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THE SURVEY PROGRAM
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 3
REQUIREMENTS 3
WHAT SURVEY DOES 4
HOW THE PROGRAM OPERATES 5
FILES ON THE DISTRIBUTION DISK 6
CLASSIFICATION OF QUESTIONS 6
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 8 -16
CROSS-TABULATION REPORTS 17
A TUTORIAL 20
DESIGNING A SURVEY 23
GETTING STARTED 25
RUNNING SURVEY 26
ENTERING RESPONSE DATA 27
CHANGING AN EXISTING SURVEY 29
UNUSUAL APPLICATIONS - SRVYADD 30
REFERENCES 33
1
THE SURVEY PROGRAM
SURVEY is an unpublished proprietary work
COPYRIGHT (C) 1988-1991
by Walter K. MacAdam
10 Rayton Rd., Hanover, NH 03755
You have permission to use SURVEY, and to copy it and
distribute it to your friends and associates, or to electronic
bulletin boards, provided that the following conditions are met:
1). No fees are charged other than for distribution.
2). SURVEY may only be distributed in its original,
unmodified state,includingSURVEY.EXE,MKSRVY.EXE,
RXSURVEY.EXE, SRVYADD, and SURVEY.DOC.
You are urged to try the program on an opinion survey of your
own making. You will probably be pleasantly surprised at the
results and at the usefulness of the program.
If you make use of SURVEY, in fairness to the author, a
small contribution of $10 would be a friendly reward for his
efforts and would encourage him to continue the production of
useful software. Your comments and suggestions are always
welcome. Some of the features in the current release are the
result of user suggestions and are much appreciated.
Your registration will make it possible to advise you of
future releases of SURVEY and other helpful programs.
Checks, suggestions, or comments can be sent to:
Walter K. MacAdam
10 Rayton Rd.
Hanover, NH 03755 603-643-2278
Thank you.
Standard Disclaimer
Walter K. MacAdam shall have no responsibility nor liability
to you or any other person, or persons, or entity with respect to
loss or damage caused by or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by use of SURVEY and/or its documentation. This
expressly includes, but is not limited, to loss or invalidation
of data, programs, files, equipment, or business opportunity or
good will.
9/91
2
THE SURVEY PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION
These instructions include, in the first section, a
general description of the features and capability of the SURVEY
program. New users will find the operation much easier if this
section is read before proceeding with the step-by step procedure
described later for program operation.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Many organizations and individuals occasionally find it
useful to carry out surveys on a variety of subjects. Once the
responses have been collected, there comes the often burdensome
task of analyzing the results and printing them in meaningful
form. For this function, however, a computer can do much to save
time, simplify the analysis, and produce reports in the desired
format. The SURVEY program has been developed to serve this
purpose.
SURVEY has specific application to surveys in which responses
to questions can be identified by numbers. For these cases a
mark or number can be entered in a "box" associated with each
response choice. For questions not requiring a rank order,
respondents will be asked to place a mark in the box for the
selected item. For this reason, each box should have an
identifying number on the response form so that the marked box
number can be entered into the computer by the analyst when
inputting response data.
Questions involving rank ordering responses, or those
requesting specific quantities will have the numbers written into
the boxes by the respondents. Write-in responses should be
avoided with this system since they are difficult to handle
efficiently. In an extreme case, however, they might be
classified as a numerical type, based on the judgment of those
analyzing the results. All this suggests that caution should be
used in trying to apply this program to an existing survey
designed in another format.
REQUIREMENTS
The program requires a minimum of 256K of random access
memory in an IBM compatible computer. The program uses dynamic
memory allocation which allocates most of the memory requirements
at run time, based on the particular survey requirements. This
results in efficient memory use. The program can be run on one
or two floppy disks, or on a hard drive. The files produced can
be maintained on a disk/directory separate from the programs.
3
WHAT SURVEY DOES
The program has the ability to analyze surveys involving
questions with single or multiple choice answers, and permits
straight-forward keyboard entry of all data in the sequence that
it appears in the questionnaire form, one response at a time.
The output is a detailed report and analysis, listing scores and
percent distributions in final document form ready for
distribution. As described later, it is also possible to print a
cross-tabulation of scores and percentages for questionnaires
involving replies from different demographic groups.
At any time during the response input procedure, you can
print the current survey results to the screen. You could also
print these intermediate analyses to the printer, but you can
save time and printer paper by waiting until all pages in the
screen report meet your final requirements and an appropriate
number of replies have been processed.
Input can be temporarily discontinued at any time, with the
response data stored on the disk until the work is resumed. For
each questionnaire, up to 100 questions can be accommodated, and
most may have up to 40 choices. More than 1000 responses can be
included, although most surveys can obtain results providing a
reasonable degree of confidence with only a few hundred. The
practical limitation is the amount of random access memory. Any
number of surveys can be handled, with separate profile and data
files kept on the disk or directory.
In addition to being able to summarize and analyze the total
of all responses, the program has the capability of summarizing
results by demographic subdivisions. For example, separate
analyses can be made in terms of subdivisions such as age group,
gender, or the geographical area in which the respondent is
located. If this demographic classification is desired, all that
is necessary is to indicate at the beginning of the set-up
procedure that demographic separation is required, and to provide
the number and titles of the desired groupings or "populations".
