|
<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: User Guide > Data > Handling raw data > Raw data view explained |
To view raw CSV or spreadsheet data, see earlier section Spreadsheet file introduction.
[Data] [Raw file view] [Data file view] from the Main window opens a Raw data view window.
It is used to view raw data files as they are stored on disk as fixed format character or binary. This is normally only necessary if the raw data file has come from another program and the contents are uncertain or the structure of the records is faulty.
This window makes no reference to any of the entries in the project. It does use Project global settings for the raw data structure. In particular the serial data location is used. The card number data location and valid types are also used, if ”Multiple lines per questionnaire” is set in [Project global settings].
For details of file types, see Reference Manual, Data file.
The Raw data window can be used to:
•Determine the file type (ASC, UNI, CBA, CBE, CSI) by inspecting the contents
•Check for invalid serial numbers
•Count the total number of lines and find the longest line length
•View the lines of data in a scrollable window
•Inspect the contents of particular data locations by clicking in the display
•Overtype data with new contents (edit the file)
•Delete lines and add new lines
•Use find and replace in particular ranges of data locations
•Collate serial numbers:
•Sort into serial number order
•Check for duplicate serial numbers
•Tidy the (collated) serial numbers by:
•Replacing faulty serial numbers with valid numbers
•Replacing duplicate serial numbers with new numbers
•Replace all serial numbers with new ones or add serial numbers to a file without them
•List the (collated) serial numbers
•Save the viewed file to another type of file to convert one file type to another
•Produce a hole count of the data displayed
If the raw data structure is "Multiple lines per questionnaire", it can also be used to:
•Check for invalid card numbers
•Collate and:
oPut together all cards for a serial number and display as one long line
•Add any missing cards
•As well as the above main facilities, there are options to:
•Change the treatment of the file:
•Accept blank lines as valid
•Set the line length and ignore padding at the ends of lines (CSI only)
•Expand all lines to the same length (CSI only)
•Split (collated) serial number lines back into cards, if "Multiple lines per questionnaire” is set in [Project global settings]
•Sort the lines by:
oPosition in file
oSerial number
oSerial and card numbers
•Highlight lines with faulty serial or card numbers
•Highlight (collated) lines with faulty serial numbers
•Set fonts and colours used
•List codes used for ASCII characters in binary data
If the mouse is clicked in the data display, then intersect lines appear in the window. These are a thin coloured vertical line and two thin coloured horizontal lines.
The intersect lines allow you to follow a particular row or column when scrolling through the data.
They also allow you to examine the contents of a particular place in the data.
The character between the horizontal intersect lines and to the right of the vertical intersect line is the one selected and the status bar shows for the column selected:
•The serial number of that line
•The card number of that line, if "Multiple lines per questionnaire” set
•The data location of that column
•The line number
The contents of the selected column and the next 9 columns:
•As ten characters
•As ten binary; the codes for each data location in turn are enclosed in square brackets
The arrow keys can be used to move the intersect lines in any direction to change the columns displayed in the status bar.
This term is used for the ordering of serial numbers and:
•Sorts the data into serial number order
•Checks for duplicate serial numbers
If the raw data structure is "Multiple lines per questionnaire" it can also be used to:
•Check the cards found for each serial to see if any are duplicated or missing
•Lay out each serial as one long line by placing cards in the correct block of data locations, for example card 2 into 201-280 (or 201-299), note that the first 100 columns are blank because there is no card 0
It may be necessary to edit the raw data to fix problems with the raw data structure.
Data in the Raw data view window can be altered by over-typing with new contents. To prevent accidental over-typing there is a menu item in [Edit] that needs to be checked first.
The is also a [Find] module that can be used to search for a particular set of characters. The search can be confined to a specified range of data locations. In this way, the search can be confined to the data for one question or to only look at serial numbers or card number locations.
The found contents can be replaced with new contents and there is a [Replace all] to make global changes to the raw data file.
Once any changes (edits) have been made to the file it is locked; other users cannot open it until it has been saved.
If two people already have the file open and one of them has changed the file (and locked it), then the other user is not allowed to alter the contents.
When a file is saved, the previous version of the file is copied to the Archive sub-folder. If you make a lot of changes to a project you may want to clear out some of the older copies of the data files.