you can allocate an external variable name or define long variable names for SPSS 12+, see Chapter 13.9.4, p. 539. You can see the internal project variable names when working in the questionnaire editor depending on the question type in the Answer options area in the Variable name columns in the case of questions with an open entry field in the Question options area. The codes are also assigned automatically, but can be edited in the case of single response and matrix questions (see Table 4.7). You can view and edit the codings in the questionnaire editor for single response questions in the Code column in the Answer options section. for matrix questions in the Code column in the Scale options section. All project variables and their codings are listed in the codebook.
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In a live questionnaire never delete a question or answer option or amend a coding later on. Otherwise already encoded information will be lost or it will no longer be possible to assign it correctly. Filters and other features that refer back to variables and codings might also be damaged. Make all these changes prior to commencing with the survey: When compiling prior to survey commencement you can have variables that were deleted during preparation removed.
13.9.4
Preset and User-Defined Names for Project Variables

If variable names are displayed within EFS Survey the automatically preset, so-called internal variables are used. You can of course allocate alternative names which will be used on export instead of the internal names and then be available for external evaluation. Internal variable names: These are the variable names that are automatically allocated by the system when creating a question and are used within EFS. These have the format v_000n and cannot be changed. External variable names: These names can be changed optionally by the user and are then used on export instead of the internal variable names. As of EFS 7.0, external variable names may have up to 64 characters. Please note that the user-defined name type is used for data export only. Control functions such as filter and trigger definitions cannot be addressed using the internal variable names and wildcard use is not an option either.
13.9.5
Viewing and Editing User-Defined Variable Names in the Questionnaire Editor

Internal variable names are always displayed in the question view, see Chapter 13.9.3, p. 538. In addition, you can also display and edit external variable names, if required. Depending on the question type you will find the respective field in the Question options area for questions with a single response list or open entry field. in the Answer options area in a table column that is usually hidden in the case of multiple response and matrix questions. Click on the arrow icon in the Variable name column to display the External varname column. If you cannot find the field described above click the Question options icon and enable External varname.
13.9.6
Options for Centralized Editing of Variable Names

The codebook (see Chapter 14.2, p. 559) contains a range of functions which enable effective centralized editing of user-defined variable names. You can find these functions in the Edit variable names section which is opened by clicking the [+] icon.
Editing variable names

When the option Edit variable names directly in this form is selected and then confirmed with the Save settings button, entry fields are displayed in which you can edit the external variable names (see Chapter 13.9.4, p. 539). After entering the new names, click on the Save variable names button.
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Changing variable names according to a preset algorithm

You can allocate a unique label to the external variable names of a project in accordance with a predefined scheme and optionally the algorithm can also be applied to long variable names. Available options are: User-defined prefix consecutive item number User-defined prefix consecutive question number_consecutive item number (per question) User-defined prefix consecutive question number|consecutive item number (per question) Please proceed as follows: 1. In the codebook click the Select algorithm for creation of variable names link in the Create new variable names in accordance with selected algorithm field. This opens the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu. 2. In the Algorithm for creating the external variable names field enter the desired prefix. Default preset is v_. 3. Set the desired labeling option in the select box. 4. Switch back to the Codebook. 5. Activate Create new variable names in accordance with selected algorithm. 6. Confirm by clicking on Save settings.
Systematically naming variables in dynamic answer blocks

The Rename variables in dynamic answer blocks option allows you to automatically change the names of variables, for example, in a list or a loop in such a way that the link to the original variable can be read from the name. If, for example, a dynamic list is incorporated into a question, all variables that were generated via the dynamic list will have the name v_sourcevariablea once renaming is complete. If the questionnaire contains a second question that draws on the same dynamic list, then the corresponding variables will be named v_sourcevariableb.
Editing variable names externally

You can export external variable names, edit them outside EFS Survey and then reimport them: 1. The Export variable names for external editing will create a CSV file containing the variables information, which you can load onto your workstation. You can specify which character set is to be used. 2. When editing you enter the new external variable name in the New varname column. 3. The Import externally edited variable names option allows you to re-import the externally edited list in CSV-format into EFS Survey. Here, too, the correct character set must be specified.
Undoing changes
Changes to external variable names can be undone applying the Restore original variable names options.
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13.10 Defining Export Templates

You can define your own templates based on existing default export templates. This can be useful, for example, if you frequently need only specific excerpts from the result data.
13.10.1
Overview of Existing Export Templates

The Export->Template editor menu contains a list of the templates that have been set up for the respective project and the functions for creating new templates.
Figure 13.2
List of existing export templates
The default templates of the Static template type cannot be changed or deleted. Even though it is possible to download these templates, the modified templates must then be uploaded under a different name, in a newly created user-defined template. Templates of the User-defined template type can be edited and deleted. The following icons are in the Action column: Upload definitions for template ...: This function is only available for user-defined templates you have created. You can use it to upload an edited definition file. Download template as CSV file: The downloaded file has the .csv file type. Download template as Excel file: The downloaded file has the .xls file type and can be edited in MS Excel. Save as new template: You can save the selected template as a new template, allowing you to download and edit it afterwards. View template: The export template will open in a table. Delete template.
13.10.2
Viewing User-defined Templates and Sorting Their Contents

Clicking on the name of a template or on the View template icon will display its content in a table that cannot be edited.
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Figure 13.3
Viewing and sorting an export template
It contains the following information for each variable of the template:

Column Activated Meaning If the variable is activated (Yes = 1), it will be exported in the data record. If it is not activated (No = 0), it will not be exported. With the template shown above, you would only export those variables from the address record that contain the participants postal addresses (first name, name, street, zip code, city and country). The position of the column in the exported data record. The width of the column. The alignment of the data for Fixed Format and Quantum export. The SPSS label and header in Excel. The description used for XML and Triple-S export. The table name used for Quantum export. This name is automatically generated and cannot be edited. The question type is displayed to improve editability and structure. It cannot be edited. The EFS Survey variable name. The type of the data that can be entered into the respective database field. Meaning of the export template columns
Position Width Alignment Ext. varname Description Quantum table name Question type Int. varname Data type Table 13.4
For user-defined templates, you will find that there are two additional buttons: Sort fields by position: Sorts the rows by the content of the Position column. Shrink column widths to width of actual data: This function is required for Fixed Format and Quantum exports.
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13.10.3
Creating a User-defined Template

To define a new template, you must first select the appropriate basic template: This template should at least contain all of the data you wish to actually export later on. Select the basic template in the Create a new template section, and confirm by clicking on Create (alternatively, you can also click on the Save as new template icon).
Figure 13.4
Selecting a basic template
In the next window, enter the name of the template and confirm by clicking on Save as new template. The new template of the User-defined template type will be created and displayed in the list of templates.
13.10.4
Downloading and Uploading Export Templates and Editing Them Externally

To edit an export template, you can download it and edit it externally. Please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Download template as CSV file or Download template as Excel file icon to download the template to your hard disk. 2. Open the file in a suitable program, e.g. in MS Excel. Edit the file according to the rules presented below in the section titled Editing a user-defined template, and then save it. In the example shown, some variables are deactivated: u_group, u_email and u_www have already been deactivated.
Figure 13.5
Editing an export template externally
3. Click on the Upload definitions for template ... icon. Locate the definition file on your hard disk, and then confirm by clicking on Upload. Open the export template, and check the result. In the example shown, all variables after u_group were deactivated. You can use the buttons labeled Sort fields by position and Shrink column widths to width of actual data to edit the template further.
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13.10.5
Editing a User-defined Template

When editing the template definition, you should pay attention to the following rules: A variable for export must be specified for each row, and each row must consist of seven values separated by tabs. You should not change the order of values. In personalized projects, you can change the sequence of participant data in the export dataset via participant administration. See Chapter 10.2.1, p. 412 for further information. Deleting the variables from the list will not delete them from the export data record. The active column determines whether a variable is to be exported. It is not possible to add variables. Duplicate definitions of a variable are not permitted. Variable column positions (pos+width) may not overlap. The position and width of the columns for the individual variables must be such that they will not overlap. You can click on the Sort fields by position button to have the variables arranged by their position. This arrangement will be saved and can then only be changed by downloading the template again and editing it manually. Clicking on the Shrink column widths to width of actual data button allows you to optimize the export template for Fixed Format and Quantum exports.
13.11 Data Cleaning

If a respondent uses the Back button in the questionnaire or that of the browser while completing a questionnaire, they is possible that they will pass the same filter question more than once, giving different answers and then being routed into another filter branch, where they will answer different questions. Example: Somebody answers the question whether they drive a car with Yes and is subsequently asked all car-related questions. Then, they go back in the questionnaire and state they do not drive a car. A filter lets them skip all car-related questions now. When the respondent completes the survey, they will have stated they do not drive a car. Nonetheless, all car-related variables will contain values. In the past, such irrelevant data had to be manually cleaned from the result data. With the Data cleaning function, this cleaning process has been automated.
Before you start

Please note: Data cleaning only takes completed interviews into consideration, i.e. records with status 31 or 32. The following routing types are supported: Filter and Random rotation branches. Trigger types which affect routing via changes in the survey results. The function should, however, not be used in projects involving page triggers: In this
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case, the routing that the respondent took erroneously or for test purposes cannot be unambiguously identified. Action pages. Depot questions. EFS-side Back buttons. Please mind: browser-side Back buttons are not fully supported. If a respondent skips back several pages using the browser Back button first, and then skips forward several pages using the browser Forward button ignoring the system warning, these steps cannot be tracked and stored correctly. I.e. pages might be missing in page history, though valid data from these pages exist.
Random rotation branches, loops (see Chapter 7.4, p. 314) and conjoint blocks are not supported.
13.11.1
Activating Automatic Data Cleaning

Activating data cleaning before the beginning of the field phase
In the Projects module, click on the desired project, and then choose the Project properties menu item. In the General options section, tick the checkbox in the Enable data cleaning field. Then, confirm by clicking on Submit. The Display link allows you to switch to the Data cleaning submenu.
13.11.2
Triggering Data Cleaning for the Entire Project

The documentation of all changes to the data as well as functions for restoring all or part of the original data are located in the data cleaning log. There are two ways of accessing this: Click on the Display link in the Project properties menu. The second way is via the Statistics->Data cleaning menu. You are automatically taken to the General tab.
Figure 13.6
The General tab
The General information area shows whether data cleaning has already been performed and how many records were processed.
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Status data cleaning in this project: Data cleaning is activated from the Project properties menu (see Chapter 13.11.1, p. 545). Number of cleaned records: The records that were changed during data cleaning. Number of data records that were checked but did not require cleaning: The records that would not be / are not affected in the event of data cleaning. Number of uncleaned records: If data cleaning has not taken place, this value will contain the uncleaned records. After data cleaning has taken place, all records that could not be checked and cleaned because the interviews were not completed remain in this field. If further questionnaires were filled out after a manual data cleaning, this value will be the total of all uncleaned records, as well as all records that were not checked during the manual data cleaning because the interviews were not completed.
Please note that data cleaning only takes completed interviews into consideration, i.e. records with status 31 or 32. In the Data cleaning for the whole project area, you can trigger or undo data cleaning: If you select Clean all data and then confirm by clicking on Execute, the cleaning operation will be triggered. If you select Recover all data and then confirm by clicking on Execute, the original state will be restored.
13.11.3
Viewing Details and Editing Records Manually

The Extended tab provides a detailed documentation of all changes to the data as well as functions for both editing individual records and restoring all or part of the original data.
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Figure 13.7
Detail view of the data affected by data cleaning
Display options
Number of datasets per page: If you enter the corresponding value and then confirm by clicking on Apply, you can change the number of records displayed on one page. Display only datasets with a particular variable: This search function identifies all records containing the given string. After entering the string, you can trigger the search by clicking on Apply. Display routemap: Ticking the checkbox and then clicking on Apply will show the so-called routemap in the log. The routemap is a comma-separated page list reflecting the participants valid route through the survey (see the Example section below). It is extracted from the page history (phistory is the variable used in the export record, page history is the label used in the SPSS export record).
Interpreting the entries in the data cleaning log

The data cleaning log contains the following information and functions: Cons. no.: The respondents consecutive number in both the survey table and the export record. The table contains only the records of those respondents for whom data cleaning might be required. Cleaned data: Those data from the complete record that were / would be changed during cleaning. Original: The original state of those data from the complete record that were / would be changed by cleaning. Routemap: Can be shown and hidden using the Display routemap function in the Display options area. Cleaned: yes / no.
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Example
A respondent takes the following route: 2101-> 2102-> 2103 (filter)->2104 (filtered question) -> back to 2102 -> change of answer in 2102 -> 2103 (filter) through the questionnaire shown. -> 2105
Figure 13.8
Sample questionnaire
The valid clickpath in the routemap is 2101 - 2102 - 2103 (filter) - 2105. Page 2104 is filtered and was no longer displayed after the change of the answer in 2102. In the data cleaning log, the data affected by the change in the clickpath are displayed in the Original column: dt_send_pg_2104='2004-06-24 11:21:33',v_3='1' dt_send_pg_2104='2004-06-24 11:21:33 = timestamp v_3='1': answer given by the respondent on page 2104 The Cleaned data column displays how these data are changed by cleaning: dt_send_pg_2104=NULL,v_3='-77' dt_send_pg_2104=NULL: The timestamp for page 2104 is set to zero. v_3='-77': The question on page 2104 is classified as a missing value because the respondent has not seen it on the second valid pass through the filter. The answer yes in the Cleaned column indicates that, in the example, data cleaning is activated for the project and the data have already been cleaned.
Figure 13.9
The data affected in the event of data cleaning
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13.12 Quality Correction
Editing individual records

You have the option of targeting individual records for cleaning or for restoring the original state. To do so, tick the respective checkbox in the Execute data cleaning or Recover data column, and confirm by clicking on Save.
13.11.4
Identifying Cleaned Data in the Export Record

The export record provides information if a individual record was cleaned: It is stored in the variable cleaned (labeling in the SPSS export record: datacleaning) which can have the following properties: 0 = uncleaned data records and records of incomplete interviews which are excluded from the cleaning process 1 = cleaned 2 = checked but did not require cleaning
13.12 Quality Correction

The conscientiousness with which survey participants fill in questionnaires is critical for the quality of the results of online surveys. The results from survey participants that merely click very quickly through the questionnaire, for example to get a quick overview of the survey theme or on completion to participate in a prize draw, are of little value for further analysis in the end. The quality correction program helps you to recognize participants who simply clicked through by their answer behavior, to mark these data records, and if desired to delete them.
Response times as quality criterion

The response times of a user are the key criteria needed for indexing the quality of survey participants. The time taken by each participant to complete a particular page of a survey can be calculated. First of all an index is formed for each participant that gives information on his mean processing time for a questionnaire page. Please note here: The time required by a participant to complete an entire survey is not a factor in the calculation. Depending on the direction of the questionnaire the number of pages that the participant sees can also vary tremendously. Subsequently a separate calculation for each page is made, which shows where the survey participant is with regard to the processing time of the media. The median survey time of 100 participants corresponds to the average survey duration of the 50th and the 51st survey participant, when these have been sorted by survey time.
Determining the quality index for individual users

In order to determine the quality of a participant in a survey, his individual processing time is set in relation to the average processing time of the entire sample. The relationship can be expressed as a number that is stored in the variable quality. For example a value of 0.5 signifies that the corresponding user required exactly the average time for processing the questionnaire pages. A value of 0.25 signifies that the respondent needed only half as long as the average processing time.
13.12.1
Triggering Quality Correction

You can start the program that calculates the quality index under Projects->{Selected project}->Statistics->Quality correction by clicking on the button Execute. It does
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not make any changes to the actual survey data, rather it expands the data record to include the variable quality. Quality correction should not be triggered when large surveys are being conducted simultaneously in the installation.
13.12.2
Viewing the Quality Index in the Export Data Record

The quality index of a participant will be stored in the variable quality. This is contained within the export data record, and therefore you can identify the data records of participants with critical values and where necessary delete them before making an evaluation.
13.13 RelevantID
In quite a number of surveying scenarios, especially where there is an anonymous pool of participants, you may wish you were able to examine the participants more closely: System variables collected in the background and questionnaire entries may provide some information, but in many cases this is not sufficient to reliably identify and exclude duplicate participation or malicious manipulation. EFS supports an external validation of survey participants by the service provider Imperium, a market leader in digital watermarking and fingerprinting (http:// www.imperium.com/). Its RelevantID technology checks the participants origins and identities and identifies unwanted participants, i.e. participants from countries/regions/cities not allowed for the survey duplicate respondents. You can identify such participants by a marking in the data record and take appropriate measures, e.g. deleting duplicates or excluding data records from further evaluation. From EFS 8.0, RelevantID will also provide various additional information on the participants which you can use to validate their input. The RelevantID check is optionally available for a special charge. This charge is based on the number of requests sent to RelevantID at the start of each survey. If you are interested in this function, please get in touch with your Globalpark sales contact or with Globalpark Support. If you operate a panel, you can use the EFS-integrated duplicates check to automatically identify any new registrations that are very likely to come from already-registered panelists. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 6.6.2. Using a blacklist, you can bar participants with specific IP address ranges from registering and thus from participating in the panel. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 9.6.
Before you start

If you consider using the RelevantID check, please note: For customers with their own installation of EFS 6.0 and upwards this check is optionally available. As a matter of principle, RelevantID cannot be used on collective installations.
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The RelevantID check is available in anonymous and personalized surveys, panel surveys, and master data surveys. The RelevantID service cannot be used for the project type employee survey. Survey runs in preview mode and automatic participations generated with the Project test do not trigger the calling up of the RelevantID service. RelevantID checking occurs at the start of the survey. This means: A number of redirect operations are required at the start of the survey, which may slow down the starting process considerably. If a personalized project, a panel survey or master data survey is resumed on the start page, the RelevantID check will be repeated. When resuming on the followingi pages, the check will not be repeated. If an anonymous project with cookies is resumed on the start page, the check will be repeated, too. When resuming on the followingi pages, the check will not be repeated. Without cookies, participants cannot be identified as resuming in principle, therefore the check will always be repeated. If you reset with deleting data in a personalized project, a panel survey or master data survey, the respective participants will be checked anew. If participants cannot start the survey at all, no RelevantID check will be executed. This might, for example, happen due to project status no further participations or if participants are allocated disposition code 41 or 42 because they match a filled external quota.
RelevantID checking can only be performed when the participants have activated JavaScript and when the JavaScript check of EFS Survey has been activated (see Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80). If JavaScript is not active, the check cannot be performed and the RelevantID variables remain at the default value -77. Furthermore, the participants browsers have to be compatible with JavaScript. Otherwise, the participants may see JavaScript error messages. In theory, it is possible for survey participants with programming skills to manipulate the process by decompressing and decoding the RelevantID source code or by manipulating the transferred data. To execute the RelevantID check, EFS must be able to connect to the RelevantID server. If this is not possible, e.g. because the RelevantID server is not available for a few minutes due to maintenance works, so far the participants were not able ito participate in the survey. In spring 2011, this behavior has been changed retroactively in EFS 7.0, 7.1 and 8.0. From now on, at the start of the survey, EFS will wait if the RelevantID server responds - if it does not respond, the participant will be allowed to pass and to complete the survey anyway. If delays of the server response have offurred for four participants in a six minute interval, the check will be deactivated and during the next six minutes, all participants can access the survey without delay. Afterwards, the availability check cycle will start anew. Please pay special attention to your companys applicable privacy regulations and to the privacy regulations governing the respective survey.
13.13.1
The RelevantID Checking Algorithms