The printed analysis following data entry will then include
summaries for: (1), all responses; (2), responses from each
classification; and (3), responses from those who failed to make
a demographic selection. Up to nine demographic groups can be
accommodated.
The final printed results are produced in report form, ready
for reproduction without retyping or re-formatting. At any time,
a print can be made to the screen to inspect progress. The
report can be produced in a continuous print without page breaks,
or can be printed in "form feed" or on separate sheets with a
pause between sheets for paper replacement. In the latter two
cases, a feature of the program prevents splitting a response
4
summary for a single question between two printed pages. Because
of the program's ability to produce a comprehensive and detailed
report, it is advisable to consider, at an early stage, the
number of printed pages that would result, based on the number of
planned questions, choices and demographic separations. This
aspect is discussed later in these instructions.
An important capability of the program is the option to
examine and report possible correlation between the responses to
two different questions. For example, a commercial organization
might want to test the effectiveness of an advertising program on
a local radio station. This might be done by noting the response
to a brand recognition question by those who indicated, in
responding to a separate question, that they listened to the
station, and then comparing this with the recognition by those
who did not. The program can include the correlation in terms of
a percentage figure and can include the results in easily
understandable format in the printed results. This makes it
unnecessary to try to discern possible correlation by developing
demographic groupings for answers to a single question, and
trying to probe the voluminous data for possible correlation.
An additional feature for surveys involving several
demographic groupings permits printing the results for a question
as a "cross-tabulation". This displays a comparison of scores
and percentages for question response choices, cross tabulated by
demographic group. For example, one can read the percent of the
respondents selecting a particular choice, as well as any group's
contribution to the total selection of that choice, expressed as
a percent.
A simple demonstration program is included to permit new
users to gain familiarity with the data input procedure and the
capabilities of the system.
HOW THE PROGRAM OPERATES
The SURVEY program first asks for some information on the
format of the questionnaire and stores this on the disk as a
profile file for later use. As covered in more detail in a later
section, this information includes the type of questions, the
number of demographic groupings, as well as the number of choices
in the answer to each question. If correlation measurement is
required, this information is requested. The report title and
desired text for use in the summarized output report is also
stored on the disk in this one-time operation.
With the survey format defined, the user is returned to the
menu to select options for introducing the response data, one
response at a time. If an error is made, the question data can
5
be re-entered, or, if necessary, the previous question can be re-
entered. The information is entered from the keyboard in the
same sequence as it appears on the response form. The program
prompts for choice selection numbers for each question. The
summarizing printed report includes the score for the response
choice in each question and a percentage valuation for each of
the choices. In addition, for each question, there is a count of
the cases in which there was no entry by the respondent.
To provide an opportunity to become familiar with program
operation and data entry, a short sample survey file, DEMO.DTA
and its profile file, DEMO.PRO, are included in the distribution
disk. One can access these files and print the results of this
sample survey on the screen. One can also gain experience in data
entry by adding more response data of one's own choosing and
noting the changed results. The DEMO questions are the same as
several of those included on example forms later in these
instructions.
FILES ON THE DISTRIBUTION DISK
The programs on the distribution disk consist of the
following. At least all but DEMO.DOC and READ.ME are required in
the drive/directory used to run SURVEY and use the demonstration
program.
SURVEY.EXE, MKSRVY.EXE, RXSURVEY.EXE, SRVYADD.EXE,
DEMO.PRO, DEMO.DTA, SURVEY.DOC, and READ.ME.
When you create a profile for your own survey, MKSRVY.EXE
will create a format file with a name you have chosen, with the
extension, "PRO". Response data for this survey will be kept in
a file with the same root name, but with the extension "DTA".
These files will have titles assigned by the user and will be
located on the drive/directory assigned in the setup module,
MKSRVY.EXE. An additional file, DISPLAY.TTL, will be created to
determine whether the opening menu can be by-passed, and to keep
a record of any default directory for files.
CLASSIFICATION OF QUESTIONS
Since survey questions vary in such matters as number of
choices available and may offer the possibility of rank ordering
the selections, the program will need to know in advance the type
of question involved. It will also need to know the number of
choices available and the title or designation for each choice.
This information is stored in the profile file.
Most survey questions can be classified into one of four
general types which we designate as follows:
6
TYPE A Questions with two or more possible response
choices, but with only ONE CHOICE permitted.
Typical choices might be based on opinions,
subject categories, votes or numerical ranges.
The choice is made by placing a mark in a "box".
For this type, the respondent does not enter a
number.
TYPE B Questions with two or more possible choices with
NO LIMITATION on the number of choices that
might be made. Respondents mark their selected
"boxes" and do not enter numbers.
TYPE C Questions in which the respondent is asked to
RANK ORDER the preference for each choice. The
respondents enter numbers in rank order.
TYPE D Questions in which totals are progressively
accumulated for each response option as each
response is processed. The final report will
total the number entries for each selection
option.
Questions making a demographic separation are, of course,
single-choice questions, and the program will automatically
classify them as such.
7
SOME ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES
Before proceeding with detailed instructions on procedure, it
may be helpful to see examples of the different types of
questions that can be handled by SURVEY, how almost any type of
multiple choice questionnaire can be analyzed, and how the
results are included in finalized report form. The tables on the
following pages present examples of several types of multiple
choice questions and the typical response summaries that are
derived by the SURVEY program.
