In the result files you often find values like 0, 1, -99, NULL. But what do these values mean and how can you read the raw data of the different questions the results files?
When the results file is opened in Excel, there are columns (see below example table). Each column refers to an answer.
Example:
V1_A1 refers to question 1, answer 1 V1_A2 refers to question 1, answer 2 etc.
Column order and open answer fields
For certain question types (single-response question, multi-response question, multi-level question and all table question types) it is possible to give the respondent an open answer have it filled in by setting the answer type to "open", "memo" or "story". This is mainly used with "other, namely" answers. Open answer can be recognized by “OPEN” in the column name. In the table below an example of a number of columns in a results file.
Standard format of -99 and NULL values
Respondents with the value "NULL" for a particular answer will not have an answer given. An example of this is when the respondent has an open answer field has been left empty. On the other hand, respondents can have the value -99. In this case the question was not presented. This can come, for example when jumps are included in a questionnaire or when there is routing based on conditions.
Notation of panel questions
Registration forms can be linked to a survey when working with a panel. The variables of the registration form are included in the data files. For example: age and place of residence. In the files these variables are denoted by a PV (which stands for panel variable).
The hotspot question
The hotspot question consists of a number of elements:
- Answers (eg positive and negative judgments) with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 10
- Possible explanation per answer category given
- X coordinate per answer given
- Y coordinate per answer given
The column order corresponds to other questions: answer first, followed by the accompanying notes. Then the corresponding X and Y coordinates shown. The hotspot always shows the maximum possible answers that has been set. For example, if the maximum number of answers is set to 2, this may look like the table below. Three situations have been worked out:
- Question submitted and answered
- Question submitted and not answered
- Question not submitted
Note: the X and Y coordinates are based on the number of pixels in the image that's loaded into the hotspot question.