RelevantView performs the checks in the following manner: RelevantView checks whether a participant is a duplicate participant by comparing data from the participants browser against values in a RelevantView database. A
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participant counts as a duplicate when he has already participated in the same survey (either with the same invitation code or link, or with a different code). Checking for country, region, or city is done by comparing the participants IP address against a RelevantView IP address database. The checking algorithms are the property of RelevantView. Globalpark neither has any access to details nor any influence on the methodology used.
13.13.2
Check Results
The results of the RelevantID check are recorded in user-defined variables, which you can create and select yourself when configuring the project (Chapter 13.13.3, p. 553).
Geo IP verification
Depending on the check result, the selected variable contains the following values: 0: invalid geo IP, i.e. the participant is participating from a country/region/city not allowed for the current project. 1: valid geo IP, i.e. the participant is participating from a country/region/city expressly allowed for the current project. 2: other -77: default missing which is used if the check cannot be executed. This may happen, for example, if the Globalpark Web Service cant establish a connection to the RelevantView server or if the participants have deactivated JavaScript.
RelevantID confidence value

The selected variable contains the so-called confidence value. RelevantID measures confidence on a scale from 0 to 100: 0 means reliable, 100 means not reliable at all. Thus, the lower the value, the higher is the respondents quality. If a participant participates in a survey for the first time, he is assigned the value 0. If the participant participates again with a different access code while still using the same computer and browser, he is assigned a higher value (just below 100). If the participant participates again with a different access code, using the same computer but a different browser, the value will be somewhere between 50 and 70. If the check cannot be executed, the default missing -77 will be used. This may happen, for example, if the Globalpark Web Service cant establish a connection to the RelevantView server or if the participants have deactivated JavaScript. If the check fails, -1 will be assigned from June 14, 2011, onwards. In the past, 0 was assigned to these participants as well. RelevantView recommends filtering out participants with high confidence values, i.e. > 70.
FraudProfileScore
A score indicating the probability of fraud as a number between 0 and 100. A higher score indicates a higher level of confidence that there is fraudulent activity. For details on the calculation, please contact RelevantView. This score is available in EFS since version 8.0.
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Additional information
From EFS 8.0, RelevantID returns additional information (country, region, city, domain) which can be used for validation as well.
13.13.3
Configuring the RelevantID Check for a Survey

If you want to check participants of a survey on an installation with active RelevantID check, please proceed as follows: 1. In the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu, create a user-defined variable for each data which you wish to use. 2. Activate the function Check whether the respondent has JavaScript activated?. 3. Tick the checkbox Activate RelevantID check for this survey in the section RelevantID configuration. 4. Perform the remaining settings in the section RelevantID configuration. You will find the details in Table 3.6. Please mind: If you use Geo IP verification, you must enter the codes of the permitted countries, regions or cities. Please contact Globalpark Support to receive an up-to-date list of codes.
Figure 13.10
Configuring the RelevantID check
5. Save your settings.
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14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Printing the Questionnaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Looking up Variables and Encodings in the Codebook . . . . 559 Checking Changes of the Project Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 Logging Changes to the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 Archiving Survey Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
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14.1 Printing the Questionnaire
14
Documenting and Archiving Projects
14.1 Printing the Questionnaire

For future reference, for testing or for proof-reading purposes, you may sometimes want to print the questionnaire so you can view all of the text in its entirety. EFS provides an HTML version of the questionnaire which is optimized for this kind of situation: The entire contents of the questionnaire will be displayed in a neutral print design which is independent of the layout settings you selected. The page ID is displayed as a clickable link: It takes you directly to the page view of the questionnaire editor. Another link (L) allows you to switch directly to the language editor. Optionally, you can display additional information such as filters or pretest comments. In multilingual projects, you can specify the display language of the questionnaire.
14.1.1
Preparing the Print Version

Please proceed as follows: 1. Switch to the Projects->{Selected project->Documentation menu and click on the menu item Print version. 2. This will prompt a new window with a printer-friendly HTML version of the questionnaire.
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Figure 14.1
Print version of the questionnaire
3. Optionally, you can select various additional information and activate their display by clicking on Save settings, see Chapter 14.1.2, p. 558. 4. In multilingual projects, you can specify the language and confirm your selection by clicking on Save settings. 5. Use the Print function of your browser to print the questionnaire.
14.1.2
Displaying Additional Information

Optionally, you can select the following additional options and display them by clicking on Save settings: Show filters Show pretest comments Show to-dos
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14.2 Looking up Variables and Encodings in the Codebook
Show triggers Show plausibility checks Disable randomization Hide internal links: Usually, the page ID is displayed as a clickable link to the page view of the questionnaire editor, in addition to that the L link allows you to switch directly to the language editor. If necessary, you can hide these links. Print questionnaire only: Usually, the sections Display options and Information on survey x are included when printing the questionnaire. If necessary, these sections may be excluded from printing.
Figure 14.2 Filter and pretest comments in the print version

The codebook contains an overview of all variables and all encodings used in a project. I.e. it shows which memory locations have been created for your questions and how the answers have been encoded. The codebook is used, for example, whenever you want to incorporate control information into your survey, e.g. when setting filters or defining triggers, and when analysing the survey results.
14.2.1
Viewing the Codebook

Click on the Codebook menu item in the submenu for the respective function. This will open a new browser window, and the codebook will appear.
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Figure 14.3
An excerpt from the codebook. Various additional options are hidden under the [+] icons.
It lists the question texts and answer options for each page of the questionnaire, along with the variable names (e.g. v_1) data type (see Table 14.1) and the various characteristics (codes, e.g. 1-4). In the upper part of the codebook, you will find several fields containing additional options which allow you to show further information, change the language of text elements displayed, edit variables and export the codebook. These fields can be displayed or hidden by clicking the [+] and [-] icons. The features will be explained in more detail in the following Chapters 14.2.2, p. 561 to 14.2.5, p. 562.
Data types of variables

Data type int Meaning The int column stands for integer, i.e. the variable will only accept integer values. In the example above, this would be the value 1 for the Marketing answer, etc. Questions with open-ended text input fields use the varchar variable type in which strings can be saved. Variable abbreviations in the codebook
varchar Table 14.1
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14.2.2
Displaying Additional Information

In the Edit display options section you have the option of displaying the following additional information: Show filters Show triggers Show plausibility checks Show hiding conditions Show direct links to edit the questionnaire: Next to each question, an Edit question link and a link to the Language editor will be shown. Show table of contents: The codebook will show a list of the questionnaire pages. You can click on the page titles, so even with very long questionnaires you will easily find the respective page in the codebook. If you tick the special checkbox Show field positions in export map in the codebook and select the suitable export template, the codebook will show the width, beginning and end of the columns. Adjust column widths to effective size of data (excluding missing values): If you tick both this checkbox and the preceding Show field positions in export map checkbox, the column widths displayed will be those that result when exporting in Fixed Format with adjusted column widths for further processing in Quantum (see Chapter 13.6, p. 531). In the case of personalized projects, you can select Show participant variables to display these variables (see Chapter 10.2, p. 411). With Display groups and group assignment of items and groups grouping information can be displayed in the codebook (see Chapter 5.11.4, p. 220).
Figure 14.4
Codebook showing filters and direct links
14.2.3
Selecting the Language of Text Elements

In the case of multilingual projects, you can use the drop-down list under Select language to specify the language in which the question texts and answer categories are to be displayed in the codebook.
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14.2.4
Editing Variable Names

Using the functions in the Edit variable names section, which is opened by clicking the [+] icon, you can edit external variable names in the codebook. To find a detailed explanation of these functions, see Chapter 13.9.6, p. 539.
14.2.5
Printing and Exporting Codebook

The codebook can be printed out or exported as a whole: By clicking on the Print icon in the codebook header you can call up your PC's print functions and print out the code book. In the Export section of the codebook ,which you can open by clicking on the [+] icon in front of the title, you can download the codebook to your workstation. First set the desired character set, then choose the format (CSV and Excel can be selected) and confirm with the Export button.
14.3 Checking Changes of the Project Status

The menu Projects->{Selected project}->Documentation->Project change log provides information on the workflow to date in project settlement. The list informs you on which editor has performed status-changing steps on which date.
Figure 14.5
Project change log
The following work steps are documented in the list:

Status The project has been created. The project has been compiled. Project status 50 (active) set. Set to project status 51 (no further participations) Project status 52 (inactive) set. Table 14.2 Meaning The project has been created. The survey tables were newly created, during the course of which all data were deleted, if so prompted by the user. The project has been activated. The status no further participations has been set. The project has been activated.
The meaning of log contents
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14.4 Logging Changes to the Questionnaire
(cont.)Status Project status 60 (finished) set. Table 14.2
Meaning The project has been finished.
The meaning of log contents
14.4 Logging Changes to the Questionnaire

The feature Log changes to questionnaire is deprecated, i.e. it will be dropped in the next version of EFS. It is intended to implement an improved change log in a future version of EFS. For complex projects or projects that are designed for a longer field period, you might want to document the current state of the project. If changes are necessary afterwards, these should be traceable. For this purpose, EFS Survey gives you the option of logging all changes to the questionnaire that relate to alterations of variables in the so-called variables log. Please mind that changes to the questionnaire are logged starting from the activation date, previous changes cannot be tracked retroactively.
Activating the variables log

The variables log is activated in the Log changes to questionnaire field in the Projects->{Selected project}->Project properties menu.
Viewing changes to the questionnaire

Open the Project properties menu. In the Log changes to questionnaire field, click on the link labelled List changes. The variables log is opened. If logging is activated and changes have been made since the activation, the changes are listed in the log.
14.5 Archiving Survey Projects

Survey projects can be archived. To lighten the load on the database the result data of projects is compressed into a zip file and then stored in a protected area of the hard disk. This process is executed once a day during a low traffic period. After successful archivation, you will be notified by e-mail. Using the reactivation function you have the option of transferring the project with or without result data back to the project list, so that it can be edited and placed again in the field. If you delete the result data of a project from the hard drive completely, but would like to keep a backup copy for security reasons, you can download the zip file with the result data and store it locally. As long as the actual project still exists in the archive of the EFS installation, you will be able to upload the zip file again and reactivate the project with its result data. Please note, however, that the function of the zip file is merely to store the result data locally. These data can not be used to open and view the data outside of the EFS installation or for restoring a completely deleted project. From EFS 7.0 on, you can archive qualitative survey projects independent of their status, using the Actions drop down list in the project list. Until EFS 6.0, only finished projects could be moved to the archive. Please mind that it is not possible to archive forum discussions.
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14.5.1
Archiving Projects
If you want to archive several projects at once, please proceed as follows: 1. Search for the appropriate projects in the project list and use the Actions checkboxes to mark them. 2. Select the action Archive projects. 3. Click on the Execute button. 4. After a confirmation window, all data for the selected projects will be backed up from the database, compressed into downloadable zip files and then deleted from the database. The archived projects with their zip files will be listed in the Projects ->Archive menu. Alternatively, if you want to archive a single project, you can proceed as follows: 1. Find the project to be archived in the project list and click on the title, in order to be taken to the Survey menu. 2. Click on the links in the To-do field until the Archive link is displayed. 3. Click on the Archive link. 4. After a confirmation window, all data for the project will be backed up from the database, compressed into the downloadable zip file and then deleted from the database. The archived project with the zip file will be listed in the Archive submenu.
14.5.2
Viewing, Downloading and Deleting Archived Projects

You can find those archived projects which youre authorized to access in the Projects ->Archive menu. A search function is available. Furthermore, to improve the overview, the archived projects can be grouped together and sorted with the help of a folder system just like the one for projects in the project list. These, however, are two separate hierarchies: The folder system in the archive is set up independently of the folders in the project list. Using the familiar Actions checkboxes and the drop-down list below the table, you can apply the following actions to several projects at once: Change folder: Enables you to move the projects selected into a target folder to be defined. See Chapter 3.5.6, p. 65. Delete result data: By clicking on this icon, you can delete the zip file with the result data. Only when you previously saved the zip file locally, is it subsequently possible to upload and reactivate the project with result data. It is not possible to delete projects from the archive. Delete projects: Allows to remove the projects selected. Please note that the deletion process cannot be reversed. Project and result data from deleted projects can no longer be reconstructed. The following editing functions can be used to edit individual projects: Preview: You can view the questionnaire of an archived project. Download: By clicking on this icon you can download and store the zip file locally on your own PC. The information contained within this file is not for viewing the file outside off the project and therefore you should never try to open the data: They merely serve the purpose of local storage for security reasons. Therefore downloading only makes sense, if you continue to store the project in the archive of the EFS Survey installation, so that you are able to upload the data and reactivate the project later.
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14.5 Archiving Survey Projects
Please note: The downloaded data is not a backup copy of the entire project, and cannot be viewed outside of EFS Survey or recreated using an import function. File upload: This icon becomes visible, when the zip file with the result data has been deleted (for example in the above figure in the project Website Check). If the zip file was saved externally, then this icon enables you to upload again. Pay careful attention that you upload the correct file, otherwise reactivation of the project will not be possible. Should you upload the wrong zip file, delete it first by clicking on the Delete button, and then upload the correct file. Reactivating: See Chapter 14.5.3, p. 565.
14.5.3
Reactivating Archived Projects

When you click on the Reactivate icon you are given two options: reactivate with result data reactivate without result data If the zip file with result data has been deleted, the only option available is Reactivate without result data. The following applies to reactivation processes as well as to the archiving of projects: Firstly the process can take a very long time. Secondly some of the database tables are blocked during the reactivation process, so that it is not possible during reactivation to participate in a survey. Therefore it is also recommended that reactivating is done during phases of low traffic, i.e. at night.
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15 Multilingual Projects
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 Tips for Your Project Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 Specifying and Editing General Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . 572 Centrally Editing Text Elements and Logos. . . . . . . . . . . . 578 Setting Up a Language Selection Question . . . . . . . . . . . 585 E-Mail Dispatch from Participant Administration . . . . . . . 586 Export. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Evaluation of Multilingual Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Tips, Tricks and FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
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15
Multilingual Projects
EFS enables you to create multilingual surveys in a single project and centrally access the questionnaire pages in the various languages. The following options are available: You can create any number of languages in one project. Language administration and language editor allow you to centrally edit the various language areas of your project. The language in which a participant sees the questionnaire can be determined during the interview by means of a language selection question, or defined in advance using information from URL parameters, participant administration or panel master data. You can instruct the system to display different logos corresponding to the questionnaires in the various languages. The language in which a respondent has completed the questionnaire will be saved to the record in a special variable. This language variable can be used as a filter, i.e. certain questions will only be displayed if a respondent has selected a certain language. By defining hiding conditions depending on the language variable, further variations between the questionnaires can be realized. The field report can be configured to display only the results for interviews in a specific language. The optionally leasable EFS Translator Interface provides additional support for the translation of questionnaires in large international projects. Your translation service providers can use it to access all the EFS features that are used in the translation of questionnaires, such as the language editor and the external editing function. You can download a manual for translators using this tool in customer center. For more detailed information please contact your Globalpark sales representative. The following topics will be explained in the next chapters: Tips for your project planning (Chapter 15.1, p. 571) Managing general properties of multilingual projects (Chapter 15.2, p. 572) Centrally editing text elements and logos (Chapter 15.3, p. 578) Language selection question with question type 111 (Chapter 15.4, p. 585) E-mail dispatch from participant administration (Chapter 15.5, p. 586) Export and evaluation of multilingual surveys (Chapters 15.6, p. 587, and 15.7, p. 587) Tips, tricks and FAQ (Chapter 15.8, p. 588)
Tips on using the functions for multilingual projects

You can create and output multilingual questionnaires within a single project. However, there are still a few limitations.
1. Information without multilingual capability

Some data can not yet be entered and read in several languages:
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the title of the project the titles of questionnaire pages the titles of questions This is irrelevant for the respondents who complete the questionnaire, as this information is for internal use only and does not appear in the questionnaire. However, during project preparation, it is advisable to consider in which language the titles of questionnaires and questions should be entered, in order to make the evaluation easier for the project team: If the data are, for example, to be evaluated by an international team in the admin area after the survey, it would be helpful for the staff if all this information were in English. It is also possible to number the pages and questions. If evaluation is performed outside EFS using an evaluation program such as SPSS, the data can be subsequently re-labeled. The title editor allows you to subsequently change the page and question names of a project without much effort. See Chapter 6.7, p. 287.
2. EFS Features which can not be made multilingual

In multilingual projects, language-specific static start pages cannot be used. Instead, you can use one English-language static start page for all respondents. set up a static start page as the language selection page, either in one language or using icons such as flags.
EFS Conjoint Extension is not supported.
3. Character sets
The EFS admin area is coded in UTF-8. In addition, since version 4.0 all newly created projects are also set by default to the UTF-8 character set. This makes it possible for you to carry out multilingual surveys in every language in the world with only one character set. Alternatively there are a number of other character sets that you can choose from (see Table 3.17). Globalpark recommends the use of the UTF-8 in general, this is true in particular with surveys that otherwise would require several character sets. Further information on character sets can be found in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100.
4. Limitations due to software components used

The correct processing of multilingual questionnaires depends on various components: Which operating system is used by the administrator? Which browser is used by the administrator? Which processing programs (Office versions etc.) are used by the administrator? Which operating system extensions are installed on the administrators computer (e.g. Windows extensions for East Asian languages)? Which components are used by the respondent completing the questionnaire? As a general rule, the following applies: The more recent the various components are, the better they will support character sets that extend the original ASCII character sets. With Windows 2000 or later, a current version of Internet Explorer or Mozilla, an
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15.1 Tips for Your Project Planning
up-to-date Office Suite and, if necessary, current versions of the operating system extensions installed, the administration of surveys in complex languages (e.g. Chinese) is possible. However, there is no rule without an exception. If anomalies occur while working with the multilingual module, e.g. characters cannot be correctly represented, please also check the other software components you are using, or work with alternative PCs, browsers or tools.
15.1 Tips for Your Project Planning