If your survey requires a demographic subdivision, remember
that ANY DEMOGRAPHIC SEPARATING QUESTION MUST ALWAYS BE THE
FIRST. Note that, in this case when entering response data, the
program will automatically prompt you for the answer to this
question as Question No. 1.
Table I is a sample of a question making a demographic
separation between northern and southern company divisions.
Remember that demographic separations must be chosen so as to be
mutually exclusive. In other words, an individual respondent can
only fit into one of the categories. Note that the optional
responses are numbered. This is required to identify the selected
choice when the data is entered during program operation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TABLE I
SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTION
Q1. Please place a mark in the square corresponding to the
regional division in which your company is located.
__
1. |__| Northern
__
2. |__| Southern
8
Table II illustrates a situation in which three types of
questions are included. The first type requires only one answer
and, for the purposes of the program, is designated Type A. The
second permits one or more choices, listed in any order, and
without order of preference. This is designated Type B. The
third question on Table II, Type C, permits more than one choice,
but respondents are asked for all answers in the descending order
of preference, 1 being the highest in rank. Note that the
question must be numbered as well as the possible choices for a
reply to each question.
9
TABLE II
SAMPLE SURVEY
(Abbreviated)
Q2. Please mark the square corresponding to the number of
employees in your company. Mark only ONE.
__
1. |__| Less than 10
__
2. |__| 10 to 25
__
3. |__| 26 to 50
__
4. |__| 51 to 100
__
5. |__| Over 100
Q3. Please mark ANY of the following factors having an IMPORTANT
positive influence on your company's profits.
__
1. |__| Good Labor Market
__
2. |__| Climate - Environment
__
3. |__| Nearby major airport
__
4. |__| Nearby rail facilities
Q4. What are the most IMPORTANT reasons for your selecting
particular brands of computer software? Please rank 1,2,3, etc.
for the following reasons in descending order of importance.
__
|__| Manufacturer's reputation
__
|__| Price
__
|__| Dealer support
__
|__| Recommendation by associates
10
Table III illustrates the typical analysis print-out
produced by SURVEY when processing survey responses of the type
shown on Table II. Note that both a numerical score and a
percentage valuation is printed for each response choice, and
that a count is made of those who failed to make a response. In
each case the results are sorted in descending rank order so as
to provide easy recognition of the most important choices.
11
TABLE III
SAMPLE SURVEY RESULTS SUMMARY
PRINTED BY THE SURVEY PROGRAM
There were 5 responses entered from this questionnaire.
QUESTION 2. (Single Choice)
For responding companies, the employee numbers ranged as follows:
CHOICE SCORE PERCENT
Less than 10 1 20.0
26 to 50 2 40.0
10 to 25 1 20.0
51 to 100 0 0.0
Over 100 1 20.0
Made no response 0
QUESTION 3. (4 choices maximum, without ranking)
Those responding marked important factors influencing profits as:
CHOICE SCORE PERCENT
Good labor market 4 50.0
Nearby major airport 2 25.0
Climate-Environment 1 12.5
Nearby rail facilities 1 12.5
Made no response 1
QUESTION 4. (4 choices maximum, with rank ordering)
The most important reasons for selecting software were ranked:
CHOICE SCORE PERCENT
Price 14 31.8
Manufacturer's reputation 12 27.3
Dealer support 11 25.0
Recommended by associates 7 15.9
Made no response 0
12
Table IV illustrates a questionnaire format frequently
used to assess gradations in views on certain questions or
statements. In this example, only ONE ANSWER is required to each
question. It is therefore of the type designated A, as previously
noted. The gradations in the respondent's view in this case are
"Agree Strongly", "Agree", "Undecided", "Disagree", and
"Disagree Strongly", and numbered 1 to 5.
The Table IV format can easily be handled by the SURVEY
program by entering the column numbers for the individual
choices. In this case, the results will be printed out in the
format of Question 2 in Table III. The choice titles would then
be "Agree Strongly", "Agree", "Not Decided", etc. and would be
numbered 1 to 5 in this example. The scores and percentages would
be indicated for each choice.
Note that there are four questions in Table IV. Assume, for
example, that a respondent placed a mark in the "Strongly Agree"
box in the first question, Q5. When you are posting this response
using the SURVEY program, and you are asked for the choice number
selected in Question 5, you would type a "1", since the marked
box was in column 1. Only one box should have been marked. This
is a single-choice question, one that we define as Type A.
The same format can be used for questions such as:
"On a scale of 1 to 10, enter your opionion on the
following statements"
This would require 10 numbered columns instead of the 5 in the
example in Table IV, but would be processed in the same manner.
13
TABLE IV
SAMPLE SURVEY
(Abbreviated)
Please mark the box for your answer the following questions.
1 2 3 4 5
AGREE NOT DISAGREE
STRONGLY AGREE DECIDED DISAGREE STRONGLY
__ __ __ __ __
Q5. Do you believe that |__| |__| |__| |__| |__|
Television has had a
bad influence on
children's morals?
__ __ __ __ __
Q6. Do you believe that |__| |__| |__| |__| |__|
air bags should be
required in all
automobiles?
__ __ __ __ __
Q7. Do you believe that |__| |__| |__| |__| |__|
the U.S.should work
toward a balanced
budget?
__ __ __ __ __
Q8. Are you willing to |__| |__| |__| |__| |__|
give up your frost-
free refrigerator
to reduce energy
consumption?
