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This is used to view and edit and quota file.
It appears when the Main window menu [CATI] [Create quota file] [View quota file] or [Edit quota file] are used.
See CATI introduction for a description of quotas.
When a quota file is created it scans the project for all single-coded entries marked a "Quota entry".
Project file names must end with "Quota" and will usually be preceded by the study name or the project (.qdf) name.
After creation this is used to enter the targets required.
The view contains the following information for each quota point response:
•Description. The response text.
•Wanted. The target set for this response, usually set when the file is created.
•Saved. The number of completed interviews stored so far.
•Needed. The number of interviews still needed to fill the quota.
•Progress. The number of interviews currently being conducted, but not yet completed (not reached zzzend).
•Finished. The number of interviews completed (reached zzzend) but not yet saved.
•Rejected. The number of interviews that were rejected because of this response
•Entry. The entry name
•Response. The response number.
•P %. The percentage of progress interviews counted towards quota, preset to 0%.
•F %. The percentage of finished interviews counted towards quota, preset to 100%.
In edit mode this is used to set the targets and update the file.
To set the action for each response, select the rows whose settings you wish to modify first. Then choose one of the following:
•Target is the normal setting and is used for setting a quota target (wanted number)
•Off (ignore) is used to ignore this response altogether, this is very rarely used
•Accept all means that there is no top limit on the number of respondents with this response
•Ineligible means that any respondent with this response (or empty) in this entry is to be treated as ineligible
The "Target" setting is used for quotas.
The "Accept all" setting is useful to collect counts of the number of interviews without setting a quota.
To alter the figures in the view you first need to select the required responses (usually targets), then select one of the following
•Wanted. Used to set the target quota.
•Saved. Used to adjust the saved figure if this is found to be incorrect.
•Finished. Used to adjust if known to be wrong. Often set to zero when no interviewing is taking place.
•Progress. Used to adjust if known to be wrong. Often set to zero when no interviewing is taking place.
Now use the Plus and Minus buttons to adjust the figures in the selected column for all the responses selected beforehand.
If you are wondering why you cannot just enter the number manually, this is because the file is constantly being updated and the figure you see now is not necessarily the "live" figure.
During interviewing the quota file is modified as follows:
•As each quota entry is passed it is added to the Progress column in the relevant response.
•When zzzend is reached at completion of the interview, it is subtracted from the Progress column and added to the Finished column.
•When the interview is saved, it is subtracted from the Finished column and added to the Saved column.
If at any time during the interview it is halted for any reason, or an appointment is made, it is subtracted from either the Progress or Finished column.
If it is rejected as ineligible or out of quota (over quota) then it will be added to the Reject column for the relevant response that caused termination and subtracted from either the Progress or Finished column.
Whenever a quota entry is entered by the interviewer the quota file is checked.
If the quota entry has been left empty, then the interview will be terminated and marked as ineligible (zzzend/3).
If a response has been set in the quota entry, then the relevant row in the quota file for this response is checked and the appropriate action taken:
•Target. The Saved, Progress and Finished figures are checked against the Wanted figure, see below.
•Off (ignore). The interview continues, no changes to the quota file are made.
•Accept all. The interview continues and is counted in the appropriate column..
•Ineligible. The interview terminates and is marked as ineligible (zzzend/3).
In order to determine whether an interview is out of quota (over quota) the following calculation is done -
The number of Saved interviews is added to a percentage (usually 100%) of the Finished interviews and a percentage (usually 0%) of the Progress interviews. If this sum is greater than or equal to the Wanted figure then the interview is terminated and marked as out of quota (zzzend/2). For example for difficult sample, you may wish to set the Finished percentage to 51% in case one does not get saved - you need 2 finished interviews to count as 1 saved interview. For a short interview you may wish to set the Progress percentage to 34% on the assumption that one in three interviews that have started will be saved eventually.
An analysis of quota entries filtered on zzzend/1 (successful interview) should be checked periodically against the Quota file Saved figures. If there is any doubt about the Saved figures you may wish to increase the Wanted figure by 1 or 2 just in case. If the Saved figures are known to be wrong then they should be adjusted to reflect the actual saved count.