15.1.1 Tips for Project Preparation
The following questions will help you in preparing your project: Which languages will be used? Decide beforehand which languages will be needed and which language will be used as the default language. Deleting languages should be avoided where possible, as errors will occur in settings already made for the language selection question and language selection variable as well as for language data in participant administration. The language administration is designed for up to 50 languages. The more languages you need, the more important it is to prepare the translation process thoroughly and to use features as e.g. language identifiers for unambiguous identification, external editing for quick import etc.
Is it advisable for your project to manually insert the text elements in the various languages in the questionnaire, or is it more convenient to use the function for external editing? If, for example, the texts for your multilingual questionnaire are to be created by an international team of translators, it is more convenient if each translator enters the texts for their language into an Excel file exported from EFS which can then subsequently be saved in CSV format and imported into EFS. For tips on external editing, see Chapter 6.6, p. 280.
Does the use of EFS Translator Interface make sense for your project? As of EFS 6.0, the optionally leasable EFS Translator Interface provides additional support for the translation of questionnaires in large international projects. Your translation service providers can use it to access all the EFS features that are used in the translation of questionnaires, such as the language editor and the external editing function. You can download a manual for translators using this tool in customer center. For more detailed information please contact your Globalpark sales representative.
What is the composition of the project team that is going to program the questionnaire and perform evaluation? If an international work group is to create the questionnaire in the admin area and evaluate it after the project has been completed, unchangeable data (titles of questionnaire pages and questions) should perhaps be entered in English from the very beginning or numbered. This is irrelevant for respondents viewing the questionnaire, as they will not see this information.
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15.1.2
Recommendations on Project Creation

The following order of steps is recommended for project creation: 1. Create the project and questionnaire in the default language and submit them to the customer for approval. (This will save you extensive rework.) 2. Create other languages. 3. Have all required texts translated. Please note that, in addition to the translation of the question and answer texts, all messages, invitation mails as well as plausibility messages relevant for the survey must be available in all languages. In this case, a checklist is helpful. 4. Insert translations. 5. Define the respondents way of entry via language selection variable or language selection question. 6. Incorporate language-specific variations (e.g. language-specific hiding conditions) into the questionnaire. 7. For personalized projects: Enter or import the participant data into participant administration. 8. For personalized projects: Assign the language information in participant administration. Step 8 should be performed last: If you were to create new languages or delete existing ones after that, you would have to go back and check the language data assigned to the participants, the setting of the election variable / language selection question and language-specific hiding conditions in the questionnaire.
15.2 Specifying and Editing General Properties

Language administration can be found in the tab in the Projects->{Selected project} ->Project properties->Survey languages menu. It includes the following functions: Create and edit languages Assign language identifier Set active default language Set language selection variable Copy language elements Language selection log These will be described in detail in the following sections.
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Figure 15.1
Language administration neu
15.2.1
Overview of Existing Languages

The overview table in the Edit languages section lists all existing languages of the project along with the following information: ID: Each language receives an identification number from the system. This number cannot be changed. In the export data record, you will find this language identification number in the form of the language variable indicating the language version of the questionnaire that was displayed to the respondent (cf. Table 13.2). Language: Language label. The default language is marked accordingly. Language identifier: Serves as unique identification of language and region. See Chapter 15.2.2, p. 574. Default language: This column indicates the current default language of the project. The meaning of the default language is further explained in Chapter 15.2.5, p. 575. Depending on your access rights the following actions are available: Edit languages: Opens a dialog where you can change label and identifier of the respective language.
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Print: Opens a view of the questionnaire in the respective language optimized for printing. Rights: Opens the dialog for assigning read or write rights for the respective language to particular user teams in a targeted manner. Delete: The respective language will be deleted after a confirmation prompt. Caution: Once you delete a language, all text elements and other settings of this language will be deleted and cannot be restored. Deleting a language will also cause errors in settings already made for the language selection question and language selection variable, as well as for language information entered in participant administration. The ID of the deleted language will no longer be subsequently re-assigned. If you re-create the same language, it will be assigned a new language ID. You can use the View button to hide particular columns of the table or limit the number of rows.
15.2.2
Uniquely Characterizing Languages with a Language Identifier

The language identifier allows you to uniquely identify languages and regions. For example, de_DE: German / Germany; en_US: English / USA; en_GB: English / Great Britain. Using the identifier is particularly helpful when a questionnaire is to be localized for different dialects of the same language, e.g. British and American English. The identifier is composed of language ID according to ISO 639. A list can be found at http://www.loc.gov/ standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php country ID according to ISO 3166. A list can be found at http://www.iso.org/iso/ country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/ english_country_names_and_code_elements.htm For example, de is the code for German, DE is the country ID. Accordingly, the language identifier of a German language text localized for Germany is de_DE.
15.2.3
Creating Languages
1. Click on the Create language button. 2. In the label field, assign a name to the new language. 3. Optionally, you can initialize the new language with phrases from an already existing language. To do so, specify your desired source language in the field Copy language phrases from. 4. Assign a language identifier to the new language. 5. Finally, confirm by clicking on Save.
15.2.4
Copying Language Elements

EFS allows you to copy texts from an already existing language into another language. The Copy language phrases from function allows you to initialize a new language with existing phrases from another language. See the section Create language above. In order to fill or overwrite an already existing language with language elements from another language, specify the source and target languages in the Copy language elements field and confirm by clicking on Execute.
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The copy function is useful if, for example, many answer categories are identical and do not require translation, e.g. if questions concern products that are marketed internationally or the names of music artists and song titles.
15.2.5
Setting the Active Default Language

Among the existing languages of a multilingual project, one language will be treated as the default language. That means the following: This language will automatically be used in the output questionnaire, unless an individual language preference for the respondent has been set by defining a language selection variable or unless a language selection page has been set up. The language elements of the default language will appear in the questionnaire editor, whereas you can only edit the language elements of the other languages via the language editor (see Chapter 15.3.2, p. 579). The language elements of the default language will always appear in the first column of the language editor. If a language element has not been filled in for another language, the finished questionnaire will show the corresponding language element of the default language instead. To find out which language performs the function of default language, check the column Default language in the overview of languages. When creating a project, the system will automatically set the language that is used in the admin area by the staff member creating the project as the default language. I.e. if the project is created by a staff member using the English-language admin area, the default language will automatically be set to English.
Changing the default language

If you wish to make edits in various languages directly in the questionnaire editor instead of using the simultaneous central access to the language elements of all languages via the language element editor, you will need to change the default language. It is usually not advisable to proceed in this way because the Language editor provides convenient central access to the language elements of the various languages. Still, this case might occur, for example, if the staff members who create the questionnaire in the questionnaire editor are part of an international team and wish to use their respective native language. In order to change the default language, select the desired new default language in the Default language column and comfirm by clicking on Activate language. This change will simultaneously trigger a language selection blocker. Please observe the notes on this feature in the following section. If the new default language was not yet fully translated before the default language change, the #undefined# marker will appear in the text elements in the questionnaire and language editors which are still empty.
Blocking changes to the default language

If several staff members are working in the admin area at the same time, problems might occur. These can be prevented by incorporating the language selection blocker: Let us assume that staff member A sets his or her native language, German, as the default language and starts work in the questionnaire editor. Staff member B does not know about this and changes the default language to English. Now, staff member A
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wants to save his or her changes to the German-language questionnaire. However, while saving, the changes will not be entered in the originally set default language of German, but will instead overwrite the English text elements. In order to avoid such overlapping, the change function will be blocked for all users after a change of the default language, and the Activate language button will no longer appear.
Figure 15.2 Language selection blocker from the perspective of the staff member who triggered it and can unblock language selection
Only the staff member who last made the change as well as staff with root rights will now see a button labeled Enable language selection instead of the Activate language button, and can unblock language selection by clicking on this button. The blocker remains active until the user who made the change logs out or their session ends. After language selection has been unblocked or the last users session has ended, the default language can be changed again by any staff member. You want to change the default language, but the language selection blocker is active. How are you now supposed to find out which staff member last triggered the blocker and is thus also responsible for unblocking language selection? This information is also displayed in language administration, in the Language selection log section (see Chapter 15.2.7, p. 578).
15.2.6
Setting the Output Language Via a Language Selection Variable

The language displayed at the start of the survey can be set via a data item known in advance, such as information from participant administration. (The alternative of giving the respondent a choice via a language selection question will be described in Chapter 15.4, p. 585.) In the Read language selection by survey start from drop-down list, you can define the variable from which the ID of the displayed language will be read at the start of the survey. Which variables are available depends on the project type: Anonymous projects: URL parameters, which you can create according to the instructions specified in Chapter 3.7.13, p. 89. Personalized projects: All fields of participant administration, except the participants e-mail address, as well as URL parameters.
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Personalized projects: The standard variables in participant administration with the exception of c_date and m_date, and all additionally created participant variables as well as URL parameters. If you would like to use a participant variable especially for saving language information, then use the standard variable u_language which was introduced especially for this purpose. Panel and master data surveys: Participant data, master data, system data and URL parameters. You cannot set the language via a language selection variable if you are using a static start page. Another way of pre-setting the language is to create a language selection question. See Chapter 15.4, p. 585, for further information.
Entering the language-setting variable in participant administration

1. In language administration, specify from which variable the language setting is to be read.
Figure 15.3
Setting language selection variable
2. Confirm your entry by clicking on Save. 3. Switch to Participant administration. 4. If you select the Add participant button, you will find that the data item that was defined as the language variable (in the example shown below, the language version stored in u_language) can no longer be freely entered but only selected via a drop-down list.
Figure 15.4 In this example, the data in the language version field are used as the language selection variable. They can be set via a drop-down list.
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5. Now proceed entering or importing the participant data as usual (see Chapter 10.2.6, p. 423 and 10.2.7, p. 424). Please note: If the participant data were entered before setting the language variable, the drop-down list will automatically be completed and set to the default language. Then, it is necessary to add the language data for the participants. Therefore it is strongly recommended to configure languages and participant variables before adding participant data.
15.2.7
Tracing Changes Made in Language Administration via the Log

The Language selection log section displays important operations within language administration (e.g. creating and deleting languages and changing the default language) in chronological order. Therefore, you can also see here, among other things, who last changed the default language and is thus responsible for unblocking the language selection (see Chapter 15.2.5, p. 575).
15.3 Centrally Editing Text Elements and Logos

All text elements the respondent sees in the questionnaire can be displayed in the various languages of the project: Question text, fill-in instructions and help text Answer categories and scale titles (in the case of matrix questions) Texts in the HTML code of question types 911 and 998 Item texts Survey messages Logos and buttons There are two possible ways of editing the multilingual text elements: You can centrally edit the text elements, survey messages and logos for all languages via the language editor. This work process will be described in detail in the following sections. Alternatively, you can edit the text elements externally, e.g. in Excel, and then reimport them. See Section 6.6, p. 280, for tips on how to proceed.
15.3.1
Overview of the Translation Process

Clicking on the Questionnaire editor->Language editor->Text elements menu item will take you to the overview of translation to-dos. Here, you can see where there are still untranslated text elements in your questionnaire.
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Figure 15.5
Overview of the completed and outstanding translation tasks
All text elements in the text element editor which have been filled in the default language should be filled in the additional languages, too. I.e. the pages of the default language will always be marked OK. Until all the text elements of an additional language have been completed in the text element editor, the table will output the Edit message for the respective page. Once all the text elements of a language have been completed, the table will output the OK message for the respective page. You can click on the OK and Edit messages and switch directly to the appropriate page of the text element editor, the functions of which will be described below. Once you have configured this according to the instructions given in the next section, you can start entering the translated text elements. Please note that the list of translation to-dos will only indicate whether or not a text element is filled with text it is not possible to check automatically whether the text is in the correct language and has been translated correctly. Also, this list does not indicate whether survey messages and wildcards have already been translated or whether translated logos or form elements have been uploaded (see Chapters 15.3.3, p. 582, and 15.3.4, p. 583).
15.3.2
The Text Element Editor

If you want to edit the text elements of your multilingual project directly in EFS instead of using the External editing function, the text element editor will be central to your work, because here you can edit the text elements of your questionnaire page by page. The following will be explained below: How you can reach the language element editor. How you can change text elements in the language element editor. How you can configure the language element editor.
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Figure 15.6
The centerpiece of the language editor, the text element editor
Ways to the text element editor

Once you have created more than one language for a project according to the instructions given in Chapter 15.2.1, p. 573, there are three possible ways of accessing the text element editor: As described above, clicking on the Language editor->Text elements menu item in the questionnaire editor will take you to the overview of translation to-dos. Selecting one item from the to-do list will open the text element editor for the corresponding page. If, in the questionnaire editor, you are viewing the question overview of a specific page, you only have to click on the Text elements tab. In the questionnaire editors page list, in the Options column, you will find a new icon: the Globe. It symbolizes the Edit language elements function. Clicking on it will also take you to the text element editor.
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Figure 15.7
The globe icon in the Options column
Editing text elements

The text element editor, shown in Figure 15.6, is structured as follows: The text elements of the questionnaire page displayed will be grouped by questions and listed in the order in which they appear in the finished questionnaire. The type of the respective text element (Question text, Item text, etc.) will be displayed in the Element column. The middle column of the text element editor contains the text elements of the default language, i.e. the texts that you can also, as usual, enter and view via the questionnaire. In the other columns, the text elements of the selected page will be entered for all other languages. They can be changed as desired (for information on how to open the text elements of another language or all available languages, see the following section, Configuring the language element editor). By clicking on the Preview icon, you can open the preview of the questionnaire in the respective language. You can change the text elements both in the default language as well as in the other language(s) shown. After you have finished, you must save your changes by clicking on Save. When saving, however, only those changes containing a string will be transferred to the language table. Empty strings will be ignored. Fields of the language table that do not have an entry will show the text for the default language. If the desired survey language should be coded with character sets other than the international character set UTF-8, then you should set up the suitable character sets according to the instructions in Chapter 15.3.3, p. 582. Further information on this topic can be found in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100.
Configuring the text element editor

Using the View function you will be able to edit the display of the language element editor. You can change the size of the input fields. Both the number of rows and the number of characters per row can be modified. By default, each input field has three rows and is 40 characters wide.
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You can select languages for editing. By default, when you open the language element editor for the first time, it will display the default language and the second set-up language. For projects in three to four languages, it is advisable to display the text elements in all languages simultaneously. By contrast, for projects with a dozen or more languages, it may be more advisable not to show all the languages simultaneously but to edit the respective text elements successively or in groups. When you have completed the text elements on one questionnaire page, you can click on the Arrow icons in the top right corner of the window to navigate to the text elements of the previous or next questionnaire page.
Figure 15.8
Configuring the text element editor
15.3.3
Editing Survey Messages

Similar to the language elements in the questionnaire, the survey messages of the project can be edited in several languages. To do so, click on the Survey messages menu item in the language editor. In the top section of this dialog, in the Which language do you want to edit? field, you can select the language in which you want to edit the survey messages. Select the desired language, and then confirm by clicking on Apply. If there is already a complete set of survey messages in the library, you can select it in the Copy text elements from survey messages library field and accept by clicking on Apply. In the Survey messages of language x, you can edit the survey messages: The left-hand column, titled Element, explains in which situation the respective survey message will be used. The middle column contains the survey messages of the default language, i.e. the texts that you can also, as usual, view and enter under Project properties->Survey messages.
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The right-hand column shows the text elements in the target language. They can be changed as desired. If the desired survey language should be coded with character sets other than the international character set UTF-8, then you should set up the appropriate character sets in the field character sets. Further information on this topic can be found in Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100.
15.3.4
Logos and Buttons

By default, the layout created for the default language of a multilingual project will also be used for all other languages. However, you will often wish to display buttons in various languages, and occasionally, it may be important to show different logos depending on the language (if, for example, the regional subsidiaries of a multinational company have different names). A special extension for this purpose can be found on the language editors Logos and form elements menu. It allows you to upload four logos, a background image and various buttons for each language of the project.
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Figure 15.9
Uploading logos and buttons for multilingual projects
Uploading various logos

If you wish to incorporate different logos into the different language areas of your project, please proceed as follows: 1. Usually, the logo (or multiple logos) for the default language is uploaded first using the standard editor. To do so, follow the instructions given in Chapter 8.3.2, p. 355. 2. Then switch to the language editor and open the Logos and form elements menu. 3. Find the language and the logo which you intend to change. Click on the Edit icon. 4. In the follow-up dialog, use the Browse button to search for the desired logo on your local hard disk. 5. Upload it by clicking on Save.
Uploading buttons in various languages

If you are using HTML form elements, you can edit the labeling of the buttons, as described in Chapter 15.3.3, p. 582. If you wish to use graphical form elements instead, you should first enable the Graphical form elements option on the Form elements tab in the Layout menu. Specify
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15.4 Setting Up a Language Selection Question
the form elements for the default language according to the instructions given in Chapter 8.3.4, p. 358. After that, you can upload the form elements of the other survey languages according to the instructions given above for logos, using the language editors Logos and form elements tab.
15.4 Setting Up a Language Selection Question

The single response questions of EFS (question types 111, 112, 113, 131, 132, 511 and 611) can be used as language selection questions. The use of this feature has the following advantages: After answering the language selection question, the participants will see the questionnaire in the language selected. You do not have to define filters manually in order to route the participants to the questionnaire in the appropriate language. The texts of the language selection question can be defined in several languages via the text element editor. This way, you can immediately present the language selection question for a personalized project or employee survey in a language which you know the participants will understand. A respondent who does not make a choice at the language selection question will automatically see the questionnaire in the default language.
Figure 15.10
Language selection question in the questionnaire
Please note that you can only create one language selection question in a multilingual project. Once you create a second language selection question within the same project, the first one will lose its function. Moreover, inside titles, grouping, randomization, manual definition of new columns and setting missing values cannot be used for language selection questions.
Creating a language selection question

If you wish to create a language selection question, please proceed as follows: 1. Open the Projects->{Selected project}->Questionnaire editor menu. 2. Create a new page. 3. On this page, create a question with one of the possible question types (see above). 4. Enter the intended question text, and save it.
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5. Among the options, you will find a new checkbox labeled Use question as language selection. Tick this checkbox.
Figure 15.11
Ticking the Use question for language selection checkbox
6. Save your changes. 7. After saving, you will no longer see the usual answer options, but a drop-down list containing the project languages that have already been created.
Figure 15.12
Selecting the answer options
8. Select the first language and save. 9. Repeat the operation for the other existing languages. 10. After saving, you can change the text of the answer category. For example, you can replace the English titles with the words English, Deutsch and Francais. Via the text element editor, you can also create multilingual text elements.
15.5 E-Mail Dispatch from Participant Administration

