Each question is presented on the Data window, in sequence, one at a time;
Question text - in Telephone mode, this should be read to the respondent.
Interviewer instructions provide any additional help with the question.
Response box or list of responses.
Data may be entered by using your mouse (by clicking on appropriate responses) or you may use your keyboard to enter response numbers.
If you are not in Input (or Update or Verify) mode you will not be able to enter data - the mode is shown at the bottom of the data window.
The F12 key can be used at any time to abort input on the current questionnaire. If the questionnaire is not complete you can save a partial record or make an appointment in Telephone mode.
For information about Update data, see section Update data.
For information about Verify data, see section Verify data.
If you are unsure of the type of question currently displayed, you can refer to the bottom of the screen. The type of the entry and number of possible responses, or for integer, float and character questions the maximum number of characters allowed to store your answer, is shown.
The first letter is either a Q denoting a question or a G for a grid.
The next letter describes the entry type:
|
S |
single-coded |
|
M |
multi-coded |
|
C |
character |
|
I |
integer |
|
W |
weight |
|
T |
interviewer text |
|
V |
verbatim |
|
Y |
date |
|
H |
time |
The number that follows these letters indicates:
Number of responses for single-coded or multi-coded question.
Number of digits allowed for integer question.
Number of digits allowed (including the decimal point and following digit) for float question.
Number of characters allowed for character question.
For example, Q S 6 means a Question which is single-coded and has 6 possible responses, Q I 2 means a Question which expects an Integer answer using up to 2 data locations (you may enter numbers up to 99).
To indicate non-response to a question:
Using the keyboard press the [*] (asterisk) or [F5] key
Using the mouse, the [Next] button on the screen should be used to leave an entry blank.
The response to the question will then be set to blank or undefined.
IMPORTANT: integer and float questions can be used in statistics, for example mean scores. You should not enter a zero for empty values because this will produce faulty statistics.
The following selections are set in "View options for data":
The [None option for all entries] selection allows you to specify that it is permissible to skip (leave empty or blank) any entry in your questionnaire. If this option is not selected, QPSMR will require that you select a valid response for each entry in the project.
If the [Assume none if empty when down] check box is selected from the "View options for data entry" dialog box, it is also possible to use the [Enter] key on your keyboard to leave the questions empty (blank).
If you make a mistake when entering data, and you are not sure at which question the error occurred, use the [Up] button, or the [Move up to previous entry] toolbar icon, or select [Questions] [Up to previous answered question] to move towards the start of the current questionnaire, looking at each answer. When you locate your error, you should re-enter the correct information.
See section Question types for instructions on how to add extra responses to multi-coded questions (without the need to re-enter those already selected).
TIP: the [Down] button, the [Move down to next question] toolbar icon, or the menu selection [Questions] [Down to next answered question] allow you to move down the questionnaire (towards the last entry).
It is also possible to use the [ESC] key (Escape) to move back to the previous entry and to press [ESC] when the previous response is highlighted, to delete the response.
IMPORTANT: [ESC] should not generally be used for moving up the questionnaire - it is only intended to be used when a mistake has been made in the last question reached so far for this questionnaire.
In Paper mode, you can select any entry and re-enter the correct responses for it, and any for the following entries (if needed). If you are sure that the entries that follow the modified entry have correct data entered, you can use the [Next] button, or the [Move to fresh entry] toolbar icon, or select [Questions] [Next question which needs an answer] or press the [Ctrl]+[Down] keys, to move down to the next question which required a response to be entered. You may also use your mouse to select the next question which needs data from the "Entries" box. Questions that already have responses allocated to them are shown in a bold type in the "Entries" box, so you would select the next entry listed that is not emboldened.
Note that if the new data you enter satisfies different filter conditions from the data previously entered, QPSMR will automatically position you at the next entry which should be now answered as a result of the revised data which you have just entered.
In Paper mode the program will automatically move on after keyboard input of single-coded questions.
Using your keyboard simply press the [Enter] key when you have finished with a question.
Using your mouse, click the [Next] button, or the [Move to fresh entry] toolbar icon, or select [Questions] [Next question which needs an answer], or press the [Ctrl] and [PgDn] keys, to move down to the next question which requires a response to be entered.
When you have entered the last relevant question in the current questionnaire, the "End of interview" dialog box is displayed.
To save the data entered for the record (serial number) select [Save questionnaire], you are then automatically positioned at the "Start of interview" dialog box, ready for the next questionnaire.
If, however, at the "End of interview" dialog box, you wish to return to the Data input window for the same serial before saving the data you have entered, select [Return to questionnaire].
TIP: to return to the first question in the project, at any time during input, Use [Ctrl]+[Up] arrow key, or select [Questions] [First question] from the menu.