Transferring Data

Survey data (the respondents’ answers to the questions in the surveys) can be exported from and imported to Forsta surveys. It is possible to export response data to Triple-S, SPSS, MS Excel, Quantum, SAS and ASCII files. Data can be imported from ASCII tab-delimited files, Excel and Triple-S XML.

Important
If a survey has loops and you wish to import data to the survey then you can only import Separate Files; Single Files cannot be imported. So if you are planning to import data to a survey with loops, then you must choose the Separate File export option. For example if you wish to perform data cleaning, you must export the data to Separate File, clean the data, then import the Separate file.

The files will use the variable names that are used in the database, based on the question Ids. The table below explains the variable names and contents of the files, except for the “Export Codes as labels” which exports answer texts instead of codes .

Single	One column with a tag identical to question id, and with answer codes as contents.
Open Text	One column with a tag identical to question ID, and the answer text as the content.
Multi	One column per answer alternative. Tag is equal to question id_code of the answer alternative. Contents are either 0 (not selected) or 1 (selected).
Grid	A column for each sub question (answers). Tag is equal to: question id_code of the answer alternative. Contents are the codes of Scales.
Other	“Other: specify” in single, multi or grid questions is represented in data files in the following way: Tag is equal to question id_code_other. Contents will be the answer text.
Numeric	One column with a tag identical to question ID, and the answer value as the content.
Date	One column with a tag identical to question ID, and the date value as the content.
Ranking	One column per answer alternative. Tag is equal to question id_code of the answer alternative. Contents will be the position number of the answer in the list.
Open Text List	One column per answer alternative. Tag is equal to question id_code of the answer alternative. Contents will be the entered text.
Numeric List	One column per answer alternative. Tag is equal to question id_code of the answer alternative. Contents will be the entered values.

All exports will be sent as compressed files with .zip extension ("zipped") and may be extracted by using standard software such as WinZip®. You can also order MS PowerPoint® and MS Excel® exports of your reports, and MS Word® exports of the Survey (go to Exporting a Survey to Word for more information).

Important
If a survey data export or import task is to be recurring, it must be set to recurring before it is executed for the first time (set start time to "Schedule for later execution" and on next page set it to recurring).