If you wish to address the participants of your multilingual project in the respective language, you can create and archive mail templates in various languages. However, you cannot use the functions for sending e-mails to pre-defined groups (invitation mails, reminder mails, etc., see Chapter 10.2.15, p. 433). Instead, you can use the Search functionof the participant administration to build participant groups that
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15.6 Export
meet certain criteria and combinations of criteria, and then write to these participants collectively. To select participants whose language was defined via a language selection variable, select the appropriate characteristics in the Language version drop-down list.
15.6 Export
15.6.1 Exporting Result Data for Evaluation in SPSS
When exporting the projects result data for evaluation with SPSS, you can specify in which language you wish to output the questionnaire texts. See Chapter 13.2.5, p. 526, for an explanation. The one language that cannot be changed is the language in which the titles of questionnaire pages and of questions will be output. However, evaluation programs such as SPSS allow you to re-label these data after the data export.
15.6.2
Exporting Result Data for Open-ended Questions

When exporting the answers to open-ended questions in an UTF-8 encoded survey for analysis in Excel, you can choose between two options: EFS own XLS export: In the Export menu, select the option Data (open-ended answers only) and then XLS. CSV export and import into Excel: First, in the Export menu, select the option Data (open-ended answers only) and then CSV. Next, open the file with the Import external data->Import data function in Excels Data menu. It allows to select the appropriate character set resp. it will be identified automatically.
15.7 Evaluation of Multilingual Surveys

15.7.1 Narrowing the Field Report, Online Statistics and Open-Ended Answers by Language
You have the option to narrow the field report, online statistics and open-ended answers via the language variable. To do so, click on the Configuration button in the Projects->{Selected project}-> Statistics menu resp. its submenus Online statistics and Open-ended answers. Select Selected language of participant as the restriction criterion and click on Continue. In the subsequently displayed drop-down list, set the language for which you wish to see the evaluation. You will now be shown the data for those respondents who have seen the questionnaire in the language selected. Before you can view the data for another language or for all results, you must disable the Delete current restriction checkbox in the Configuration dialog. Consider whether the language in which the respondents have completed the questionnaire is really the decisive criterion for your project. Under certain circumstances, for example, the country in which a respondent lives might be more important.
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15.7.2
Selecting the Language for Online Statistics

If you wish to review the results of the survey in the online statistics (Projects-> {Selected project}->Statistics->Online statistics), you can choose beforehand in which language the text elements of the questionnaire are to be displayed. To do so, set the desired language using the drop-down list in the Choose a language field, and select the desired questions and variable name output as usual. In the online statistics, the following information will always appear in the language set by the staff member making the edits in the admin area (i.e. German or English): - Names of the question types - Table labels from the field report
15.7.3
Selecting the Print Language

When printing the questionnaire (Projects->{Selected Project}->Documentation-> Print version), you can also specify the language using a drop-down list. As already mentioned in the introduction to Chapter 15, p. 569 (in the Information without multilingual capability section), the titles originally entered for the questionnaire pages cannot be changed for printing.
15.8 Tips, Tricks and FAQ

15.8.1 How can I incorporate language-specific variations into the questionnaire?
Using filters and hiding conditions, you can incorporate variations into your project which depend on the language chosen by the respondent. To do so, you must first create the appropriate filter type filter, hiding condition at question level, or hiding condition at item level, as usual (see Chapters 4.7, p. 143, 5.16.1, p. 249, and 5.16.2, p. 250). When specifying the filter condition, select the language variable language, as the variable to be used for filtering. Then, enter the condition (equal to, greater than, less than...) as usual. The code used is the language ID, i.e. the identification number of the language to be filtered (see Chapter 15.2.1, p. 573).
15.8.2
How can I preview multilingual questionnaires?

You can display multilingual projects via the usual functions for question and page preview. The language element editor also includes a preview function. If you wish to view the real questionnaire, you have the following options:
588
15.8 Tips, Tricks and FAQ
Anonymous survey
If your project begins with a language selection question, you can enter it via the questionnaire preview or the URL and test all available language areas in succession. If you enter the survey via pre-defined URL parameters, you will also access the corresponding language area.
Personalized survey
If, for a personalized survey, you specify the language of the data displayed via information in participant administration, it is recommended that you construct accounts for test persons and visit the questionnaire using their codes. If you activate the language changing function described in Chapter 9.6, p. 397, you can switch directly back and forth between the various languages.
15.8.3
Language mix in the preview?

You are previewing your questionnaire in one of the languages that are not set as the default language. Some of the questions and answer categories appear in the required language but suddenly, texts in the default language appear among them. What has happened? If a text element has not been translated, it will be replaced with the corresponding element of the default language both in the preview and in the output questionnaire. You must therefore check the language element editor to see whether the translation was actually completed.
15.8.4
Be careful when comparing strings in plausibility checks!

In foreign-language surveys, comparisons on string variables containing characters other than ASCII should not be performed. The reason for this is that, depending on the operating system and browser used, all other characters might be transmitted in Unicode.
15.8.5
Using wildcards in multilingual projects

You can use the wildcard function, which was introduced in Chapter 7.1, p. 293, to insert text components into multilingual projects. Please note the tips given in the Wildcards in multilingual projects section of that chapter.
15.8.6
How can I create multilingual buttons?

In the Language editor->Survey messages menu, the labels for the buttons can be translated according to the instructions given in Chapter 15.3.3, p. 582.
15.8.7
Can I create language-specific layouts?

From EFS 7.0, you can exchange the templates and CSS files of a survey depending on the language selected. This feature is optionally leasable, please see Chapter 8.5.9, p. 380 for details.
589
15.8.8
Is it possible to transfer text elements from one language to another?

You have created your questionnaire in English. Now you navigate to language administration to create German as a second language - and find that your English-language elements were saved under the default language German. What can you do about this? EFS allows you to copy the text elements you have already created into the desired language. You merely have to set the appropriate source and target languages in the Copy language elements section and then click on Execute.
15.8.9
Can I access the ID of the current language from the questionnaire or from templates?
With the wildcard #language# you can display the ID of the language currently used by the participant. This is particularly important for language-dependent layouts and special programming.
590
16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 The EFS Rights System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 Creating and Managing Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 Setting up and Managing Staff Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 Changing Own Account Data and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
591
592
16.1 The EFS Rights System
16
Administrating Staff
This chapter explains the staff administration. In Chapter 16.1, p. 593, you are introduced to the rights system of EFS. If you are in charge of a large survey project or even an entire EFS installation, this rights system allows you to control the access of staff to information and functions in a very precise manner. Chapter 16.2, p. 605 tells you how to create teams and how to configure their access rights. Chapter 16.3, p. 610 explains how to create new staff accounts and how to assign them to the appropriate teams. In Chapter 16.4, p. 617, you learn how you can customize the functions of EFS to your personal working habits to a certain extent. Staff administration is protected by its own set of rights. With restricted rights, you can only change your password and configure the settings for your account. Table 16.4 provides a detailed list of rights related to staff administration.

There are usually a number of staff working in EFS installations, often in larger staff groups: In addition to the project management, large numbers of additional staff are often involved in large survey projects or the administration of panels. There are, for example, staff members that specialize in questionnaire programming, while other staff are responsible for the evaluation of questionnaires. In collective installations, employees from different Globalpark clients work completely separately on their respective projects. Some staff members may not be granted access to the admin area. Instead, separate logins such as EFS Survey Status and EFS Translator Interface provide restricted access to the information and functions their work requires. EFS allows you to effectively configure and control the access rights of all these staff. Instead of configuring the access rights for each individual staff member, you define teams: These reflect the respective rights and duties of entire staff groups with identical responsibilities. Subsequently, you allocate the actual staff members to the user roles. See Chapter 16.1.1, p. 593. The various ways of accessing and changing information and functions are mapped in a dedicated rights system. Thus, you can not only define which information and functions a team may generally access, but also which individual objects (e.g. specific projects). See Chapter 16.1.2, p. 594.
16.1.1
Controlling the Access Options of Staff via Team Affiliation

The particular access options of staff members in EFS are controlled via assignment to one or more teams:
593
The configuration of the teams reflects the respective rights and responsibilities of entire staff groups with identical responsibilities. Staff members can be members of several teams. The ACL rights of his teams are added up, i.e. he may access all information and functions that at least one of his teams has access to. If, for example, one of his teams holds write rights for ct42partadm, i.e. it can create participants in the participant administration, while another of his team has only read rights, he can create participants. With regard to individual objects, he also has the widest access that is configured for one of his teams, i.e. if one of his teams holds write rights for project x while another team only has read rights, he has write rights.
Each staff member belongs to one primary team. The primary team is always automatically granted read and write rights for projects created by this staff member. In new projects created by this staff member, the survey URL contains the name of the primary team.
In new EFS installations, teams reflecting the most frequently required staff roles have been created and preconfigured by default. These roles includes: Project manager: The project manager is responsible for conducting survey projects. However, he generally requires no access to panel administration functions and often has no access to staff administration, either. Panel administrator: In EFS installations, the panel administrator is mainly responsible for panel administration. He may also be in charge of the CMS and the panel community. System administrator: This role is reserved for support operations by Globalpark. It contains special functions which, if applied incorrectly, can cause damage to the system.
16.1.2
Configuring Access Options Precisely Using ACL and Object Rights

Which information and functions are accessible to a staff team is controlled by a combination of two types of rights: ACL rights: ACL rights (Access Control List) define whether someone is entitled to view certain information or perform certain functions. ACL rights are granted to staff teams. This is done in the staff administration, see Chapter 16.2.5, p. 610. Each ACL right includes read and write rights. Write rights usually activate more powerful functions than read rights. Chapter 16.1.3, p. 595 provides an overview of all ACL rights.
Object rights: EFS allows for the precise control of the access to a number of individual objects. An object may be a particular project, a layout template, or a set of survey messages. With object rights you can define which team is entitled to view, use, or edit the respective object. Object rights are also granted to staff teams. Object rights are not assigned in the staff administration, but directly via the respective object. For example, object rights for projects are assigned via the
594
project list, see Chapter 3.5.8, p. 68. The dialog for assigning rights is usually called up via a Rights link or a Rights icon. Object rights also include read and write rights. Read rights usually grant passive access to information, while write rights permit the active use of functions.
16.1.3
Overview of ACL Rights

Rights related to project management
Right chg_url cr_language cr_project ct42partadm With read rights, you can view the participants list in participant administration. Furthermore, you gain access to project data import. In EFS Survey Status, you gain access to respondent export.
Read Write
With write rights, you can change the URL of a project (Chapter 3.7.3, p. 77). With write rights, you can create a new language. With write rights, you can create or copy new projects. With write rights, you can create, edit or delete participants.
del_project export_with_lfdn For personalized projects, the [Project]-> Export->Address and result data option is visible. With read rights, you can access and use the combined export of participant and result data in personalized surveys. You can also view the combined data in the menu Statistics->Detail view. With read rights, you can use the monitoring mode in personalized surveys, employee surveys, panel surveys and master data surveys (Chapter 10.2.17, p. 436). With read rights, you can print the survey. With read rights, you can view and export the results of protected questions (Chapter 12.8, p. 511). With read rights, you can access the option Reset without deleting survey data in participant administration (Table 10.6).
With write rights, you can assign the status erasable to projects.
monitor_mode
print_survey protect_questions
With write rights, you can mark questions as protected.
r_without_deleting
Table 16.1
595
(cont.)Right show_dispcode
Read
Write
With read rights, you can view and export the disposition code of survey participants. In a personalized survey, the disposition code is shown in participant administration. In a panel survey, it is shown in the respective sample on the tab Sample contents. With read rights, you can access the Export menu of specific projects.
show_export
Table 16.1
Rights related to mail dispatch functions

Right mail_admin Read With read rights, you can access the overviews of existing mail templates in the projects and in the Options module. The mail admin in projects and in the Options module offers an overview on dispatch processes in areas youre authorized to access (without read rights, you can only access your own dispatch processes in mail admin). With read rights, you can use attachments when sending mails. See Chapter 11.2.3, p. 474. With read rights, you can define the additional recipient options CC and BCC in mail templates and mail dispatch processes. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of mails in the mail queue. With read rights, you can view the recipients e-mail addresses in the mail preview. With read rights, you can see the plain text passwords of participants or panelists when previewing mails. Please note: In employee surveys, the passwords are in general not visible. With read rights, you can define the additional options Reply-To, Return-Path and Read confirmation in mail templates and mail dispatch processes. Rights related to mail dispatch functions Write With read and write rights, all features for editing mail templates are available and you can also access new mail templates.
mail_attachment
mail_cc
mail_email_ mailadmin mail_email_preview
mail_passwords
mail_reply
Table 16.2
596
(cont.)Right options
Read With read rights, you can access the menu Options->Mail templates->Mail senders. See Chapter 11.4, p. 486.
Write
Table 16.2
Rights related to mail dispatch functions
Rights related to statistics and reporting functions

Right Read Write
config_fieldreport
With read rights, you can restrict field report, online statistics and open-ended answers to a variable which you can define yourself (Configuration button in the respective menus). With read rights, you can access the data cleaning. This right is new in EFS 7.1. During the upgrade, it will be allocated to all teams which have write rights for at least one project. With write rights, you can edit the result data (Chapter 12.6.4, p. 509). With read rights, you can export the participants' access code in the respondent export on EFS Survey Status. With read rights, you can activate the determination of hostname and IP address for a project. You can access the hostnames and IP addresses of survey participants in the menu Statistics->Detail view and via export. Furthermore, you can change your own preferences for hostname determination in new projects. Please also refer to the notes on the availability of hostnames and IP addresses in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81. With read rights, you can use quality correction (Menu Statistics-> Quality correction). With read rights, you can delete the results for selected survey variables for individual or for all participants (Menu Statistics-> Detail view and Statistics-> Delete data). With read rights, you can access the open-ended answers (Menu Statistics->Open-ended answers).
data_cleaning
detail_view_edit export_code
ip_addresses
quality_correction
report_erase_data
report_onlinerep
Table 16.3
Report rights / field report
597
(cont.)Right
Read
Write
report_onlinereport report_onlinestat
With read rights, you can access the EFS Survey reporting tool. With read rights, you can access the submenu Online statistics in the menu Statistics. With write rights, you can access EFS Reporting +. With read rights, you can access the participants survey results (Menu Statistics->Detail view). With read rights you can view the field report (menu Statistics). If the employee has neither this nor one of the rights report_erase_data, report_onlinerep, report_onlinereport, report_onlinestat and report_testdata which are described above, then the link to the Statistics menu will be hidden. If he does not have this right but one of the rights named above, then the field report graphics will be hidden and he will be directly switched to the corresponding submenu. With read rights, you can split field report and online statistics.
report_reporting report_testdata
report_view_fieldrep
stat_split Table 16.3
Report rights / field report
Rights related to staff administration functions

Right chg_grp_acl cr_area_fm Read
Write
The Rights of the team (whole system) link is displayed. With write rights, you can assign or change the access rights to the area EFS Secure Exchange. With write rights, you can assign or change the access rights to the area EFS Mobile GUI. With write rights, you can assign or change the access rights to the area EFS Survey Status. With write rights, you can assign or change the access rights to the area EFS Translator Interface. With write rights, you can assign or change the access rights to the EFS admin area.
cr_area_mobile_gui
cr_area_report
cr_area_translations
cr_area_www
Table 16.4
598
(cont.)Right cr_teamaccount groupadmin
Read
Write
With write rights, you can create new staff accounts. With read rights, you can view all teams, including teams you are not a member of. With write rights, you can edit teams (except the team System Administrator) and assign object rights (e.g. for projects, project languages, reports etc.) to all teams. Furthermore, you can edit the account data of members. When you create a new project and have write rights, you can assign all existing teams to it, and not only the teams that you are a member of. With write rights, you can administrate all staff members of your own organization (e.g. create accounts, edit account data or delete accounts). With write rights, you can edit the accounting organizations on this installation in the Staff->Organizations menu. Additionally, you can change the assignment of staff members and projects to organizations.
org_groupadmin
With read rights, you can access the account data of your own organizations staff members.
orgadmin
Table 16.4
Access rights
Right create_macro
Read Write
With write rights, you can define new macros and assign the rights to execute them. With write rights, you can create new folders for the project list. See Chapter 3.5.6, p. 65. With read rights, you can view the history of the exchange platform. With read rights, you can access the platform cockpit (menu Options->Platform cockpit). Only on installations on which the receipt functionalities are activated (special programming): With read rights, you have access to the receipt admin. With read rights, you can access the field overview in the Projects module. Furthermore, if you want to authorize staff to access reports or automated exports via EFS Survey Status, these read rights are required as well, in addition to read rights for the respective report or export file. With write rights, you can create exchange teams.
create_project_cat
exchange_teams platform_cockpit
receipt_admin
reportlist
Table 16.5
Access rights
599
(cont.)Right show_scala webservice_conf whois
Read
Write
With read rights, you can access the scale library. With write rights, you can activate and configure web services. With read rights, you can see the active users in the system. With write rights, you can also see which parts of the software the users are currently working in.
Table 16.5
Access rights
Rights related to EFS Panel functions

Right create_reg_code_ cat listnew With read rights, you can access the Candidates menu and the duplicates check. With write rights, you can add individual panelists in the panelists administration. With write rights, you can configure Panel tracking and Capacity filters in the Panel->Panel configuration menu. Access to the other functions in this menu is controlled by dedicated rights. With write rights, you can configure the duplicates check for the panel. With write rights, you can administer external studies and participations. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 9.4. With write rights, you can export the log file of those panelists who have left the panel but still have bonus points. With read rights, you can view panel quota cell values. With write rights, you can edit panel quotas. With write rights, you can create, edit or delete recoding variables. With write rights, you can manage the panel statuses in the Panel configuration->Panel status menu. With read rights, you can access and manage the update rules of the panel. A necessary requirement is read rights for panelgrp_admin, i.e. access to the panels group management.
Read Write
With write rights, you can administrate categories for ways of entry in the panel.
panel_add_account
panel_config
panel_dupcheck panel_external_ surveys panel_log
panel_quotas panel_recodes panel_status
panel_update_rule
Table 16.6
600
(cont.)Right panelbonus
Read
Write
With read rights for this ACL right newly introduced in EFS 7.1, you can access the Bonus system menu.
With write rights, you can grant bonus points to individual panelists or panelist groups. Depending on the menu in which you want to grant the bonus points, you might need additional rights, e.g. access rights for the Panelists administration or for the Groups menu. With write rights, you can send mails and you have access to the panels contact request list (Panel-> Contacts).
panelemail
panelexport panelgrat
With read rights, you can export panelists. With read rights, you can access the prize draw system and create prize draws. With read rights, you can access the group administration of the panel (Menu Panel->Groups). With write rights, you can import panelists. Until EFS 7.0, read rights were needed for granting bonus points to the members of a panel group. From EFS 7.1, this function is controlled by the new right panelbonus. With read rights, you can run tella-friend campaigns. With read rights, you have access to the statistics of the master data. With read rights, you can view panel information after logging in. Without these rights, only information on active projects will be displayed. To gain access to the menus Website log and Session statistics, you need additional read rights for panelstats. With write rights, you can administer the conditions and codes for the PCI calculation in the Panel configuration ->PCI configuration menu. With read rights, you can access the menu Panel->Panel configuration->Ways of entry. With read rights, you can access and edit existing samples in panel survey. With write rights, you can create additional samples. With write rights, you can access the Panel->Master data menu.
panelgrp_admin
panelimport panelmasterdata
panelprom panelstats panelstatus
pci_admin
reg_code
sample_access
Table 16.6
601
(cont.)Right search_panel Table 16.6
Read
Write
With read rights, you can access the panelists administration.
With write rights, you can annotate panelists.
Rights related to Panel CMS functions