14
Table V illustrates a simplified example of a printed
analysis report of the results of a graded opinion question of
the type displayed in Table IV. Since only one entry is
acceptable, this is classed as a Type A question, even though the
format is somewhat different from that shown in Table II as
Question No.2.
15
TABLE V
SAMPLE SUVEY RESULTS SUMMARY
PRINTED BY THE SURVEY PROGRAM
(Abbreviated)
QUESTION 5. (Single Choice)
Belief that TV has a bad influence on childrens' morals varied:
CHOICE SCORE PERCENT
Agree Strongly 1 20.0
Agree 2 40.0
Not Decided 1 20.0
Disagree 1 20.0
Disagree Strongly 0 0.0
Made no response 0
16
CROSS-TABULATION REPORTS
When a survey includes several demographic separations,
it is sometimes helpful to present a view of the choice scores
for the individual demographic groups related to scores and to
relate this to a display of how the demographic groups'
preferences varied for each choice. This can be done by
constructing a matrix or cross-tabulation, with demographic group
choice selection results listed vertically, and preferences for
individual choices listed horizontally. The question being
analyzed in this fashion should be either of the Types A or B
described earlier. A cross-tabulation report can be sent to the
printer for questions of these types by selecting Option 7 in the
Action Menu.
Since a cross-tabulation may be a little confusing at
first sight in the case of a typical multi-choice question
involving several demographic groups and many responses, it is
best to look at an over-simplified set of survey results such as
produced by the short DEMO survey file. This will illustrate the
general format and permit comprehension of the way in which
percentages are derived. The DEMO file as present on the
distribution disk includes only five fictitious responses and
only two demographic groups. In this very simple example,
Question 2 has been selected for the print of a cross-tabulation,
with the results shown in Table VI.
17
Referring to Table VI, it can be seen that demographic
group results are listed in vertical columns, first for the
total, and then for each demographic group. The total scores for
each group are listed on the first line with the left margin
heading "ALL RESPONSES". The third line shows the percent
contribution of each group to the total response count, five in
this case. The three responses in the Northern group contributed
two, or 60% of the total of five. Dropping down to the next
line, we see an analysis for the first choice, "LESS THAN 10"
employees. There was one selection for this choice, and this was
made by a respondent in the Northern group. Since the total
Northern group score was 3, this single score is 33 percent of
the group total. This is shown on the second line of the "LESS
THAN 10" choice block. Note, however, that this selection
represented one of the five total responses. The third line
titled "% of Total" shows this therefore to be 20%. Proceeding
in this fashion through the remainder of the table, one can see
The contribution of each Group Choice to the Group Total
The contribution of each Group to each Choice Total
The contribution of each Group Choice to total of responses
While the example in Table VI is over simplified, a cross
tabulation of this type will be found particularly useful for
surveys with several demographic separations. Note that printing
a cross-tabulation for a larger number of demographic separations
will in some cases require the use of a wide carriage printer, or
compressed print (12 or 15 cpi) on a standard narrow width
printer. The program will warn the user if this is the case.
18
TABLE VI
CROSS-TABULATION OF RESPONSE CHOICES VERSUS DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS
For QUESTION NUMBER 2
For the responding companies, the employee numbers ranged:
CHOICE TOTAL NORTHERN SOUTHERN
ALL RESPONSES 5 3 2
% of Group 100% 100%
% of Total 100% 60% 40%
LESS THAN 10
Choice Count 1 1 0
% of Group 33% 0%
% This Choice 100% 100% 0%
% of Total 20% 20% 0%
10 to 25
Choice Count 1 0 1
% of Group 0% 50%
% This Choice 100% 0% 100%
% of Total 20% 0% 20%
26 to 50
Choice Count 2 1 1
% of Group 33% 50%
% This Choice 100% 50% 50%
% of Total 40% 20% 20%
51 to 100
Choice Count 0 0 0
% of Group 0% 0%
% This Choice 0% 0% 0%
% of Total 0% 0% 0%
OVER 100
Count Choice 1 1 0
% of Group 33% 0%
% This Choice 100% 100% 0%
% of Total 20% 20% 0%
19
A TUTORIAL - Entering Data in the DEMO survey
To become familiar with the data entry procedure and the
several program features that ease this somewhat boring activity,
the first-time user should first access the short simplified
demonstration survey entitled DEMO, included on the distribution
disk. This is the survey used in the illustrative examples in
the preceding tables. DEMO.PRO is the profile file and DEMO.DTA
the data file for this sample survey. The data file includes
only a few response entries and provides a good opportunity for a
first-time user to add one or more fictitious responses to each
of the questions and then print the results to the screen to see
the changes.
When entering data for a typical survey with several
questions and a relatively large number of responses, there is
some advantage in having the operation performed by two people.
One can read the response sheet, announcing the question number
and the numbers the respondent has entered into the individual
"boxes", while the other keyboards this data into the computer.
In the case of the short DEMO sample survey this method is
probably unnecessary.
The procedure is as follows.
The first step is to start the program and identify the
profile and data files desired and the directory in which they
can be found. Move to the directory holding the SURVEY program
and type "survey" (without quotes). You will see the title page.
Press any key to move to the Main Menu. Since the DEMO files are
already established, select Option 2, to enter data to an
existing program. Do not select Option 1 at this time.
You will next be asked to identify the directory holding
the files you wish to access. Since DEMO is in the same
directory as the program files, just press ENTER for the current
directory.
