Survey Objects

Chart Object

The Chart object can be used in all surveys that use Survey Layouts (go to About Survey Layouts for more information), and it is also used as the "results presentation mode" in Poll surveys (go to Poll Surveys for more information). The Chart object provides simple reporting of results on a specified question, and is ideal for use where you need "instant" feedback to the respondent. Single, Multi and Grid questions are supported.

Note: A Chart object can show a maximum of 50 categories. That is, you cannot base a chart on a question that has more than 50 answer alternatives.
Also, you cannot link from a chart to a question placed inside a loop.

Important
If you add a chart to your survey and you also wish to enable the "Create database row only after first page submission" option in the Web Options tab (go to Web Options for more information), ensure there is something interactive before the chart otherwise the chart can display double results.

When you create a Poll, a chart object is automatically included on the second page of the Poll survey. For other surveys you can add a chart object in the normal manner. Double-click on the Chart object in the Survey Tree toolbox to open the Question Details page for the chart - .

Figure 1 - The Question Details page > Text tab for an HTML Chart object

• Chart ID - the question ID for the object. By default this will be "Chart" followed by a digit denoting the creation-number of the object.
• Chart engine - the application used to generate the chart. The Chart object can currently render two chart engines:

• HTML - (default) only bar charts can be rendered.
• Google Chart - bar, column, pie and line charts can be rendered.

Important
If you select the Google Charts engine your data will be sent to the Google processor, where the chart will be created and returned. Forsta has no control over the Google Charts functionality, and can therefore not guarantee that the engine will be available at any particular time, nor that it will function as expected.

• Chart type - if you select Google Chart as the chart engine then you can select the type of chart that is created.
• Chart Source - the source of the data from which the chart is to be created. Click the down-arrow and select the question you wish to use from the list of Single, Multi and Grid questions in the Survey.
• Use question text - check to use the text from the question in the chart. All the text fields on the chart object will then be disabled, and when the survey is generated the texts are copied over from the data source. Default is checked when creating a new poll, unchecked for a chart in a standard survey.

The Title and Text fields allow you to add text to the chart. A set of fields will be presented for each language selected.

Note that the Chart object has an additional button in the toolbar - Recalculate All. Use this button to recalculate the chart data, for example when answers are added, removed or changed, or respondents are uploaded. The button will only be enabled after the survey is launched with the chart node present.

The Preview tab displays a preview of the chart created using pseudo-random data, and the Language tab allows you to select which language fields are to be displayed.

Note: The Preview page presents a set of pseudo-random data so that you can see how the chart will look to the viewer.

Telephony Object

If a survey has the CATI Survey option enabled, an additional object becomes available that can be added to the Survey - Telephony. This object is used to control the transmission of the dialing commands to the CATI console for dialing in CATI-enabled surveys. Double-click on the object in the Survey Tree to open its Details page - .

Figure 2 - The Telephony object's Details page

When used in Authoring, this object can have one of three command settings:

• Dial - causes the system to issue a telephone number dial command. The Telephone Variable drop-down is available.
• Hang up - causes the system to hang up the existing respondent telephone number.
• Allow/Ignore dialing - specifies whether or not the dial/hang up commands should be active (used when going back through the survey)

All values can have a label allocated to them. This label is then shown in the Survey tree.

When Dial is selected, additional (optional) text (which can include data substitution) can be supplied. This text will be displayed on the CATI interviewer console when dialing is in progress (when dialing in Preview mode (go to CATI Options for more information). The open text variable corresponding to the respondents telephone number is also supplied.

When this command type is selected, Allow/Ignore can be enabled via a checkbox. If it is disabled (the box is NOT selected), then when the interviewer passes the next Dial/Hang up telephony command in the Survey, the console will not perform the command. This option will be useful if the interviewer needs to move backwards through the Survey - there is no point in trying to dial the number if it is already connected.

Page Object

The Page object enables randomization and rotation of simple elements (questions) within a page, and enables you to specify themes and/or page layouts for specific pages. Objects that will cause a page break, for example conditions, loops and blocks, are not allowed within a Page. You can also use dynamic answers within pages, enabling parts of the page to be updated based on responses to one or more questions on the same page (go to About Dynamic Questions for more information).

Pages can be used inside Blocks. Pages can also be used in combination with Question masking if there are some questions that are to be displayed only under certain conditions.

To insert a page in your Survey:

1. Drag a Page object from the New Objects toolbox and drop it into the Survey tree.
2. Insert into the Page folder the questions you want to rotate or to randomize.

To edit the page item, double-click it or right-click it and choose Edit from the menu. The editor page opens - .

Figure 3 - Setting up a Page object

• Name - the name of the page object. This name appears in the Survey tree. You can rename the page object as required.
• Order - the order in which the elements in the page are to appear. The options are: In Order, Randomized, or Rotated.
• Theme - select the theme to be used for this page. If no theme is selected, the default theme for the Survey is used.
• Page layout - select the page layout to be used for this page. If no layout is specified, the default layout for the Survey is used.
• Force desktop rendering - if the survey is set to allow Touch rendering on iPhone or Android phone, check the box to override Touch rendering for the contents of just this page. This applies to Touch (iPhone or Android phone) only; generic rendering is still generic rendering.

Note: You may have created some very customized pages/questions, for example through client-side scripting or Flex Question Extensions, which would not be included in Touch (iPhone/Android) rendering. In this case, rather than turning off the Touch functionality for the entire survey to allow such customized pages/questions to use normal rendering (with customizations) on Touch mobiles, you can turn off Touch for the specific page. On the following page, the survey will revert back to Touch rendering again if an iPhone or Android phone is in use.

• Deleted - when you delete an object from the Survey tree it is not permanently deleted but the “deleted” flag is set. If you turn on Show deleted nodes, you can undelete the object by unchecking this flag.