Right add_website board_admin mod_panelsite
Read Write
With read rights, you can create new languages in the panel CMS. With read rights, you can administer forums.
With write rights, you can also create add new websites. With write rights, you can export the posts of a forum. With write rights, you can enter the module Website, which contains the Panel CMS.
news_admin panel_blog_admin panel_chats panel_cms panel_cms_publish
With read rights you can edit the panel news. With read rights, you can administer panelist blogs. With read rights, you can administer chats. You need both read and write rights to access the panel CMS. With read rights, you can publish pages and set pages offline in the panel CMS. With read rights, you can check websites and language versions for common issues in the panel CMS. With read rights, you can export the content of panel websites in Excel files. With write rights, you can import modified content back into the Panel CMS. With write rights, you can administer download lists. With write rights, you can access the media library of the panel to view existing media or upload new media. With write rights, you can manage bonuses, bonus categories and voucher code lists in the module Website. With read rights, you can administer discussions. With write rights, you can export the posts of a discussion. With write rights, you can edit the panel website directly in the preview. With read rights, you can administer quick polls. Write read rights, you can administer external feed subscriptions. With write rights, you can export quick polls. With write rights, you can export the posts of a blog. With write rights, you can export the posts of a chat. You need both read and write rights to access the panel CMS. With write rights, you can activate and deactivate websites and language versions.
panel_cms_tests
panel_content _export panel_download panel_img
panel_incentive
panel_messages panel_online_ editing panel_quickpolls panel_subscription_ admin Table 16.7
602
(cont.)Right panel_website _forms panel_website _messages panel_website_ placeholders Table 16.7
Read
Write
With read rights, you can access the website forms. With read rights, you can access the website messages. With read rights, you can access the website wildcards.
Rights related to Panel data protection

Recht export_panelists Lesen With write rights, you can export address data of panelists in the export menu. With read rights, you can export the passwords of the panelists. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of the panelists in the bonus system. Please note that this right does not affect the e-mail addresses contained in the bonus points log: if you do not want staff to access them, rights for panel_log should be revoked. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of the panelists in the contacts management system. With read rights, you can export the e-mail addresses of panelists with the panel data export. With read rights, you can view email addresses of panelists in the edit dialog of prize draws. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in the edit dialog of panel groups. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in the edit dialog for campaigns. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in samples of panel and master data surveys. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in the panelists administration. Schreiben
export_ppasswd panel_email_bonus
panel_email_ contacts
panel_email_export
panel_email_ gratification panel_email_groups
panel_email_ promotion panel_email_ sample
panel_email_search
Table 16.8
603
(cont.)Recht panel_email_ statistics
Lesen With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in a panel or master data surveys detail view statistics. With read rights, you can export the e-mail addresses of panelists with the survey results export. With read rights, you can view the e-mail addresses of panelists in the community content menus of the panel website. With read rights, you can see the passwords of panelists. Furthermore, you can access panelist codes and login links and generate new panelist codes.
Schreiben
panel_email_survey
panel_email_ website
show_ppasswd
With write rights, you can change them as well.
Table 16.8
Rights related to EFS Employee functions

The following rights refer to project type Employee survey on EFS Employee installations.
Right employee_access_ restrictions employee_ehr_ reporting employee_report_ extern employee_report_ intern employee_report_ manager_download employee_self_ assignment es_org_manager With read rights, you can open the Report definition menu and edit external reports. With read rights, you can open the Report definition menu and edit system-generated reports. With read rights, you can download reports on the Report manager tab. With write rights, you can access the Self-allocation area in employee survey projects. This right allows to control basic functionalities of the Org Processor. With read rights, you can configure the Org Processor in the Org Processor-> Options menu. You can view and edit all units in the organizational structure. With write rights, you can change the project phases. With write rights, you can change the roles. Read Write With write rights, you can access the Access restrictions tab. With read or write rights, you have access to the area HR reporting.
org_phase_admin org_role_admin Table 16.9 Rights related to EFS Employee functions
604
16.2 Creating and Managing Teams
Access rights to areas

Right Only in installations with EFS Secure Exchange: area_fm Only in installations with EFS Mobile Access: area_mobile_gui Read Write With write rights, you can access the area EFS Secure Exchange. With write rights, you can use EFS Mobile Access. It allows to check the status of your project or panel via iPhone or other mobile devices. The manual is available from customer center. With write rights, you can access the area EFS Survey Status. With write rights, you can access the area EFS Translator Interface.
Only in installations with EFS Survey Status: area_report Only in installations with EFS Translator Interface: area_translations area_www Table 16.10 Access rights to areas
With write rights, you can access the EFS admin area.
16.1.4
Importing and Exporting Rights Templates

Export and import functions allow the transfer of rights definitions from one EFS installation to another. Please proceed as follows: 1. Select the Options->ACL rights->Rights templates menu. 2. Click on the Export ACL rights template icon. 3. A file with the .tpl format will be downloaded. Save this file locally on your PC. If you wish to transfer the exported rights template to another EFS installation, continue as follows: 1. On the destination installation, switch to the Options->ACL rights->Rights templates menu and click on the Import ACL rights template button. 2. Enter name and title. 3. Identify the desired file on your PC. 4. Confirm by clicking on Import. 5. The rights template will be imported. In the Assign rights templates menu, you can assign the template to a team on the target installation.

16.2.1 List of Teams
The teams of an installation are listed in the Staff->Teams menu. Which teams you can view and edit is controlled by member administration rights, on the one hand, and by membership in teams on the other: All teams are visible with the groupadmin ACL right.
605
Without this ACL right you see your primary team and all other teams you are a member in, regardless of whether you are a simple member or the owner. Select a team to change this teams ACL rights (groupadmin ACL right required). view a list of members. configure the internal team structure.
16.2.2
Statuses of Team Members

Within a team there are normal members (member), administrators (admin) and owners (owner). These statuses determine the operations a team member may perform within their team. Team statuses have no effect on rights within staff administration or on object or function rights in EFS Survey. In general, you can simply ignore the statuses within teams. Exception: If you wish to delete an account of someone who is a team owner, you must first transfer leadership to another team member, before you can delete the account.
Status
Description
Owner
To receive the highest ranking status of owner, you must either create your own team, or another owner must assign a team to you. As an owner you can: add members to your team delete members delete the team change team information display the list of members in your team or team resources. As an owner, you may not leave your team. This is only possible once you have abandoned team leadership, i.e. the status owner, and have become a normal member. With the status admin, you can execute all owner functions, except the deletion of team and individual members. Anyone with the member status can leave the team at anytime. They can also view the list of member and the list of team resources. Statuses of team members
Admin Member Table 16.11
16.2.3
Creating Teams
With the groupadmin ACL right, you can create and configure new teams. 1. Switch to the Staff->Teams menu. 2. Click on the Create team button.
606
Figure 16.1
Creating a team
3. The following details are required: Team name: This is used in surveys in the standard URL. If you create a team entitled Test account for student interns, projects for members of this team will be created under the URL http://www.mydomain.com/sc/ Test_account_for_student_interns/something/. As umlauts and blank spaces are not permitted in URLs, EFS automatically replaces impermissible characters upon team creation. Team title: Internal name. Description: Serves internal purposes as well.
4. When creating a new team, you can define the owner. You have a choice of yourself as the creating administrator and the team Administrator. 5. Assign access rights to the desired areas of EFS to the new team. It will then receive write rights to the corresponding area rights, see Table 16.10. 6. In the drop-down list Rights template, you can select a user-defined rights template. By default no rights template has been selected. 7. A list of the teams you have created is displayed under the caption Which teams shall receive free access to the new team?. If you grant an existing team access to the new team, the existing team will see the new team in staff administration. 8. Click on the Create team button to confirm the operation. Now you have created a new team that moreover does not have any members and no ACL rights (except those for areas defined in step 4), unless you did not expressly choose any in step 5. Your next steps are to: Create accounts and assign them to this team as a primary group. Configure the ACL rights of the team. Change owner of the team, in case one of the newly created employees should be owner of the team.
16.2.4
Editing Teams
You can edit all teams in which you have owner status. Choose Staff->Teams and click on a team name in the list.
607
Figure 16.2
Editing teams
The edit form is divided into three sections:

Section Team details
Functionality
General meta information on the team, such as creation date, total number of members and owners. Special function: Notify team via e-mail. Depending on the status within the team, either all or some functions will be displayed: Add members Delete team Change team info Change ownership Leave team E-mail Who is currently a member of the team? What are the rights of this team in EFS? (ACL rights)
List of members Rights of the team (whole system) Table 16.12 Editing teams
608
Adding members
Click on the Add members button in the detail view of your selected team. A list of staff in the system appears from which you can select new members. If you wish to add a certain staff member to your team, you can easily locate them using the Search function above the list of members. Once located, select the staff member by ticking the checkbox in the Add column. Now just click on the Add member button to add the staff member to your team. Members added are initially assigned the status Member.
Viewing the staff list and editing memberships

The list of the members contains all members of the team. The list has its own search function which searches the fields Account name, E-mail, Name and Rights. Furthermore, you have the option to extend the view to include other available information. You can do this by clicking on View and making your choice from the available database fields. The drop-down list provides you with the following editing options: Set right of member: Changes the status to Member rights. Set right of admin: Changes the status to Administrator rights. Delete from team: The member will be deleted from the team. Export user data: An Excel file will be generated, which includes the data of the selected members. Write e-mail: The standard mail form opens, and you can write to the selected team members.
Deleting teams
To delete a team you must have owner rights (Staff->List of teams->{Selected team} ->Delete team). This deletes all team members from the team. The team cannot be restored. Deleting a team does not necessarily delete the pertinent account. An account is only deleted if the staff member is no longer a member of any other team after the team has been deleted.
Changing team info

To change the title, name and description of the selected team, navigate to Staff-> Teams->{Selected team}->Change team info. This function is useful, if you have selected a team name which leads to unattractive URLs (see Chapter 16.2.3, p. 606).
Transferring leadership
To change leadership for a team, navigate to Staff->Teams->{Selected team} ->Change ownership. To do so, you must have the owner status in the team. You are thus transferring the leadership to another team member. It is irrelevant whether this person is an admin or a simple member in your team. As an owner may not leave their team, you must transfer leadership if you wish leave your own team.
Leaving teams
The Leave team function removes you from the list of members for the selected team. You may not leave the team if you are the team owner. You must first Change owner.
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16.2.5
Viewing and Changing the ACL Rights of a Team

In the Rights of the team (whole system) section you can see the ACL rights for the selected team, i.e. which functions it can access. With the right groupadmin, you can edit the rights configuration. To open the corresponding dialog, click on the Change rights of this team button. Chapter 16.1.3, p. 595 provides an overview of all ACL rights. You can also subsequently assign a rights template to the selected team. To open the corresponding dialog, click on the Assign rights template button. In order to be able to use this function, you must belong to an admin team or hold admin rights in the selected team. In addition, you need an access right for the desired rights template. After changing the rights configuration of a team, you create a test account that is a member of this team only, log in via this account, and check whether the configuration meets the requirements.
16.2.6
Granting Read Rights to a Specific Team to Other Teams

As the owner of a staff team you can grant read rights to your team to other selected admin teams. The staff of authorized teams can then see the team in question in the Teams menu, select it and view the available information. 1. If you are the owner of a staff team, you can find in the Staff->Teams menu a Change rights icon in the Action column. Click on it. 2. A dialog opens in which you activate the checkbox in the column Grant access rights, which enables you to grant read rights to your team to one or several other teams. You have a choice of all the teams available on the installation, not only those to which you belong. 3. After that, confirm by clicking on Save. Please note: These read rights make it possible to grant read access to a special team to other selected teams. If you would like to grant read access to all other teams to a specific team, it is recommended you use the ACL right groupadmin.
16.3 Setting up and Managing Staff Accounts

Each staff account is assigned to one or more teams. Membership in a respective team determines the individual functions to which the user has access.
16.3.1
Staff List
In the menu Staff->Staff you will find a list of all accounts created in the system.
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Figure 16.3 Staff list
The following information is displayed for each account: Account name: Name: The content of this field is composed of the separate fields First name and Name. The most important address data of an employee Failed attempts to login: Number of consecutive failed login attempts. Brute force protection until: After a defined number of consecutive failed login attempts, the account will be blocked automatically for likewise a defined period. See Chapter 16.3.7, p. 615. Logins: Number of logins made by the employee. This counting takes place only as of the date of the update. Last login: Date of the last login. Member of the following teams: All of the teams that the employee belongs to. Login expiry date: With limited time accounts, the date when the login expires will be displayed. The account can be used up until the day before expiration. Can login? If a login has expired or it has been deactivated by brute force protection, then a red lamp will be displayed. If you are missing information, open the dialog for changing the display by clicking on View and activate the desired column. You have the following editing options: By clicking on the account name, you can open the detail view of an employee and for example view information on team affiliation and available rights (the information detail page lists ACL rights as well as rights to layouts). By clicking on the login expiry date, you open a dialog, in which you can change the login expiry date and the password expiry date. Furthermore, from EFS 7.1,
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you can deactivate the login, i.e. block a staff member from accessing EFS. If blocked staff members try to log in, they will be asked to contact the person responsible for the EFS installation. Clicking on the Send password icon opens the dialog for sending an e-mail containing a link for setting a new password. See Chapter 16.3.6, p. 615. You can delete accounts that have not yet expired and are not owner of a team.
16.3.2
Creating Staff Accounts

To create a new account, please proceed as follows: 1. Click on the Create staff account button in the Staff menu. 2. Specify the language in which the admin area is to be shown for the new staff member. 3. Specify the language in which the admin area is to be shown for the new staff member. 4. Enter the initial password for the new staff member twice. Please note: The security criteria for passwords are described in Chapter 1.2.2, p. 26. The Generate password function will help you to generate a good password: When you click on the Generate a password link a randomly generated password is issued in a pop-up window. If you click on this it will automatically be transferred to the entry fields. On their first login new staff members are automatically requested to change their password.
5. Select the team to which the new staff member should be added. The team affiliation defines the rights of the staff members (Chapter 16.1, p. 593). 6. Select the staff members primary team. Among other things, the primary team is always automatically granted read and write rights for projects created by this staff member. 7. The Organization field indicates to which accounting organization the new staff member belongs. If the wrong organization is indicated, please contact the person responsible for the installation. If you hold the right orgadmin, you can alter the accounting organization yourself.
8. Choose the expiry date of the account. See Chapter 16.3.4, p. 614 for further information regarding time restriction of accounts. 9. You can optionally select the time zone to be displayed in the Local date field of the left-hand menu.
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Figure 16.4
Creating a staff account
10. You may store additional information in the section Additional data. 11. Define the next editing steps: You can have the password displayed on the next page, e.g. in order to copy it to a notification mail. If you wish to add more accounts afterwards, tick the corresponding checkbox: Only then will a blank Create staff account form be opened directly.
12. Confirm by clicking on Create account. 13. The account will be created. Please note: Account names and e-mail addresses of employees must be clear. In the case that an account name or an e-mail address is already being used by another employee, a corresponding error message will be displayed.
16.3.3
Importing Staff Accounts

If you wish to create a larger number of staff accounts, you can utilize the import function. This function is located in the Staff->Staff import menu.
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In order to use this function, you need write rights to cr_teamaccount. Please proceed as follows to perform the import:
1. Create the CSV file

Create a table in CSV format containing the staff data. For example, you can create such a table in MS Excel and then save it in CSV format. The file must have the following structure:
Column Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Table 16.13 Structure of the CSV file Content Account name First name (optional) Last name (optional) E-mail address Password (optional) The date on which the account is to expire (optional, format: DD.MM.YYYY) The ID of the primary team for the account
The first row of the CSV file may optionally contain the column headings.
2. Upload the file

1. Select the correct file in the File with account data field. 2. If required, select the appropriate character set. 3. If the first row of the CSV file contains the column headings, the corresponding checkbox must be ticked. 4. The following properties are defined en bloc for all new accounts:
Field To which extra teams do you wish to add all imported accounts? Country Time zone Language Organization Table 16.14 Options for all accounts Meaning All teams that exist on the installation are available for selection. Default preallocation: Germany. Default preallocation: Universal Time (UTC/GMT). The language used in the admin area. Accounting organization
5. Confirm by clicking on Import.
16.3.4
Temporal Limitation of Validity on Staff Accounts

In principle, staff accounts always have an expiry date, and they are automatically deactivated after expiring. This measure aims primarily at improving safety in the admin area: This reduces the risk of an out of use staff account from being hacked and used
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unwittingly. At the same time this standardization makes the administration of large staff teams and collective installations easier: Setting the expiry dates carefully when creating accounts saves you from having to tidy up old accounts manually later . Accounts without a time limit can only be created by administrators with a root account. (Normally only Globalpark Support and customers with their own server have root accounts.) As an owner of a root account, you will find in the above shown form a checkbox entitled Is this an account with a time limit? which must be deactivated to cancel the time limit.
16.3.5
Changing Staff Account Data

Owners of root accounts can change the account data of other staff members. This is done via the detail view for the desired staff member, which you can open by clicking on the account name in the Staff menu. Change account data: You can open a tab containing the account data and edit them. Change password: You can enter a new password for the staff members account. The new password will be set to expired automatically. Next time the staff member logs in, hes asked to change the password. This process might be useful, for example, if you communicate the password vocally or via normal postal service. Please note that only the owners of root accounts can see and use these links.
16.3.6
Sending a Link for Resetting the Password by E-mail

You can send your staff links for resetting their passwords. To do so, search for the desired employee in the Staff overview and open the dispatch dialog via the Send password icon. This will merely show the basic contact data, the text of the mail is predefined. Alternatively you can also open the detail view of a staff member and use the Send password button.
Figure 16.5
Sending a password to a staff member
16.3.7
Checking Staff Accounts for Brute Force Suspension

The admin area has protection against brute force attacks, i.e. hacking of an account using automated, rapidly consecutive entries of possible passwords. There is only a limited number of incorrect entries possible; exceeding this value will deactivate the
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staff account for a predetermined period. The person logging in will then see an error message, in which the remaining waiting period will be displayed. By default the account will be suspended after six incorrect entries, the waiting period is 30 minutes. A suspended account can be reactivated by the system administrator (root team) or by a staff member with write rights to groupadmin. If you have leased your own installation and you would like to have the values changed, please contact Globalpark Support.
Figure 16.6
Error message after multiple incorrect entries
Checking suspended accounts

If a staff member reports that his or her account was suspended, or if you suspect that a brute force attack has occurred, you can check this in the overview of the Staff menu: The failed login attempts and the remaining time on suspended accounts are listed in the columns Failed attempts to login and Suspended until. The number of logins and the date of the last successful login are also displayed. Further details on individual login processes, such as the exact time and the IP address, can be found in the login log (Chapter 17.3.3, p. 630), provided you hold the relevant rights.
Figure 16.7 Checking for suspended accounts
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16.4 Changing Own Account Data and Settings
If these column are not visible, open the dialog for configuring the overview table by clicking on View, activate the checkboxes for these columns and confirm with Send.
Reactivating suspended accounts

A suspended account can be reactivated prematurely by the system administrator (root team) or by a staff member with write rights to groupadmin. By clicking on the red marked end date for the suspension period, the suspension will be reverted.
16.3.8
Delegating the Administration of Staff Accounts

You can delegate the administration of the staff accounts of a specific organization. This is the purpose of the ACL right org_groupadmin: If you assign this right, instead of the more general right groupadmin, to a staff team, its members can access all staff accounts of their own organization. With read rights, they can view the account data of the staff of their own organization. With write rights, they can manage the staff of their own organization (e.g extend accounts, edit account data, or delete accounts).