With the directory chosen, you will move to the Action
Menu which presents several options. These include options to
add additional response data to existing surveys as well as
selections to print analysis reports to the screen or to the
printer. Before entering any new data it will be interesting to
20
see a screen print of DEMO as it currently stands. When you
start working with your own survey you will find these screen
displays very useful in checking on your report format and
evaluating progress as the data entry proceeds. Select Option 6
in the Action Menu to obtain the screen print. Your screen will
show the existing data file names and you can type "demo" and
follow with ENTER. You need not include the file extension
".dta".
After the file has been selected, you will see the first
page of the report. This indicates that there are two
demographic groups in this survey, "Northern Companies" and
"Southern Companies". Moving to the next screen by pressing a
key, you will see a report of the scores and percent distribution
of the entries made thus far for this demographic question Number
1. Press a key to move to similar analyses for the remaining
questions. The report at this point is summarizing the combined
scores of both demographic groups. You can then continue to view
the results for each of the demographic groups separately and
ultimately return to the Action Menu.
Now see what happens when you add a response of your own
to this demonstration survey. You can do no harm to the program.
The file is there for you to play with. Since you are adding
data to an existing survey, select Option 2 in the Action Menu.
Do NOT select Option 1 in the Action Menu, which is used for
entering data the first time after a profile file has been
created. You will again be asked to identify the file name to
access. Select DEMO again. The questions you will be responding
to are the same ones included in Tables I, II and IV.
To simplify your entry, if you wish, you can take a
pencil and mark the "boxes" in Tables in these instructions to
correspond to your arbitrary new choices. Just follow the
directions on the screen as you proceed. Note that you will only
see the question numbers on the screen and not the questions
themselves. The Response Number of the current response appears
in the upper right of the screen.
The first question establishes the demographic group to
which the respondent belongs. Type either "1" or "2" since there
are only two such groups. Follow with ENTER. Since there is only
one choice, you will immediately be moved to the data entry
screen for the second question which is also a single choice, or
Type A question. It asks for the range into which the employee
numbers of the respondent's company falls. Type any number
between 1 and 5, inclusive. Pressing ENTER following this number
will move you to the next screen.
21
Question 3 is a multi-choice question and, as indicated
in the directions on the screen, you can select any or all of the
available choices. This makes it a Type B question according to
our classification. This question corresponds to Question 3 in
Table II. Select any or all of the maximum of four choice
numbers, following each with ENTER. If you select less than
four, press X to let the computer know you are through with this
question. If you select all four choices or press X you will see
the screen for Question 4.
If you are in the process of entering data for a multi-
choice question such as No 3 and make a mistake, you can re-enter
all the data for the same question by pressing Esc. The entries
that you already made for that question will be disregarded and
you can start the question response again.
Question 4 is a rank order question, or Type C. It
requires entering a rank order number in each of four boxes, with
the highest ranking 1, progressing in descending order to 4.
Type any sequence, 1,4,3,2, for example, as each box is
presented for entry.
After you have successfully completed answering Question
4 and are viewing the data input screen for Question 5, you are
now in a good position to try out another one of the very useful
features of SURVEY. This is the ability to go back and repeat the
entry of data for the previous question. All you have to do is
press Page-Up and you will see the data entry screen for the
previous question. Every entry you have made beyond that the
beginning of that question will have been deleted. Therefore you
can re-enter the data correctly if you think you may have made an
error. You will see the question number flashing, indicating
that you are re-entering a question response. You will not be
able to go back, of course, when you are seeing the entry screen
for Question 1.
Question 5 in the DEMO file is a single-choice graded
opinion question corresponding to Question 5 in Table IV. It
asks if the respondent believes that TV has had a bad influence
on childrens' morals. Enter any number 1 to 4 corresponding to
the column numbers headed "Agree Strongly", "Agree", etc. Your
entry will be recorded and you will see the Question 6 display.
Question 6 in the DEMO sample questionnaire is the type
that accumulates response numbers entered in each choice "box" as
the responses are processed. This is a Type D question as
previously described. It can be used for accumulating such items
as votes for different candidates or inventory of supplies etc.
Just enter any number (0 or multi digit=ok) for each of the three
boxes, following with ENTER, or press ENTER alone if you want to
skip a box and consider it to hold a zero.
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Question 6 is the last question. When you complete it,
you will be asked if you want to enter data for another response
sheet or return to the Menu. For the purposes of our trial run,
type "N" and return to the Action Menu. By typing "X" instead
you could have repeated the entire input of all questions for the
last response if you felt that an error still existed. In an
extreme case, pressing ENTER here would delete all the entries
you had made during the current session. Those made in previous
sessions would still remain. This would be an emergency action.
Now, with the Action Menu in view, you should select
Option 6 to see a report of the DEMO survey results which now
include the data entries you have made. The number of Responses
will have increased by one and the scores and percentages will
have changed based on your entries. If you continue the display
to include the two demographic groups, you will see that the
changes have taken place only in the group you selected in the
demographic Question 1.
DESIGNING A SURVEY
Designing a useful survey is not an easy undertaking. Much
thought must be put into selecting the appropriate questions and
response choices, and limiting their number to reasonable values.
No attempt will be made in these instructions to provide a
comprehensive discussion of survey design. Several reference
texts are listed at the end of these instructions in the event
that users want to dig deeper into the subject. To make the
SURVEY program fully effective, however, the following guidelines
should be observed.
