Enter a few words describing the general topic of this survey question. Your topic phrase is also used for identifying questions for the analysis. It is also used as a column heading for the cross-tabulation survey analysis and for survey chart titles (Professional version).

If the question text is short (less than 30 characters), and a question topic has not been entered, the question text will be inserted automatically as the topic phrase when the questions are saved.

A keyword phrase provides a way to select a group of related questions for analysis. If you only wanted to print the survey analysis to some of the questions, enter the same code for each selected question, and use the Analysis Menu - Keyword Match selection. If the word 'REMOVE' is entered for the keyword phrase, the analysis of that question will not be included on any report from any of the analysis menu selections. This can be useful to remove personal information from final reports.

If the survey question uses a .wav sound file, that file name is displayed in the edit box. Clicking the button on the right end of the edit box displays a dialog to display sound files. If a sound file is selected, it is also copied to the project folder. The sound file also needs to be uploaded to the same folder as the web survey file. Usually a graphic is included with the survey question indicating the respondent should click on the graphic to play the .wav sound file.

The filename displayed in the edit box can be tested by clicking this button.

If checked the question can be required. On the web survey, the word Required is displayed. If Javascript is enabled, the web browser will verify a response for the question. Some question types can not be required. Multiple Choice, Multiple Choice-Other, Ranking, 3-Column Compare, and Numerical entry questions can not be required.

The Group Heading is a general set of instructions printed before a group of questions. This heading only needs to be included with the first question of each group. An example would be something like "For the next 6 questions, please indicate ..."

Additional text can be displayed below the group heading. Clicking the button on the right end of the edit box displays a dialog to display text files. If a text file is selected, it is also copied to the project folder. The text from the text file is inserted below the Group Heading on the web survey, recreated email survey, printed survey, and HTML reports. This text is not included on analysis reports. Simple HTML codes can be included in the text lines of this file.

The Question Skip Instructions can be printed after the question choices to tell the survey taker to skip to another question, or to provide any additional information. The checkbox can be unchecked so these instructions are not printed on the Analysis Reports.

Some survey question types allow Column Headings. The question type determines the number of available columns. These column labels will be displayed when entering survey responses, and included on the survey analysis and survey charts. Generic column labels can be used for the 3 and 5 Column Array and Numeric question types. Rating Scales are described in more detail on another part of this manual.

Normally survey questions are number 1 to 100. An alternative might be to divide the survey into different groups with appropriate group headings, and number the questions 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, etc.

The Question Type determines which edit boxes and numerical spinners are enabled. If the edit box or numerical spinner is enabled, you have the option to enter or change the displayed value.

Maximum Text applies to the other text in a Single Choice(Other), Multiple Choice(Other), and type Open Text questions. The default length is 40 characters, with a maximum of 240 characters. To save file space, you should change the length to a smaller number before any responses are saved. For example, a zip code or postal code length of 10 should be applicable most of the time. Shorter lengths allow for faster searching, and the file takes up less space on your hard disk.

Single Choice Other and Multiple Choice/Other question types allow room for the respondent to enter text if one of the displayed choices is not selected. By default, this edit box is labeled Other: If left blank, Other (or the foreign translation) will be used on reports. If filled in, your text will be used in place of the word 'other'.

WISCO Survey includes the option to treat Text entered as Other as either a question choice or as a comment. If the check box on the Design Menu - Edit Questions - Option/Value tab is marked, the Other text is treated as a comment, and will not be included in the calculations or charts.

Single Choice questions are commonly used on tests. The correct or preferred Letter Choice is entered in the edit box, and saved with the question. Nothing is displayed on a regular survey to indicate the correct or preferred choice. When the analyzed report of each of the questions is displayed, an asterisk would be displayed by the correct answer, counts or percentage.

The 3-Column and 5-Column Array question types can be configured to accept only one response per row, only one response per column, or no limit on the number of responses per row or column. The drop down box allows you to select check boxes, one choice per row, or one choice per column. When check boxes are selected, no limitation is placed on the number of check boxes that can be marked.

Your question could provide a list of items to rank. Ranking more than the top 3 items usually results in careless selections. It is best to have the respondent select the highest 3 ranks, and then let the software calculate the final rankings (importance) from all selections and respondents. A Numeric Rank question ranks the item with the highest ranking 1. The numerical spinner would be set to 3 to rank the 3 highest items. Respondent values greater than the maximum value are ignored in the calculations.

Importance is determined by the rank of the item and the number of respondents selecting an item and rank. From a list of items, a respondents ranks items, first, second, third, etc. Importance is calculated by assigning points to the rank for each item, with the highest ranking item receiving the highest number of points. For each respondent, a first place rank is assigned the maximum number of points, second place is assigned (Maximum-1), third place is assigned (Maximum-2), etc. Then the points are added to calculate the importance. The formula used for the Importance Percentage = (Max-Average)*(100/(Max-1)).

Rating Scale survey questions (4 Single scale, and 5,17 Multi-scale) question can have 'No Response' as a choice on the printed and web surveys. Sometimes a better label may be Don't Know, N/A, or Do Not Use. If the check box is marked to include 'No Response' as an option, this text will be substituted for 'No Response' (or one of the foreign language translations). If the term 'REMOVE' was substituted for No Response on the Options/Values tab, the extra radio button will not be used for this question.

The Base Year is set on the Design Menu - Preferences Selection - Program Settings tab. The Maximum year can be set to help limit a respondent from entering bad data.

Semantic Differential Scales can range from -5 to +5 down to -1 to +1. Enter the Maximum positive value the scale will use.

If the survey question requires a numerical answer, the maximum value of the response can be set. If you wanted to limit scale answers to 1, 2, and 3, you could enter 3 as the maximum value. The Numeric Entry, Numeric Group, and 3-Column Numeric question types can use the numeric spinner to set the number of decimal places. Other numeric questions require integers.

Each text choice can have two ratings, one for each group, for each Two-Group Multiple Scale question (question type 6). These group labels are used with reports and charts. Each group uses 5 scale values.

Graphics can be included with each survey question. A graphic can help emphasize the purpose of the survey question. The graphic is displayed next to the question text. The HTML code to include the graphic is added using the information from this screen when the HTML web survey is created. A graphic can be displayed at the very top of the survey, for example a company logo, by adding the information to the Design Menu - Preferences Selection - Web Survey Logo (Pro) tab.

The pixel height and width of the web survey graphic is entered here. If left blank, the dimensions are not included in the HTML web survey. This causes a slower display on the HTML web survey.

If checked, the web survey graphic is placed to the right of the question text. If unchecked the graphic is placed to the left of the question text.

The filename of the graphic should be exactly as needed to be displayed on your web server. Uppercase and lowercase letters must match when a Unix server is used for the web survey. The file must also be uploaded to the same folder on your web site as the HTML survey.

Locate the graphic, and click on the graphic filename. The BMP, GIF, JPG, or PNG graphic will be displayed on the right side of the screen.