To view and can change the data and settings of your own account, navigate to the Staff->Own account menu. In the Account data menu, you can update your address data and change the security question. In the Password menu, you can change your own password. In the Preferences menu, you can define presets for numerous account-dependent settings. This enables you to a certain degree to attune the EFS functionality to your personal working practices. The following Chapter 16.4.1, p. 617 introduces all available options.
16.4.1
Tweaking Your Own Preferences

The tables provide an overview of the account-specific setting options.
Option Language Use login language Explanation You may choose whether you wish to operate the admin area in English or German. If this option is activated the admin area is opened in the language you have seen previously in the login screen and may have chosen personally. Default setting: No. Chapter 3.8.16, p.97 explains how to specify the character set. If this option is activated search entries are not automatically reset on leaving the menu. Default setting: No.
Standard character set you are using Save last entries in search form and preset search forms Table 16.15
General settings
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(cont.)Option Additional time zone whose current time is displayed in the left menu Standard directory for SAS exports on your computer
Explanation The desired time zone will be shown in the menu below your name in the Local date field. Default setting: Universal Time. This is the directory on your local computerin which the zip file will bestored on SAS export. The directory name will also be copied into the SAS macro generated by EFS Survey. Therefore, if you do not make any changes of your own, the export file generated by EFS Survey will automatically be located in the correct directory once the macro is executed. Default setting: c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Desktop\ The SAS macro will temporarily store the data in this library. You can access and then save the data from there. Default setting: work.export You may choose whether an SVG or PNG graphic is to be displayed in Projects->{Selected project}->Statistics. SVG requires a special plugin and cannot be output by the Browser. Default setting: No. You may set your preferred view when you open Projects->{Selected project}->Reporting. Overview of GUI reports (Reports tab) Overview of Syntax reports (Syntax templates tab) Reports tab preset as default. Path to Readsoft FORMS can be preset on local PC.
SAS library in which the SAS macro generated by EFS is to store the converted data: Should the field report graphic be displayed as an SVG graphic?
Show this overview on opening reporting
When using EFS Hybrid Extension only: Path to Readsoft FORMS Size of preview window Positioning of preview window x-offset upper left Positioning of preview window y-offset upper left Table 16.15 Option Standard character set to be used for new projects.
You can resize the preview window to fit your screen size. You can reposition the preview window. Offset is indicated in pixels. Default setting: 0. You can reposition the preview window. Offset is indicated in pixels. Default setting: 0.
General settings Explanation Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100 explains how to specify the character set. It is recommended that you use the international character set UTF-8. Default setting: UTF-8. Chapter 3.7.17, p. 100 explains how to specify the character set. It is recommended that you use the international character set UTF-8. Default setting: Use character set of the selected language. You can specify which project type is automatically suggested when creating projects. Default setting: Personalized survey. You can preset the folder in which new projects are to be placed. 572 Default setting: Default
Standard character set to be used for exports.
Default project type when creating projects
Default folder when creating new projects Table 16.16 Projects
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(cont.)Option Project status when creating new projects
Explanation The following statuses are available: 572 survey compiled active inactive Default setting: survey compiled. The layout you choose will automatically be used as the standard layout. The selected set of messages will automatically be used as the default message set. Makes work a little easier: if this option is activated, a first page will automatically be entered in each new project. Default setting: No. See Chapter 3.7.7, p. 80.
Default layout when creating new projects Default suvey messages when creating new projects Create a first survey page when creating a new project Beim Anlegen neuer Umfragen JavaScriptCheck fr die Umfrage aktivieren? Determine participant hostnames and IP addresses and store them in survey results
You can specify whether the hostname lookup function is to be activated by default in your new projects (provided that hostname lookup is possible for the respective project type). Also refer to Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81. Please note: Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. Please note the corresponding information in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81 and check the functionality before taking the project into the field. This option is useful for those who have access to a very large number of projects from the project list, thus slowing down project list loading. Only the search form in the upper section of the project list is displayed, the project list is displayed once the search has been initiated. Default setting: No. If you usually perform surveys without cookie support, you can make the relevant settings here. Default setting: Yes. You can preset whether on opening the layout editor you usually go directly to the standard editor or the pro editor. Default setting: standard editor Increases project list and archive reading clarity. Options: after 35 characters after 50 characters after 100 characters Default setting: after 35 characters.
When opening the Projects menu show only the search form for the project list
Enable cookies for new projects as default?
Layout editor area to be opened by clicking on the Layout editor menu item Abbreviate project title in project list and archive using ...
Table 16.16 Option
Projects Explanation This option activates the TinyMCE rich text editor for direct editing of the website. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 20.1.
Only in EFS Panel installations: Use rich text editor when editing content on the panel website Table 16.17 Panel
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Option Only in EFS Panel installations: Use rich text editor for news etc. Only in EFS Panel installations: Use editor with syntax highlighting for templates Only in EFS Panel installations: Standard panelist
Explanation This option activates the TinyMCE rich text editor for editing FAQ, news, and quick polls. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 22.1.2. The editor activated with this option provides more comfort when editing templates and includes. See EFS Panel 8.0, Chapter 25.4.
Optionally, you can mark your personal moderator or tester account as your standard panelist account. Whenever you call up the website from EFS (e.g., from the website editor), this account will be used automatically, eliminating the need for entering your login details. Please note: Available are panelist accounts with moderator and tester status. It does not matter whether your standard panelist account is assigned to the selected website. Multiple staff members may use the same standard panelist account, but only one at a time.
Table 16.17 Option
Panel Explanation The page title will automatically be offered as the title of the first question on the respective page. Default setting: Yes.
When creating the first question on a page, automatically suggest the page title as the question title Immediately insert first blank sub page when creating a new routing page (Filter, Random selected, Random rotate or Loop type)? When creating questions, mark directly as Mandatory question
The branches below the new routing pages will automatically be filled with a first sub page. You can also activate this function each time you create a new routing page. Default setting: No.
Newly created questions will automatically be marked as mandatory questions. (This relates only to the Mandatory question function and not to the item-specific dac. See Chapter 5.12.1, p. 228. Default setting: No. You can predefine your own default text for question texts. You can predefine your own default text for fill-in instructions.
Default question text for newly created questions Default fill-in instruction for newly created questions Show search text field in questionnaire editor
A search function is available under Projects->{Selected project}-> Questionnaire editor. You can use it to search the content of the questionnaire view. See Chapter 4.2.1, p. 122. Default setting: No. If this option is activated the questionnaire editor is opened by default in Drag&Drop mode. Default setting: No. The image select box needs a lot of space. Depending on the situation you may not always wish to see this select box displayed. Default setting: No.
Activate Drag&Drop mode for questionnaire editor Should the image select box be hidden for image question types? Table 16.18
Behavior of questionnaire editor
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(cont.)Option Selected tab when opening Media Library
Explanation Customers with their own server can access a second installation-wide library in addition to the default project-related media library (activated by Globalpark Support). See also Chapter 5.17.2, p. 255. You can preset which library you usually wish to use when opening media library. Current project: Project-related media library. Default setting. Overall: Installation-wide media library. Optionally, you can deactivate the Ajax drop-down list used to select question types. Then, the old drop-down list ist displayed instead. See Chapter 4.10.1, p. 161.
Activate Ajax drop-down list for the selection of question types Table 16.18 Option Default display settings for the questionnaire editor
Behavior of questionnaire editor Explanation In this section you can specify which question options are to be displayed or hidden by default. You can find an overview of the permanent or most frequently available options in Chapter 4.10.3, p. 164. Further question type-specific options are explained in Chapter 5, p. 175 by respective question type.
Table 16.19 Option
Display of questionnaire editor Explanation In this section you can specify which items of information are to be shown or hidden by default when codebook is opened. See Chapter 14.2.2, p. 561, for an overview of the options.
Default display settings for Codebook
Table 16.20
Codebook
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17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Limiting the Server Load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 Limiting the Number of Respondents Participating Simultaneously626 Monitoring the Status of the Installation in the Platform Cockpit 628 Subscribing to the Daily Database Report . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
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17.1 Limiting the Server Load
17
Maintaining an EFS Installation

EFS provides a number of control functions and monitoring tools for customers who partly or completely maintain their own EFS installation themselves. Thresholds that are critical for the server performance, such as the maximum server load (Chapter 17.1, p. 625), the maximum number of participants per survey (Chapter 17.2, p. 626), the mail volume per dispatch interval (Chapter 11.5.1, p. 488), and the maximum number of dispatch attempts (Chapter 11.5.2, p. 488), can be modified via the user interface. The platform cockpit provides an overview of important performance and access figures of the EFS installation directly in the admin area. See Chapter 17.3, p. 628. If you wish to be regularly updated on the status of your EFS installation, you can subscribe to the daily database report. See Chapter 17.4, p. 634.
17.1 Limiting the Server Load

The so-called server load is an important indicator for the current load on the EFS server. It is a numeric value that indicates the number of processes queued for processing by the servers CPU. In general, the following applies: The higher the server load, the sooner the users (both staff members in the admin area and participants) will notice speed losses when working with the system. A threshold for the server load can be specified in EFS. If the load on the server reaches this given value, respondents wishing to start completing a survey will be rejected with a message text displayed until the load has decreased. Interviews already in progress will not be aborted, and the admin area can still be used without restrictions. (However, you should avoid causing additional load by activities in the admin area on a server that already has a high load.) Particularly in surveys with large numbers of participants, undesirable malfunctions of the server can thus be prevented. Which load value should be regarded as critical cannot be universally stipulated. On a computer with a normal or low load, the load value will usually be between 0 and 1. On a server with up-to-date hardware, a load of 3 or 5 can still be classified as non-critical. Here, a user working with an older computer would already notice a considerable slowdown.
17.1.1
Setting the Threshold for the Server Load

The threshold for the load limit is specified by the platform administrator. (Platform administrators are all members of the Administration staff team.) To do so, switch to the Options->System settings menu and make the setting in the Load limit area. At a value of 0, the load limit will be switched off. If you wish to use the function, a value of 3 is recommended. In general, this value naturally depends on your servers performance. The Options->System settings menu is only accessible to members of the administrator team or the system administrator team.
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17.1.2
Editing the Message for Rejected Participants

You can edit the message text displayed for rejected participants yourself: 1. In the menu for your project, choose Project properties->Survey messages. 2. Among the system messages, you will find a text field in which you can make custom changes to the message automatically displayed if the system is overloaded. It is labelled: Text which is displayed if the system is overloaded.
17.1.3
Viewing the Number of Rejected Participants

You can check in the platform cockpit how many participants have been denied access using this protection method. The Database report tab contains the value for the entire installation in the Participants denied access (load limit). See Chapter 17.3.2, p. 629. The OSPE watchdog tab contains the values for the entire installation, individual projects and individual questionnaire pages in the column labeled Participants denied access (load limit). See Chapter 17.3.5, p. 632.
17.2 Limiting the Number of Respondents Participating Simultaneously

The participation limit makes it possible to restrict the number of people participating in a survey simultaneously and thereby avoiding an overloaded server due to too many participants: The administrator of a EFS installation can specify a maximum value for the number of simultaneous participants per project for the entire installation. This limitation applies automatically to all projects, which have not had a lower projectspecific value defined. It is also possible to define for each individual project the upper limit of simultaneous participation. However the system-wide setting can only be undercut, not bypassed: If the project-specific upper limit is higher than the value preset by the administrator, the system-wide setting will be applied. This feature is deactivated by default.
17.2.1
Participation Limits in Detail

Under what conditions are participants rejected?
Information on how many participants are currently working on a questionnaire, is updated only every 90 seconds for performance reasons. Those that have the disposition codes 20, 21 and 23 and have entered something into the questionnaire during the last 5 minutes are considered as online. Counting does not occur in real time, so there are sometimes deviations from the preset value: Under certain circumstances 20 people could begin a survey simultaneously (if all were to begin within the same 90 second period), even though only 5 simultaneous participations are allowed. These kinds of fluctuation have been accepted consciously, because otherwise with every survey start there would have to be a very time-consuming query of the database, which would slow down the survey.
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17.2 Limiting the Number of Respondents Participating Simultaneously
How does a respondent experience a participation limit?

Should more participants as preset try to access the survey, newly arriving prospective panelists will be denied access with the message Too many requests. In contrast, participants who are already active can fill out their questionnaire unhindered. As soon as the number of active participants has sunk to under the limit, the prospective panelists will again be able to open and work on a survey in a normal fashion.
What effect do various system-wide and project-specific settings have?

The participation limit for a special project can tighten the system-wide setting, but not disable it: If the project-specific upper limit is lower than the value preset by the administrator, the more restrictive, project-specific setting will be applied. If the project-specific upper limit is higher than the value preset by the administrator, the system-wide setting will be applied.
17.2.2
System-wide Activation and Deactivation of Participation Limits

In the Participation limit field of the Options->System settings menu you can set the installation-wide limit for the number of simultaneous survey participants of individual projects. Disable this option by entering a value of 0. The Options->System settings menu is only accessible to members of the administrator team or the system administrator team.
17.2.3
Project-specific Activation and Deactivation of Participation Limits

In the field Maximum number of respondents active at the same time in the Projects ->{Selected project}->Project properties menu you can set the project-specific limit for simultaneously active survey participants. Disable this option by entering a value of 0.
17.2.4
Editing the Rejection Message

The survey message that is displayed when the number of participants is too high is located in the Project->{Selected project}->Project properties->Survey messages menu. The title of the message is Text which is displayed if the system is overloaded (if load threshold switched on)., the default content is Too many requests. Try again later.
17.2.5
Viewing the Number of Rejected Participants

You can check in the platform cockpit how many participants have been denied access using this protection method. The Database report tab contains the value for the entire installation in the Participants denied access (participation limit) field. See Chapter 17.3.2, p. 629. The OSPE Watchdog tab contains the values for the entire installation, individual projects and individual questionnaire pages in the column labeled Participants denied access (participation limit) . See Chapter 17.3.5, p. 632.
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17.3 Monitoring the Status of the Installation in the Platform Cockpit