1. Make sure your survey consists of sequentially numbered
questions and that each optional response is also designated by a
number. These numbers are for your use in entering response data
and have no significance as far as the respondents are concerned.
When responses are received and before entering data, you may
find it convenient to number the sheets sequentially. This is to
help you avoid entering a response more than once and to
correlate with the response numbers referred to in the SURVEY
program.
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2. If you try to adapt this program to the responses from an
existing questionnaire produced without reference to this
program, and in which the demographic information is not obtained
in the FIRST QUESTION, your data input will be seriously
affected. Design your surveys with the program in mind and
produce the profile file in the normal manner.
3. If, after hearing the warnings to place the demographic
question as the first question, you still believe it important to
have the demographic question last in your survey, ( a question
on gender, possibly) you MUST still enter it first in SURVEY when
processing the responses. In this exceptional case you MUST
number the questions in the questionnaire sheets starting with
Number 2 to correspond to the question numbers identified on the
screen as the responses are processed. This complicates data
entry and is a possible source of error. Avoid this procedure if
possible.
4. Avoid write-in response options if at all possible. They
are difficult to classify.
5. Keep in mind, that for the purpose of printing the final
report, you will be asked to provide a "Response Summary
Statement" for each question. Example: "For the responding
companies, the employee numbers ranged as follows:". This
statement should not exceed one line in length.
6. Make sure you can classify each question into one of the
following types:
A. Only ONE selection can be made by marking a box
B. Any or all response options can be selected by
marking boxes
C. Selection of options in descending rank order by
entering numbers
D. Numbers entered in any option box are cumulated in
final report.
7. The number of printed pages produced in the final report
should be carefully considered in the design process. You should
assume that no more than an average of about four questions can
be analyzed per printed page. If you have demographic
subdivisions this will multiply the number of pages by one more
than the number of demographic separations. In the interest of
maximizing the survey returns and making a useful report you will
want to limit the number of questions and question choices to
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those providing the most meaningful and useful information. As an
example, an average 40-question report with six demographic
subdivisions would require about 70 pages. As mentioned earlier,
you should use the screen print option for most of your
intermediate viewing of the report results.
8. Before distributing the questionnaire you may find it
helpful to run the SURVEY program, make your profile file, move
to Option 1 in the Action Menu, designate your data file name,
and then enter two or three fictitious responses. You should
then use Option 6 in the Action Menu to print the preliminary
results on the screen. At this time, do not send any output to
the printer. Check the screen display to see that the desired
format is achieved.
When you are ready to start entering actual responses, be
sure to first select Option 1 again "START entering data for a
NEW survey", and this will delete any trial data in your data
file. If you later temporarily discontinue genuine data entry,
remember to use Option 2, "ADD response data to an existing data
file" when you start another session. Don't use Option 1 again
unless you want to start over from the beginning.
GETTING STARTED
As a first step, make and mark a copy of your
distribution disk. Put the original disk away for safe keeping.
Installation on Floppy Disks
To install SURVEY on a floppy disk, format the disk with your
System Files (FORMAT/S). Place the distribution disk in Drive A
and type "Copy a:*.* b:" (Omit the quotes). If you only have one
floppy drive, you will have to exchange disks periodically.
Installation on a Hard Disk
To install SURVEY on a hard disk drive, it is probably a good
idea to establish a separate sub-directory with a title such as
"SRVY". Follow the directions in your DOS manual for this
procedure. Then move to this sub-directory using the Change
Directory (CD) procedure and place the distribution disk in Drive
A. Type "copy a:*.*" (omit quotes) and press ENTER. Type "DIR"
to see that the program modules have been successfully
transferred.
25
RUNNING SURVEY
Making the Profile File
Before running SURVEY for the purpose of establishing a
profile file, you should have before you a sample response form
for the questionnaire you are proposing to distribute. This will
help in answering the questions which will be asked in the
process.
With the DOS prompt showing in the drive/directory holding
the SURVEY programs, start the program by typing "survey"
(without quotes). Follow by pressing ENTER. You will see the
introductory screen and can press any key to proceed to the Main
Menu.
If you are a first-time user, you should select Main Menu
Option 3 which provides information on the use of the program and
offers several examples. You will ultimately be returned to the
Main Menu. Here, select Option 2 which checks your
drive/directory and then brings you to the Action Menu. New
users should read the Tutorial included earlier in these
instructions. At his point, they may also want to review Action
Menu Option 6 to obtain a screen view of the short demonstration
survey, DEMO. They will see a list of the available data files
on the directory and can select DEMO.DTA for viewing. When
satisfied, they can return to the Action Menu.
You will next need to establish the profile file for your
survey. To do this, select Action Menu Option 5, "DEFINE a
completely NEW Survey". (Option 1 in the Main Menu will also
accomplish this). Since this is a new survey, you will be asked
to select a file name for storing the survey data. This must be
no longer than eight characters, without any extension. This
file name will be used for the profile file with the extension
"PRO". The file to hold the data will have the same name with
the extension ".DTA".
You will be asked for the number and names of any demographic
groups, the number of questions, and the number and names of each
question choice. One demographic question is permitted and up to
nine demographic separations can be made within this question.
