Three tools we've wanted for a long time have arrived. The toolbox is a little fuller again.
Dear QUESTIONSTAR users,
You asked us for new features, and we've built them for you. Starting today, you can do even more directly in QUESTIONSTAR — and keep even better track of your survey and how far along its responses are.
Along the way, a few things about how the tool works have changed. This blog post is about those changes.
Now, one thing at a time:
1. New "Raw Data" view
You could already view individual respondents' answers in tabular form before. To do so, you had to export respondents' answers from QUESTIONSTAR and then reopen and analyze them in Excel or SPSS.
Now it's even easier: you can view respondents' answers directly online and even edit them when needed — for example, to
- correct faulty entries and typos,
- delete test responses and unsuitable data records,
- mark incomplete responses as completed so they're included in the results reports.
This new view is logically linked to the "Analyze Results" view you're already familiar with. That view now has a button at the top that lets you switch back and forth between the two views, "Analyze Results" and "Raw Data". To view the raw data or work with it, simply click this button:
To get to the "Raw Data" view, open the "Analyze Results" view and click the "Raw Data" button at the top.
The "Raw Data" view is largely self-explanatory: you see a table in which each row corresponds to a respondent and each column to a question. Each cell therefore holds a respondent's answer to a particular question.
Besides viewing individual respondents' answers, in this view you can
(1) edit respondents' answers, for example to fill in missing data or correct typos. Simply click the pencil icon in the relevant cell. Depending on the question type, you can then either select the correct answer from a dropdown select or adjust the answer text.
(2) Add Case, for example to enter a respondent's data into the questionnaire manually. This is especially handy for short questionnaires. For longer questionnaires, it would be easier to open the questionnaire and enter the respondent's answers directly into it.
(3) search or filter answers. With the help of the filter function, you can find questionnaires with particular answers more quickly. Simply enter the answer(s) you're looking for into one or more fields in the table header. The table then changes automatically and shows only those cases that match the filter criteria.
(4) switch between (in)complete responses. Incomplete responses are not included in the results reports. Their data is always saved, however, and may contain valuable information for the survey. You can now display the incomplete data records and, if needed, mark some of them as completed so they're taken into account in the overall analysis. Likewise, you can mark unsuitable or faulty complete responses as not completed so they no longer interfere with the analysis.
(5, 6) perform operations on multiple rows. If you want to delete several responses at once or mark them as (in)complete, simply select the relevant rows (or all of them) and apply the desired operation to the selected rows with a single click of a button.
2. Moving the "Export answers" button
Since there is now a view dedicated specifically to raw data, the "Export answers" button has been moved from the "Distribute Survey" view to the more topically related "Raw Data" view.
To export your respondents' answers, go to the "Analyze Results" view and click the "Raw Data" button there. You'll then see the "Export answers" button in the top right corner above the raw-data table.
Otherwise, the button's function has stayed the same: when you click this button, you can choose whether you want the data in Excel, CSV, or SPSS format and download the data in that format.
3. Automatic creation and updating of the results report
To analyze your survey's data, you previously had to create a new report in the "Analyze Results" view and add descriptive statistics for all questions to it.
Many users found this approach too laborious. In addition, misunderstandings sometimes arose when the questionnaire was changed after the report had been created. In that case, the newly added questions weren't reflected in the report, and their analyses had to be added manually.
Now it's become even easier: the first report is generated automatically. From the start, this report contains descriptive statistics for all questions. The report also updates automatically when you edit your questionnaire (e.g. add or delete questions). This way, you always have the descriptive analysis of your entire questionnaire at hand.
It's still possible to create additional reports and fill them with analyses manually — for example, to include only certain questions in the report or to statistically analyze the relationships between the answers.
Please note that in manually created reports the "Automatic update" function is disabled by default. This way, your reports aren't affected by changes to the questionnaire and only ever contain the analyses you planned for the report.
You can turn the "Automatic update" function on and off at any time, however. To do so, use the switch of the same name in the top right corner of the report.
We hope you find these new features useful and that they make working on your survey projects even easier and more productive.
If you have further suggestions for improving our tool, just tell us — we'll be happy to build them for you!
Enjoy your online surveys!
Your QUESTIONSTAR team