<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Reference Manual > Questions > ZZZ questions

For a detailed description of ZZZ questions, see User guide, project components, ZZZ question types.

Questions with names that begin with the letters ZZZ have a special purpose.  They are referred to as "triple Z" questions, not to be confused with the triple-s standard.

ZZZ questions are not seen during input because the program stores the relevant information automatically.

Skeleton project Question Definition (QDF) files are available at netmr-download.scot/home/downloads that include all the ZZZ entries needed for surveys. These can be copied and modified as required.

These questions all have names beginning with "ZZZ" and they  fall into these groups:

1.ZZZ entries that can appear more than one once in a project.  The first six characters must be the same as that shown in the table and extra characters are added so that each one has a unique name.  These questions are set when they are reached for the first time during input.

2.ZZZ entries that must only appear once in a project.  These questions should have the exact name (6 characters) shown in the table and they are set at the appropriate time, usually at the start or end of data input for the record.

3.ZZZEND is a special question that must be in every project and is used to store the status of the record.

4.ZZZ entries only used for CATI projects.

ZZZ questions should never be filtered.

IMPORTANT: we recommend you include the relevant ZZZ entries in all of your projects, especially if you work according to research standards, such as the Market Research Quality Standards Association (MRQSA) that state project information should be stored electronically.

ZZZ entries are defined during questionnaire design in the same way as "ordinary" questions, see Entry details window.  They can be positioned anywhere in the project and can occupy any available data locations.

We recommend all ZZZ entries (and any questions following ZZZEND) are marked for data locations at the "Beginning" or "End" so their answers will be stored together:

•Putting ZZZ questions at the beginning reduces the size of data files and should be used for CATI projects

•Putting ZZZ questions at the end can be useful if you are matching data locations to a fixed layout

ZZZ questions can be used in the same way as ordinary questions in analysis and in definitions.

See also TELNUM questions.

These can appear as often as necessary

* The user login name can be up to 256 characters but is usually much shorter. 25 is the suggested size for ZZZUN entries but if you know that the longest names are likely to be longer or shorter than 25 then you should change the width of ZZZUN entries. If the width used is not enough to store the full name then only the right hand part (end) of the name will be stored.

These must only appear once

IMPORTANT: Those named in bold are session ZZZ questions and should be in every project.

* The user login name can be up to 256 characters but is usually much shorter. 25 is the suggested size for ZZZUN entries but if you know that the longest names are likely to be longer or shorter than 25 then you should change the width of ZZZUN entries. If the width used is not enough to store the full name then only the right hand part (end) of the name will be stored.

** ZZZSEQ should be the same width as that allowed for the serial number (maximum of 15 digits).

ZZZEND

IMPORTANT: you must have only one ZZZEND entry per project at the end of the main questionnaire and it should not be filtered.

When the ZZZEND question is reached during data input it will automatically be allocated a response as follows:

1.Successful interview.

2.Out of quota (incomplete - one or more of the quota cells are full).

3.Ineligible for interview (incomplete).

4.Incomplete interview NOT to be continued.

5.Partial interview that may be continued.

Questions following ZZZEND

You may wish to include entries that appear after ZZZEND and are filtered from it.  For example:

•ZZZEND/1      Thank respondent and end interview

•ZZZEND/2..3  Is an alternative respondent available, otherwise thank and end interview

•ZZZEND/4      Ask reason for termination and end interview

•ZZZEND/5      Thank respondent, confirm call back date and time, and end interview

It is recommended to include an entry, filtered using ZZZEND/2..3 with ZZZQFE as a carry forward text to show the interviewer which entry caused the out of quota or ineligible termination.

All questions that follow the ZZZEND entry should be filtered on the relevant ZZZEND answers.

IMPORTANT:  if you need to refer to a filter from the main questionnaire you will need to repeat the filter after ZZZEND (including a reference to ZZZEND) because it may not yet have been evaluated if the interview was aborted.

These are only used for CATI and must only appear once

* The user login name can be up to 256 characters but is usually much shorter. 25 is the suggested size for ZZZUNA entries but if you know that the longest names are likely to be longer or shorter than 25 then you should change the width of ZZZUN entries. If the width used is not enough to store the full name then only the right hand part (end) of the name will be stored.

If using ZZZLR entries you only need ZZZSR0.  The text of the response selected will be stored in the ZZZLR entries.