Remember, however that the length of the report is multiplied by
one more than the number of demographic groups. A statement
will also be needed for each question to be used as a question
heading in the report. Establishing the profile file is a one-
time operation for each survey. It can be used for future
surveys with the same characteristics. Do not use double
quotation marks in any of your entries. These are used by the
program to separate entries in the file. You have the option of
26
analyzing the correlation, if any, between the answers to two
different questions. If you wish to include such a correlation
analysis, you will be asked for the question numbers and choices
involved. Be careful in making the profile file. Watch for
typo's.
The set-up module also asks for the drive or directory which
will hold the summary information as it is entered from the
responses. If the information is to be kept in the same
drive/directory as the SURVEY programs, this will be accomplished
by pressing ENTER when asked for the drive/directory for files.
ENTERING RESPONSE DATA
When all the set-up questions have been answered, you will be
returned to the Main Menu. If you are ready to enter data from
some or all of the responses to your questionnaire, you can
select Main Menu Option 2. This will first check the directory
for your files and then transfer you to the Action Menu.
In the Action Menu, you have the choice of entering some
fictitious test response data as previously described in Section
8 of "DESIGNING A SURVEY", or you could proceed with entering
data from a genuine response. In either case, you would select
Option 1, "START entering data from a NEW survey", since this is
a new survey. You will then see a list of the data files in your
directory. Type the file name for storing the survey data and
follow with ENTER. Be sure to enter the SAME NAME as the one you
used in setting up the survey profile. You will remember that
the profile file had the suffix ".PRO". The data file will have
the same name, but with the extension "DTA". (In case the data
file is not listed, type it anyway in case it was deleted by
accident).
27
With the file identified, you will be asked to enter the
responses for each question, taking one response sheet at a time.
If you are entering test data, remember to re-select Option 1
before entering data from genuine responses in order to erase the
test data.
When prompted on the screen for data entry from a question
response, you will only see the Question Number and Choice
Number, not the question text. If you are entering data from a
multi-choice question, you must follow any number you type with
ENTER.
In the case of Type B questions which permit any number of
choices without ranking, enter only those numbers selected. When
all the selected Type B choices have been entered, type the
terminating "X". (For consistency press ENTER before typing "X",
but if you type "X" immediately after the last entry, that entry
will still be recorded).
Type C and D questions require you to make an entry for EACH
possible choice, whether or not the choice has been selected.
Follow each choice number with ENTER, or type ENTER alone if a
choice is vacant. Fear not; the appropriate directions are
included on the screen as you process each question.
The directions should be easy to follow. If you make an
error in entering data in a multiple choice question, all is not
lost. You can re-start the entries for this question in this
response by pressing ESC. In addition, if you think you have made
an error in entering data in a particular response but have gone
by the question involved, you still have the opportunity of re-
entering data for the previous question by pressing Page-Up. You
can also repeat entry for all the questions in the most recent
response when you come to the end of the last question on the
response sheet. At that point, you will also be asked if you
wish to continue entering data for the time being. By typing "N"
you will return to the Action Menu, and the responses data to
date will be stored on your disk. Here you can select Option 6
to print the report to the screen as it currently stands. If you
want to take a break, you can exit to DOS from the Action Menu.
Your data will be stored, ready for your next session.
You will be warned if you try to use Option 1 for an
established survey, since this creates a new data file. If you
use a file name with Option 1 for a valuable file that already
exists, this might wipe out your data. The procedure for adding
responses to an existing data file requires the selection of
Option 2 in the Action Menu. Do not use Option 1 here. The
procedure is otherwise the same as in the case previously
described for starting data entry for a new survey.
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CHANGING AN EXISTING SURVEY
In some instances, after a profile has already been
created, you might need to make editing changes in the text of
the Report Title, a Response Summary Statement, or to modify a
Choice Title in a question in an EXISTING survey. Alternatively,
you might want to add or delete a question in an existing
questionnaire and start over with a new survey. Instead of
repeating the detailed effort of creating a completely new
profile file to accommodate the change, you could use one of the
three utility choices in the "DEFINE a New Survey" option (Option
5 of the Action Menu or Option 1 of the Main Menu). These
editing options include:
■ An option to edit either the Report Title, a Response
Summary Statement or Choice Title of a
question in the existing survey profile file.
■ An option to add one or more questions to an existing
survey (Resulting in a new survey profile for a new
survey).
■ An option to delete a question from an existing survey.
(Resulting in a new survey profile file for a new
survey).
The first option could be used, for example, if you
decided that the text in one or more of the response summary
statements or choice titles could be improved or corrected. No
change in the survey questionnaire would be required since the
changes only affect the display of the survey results.
The last two options either add or delete an entire
question in a survey. Under these conditions new survey profile
and data files will be created. They will have a new root name.
Because the number of questions has been changed, any data
entered in the original survey can not be used with the new
profile or data file. In other words, you would have to start
entering data with a new questionnaire.
These last options have application where you want to
start a new survey very similar to one used previously, and you
want to avoid the trouble of creating a completely new profile
file. By using a new name, you would not change the original
profile and data file. If you selected the same name as a
previously created survey analysis, the former profile and data
file would be written over and would be no longer available.
29
UNUSUAL APPLICATIONS - SRVYADD
On occasion, there may be the need to combine two data
files created by SURVEY, using the same profile file and
questionnaire format. For example, a need to reduce data entry
time for a survey with many responses may suggest simultaneous
use of more than one operator entering data in separate
computers. This would create two or more data files which would
ultimately require combining in order to analyze the total of all
responses. The combination of data files can be performed in the
following manner by using the SRVYADD utility program included on
the distribution disk.