The platform cockpit, which is located in the Options module, visualizes the status of the platform and offers the administrator an overview of important performance and access figures. Read rights for platform_cockpit are required to view and open the Options-> Platform cockpit menu.
Figure 17.1 Overview of the platform cockpit
Below, the individual tabs of the platform cockpit will be described in detail: Cockpit Database report Login log Admin log OSPE watchdog Survey mail overview: See Chapter 11.6.2, p. 491. Interview count Installation check
17.3.1
Cockpit
The Cockpit tab, shown in the foreground of Figure 17.1, gives an overview of the key data for the installation.
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Section Load gauge
Meaning The graphical representation of the load, i.e. server load. The green area corresponds to a load of 0 to 3. The yellow area ranges from 3 to 5, above which the red area begins. The current load on the front end server. For multi-core servers, the load per core is indicated (indicated load value = measured load / number of cores). On a server with up-to-date hardware, the load should be below 3. See Chapter 17.1, p. 625, for a detailed explanation of the server load issue. The name of the front end server. E-mails posted for dispatch will not be immediately retrieved and sent, but automatically at 10-minute intervals. Database maintenance is performed daily. The major and minor EFS versions which are currently installed. The EFS version which was originally used when setting up the installation. The domain at which you will find the EFS installation on the Internet. The name of the database. The results of requests sent to the database by a participant during the completion of the questionnaire will be cached to the so-called query cache. If a request has already been executed by the database once (e.g. a request about a question text), it will not be executed again the second time. Instead the cached result will be delivered. This use of the cache brings significant advantages in terms of speed. The specified effectivity value indicates how often a cached result has been delivered. It is calculated from the number of requests executed by the database / number of requests answered from the cache. Thus, a value of 100% indicates that each request has also been retrieved from the cache once. Usually, values are above 100%.
Current front end load
Front end Date of last mail dispatch Date of last database maintenance EFS version Initial EFS version Name of installation Database name MySQL query cache effectivity
Table 17.1
Cockpit
17.3.2
Database Report
On the Database report tab, you will find general information on the state of the database as well as on completed and scheduled maintenance operations.
Section Number of tables Number of projects Size of sample_data Meaning The total number of database tables in the EFS installation. The total number of projects in the EFS installation. The sample_data table holds all sample data drawn in the installation. This means that the table includes both the data of all respondents who are authorized to participate in personalized surveys and the data of all respondents who have participated in anonymous surveys. The number of interviews started on the previous day.
Number of started interviews (yesterday) Table 17.2
Database report - database report of the previous day
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(cont.)Section Number of finished interviews (yesterday) Participants denied access (load limit) Participants denied access (participant limit) Watchdog mean (yesterday) Number of delivered pages (yesterday) Admin_log mean (yesterday) Number of delivered admin pages (yesterday) Table 17.2 Section Number of deleted and backed-up watchdog entries Addresses for sending the status report on automatic database maintenance
Meaning The number of interviews finished on the previous day. Number of participants denied access due to the load limit being exceeded (see Chapter 17.1, p. 625) Number of participants denied access due to maximum permissible number of participants being exceeded (see Chapter 17.2, p. 626) for the entire installation. The mean execution time for loading a questionnaire page on the previous day. The number of questionnaire pages delivered to survey participants on the previous day. The mean execution time for loading a page in the installations admin area on the previous day. The number of pages in the installations admin area that was delivered to staff on the previous day.
Database report - database report of the previous day Meaning If entries archived in watchdog are deleted after the specified deadline has expired, this is displayed here. If the installation is hosted at Globalpark, deleted entries will automatically be backed up. If you wish to continuously monitor the status of your installation, you can subscribe to a database report that will be e-mailed on a daily basis: See Chapter 17.4, p. 634 for more information on the contents of this report. The recipients addresses must be entered comma-separated. In the text field, you can set for how long the performance data displayed in the OSPE watchdog (see Chapter 17.3.5, p. 632) are to be archived. For performance reasons, the archiving duration you can set is limited to a maximum of 30 days. The tables in the list are optimized automatically every day during the usual low traffic times. If you want to add another table, enter them into the Add table for optimization field and Save. To remove tables from the list which were manually added by you or other users, tick the Delete checkbox and Save.
Maximum number of days to retain log
The tables listed here will be automatically optimized...
Table 17.3
Database report - database maintenance
17.3.3
Login Log
The archived login data informs you on which staff member logged in when, including rejected login attempts. If you click on the column titles of the table, the information will be sorted by the respective column. This makes it easier to search for, e.g., a specific staff member.
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Field Date from ... to
Meaning In this area, you can specify which period of time you wish to search. Clicking on the Calendar icon to the right of the date will open a dialog containing a calendar, and clicking on the Cancel icon will delete all entries. In the text field, you can enter the staff account whose logins you want to search for. In the drop-down list, you can set which accesses are to be displayed: all accesses, only accesses granted or only accesses denied. In this field, you can increase or reduce the number of records that will be displayed on one page of the login log.
Account Access Number of rows per page Table 17.4
Login log - search Meaning The staff account. The IP address from which the staff member logged in. Please note: Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. Please note the corresponding information in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81 and check the functionality before taking the project into the field. This field indicates whether access was granted or denied. If the access was denied, the corresponding rejection message from the system will be displayed in this field. The date and time of the login attempt. Login log - login
Column title Account IP address
Access Error message Date Table 17.5
17.3.4
Admin Log
The Admin log tab not only provides a detailed log of the actions executed by the staff in the system, but also allows an insight into the performance in the installations admin area. Similar to the login log, you can click on a column title in the Matching log entries area to sort the entries by the respective column. This function makes it easier to search, e.g. for actions in a specific module. If you click on the icon in the Functions column, you can also display a detail view of the respective entry with all identification data, including request parameters.
Field Log date from... to Execution time from... to Meaning In this area, you can specify exactly which period of time you wish to search. Clicking on the Calendar icon to the right of the date will open a dialog containing a calendar, and clicking on the Cancel icon will delete all entries. In the text field, you can enter the staff account whose log entries you want to search for. If you only want to observe the actions in a specific module, enter the module name in this field.
Account Module name Table 17.6
Admin log - search for log entries
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(cont.)Field Action Request parameters Table 17.6
Meaning If you want to view the existing logs for a specific action, enter the name of the action in this field. The request parameters characterize a certain action of a specific staff member in a user session.
Admin log - search for log entries Meaning Every single action executed in the installation receives an entry ID by which it can be uniquely identified. The account of the respective staff member. The date and time of the log entry. The name of the module in which the action was executed. The name of the executed action. The time needed to execute the respective action. A detail view of the respective entry with all identification data, including request parameters. Admin log - matching log entries
Column title Entry ID Account Log date Module name Action Execution time Functions Table 17.7
17.3.5
OSPE Watchdog
The OSPE watchdog tab provides details on overall system performance as well as on the performance of each project and each questionnaire page.
Field Start date; End date Meaning In this area, you can specify exactly over which time interval you want to calculate the performance data. Clicking on the Calendar icon to the right of the date will open a dialog containing a calendar. Please note that the time interval over which you can request evaluations must not include more than seven days for performance reasons. Furthermore, the permissible evaluation period is limited by the maximum period for which data can remain in watchdog, which is limited to a maximum of 30 days. You can change the archiving deadline in the Maximum of days in watchdog field on the Database report tab. However, the maximum of 30 days cannot be exceeded.
Table 17.8
OSPE watchdog - restricting performance data Meaning The current load on the server. The total number of questionnaire accesses in the specified period. The average server load in the specified period. The average execution time for building and delivering a questionnaire page (sum of the average values for Incl. time, DB time and Outp. time) in the specified period.
Overall performance Current load # Accesses Load Exec. time
Table 17.9
OSPE watchdog - overall performance
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(cont.)Overall perforMax. exec. time Median Std. dev. Incl. time DB time Outp. time Participants denied access (load limit) Participants denied access (participant limit) Actions Table 17.9 Column Project
Meaning The maximum execution time for building and delivering a questionnaire page in the specified period. The median of the execution time in the specified period. The standard deviation of the execution time in the specified period. The average time it takes to load all modules required to build a questionnaire page. The average time it takes to load all data from the database required to build a questionnaire page. The average time it takes to output a questionnaire page. Number of participants denied access due to the load limit being exceeded (Chapter 17.1, p. 625) per installation, project and questionnaire page. Number of participants denied access due to maximum number of participants being exceeded (Chapter 17.2, p. 626) per installation, project and questionnaire page. By clicking on the envelope icon, you can send an e-mail to the Globalpark Support department.
OSPE watchdog - overall performance Meaning The project whose average performance values are described in the respective row. By clicking on the project title, you can display a detail view of the individual pages in the project. Indicates whether the respective project uses a static start page (Chapter 4.5.9, p. 136). The number of accesses to questionnaire pages of the respective project. The average server load during execution of the respective project. The average execution time for building and delivering a questionnaire page of this project. The maximum time for building and delivering a questionnaire page of this project. The median of the execution time for this project in the specified period. The standard deviation of the execution time for this project in the specified period. The average time it takes to load all modules required to build a questionnaire page of this project. The average time it takes to load all data from the database required to build a questionnaire page of this project. The average time it takes to output a questionnaire page of this project. By clicking on the envelope icon, you can send an e-mail to the Globalpark Support department. OSPE watchdog - performance by project
Stat. start page # Accesses Load Exec. time Max. exec. time Median Std. dev. Incl. time DB time Outp. time Actions Table 17.10
You can check the performance of the individual questionnaire pages of your project by clicking on a certain project in the Performance by project area.
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By default, the data available to you for evaluations in the watchdog will be archived for 15 days. However, you can configure this period yourself in the Maximum of days in watchdog field on the Database report tab (see Chapter 17.3.2, p. 629).
17.3.6
Interview Count
On the Interview count tab, you can check how many interviews your organization has realized. The statistics tool allows to display interview numbers for individual projects. interview numbers from a specific period iterview numbers for disposition codes > 30 in detail. The following rules apply for billing: Interviews with disposition codes > 30 are billed (i.e. 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 41). If you reset participants and they participate again, this will be counted as two interviews. If external survey start is used and source and target projects are both EFS projects, the interviews will be counted twice: the participants reach the final page in both projects. Interviews uploaded with project data import do not count.
17.3.7
Installation Check
The check mechanisms on the Installation check tab allow you to check the data consistency in your installation. If errors are detected that you dare not fix yourself, please contact Globalpark Support. Optionally, you can have the results e-mailed to you. Please bear in mind that the running of installation checks may affect your installations performance. Especially in the case of large installations, these checks should therefore be run during weak-load periods, if possible.
17.4 Subscribing to the Daily Database Report

If you wish to continuously monitor the status of your installation, you can subscribe to the database report e-mailed on a daily basis: The database report provides an overview of the most important events and data in your EFS installation. See Chapter 17.4.1, p. 635. The report is prepared and e-mailed on a daily basis. The report is prepared in the English language. You can subscribe to the database report with any recipients address. For example, you can enter a system administrator in your company who maintains the server of the EFS installation without having an EFS staff account of his own. Optionally, it is possible to anonymize the database report, i.e. the project titles and other details will be hidden. If you wish to use this option, please contact Globalpark Support.
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In order to subscribe to the database report, simply enter the desired recipients address in the respective field on the Database report tab (17.3.2, p. 629).
17.4.1
The Content of the Database Report

The individual sections of the report sent are explained below.
Figure 17.2
Excerpt from the database report sent via e-mail
Basic data
Row DB report of... Server Name of installation Database name Version DB report version Table 17.11 Meaning The title and date of the report. The name of the server. The domain at which you will find the domain on the Internet. The name of the database. The major and minor EFS Survey version. The version number of the database report.
Basic data of the database report sent via e-mail
Survey performance
In this section, you can check whether the questionnaire pages of the surveys in the installation are displayed at a satisfactory speed.
635
Row Number of started interviews (yesterday) Watchdog mean (yesterday) Number of delivered pages (yesterday) Table 17.12 Row Delivery time Pages Day Hour Table 17.13
Meaning The number of interviews started on the previous day. The mean execution time for loading a questionnaire page on the previous day. The number of questionnaire pages delivered to survey participants on the previous day.
Survey performance Meaning The average delivery time, calculated from the delivery time and the number of questionnaire pages delivered during the respective hour. The number of pages delivered during the respective hour. The date of the previous day. The hour for which the respective average delivery time is calculated. Delivery time for questionnaire pages
The most active surveys

This section lists the ten most active surveys in the installation, sorted by the number of interviews that were successfully completed on the previous day.
Overall evaluation
The overall performance is evaluated using a point score:
Overall score <5 5 20 > 20 Table 17.14 Performance good improvable tuning recommended Overall evaluation of platform performance Keep track of the overall performance development over the next few days. A detail analysis by Globalpark Support might be helpful. Conclusion
The point score serves to illustrate the importance of thresholds for the survey performance on the platform. The overall score includes the watchdog mean from the previous day (the average execution time for questionnaire pages) and the delivery time for questionnaire pages, which is determined hourly:
Watchdog mean (yesterday) 0 0.99 1 1.99 >2 Points 0 3 10
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Delivery time (determined hourly) 1 >1 Table 17.15
Points 0 1
Point system for determining the overall performance
The overall score is computed from the sum of watchdog mean and hourly delivery times, which is used to assess the overall performance of the platform.
Database size
Here you will find general information on the state of the database and of the most important tables.
Row Number of tables Number of projects Size of sample_data Meaning The total number of tables in the EFS Survey installation. The total number of projects in the EFS Survey installation. The sample_data table holds all sample data drawn in the installation, i.e. it includes both the survey data of all respondents who are authorized to participate in personalized surveys, as well as the survey data of all respondents who have participated in anonymous surveys.
Table 17.16
Database size
Performance in the admin area

Row Admin_log mean (yesterday) Number of delivered admin pages (yesterday) Table 17.17 Column Delivery time Pages Day Hour Table 17.18 Delivery time for pages in the admin area Meaning The mean execution time for loading a page in the installations admin area on the previous day. The number of pages in the installations admin area that were delivered to the platform staff on the previous day.
Performance in the admin area Meaning The average delivery time, calculated from the delivery time and the number of questionnaire pages delivered during the respective hour. The number of pages delivered during the respective hour.
Login operations in the admin area

In this section you can check which staff member logged in when, including rejected login attempts, similar to the login log of the platform cockpit described in Chapter 17.3.3, p. 630. You can determine detailed information on the activities of the staff in the admin area using the Admin log in the platform cockpit (see Chapter 17.3.4, p. 631).
637
Column title Account IP address
Meaning The staff account. The IP address from which the staff member logged in. Please note: Certain network constellations may allow only restricted determination and storage of hostnames and IP addresses. Please note the corresponding information in Chapter 3.7.8, p. 81 and check the functionality before taking the project into the field. This field indicates whether access was denied or granted. If the access was denied, the corresponding rejection message from the system will be displayed in this field. The date and time of the login attempt.
Denied Error message Date Table 17.19
Login log - login
Database maintenance
The row entitled Backed-up watchdog entries lists the entries that were deleted from the watchdog after the specified deadline expired. If the survey installation is hosted at Globalpark, deleted entries will automatically be backed up.
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18 Appendix
18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 Technical Requirements for Using EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642 Session, Session IDs and Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643 Firefox Plugins for Working in EFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644 Overview of the Question Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
639
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18.1 Technical Requirements for Using EFS
18
18.1.1
Appendix
18.1 Technical Requirements for Using EFS

Admin Area
To allow usage of the admin area, the following prerequisites should be met: Minimum resolution of 1024x768 JavaScript enabled The cookie set by the admin area must be accepted. In the admin area of EFS 8.0, the following browsers are supported: Firefox 3.6 for Windows. IE 7 and IE 8 for Windows. Please note: Internet Explorer is known for prematurely aborting processes that take longer (e.g. copying projects, export). We therefore recommend that you use Firefox. IE 9, which has been released recently, is currently not supported yet. To use the admin area, please set the compatibility mode of the browser to IE 8.
If you access the admin area via proxy server, e.g. from inside a company network, the access should not be restricted by time limitations. Furthermore, intermediary proxy servers should not manipulate any requests.
18.1.2
Questionnaire Area
For the questionnaire area, i.e. the questionnaire as seen from the perspective of a survey participant, Globalpark supports all current browsers with a noteworthy market share. For questionnaires created with EFS 8.0, these are: IE 6 on Windows IE 7 on Windows IE 8 on Windows Firefox 3.6 on Windows Opera on Windows Safari 4 on Mac OS X Chrome 4.0 Depending on the question types and questionnaire features used, the participants browsers may have to meet additional requirements. For sliders and ranking questions, for example, JavaScript is required. Flash question types require JavaScript and a current Flash version. For details, please check the chapters dealing with the respective features.
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18 Appendix
18.1.3
Portal Solutions
For portal solutions, as e.g. panel websites or the download area of employee surveys, technical requirements are realized according to individual agreements with the customer.
18.2 Accessibility
18.2.1 Navigating via the Keyboard in a Questionnaire
Respondents can navigate an EFS questionnaire not only with the mouse, but also using the keyboard. This function will be used especially by respondents, who participate in a questionnaire via Blackberry or via mobile phone. Here are the rules for keyboard navigation in brief: With the Tab key <Tab>, respondents can jump from entry field to entry field. With a question with a single response list, the cursor will jump to the first radio button, the next <Tab> click will switch you to the next question. With questions with multiple response lists, <Tab> will direct you to the next checkbox. With <Shift>+<Tab> you can navigate backwards. With the arrow buttons in a question with a single response list, respondents can switch from one radio button to the next. In select boxes respondents can navigate by typing in the first letter of the desired term and then, if necessary, jumping forward or backward using the arrow buttons. The radio button or checkbox of a answer category + text field will be clicked only when leaving the entry field, and that only when respondents have written something in the entry field.
18.2.2
Readability of EFS Questionnaires in Screen Readers

The accessibility of EFS questionnaires has been markedly improved in EFS 7.0. Previously, it was possible to design accessible questionnaires; however, this required special programming. A brand-new feature of the standard layout of EFS questionnaires is the provision of LABEL FOR tags. These tags allow a screen reader to recognize meaningful relations between form elements and labels (e.g. labels of answer options). As a result, a visually impaired person with a screen reader can also understand the questionnaire.
18.2.3
Clickable Areas of Various Question Types

Some users will find it more convenient if they simply have to click on the area around a radio button or a checkbox rather than precisely hitting the button or the box. When answering single as well as multiple response questions, as of EFS 7.0, the participant simply has to click on the label of an answer option to activate the corresponding radio button or checkbox. Previously, this kind of questionnaire behavior required special programming. Please note that this function is not available for graphical form elements. From EFS 8.0, EFS Mobile Extension supports this function for mobile devices.
In the case of the Flash question types for single and multiple response, the clickable area can be modified as required.
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18.3 Session, Session IDs and Cookies
In the case of the simple Flash matrix, the entire area around the radio button is clickable.
18.3 Session, Session IDs and Cookies

User recognition
Accessing a website involves four steps: 1. Entering the URL into the questionnaire 2. Connecting to the Web server 3. Transferring the data 4. Closing the connection This process is continuously repeated for each page you invoke (e.g. by clicking on a link). This means that, if you access a website and then select various areas of this website, there is no continuous connection between your browser and the Web server, but a new connection is opened for each page you invoke. This makes user recognition very difficult for the website operator. Therefore, a unique ID is needed for every user to unambiguously identify them on each of these pages. This ID is called a session ID. The session ID is only valid for the duration of the respective session. In EFS, sessions are used to recognize both a survey participant and the administrator. There are two options for the website operator to have this session ID available every time a page is invoked: Setting a cookie Transfer via GET parameter
Setting a cookie
A cookie is a small text file cached on the users computer. This cookie is transferred to the website operator every time a page is invoked. This information is not made available to other domains. However, some users refuse to accept cookies because cookies are also abused to trace a users path across several websites. For example, the websites www.abc.com and www.def.com might both contain an image from www.ghi.com. If a cookie were hidden behind the image and you visit both websites, www.ghi.com would know that you have visited both websites because you would transfer the cookie information to www.ghi.com every time. This enables the creation of detailed statistics, which many users consider too much of an invasion of privacy. In the context of EFS Survey, setting cookies has the advantage that users, even when they have closed their browsers and subsequently invoke the survey URL again, can be re-identified immediately and are able to directly resume the survey they interrupted, without having to enter a code or password. Please take into consideration that, in rare cases, browsers with very restrictive cookie settings may require you to place not only the DNS entry for the domain, but also an entry for the next higher part with the same IP address.
Transfer via GET parameter

Transfer via GET parameter means that, in the URL line, the session ID is appended to all links, etc. This has the advantage of allowing even participants who reject cookies
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18 Appendix
to be unambiguously recognized. However, should the user close the browser and then try to resume the survey, they will have to log in again because, naturally, they will not enter the session ID that was previously appended to the URL.
Setting the session time

See Chapter 3.7.12, p. 88, for details on how to set the duration of a session.
18.4 Firefox Plugins for Working in EFS

Use of the following Firefox plugins can facilitate working with EFS and help to save time especially when creating survey layouts and external panel views.
Name Autofill Forms Firebug Description Allows to fill forms with a mouse click or a key combination. Provides a range of developer tools directly in the Browser. Please note: Firefox functions and setting options are designed specifically for development and debugging. If the tool is enabled during normal work in the admin area, please ensure that your settings do not adversely affect or even impair EFS functions. For example, the plugin may be set so that each page is sent in duplicate. This has the consequence that actions in the admin area or in the questionnaire could be duplicated. Integrate Internet Explorer in Firefox tabs. Facilitates switching between page IE and Firefox display. Identifies externally linked CSS and JavaScript files and displays both their contents and embedded CSS and JavaScript. Searching source codes by path of external files is therefore no longer necessary. Generates a color palette for Photoshop, PaintShop Pro or Flash based on the page currently open. This facilitates working and saves time, if for example you wish to adapt an EFS Survey questionnaire layout to a predetermined layout. Match size of text entry fields as required. Allows you to copy selected rows/columns of an HTML table to the clipboard and paste them into text and Excel documents retaining cell delineation. For sorting, filtering and copying HTML tables. Displays GET and POST parameters of currently open page. You can change values, supplement new parameters, swap get/post etc. Firefox plugins Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/de/ firefox/addon/4775 https://addons.mozilla.org/de/ firefox/addon/1843
IE TAB
http://ietab.mozdev.org/
JS View
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2076/
Palette Grabber
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2290/
Resizeable Textarea Table2Clipboard
http://www.erweiterungen.de/ detail/Resizeable_Textarea/ http://www.erweiterungen.de/ detail/Table2Clipboard/
TableTools URLParams
https://addons.mozilla.org/de/ firefox/addon/2637 https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1290/
Table 18.1
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18.5 Overview of the Question Types
(cont.)Name Web Developer
Description Adds a menu and a toolbar containing a range of developer tools to the Browser. Facilitates, for example, switching in table borders, displaying CSS classes or matching screen size for a specific resolution.
Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/
Table 18.1
Firefox plugins
A large selection of Firefox plugins can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/

