Special questions are provided, mostly useful for administration of the Field. Each one bears a special alias:
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Whenever a call or interview is completed, it is important to capture a call result, and to maintain a record of the case's call history; this is achieved through the collection of result codes. For strategic purposes, however, it is also useful to classify and keep track of cases in terms of their status resulting from certain patterns of call results. The Command Center achieves the latter by maintaining a system variable for each case known as its Case Result.
The Call Result for a case is the last result code collected during the interview.
The Case Result for a case is defined as the last collected result code whose hierarchical level (see the INT question below) is greater than or equal to the level of any result code already encountered. This Case Result can change as many times during an interview as a result code is collected. The current Case Result can be accessed in a questionnaire by inclusion of the special question (S_RES).
Note: The Case Result can also be further modified by the application of Extended Call-back Rules (if used). It can also be modified in the Browser using the Find and Replace tool.
It can be useful to conduct tests against the current Case Result during an interview or in a filter (ex : S_RES = CO CU CA). The Case Result can also be used as a filter to select cases when assigning call-backs, or for printing selected respondents records; it is also displayed in the interviewer's call-back table.
The purpose of questions bearing these aliases is to collect a result code. During a call, whenever a result code is collected in a question bearing the alias INTnn, INT or INTRO (see below), the Case Result of the case is updated. The result of a call, however, is the code collected by the last INTnn (or INT) question which was accessed. Questionnaires should always pass through at least one INTnn (or INT) question, otherwise the interview will be terminated without the collection of a call result.
On completion of a call, the system adds a result code (provided it is collected) to the respondent's call history. Result codes (also known as outcome or disposition codes) are important for administrative purposes since they are:
The primary basis for breakdowns in productivity reports.
Essential for the definition and application of call-back rules.
The means for determining the Case Result (Life State) of a case.
In the case of a call-back, the interview will branch directly to the INTRO question. If no question bears this alias, the interview resumes at the last question that was filled, before the INT question.
Note: The INTRO question should be given a code width of 2. It captures a call result as does an INTnn question.
A question bearing the alias INT01, INT02 or INT12 etc. can be placed anywhere in the questionnaire, preferably before the INT question, to collect a result code. The code width of INTnn questions should be 2, and all the different codes used in a questionnaire's INTnn questions should be included in the INT question (see below). You may program your questionnaire to go through or skip over INTnn questions, depending on the situation.
A question bearing the alias INTRO (see above) also behaves as an INTnn question (provided it has a code width of 2), but has the additional property that it will be the first question jumped to on a call-back.
Warning: Placing an INTnn question after the CB (call-back)question is not recommended, since any call-back rule that it may apply would overwrite the call-back details collected in the CB question.
All questionnaires should include the INT question which must be placed after the completion question. During the interview, if the interviewer types ? (a question mark) as a response to any question or clicks on the Interrupt button, the interview will automatically branch to this INT question if it exists. If it does not, the interview will be terminated.
It is also the question which the system consults for the definitive list of all result codes used for call-back rules and for productivity report breakdowns. Since all result codes must be included in the INT question, Design scans every INTnn question when compiling the questionnaire, and copies every unique code (with its label) into the INT question. You may use the N attribute to make certain codes unavailable to the interviewer when reaching the INT question. Design does this automatically for choices which it has assembled from INTnn questions.
The INT question's choice list differs from all other questions in that it has an extra column (titled Level) where you can assign a hierarchical level to each code. The Case Result is updated when a result code is collected whose Level is greater than or equal to previous levels encountered:
Important:
The INT question should always be located after the actual survey questions, and after the completion question. The completion question must never be the INT question itself.
The code width of the INT question should be 2. There is no restriction on the number of choices.
Avoid using RS as a code in the INT question; this is a reserved code assigned by the system when resetting a case in the Data Browser.
It is good practice to include an INTnn question (say INT99) for the sole purpose of capturing the call result for a completed interview. This is placed before the INT question and can be designated as the completion question.
A questionnaire could be designed to include the three following questions, the first one at the beginning of the questionnaire, the second one after the survey questions, and the third one at the end:
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Position |
Question |
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At the beginning of the questionnaire |
INT01 May I please speak to <name > ? |
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After the survey questions |
INT99 Thank you for completing this questionnaire |
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At the end of the questionnaire |
INT Enter the call result |
LASTQ, while not a question alias, stands for the last question that was filled before the INT question. It is typically used as a skip destination in the INTRO question, to resume the interview at the place in the questionnaire where the last session was terminated. The INTRO question itself, or any question that precedes it, will never be considered as the last question filled unless the interview never went beyond it.
In typical scenarios, the skip to LASTQ must be in the INTRO question or the one following it. Consider a question positioned between the INTRO question and the one containing the ‘Skip to LASTQ’. When filled (manually or automatically), it will become the new LASTQ reference and the subsequent Skip to LASTQ will attempt to reach that question by following the questionnaire path; this is likely to be impossible in the current interview. In this situation, the skip would probably stop on the first unfilled question or reach the end of the questionnaire if all questions are optional.
Note: A skip to LASTQ is 'non-cleaning', and questions in the path that are ‘computed’ or bear a 'Selection Mask' are not modified.
Surveys to which quotas are applied (ceilings on the number of completed interviews) can be assisted by using an INTQT question. The function of this question is identical to an INTnn question (see above) with the additional feature that the questionnaire will jump to this question the moment the case is detected as belonging to a stratum whose quota is full. If there is no INTQT question, the questionnaire will jump to the INT question.
Note: To avoid the case being flagged as Completed, the INTQT question is best placed after the INT question. If placed before the INT question, it should be placed before the Completion question.
Allows the interviewer to set a specific call-back date and time. This call-back time will override any date and time that may have been set by a call-back rule.
The CB question should always be located after the INT question.
The response to the CB question consists of a date followed by a time. The question should be set for 1 response only and a code width of 12.
Note: After the CB question is filled the interview will be terminated.
This question is used to specify the interview languages, it should have as many choices as languages which are to be supported (up to 99). It governs the list of languages offered in the drop-down list presented in the upper right of Design's main screen, and the languages offered for selection by the interviewer during the interview. If the interviewer passes through this question, the interview language will be switched to the one chosen.
The choice codes must conform to the ISO Language Code (2 characters). In this case the LANG question must be given a code width of 2. A right-click in the code field brings up a list of the languages with their codes from which to choose; both the label and code fields will be filled.
Whenever the Case Result of a case changes, its new code will be written to the question bearing the alias S_RES (if it is included in the questionnaire).
When the questionnaire is compiled, all the choices of the INT question will be automatically copied to the S_RES question. Hence, you can use discrete tests based on S_RES in skips and filters.
Note: You can import data into the S_RES question, this will automatically update the Case Result (the $R system variable). Bear in mind, however, that this does not take into account the level of the previous Case Result (if any) with respect to the application of Extended Call-back Rules.
Whenever sample is imported, the import date will be written to the question bearing the alias S_DIM (if it is included in the questionnaire).
Note: The S_DIM question must also be included in the Field Mapping list in the Importation page.
Whenever sample is imported, the sequence number of the import will be written to the question bearing the alias S_VIM (if it is included in the questionnaire).
Note: The S_VIM question must also be included in the Field Mapping list in the Importation page.
END is used as a destination for skips to terminate an interview. It may not be used as a question alias.