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When this checkbox is selected, the codes and answers for single questions in the respondent file are validated. The validation process will first check if the value specified in the file exists as a code. If it does, the record will be uploaded. If it does not exist, the validation process will check if the value is specified as an answer label in the Single question. If so, the label will be converted to the code specified in the Single question and stored as such.
If this validation process fails, the record will be rejected and a notification email with the rejected records will be sent to the user.
Example 1:
A survey contains one background variable. The Single question “City” contains the following answers:
- “London”, with Code = 1
- “San Francisco”, with Code = 2
- “Oslo”, with Code = 3
The respondent file looks like:
City
1
2
3
4
In the first step the validation checks if the values specified in the file exist as codes, in the second step if they exist as answer labels. As “4” does not exist as a code or a label, it will be rejected and a notification email with the rejected records sent to the user.
Example 2:
The respondent file contains the answer labels as follows:
City
London
San Francisco
Moscow
In the first step the validation checks if the values specified in the file exist as codes, in the second step if they exist as answer labels. As “Moscow” does not exist as a code or a label, it will be rejected and a notification email with the rejected records sent to the user.
Example 3:
A survey contains two background variables; the single question “City” and the single question “Region”. The single question “Region” contains the following answers:
- EMA, with code = 1
- US, with code = 2
The respondent file contains a mixture of labels and codes; “City” has the labels and “Region” has the codes as specified below:
| City | Region |
| London | 1 |
| San Francisco | 3 |
| Moscow | 1 |
The validation will process this exactly as outlined in the previous examples. In the first step the validation checks if the values specified in the file exist as codes, in the second step if they exist as answer labels. As Region ‘3’ and City “Moscow” do not exist as a code or a label, both records will be rejected and a notification email with the rejected records will be sent to the user.
Note: Be aware that only “Normal answerlist” as answers in the Single questions is supported. When answers are retrieved by a “Table lookup” or “Hierarchy lookup” in Database Designer, the validation setting will be ignored.