Since, in this situation, the data files are created with
identical profile files, presumably with the same name, the
corresponding data files will have the same root name with the
extension, ".DTA". Before the data files can be placed in the
same Drive/Directory of a single computer and added together, the
name of one of the files must be changed. The extension, ".DTA",
must be retained, however. The name change can be made with the
DOS "rename" command. Once the name of one of the files has been
changed it can be moved to the same directory holding the
original profile file, (filename.pro), and the data file with the
same root name, (filename.dta). The SRVYADD.EXE program should
also be on the same Drive/Directory. Remember the names of the
two data files. The usual precaution should be followed of making
backup copies of both data files and the profile file on another
Drive/Directory before proceeding.
To run the SRVYADD program, type "srvyadd"
(without quotes) and follow by pressing ENTER. Follow the
directions on the screen. You will be asked for the path to the
data and profile files. If all are on the same Drive/Directory,
just press ENTER. When asked, enter the name of the profile file.
Follow with the two names of the data files when prompted. As
noted earlier, both data files can not have the same name. Use
the original file name for the first entry and the new name for
the second.
The program will add the data in the SECOND file entered,
to the data in the FIRST file, and the resultant file will have
the name of the FIRST file. If the operation has been performed
correctly, the program will proceed to combine the data files.
The first file will be correspondingly enlarged.
The SRVYADD program has another application in situations
where it is desired to make an analysis by demographic
separation, (employees grouped by years of company service, for
example), plus an additional division into separate groups, (the
respondent's gender, for example). Since SURVEY accommodates only
one demographic question, the following procedure will go a long
30
way toward producing an analysis of another demographic grouping.
It permits the use of a second quasi-demographic question which
must also be in the single choice, Type A category. It can be
placed at any point in the questionnaire, although it is highly
recommended that it be placed last to simplify operation.
When the responses are received in this application, they
should be manually divided into separate groups, based on the
reply to the second, quasi-demographic Type A (gender?)
question. In this example, there are only two such groups.
Normally the profile file has been created and tested before the
survey was distributed. Before entering any reply data, a
duplicate profile file should be created with a different root
name, but with the same extension, ".PRO". This is done with the
DOS "copy" command, "copy filename.pro newfilename.pro". The
result is that you have two identical profile files with
different names. One has the original name, and the other is new.
The separate "gender" groups should then be entered in turn using
SURVEY, but with a different profile name for each group.
In starting this entry procedure, note that, when the
screen appears, asking for the name of the data file to access,
only the name of the original file will be displayed because the
second data file has not yet been created. The first group of
responses is entered using the original profile file name. When
all responses in this group have been entered, a report is
printed in the usual manner. Following this, the entry of the
second group of responses is begun using Action Menu Option 1.
When the request appears to enter the name of the data file for
the second group of replies, the new name should be typed even
though it does not initially appear at the top of the screen.
This name should be the same as the second profile file. After
entering the response data for each group, two data files and two
separate reports will have been produced. The demographic
separations will be printed separately in each gender group
report.
With the two groups analyzed, both data files should be
copied to another Drive/Directory for backup and future
reference. The SRVYADD program should then be run on the original
directory to combine the data files. Then, using the name of the
combined file, SURVEY should be run again and a report produced.
This time, it will produce an analysis of the total of all
responses, with demographic separations included. The result of
the complete procedure is to produce an analysis:
■ By gender (in this example), total and by demographic
subdivision
■ By total of each demographic group
■ By total of all responses
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While the example discussed involved only two quasi-
demographic groups (gender in this case), more than one can be
accommodated in the same manner.
Sampling Surveys
The total number of individuals in the population being
considered for an opinion survey usually determines whether an
attempt should be made to contact almost all members of this
population, or whether taking a sample is a more practical
procedure. Sampling, however, reduces both accuracy
(reliability) and confidence (raises risk). For a total
population of under one or two hundred, an attempt should be made
to obtain responses from most of the members in order to obtain
trustworthy results. The primary difficulty in getting good
results is obtaining a reasonably random and unbiased sample.
Typical objectives for a sampling survey are to obtain an
accuracy of plus or minus 5 percent with 95 percent confidence.
This means that if a truly random survey was made of the same
population 100 times (heaven forbid!), 95 percent of these
surveys would produce results which would not be different from a
survey of the entire population by more than 5 percent.
Some of the references in the following section provide
more detail on the statistics of sampling. As a practical
matter, however, for populations less than one or two hundred,
try to contact as many as possible. For populations in the order
of 500 and a truly random sample, you should contact at least
about 230 to reach the above objectives. For populations of
about 1000, try for about 280. A population of about 10,000
would require about 370 in the sample for the same objectives.
32
REFERENCES
The following books can provide more information on the
design and application of opinion surveys.
1. Converse, Jean M., Handcrafting the standardized
questionnaire Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA, 1986
2. Blankenship, Albert B., Professional telephone surveys
McGraw-Hill, New York 1977
3. Blankenship, Albert B., Consumer and opinion research
Arno Press, New York 1978
4. Oppenheim, Abraham Naftali, Questionnaire design and attitude
measurement Basic Books, New York 1966
5. Sonquist, John A., Survey and opinion research
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1977
6. Stephan, Frederick S., Sampling opinions; an analysis of
survey procedure Wiley, New York 1963
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