Question type 111: Single response list (vertical)
This type can be supplemented by one or more open-ended fields at the end. Optionally, this question type can be expanded to include inside titles and / or an answer category with an open-ended text field.
Question type 112: Single response list (horizontal)
Question type 113: Single response list (scale above)
This type can be supplemented by one or more open-ended fields at the end.
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18 Appendix
Question type 121: Multiple response list (vertical)
This type can be supplemented by one or more open-ended fields at the end. Optionally, this question type can be expanded to include inside titles and / or an answer category with an open-ended text field. (See the figure of question type 111.)
Question type 131: Closed response list
Question type 132: Open response list
Question type 141: Text field (single row)
Question type 142: Text field (multiple rows)
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Question type 143: Text field matrix (vertical)
Question type 144: Text field matrix (horizontal)
Question type 311: Standard matrix 1
Question type 312: Standard matrix 2
Question type 321: Scale matrix 1
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18 Appendix
Question type 340: Semantic differential
Question type 351: Double-scale matrix
Question type 361: Select matrix
Question type 362: Checkbox matrix
648
Question type 363, 364: Text field matrix
Question type 411: Ranking question
Question types 511, 521, 522: Single and multiple response list with images
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18 Appendix
Slider
650
Index
Index
A absolute timestamp 535 access codes 86 accessibility 642 accounts expiry date of staff accounts 614 Action Planner 20 actions participant administration 422 activating projects 49 ad hoc statistics for samples 448 admin log 631 Adobe Flash player plugin check before start of survey 80 AN 56 AND 152 anonymous surveys 35, 56 answer options mass import 269 mirroring on the centerline 226 randomization 169, 219 archive 563 archiving projects 563 Array field 337 ats 535 authentication codes 86 e-mail and password 85 IP address 87 author 58 Autofill Forms 644 automation 108 B Back button 363 displaying 79 on resumption 80 saving data 80 BMP files 355 bonus trigger 330, 345 brackets 153 browser 534 detection 379 logging browser during pretest 403 brute force protection 615 bulk edit 422, 429 buttons button generator 361 changing labels 43 close window 207 showing and hiding 79 C Cancel button 134, 363 CATI 85 changing options 617 character sets character sets that can be chosen 101 conversion problems 102 editing externally with SDLX 285 exporting 526 page-specific 135 selecting charset in SDLX 285 SPSS 526 standard character set 100 standard character set UTF-8 285 UTF-8 100 checkbox matrix 196 cleaned (variable) 535, 549 close window 207 Closed response list 177 code_complete 86, 478 codebook 559 exporting 562 groupings 225 printing 562 codes 86 selecting code types 86 coid 139 columns displaying answer options in columns 169 combination check 236 combination check (range) 236 compiling 50, 62 condition editor triggers 331 conditional replacement in e-mails 480 conjoint 20 static start page 136 conjunction 149 conr 140 consistency check 394 container ID 139 contains 151 contains any 151 conversion problems 102 cookies 85, 643 copyright 259 count function 157 CSV export format 522
several
651
Index
customer center 29 D dac 169 data cleaning 73, 544 database database report 634 subscribing to database report 634 datacleaning (SPSS variable label) 549 date_of_last_access 535 deactivating protect sheet 285 debug mode layout 373 depot questions 279 detail view individual respondent records 507 dispcode 533 disposition codes 501 15 423 restricting range of data by disposition codes 527 double-scale matrix 194 E editing externally page, question and trigger names 287 variable names 540 editing variable names in questionnaire editor 539 EFS Conjoint Extension 20 EFS Employee 19, 56 EFS Mobile Access 605 EFS Mobile Extension 20 EFS Panel 19 EFS Qualitative Analysis 19, 507, 526 EFS Reporting + 19, 497, 515 EFS Secure Exchange 20 EFS SMS Extension 20 EFS Survey Status 20, 513 EFS Translator Interface 19 link from questionnaire 397 links in questionnaire 76 EFS Web Services 20 e-mail address authentication 85 e-mails address check 236 code_complete in HTML mails 478 conditional replacement 480 deleting 489 duplicate use of addresses in personalized projects 432 mail template types 484 notification prior to the end of the field period 59 preview 469 recipient address with real name 474
status "hold" 480 subject 475 transmission report 469 with attachment 477 employee surveys passwords 596 end of the field period e-mail notification 59 Excel deactivate sheet protection 285 defining the file structure for external editing 285 external editing 283 password 284, 285 password protection for sheets 285 sheet protection 285 To do column 285 execution position triggers 330 exporting character sets 526 codebook 562 data 51 export templates 526 field report 505 language 526 layouts 382 projects 60 restricting the range of exported data 527 selectively 528 text elements 281 variables in result export 533 ext_host 533 external editing 170, 280 Excel 283 password for Excel files 284 version control 286 external survey start session time 88 external variable names making changes retrospectively 540 external_lfdn 533 F FD 57 feedback 30 field overview 495 configuring 496 field report 51, 497 diagram 498 export 505 splitting 504 file formats 522 file upload layout 373 filter 143 AND 152
652
Index
brackets 153 count function 157 filter list 153 filter test 154 flowchart 147 item level 250 LUA 158 operators 151 OR 152 page level 143 question level 249 setting filter for sample 438 filtering loop variables 321 final page 48 Firefox 23 plugins 644 Fixed Format 523 Fixed format technical restrictionis 525 Flash check before start of survey 80 Flash question types and static start pages 136 plugin 535 question types 19 flash (variable) 535 flipping 226 horizontal 226 vertical 226 form elements 358 form elements generator 361 graphical form elements 358 HTML form elements 358 form elements generator 361 format check 236 formats of export files file formats 522 forum discussions 57 G generating passwords 424 projects see compiling Get parameters session ID 643 Get variables 338 GMT 79 gpx 61 graphical form elements 134, 358, 359 groupings 220 codebook 225 group items 222 gto 84 H hflip 227, 534 hiding conditions 249
item level 250 question level 249 horizontal flipping 226 hostnames restricted determination only 81 HTML 523 HTML form elements 358 HTML mail 475 HTML question type 206, 254 I image archive 252, 255 image protection 259 image question type 253 images in HTML Mails 477 importing elements of static lists 306 layouts 382 participants 424 quotas 458 text elements 282 individual records 510 installation check 634 internal 452 internal organization activating features 75 Internet Explorer 23 inviting participants 407 anonymous projects 50 personalized survey 467 IP addresses 84 restricted determination only 81 ip_addr 534 item texts 168 maximum length 168 items limiting the number of visible items 167 J JavaScript 178 JavaScript check before start of survey 80 JavaScript plausibility checks 239 L language change 29 export 526 language editor link from questionnaire 397 links in questionnaire 76 language ID 573 language identifier 573 lastpage 533 layout 259 debug mode 373 exporting 382
653
Index
importing 382 layout editor 351 lfdn 533 library for graphical form elements 360 line breaks in e-mails 476 list of projects 36 lists filtering by list elements 150 filtering by the data variable of a list 150 importing elements of static lists 306 interleave 314 list trigger 343 outputting whole lists in questionnaire 313 load limit 625 login login log for staff members 630 logos inserting 355 logout trigger 334 long variable names making changes retrospectively 540 loops 314 filtering on loop variables 321 nesting 320 outputting different text versions 320 result data export with SPSS 324 low bucket fill 456 LUA filters 158 M macros 108 mail administration 488 mail preview 481 masking passwords 482 mail queue 488, 489 mail templates 470 editing 483 managing 483 overview of types 484 mail transmission report 490 mail trigger 332 mails CC and BCC 473 defining mail sender 486 hold 480 images in HTML mails 477 mail volume per mail interval 488 mails see e-mails main template 375 mandatory questions 166 mass import 269 master data in plausibility checks 239 master data surveys 56, 57 changing the label in the survey list 105 controlling the display in the survey list 105
hide from the survey list 106 user-defined labels 106 matches regex 151 matching in SPSS 532 matrix 189 creating 46 multiple response 196 MD 56 media library 255, 259 menu 29 missing values 168 default values 536 user-defined missing values for SPSS 527 mixed-external page 140 modules 29 monitor mode 595 monitoring 436 monitoring a survey 51 multilingual projects 569 language-dependent layouts 380 multiple response matrix 196 multiple response list 44 horizontal 185 horizontally ordered images 215 vertical 183 N navigation bar 29 negation 148 NoRegEx check 236 nviz 410 O OML 242 onClick 178 online statistics 496 OnlyNumbers check 236 open response list 180 open-ended answers 496, 507 OpenOffice technical restrictions 525 OR 152 Org Processor 56 other field 44 P PA 56 page design 375 page import 272 page preview 140 page structure 368 page trigger 333, 334 page types 130 page view 39, 120 page_history 534
654
Index
pages 130 editing page names externally 287 importing 272 Panel Partner Program 68 panel surveys 56 changing the label in the survey list 105 controlling the display in the survey list 105 hide from the survey list 106 user-defined labels 106 participant administration 86 participant and status code export 528 participant data in plausibility checks 239 participants counting 103 deleting 423 importing 424 informing about current state of participation counter 105 inviting 407 recruiting 407 selecting via e-mail addresses 432 status 501 participate again 85 participation counter 103 participation limit 74, 626 project-specific 627 system-wide 627 passwords 85 authentication 85 employee surveys 596 for Excel files when editing externally 284, 285 generating 424 masking 482 of Excel files for external editing 284 sending passwords to staff 615 pgid 536 PHP plausibility checks 239 platform cockpit 628 plausibility checks 140, 366 JavaScript plausibility checks 239 layout 240 PHP plausibility checks 239 pro editor 241 via participant, user or master data 239 plugins Firefox 644 pop-up generator 408 pretest activating features 75 browser used 403 deleting pretest comments per macro 114 displaying pretest comments in print version of questionnaire 558 displaying pretest symbol in questionnaire 75 pretest comments 401 status of pretest comments 403
preview mails 469 masked passwords 482 questions 169 triggers in preview 170, 330 print version displaying pretest comments 558 printing codebook 562 questionnaire 557 questionnaire in a specific language 574 pro editor 368 plausibility checks 241 productive mode testing triggers 330 progress bar 364, 377 algorithm 365 in preview 170 project archive 563 project check 387 project ID 69 project information 68 project list 63 project properties 71 project status 69 project test 388 project types 35, 55 anonymous 56 anonymous surveys 56 changing 62 forum discussions 57 master data surveys 56 panel surveys 56 projects activating 49 archiving 563 compiling 50, 62 copying 59 creating 36, 58 exporting 60 marking as important 65 module 36 multilingual 569 project URL 77 reactivating 565 status 69 protecting Excel sheets 285 questions 511 Q QR code 407 quality (variable) 549 quality correction 549 Quantum 524 question ID 139 question import 267
655
Index
question library 275 question list 169 question type 362 196 522 215 ranking question 180 Question type 111 175 Question type 112 176 Question type 113 176 Question type 121 183 Question type 122 185 Question type 131 177 Question type 132 180 Question type 141 185 Question type 142 186 Question type 143 187 Question type 144 187 Question type 311 189 Question type 312 191 Question type 321 191 Question type 322 191 Question type 340 191 Question type 351 194 Question type 361 195 Question type 362 196 Question type 363 197 Question type 511 210 Question type 521 210 Question type 911 203 question type 911 203 question types 41, 182, 183 changing 169 Flash 19 overview 645 user-defined 203 with a multiple response list 183 with a single response list 175 question view 39, 121 questionnaire 169 exporting as XML file 60 pages 130 printing 557 translating 280 translating with Excel 283 translating with SDLX 285 questionnaire pages creating 40 submit automatically for single response questions 133 questionnaire view 39, 119 questions changing the order 140 editing question names externally 287 protecting 511 randomization 219 searching for questions 127 quota (variable) 534
quota statistics 462 quotas 453 importing 458 recalculating 464 R radio buttons de-select 363 random select repeating the random selection 160 random trigger 342 randomization 169, 218 answer groups 220 answer options 169, 219 questions 219 scale items 219 range check 236 Range check old 236 ranking question 180 rate variable 505 raw data export loops 324 read confirmation 472 recoding trigger 338 re-defining question types (output) 376 referer 534 RegEx check 236 reinvitation trigger 335 RelevantID 550 Reply-To 471 Reporting 19, 495, 514 result data selective deletion 510 resumption 85 Back button 80 Return-Path 472 rights system 593 types 594 rights templates importing and exporting 605 Routemap 547 routing 143 RTS 536 runtime compilation 62 S sample trigger 334 samples ad hoc statistics 448 internal 452 searching 449 SAS 523 scale items randomization 219 scale library 198
656
Index
scale matrix 191 SDLX 281, 285 selecting a character set 285 searching projects 64 questions 127 samples 449 variables 127 select matrix 195 vertical 195 selecting participants 432 selective deletion of result data 510 selective export 528 semantic differential 191 sender 474 selecting sender addresses 474 server load 625 session 643 session ID 85, 643 session time 88 setting 89 session validity period 88 session_id 535 showing variable sources 156 Single response list 43, 175 horizontal 176 scale above 176 vertical 175 slide show 203 slide show slider 203 sliders static start pages 136 Smarty 381 sorting category 106 Spaces (layout) 363 Special options 179 splitting field report 504 online statistics 507 SPSS 523 character set of export file 526 character sets 526 creating SPSS labels for syntax jobs 532 exporting loop data 324 exporting SPSS macros 531 merging SPSS records 532 not able to handle UTF-8 526 special features for evaluation 531 technical restrictions 525 SPSS Portable file format 523 SSL 137 no hostname lookup possible 81 staff 593 expiry date of accounts 614 staff administration overview 610 standard character set UTF-8 285
standard check 236 standard matrix 46, 189, 191 star icon 65 static start pages 136 static_hidden 137 status participants 501 pretest comments 403 projects 69 status of a project 70 subject e-mail 475 survey types 35 survey menu 37 survey messages 43 no further participations 105 participation limit 627 survey pages 131 survey URL 86 surveys anonymous 56 in framesets 379 switch language 617 T target value 498 team 59, 60 teams assigning read rights to a single team 610 rights templates 605 template system 368 templates exporting 526 layout 382 testers 533 creating 435 importing 435 in personalized projects 434 testing 387 mail dispatch 435 projects 50, 388 user-defined questions in live operation 204 text field multiple rows 186 single row 185 text field matrix 197 horizontal 187 vertical 187 text fields changing the position of text fields in surrounding text 217 creating 217 validating 247 to do in a project 71 to-do management 399 to-do markers 75, 399
657
Index
topStud 523 translating Excel 283 SDLX 285 translating questionnaires choice of character set in SDLX 285 Excel 280 SDLX 280, 285 triggers 325 bonus trigger 330, 345 editing trigger names externally 287 execution position 330 list trigger 343 logout trigger 334 mail trigger 332 page trigger 333 random trigger 342 recoding trigger 338 reinviation trigger 335 sample trigger 334 testing in productive mode 330 trigger types 330 triggers in preview 170, 330 variable split trigger 336 Triple-S 523 U uniform distribution 342 uploading images 252 URL 77 URL parameters 89, 136 Use stratification criteria for search 449 user data in plausibility checks 239 user-defined missing values for SPSS 527 question 203 question type 203 user-defined labels 106 user-defined questions 203 testing 204 UTF-8 100, 285
V variable showing variable sources 156 variable page marker 505 variable rate 505 variables 537 change variable names 539 changing variable names retrospectively 540 external variable names 539 internal variable names 539 maximum number for each project 538 searching for variables 127 selective deletion of result data 510 variable names 204 variable split trigger 336 variable types 204, 537 variables log 563 version control external editing 286 vertical flipping 226 vflip 227, 534 W website settings 105 wildcards e-mail wildcards 477 incorporating list wildcards into loops 320 insert in questionnaire 169 number of participants left 105 outputting different text versions in loops 320 outputting dynamic content 297 outputting predefined content 293 outputting whole lists in questionnaire 313 participant variables 414 X count 157 XLS export format 523 technical restrictions 525 XML 523 exporting questionnaire as XML file 60 X-Priority 472
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Globalpark Enterprise Feedback Suite

EFS Survey 8.0

Germany: Globalpark AG (headquarters) Kalscheurener Strae 19a 50354 Cologne-Huerth

Austria: Globalpark sterreich GmbH Wassergasse 25 1030 Wien

About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 Navigating in EFS Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

2 Introduction: The First Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

3 Creating and Managing Projects

3.2.3 3.2.4 3.3 3.4 3.5

Exporting and Importing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing the Project Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 Questionnaire Structure: Pages, Questions, Routing

4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.3

5 Question Types and Advanced Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5.1.3 5.1.4 5.1.5 5.1.6 5.2

5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8

5.14.3 5.14.4 5.14.5 5.14.6 5.14.7 5.14.8 5.14.9 5.15

6 Working Effectively with the Editor

7 Dynamic Elements in the Questionnaire

8 Layout Designing Surveys

8.4.5 8.4.6 8.4.7 8.5

9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8

10 Recruiting and Inviting Participants

11 Writing and Sending E-Mail

Example: Sending Invitation Mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Effects of Protection on the Result Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Enabling Customers to View Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13.3 13.4 13.5

14 Documenting and Archiving Projects

14.3 14.4 14.5

17 Maintaining an EFS Installation

17.1.2 17.1.3 17.2

18.3 18.4 18.5

0.1 About this Manual

0.1 About this Manual

Organization of the manual

1 Navigating in EFS Survey

1.1 EFS Survey as a Web Application

Navigating in EFS Survey

1.1 EFS Survey as a Web Application

Technical Requirements for Using the Admin Area

Worth Knowing when Working with a Web Application

Saving at the end of every work process

1 Navigating in EFS Survey

Navigating in the admin area with the keyboard

1.2 The Login Process

1.2 The Login Process

Changing the password regularly

Requesting forgotten data

1 Navigating in EFS Survey

Asking for help if you forget your password

Renewing expired accounts

Security Criteria for Account Names and Passwords

1.2 The Login Process

Password security display on monthly password change

1 Navigating in EFS Survey

Entering security question on initial login

1.3 The Start Page

1.4 Screen Layout

1.4 Screen Layout

Modules and menus

1 Navigating in EFS Survey