Grid Mode

Grid mode - can be used when the quota consists of single questions only. This mode gives a compressed layout similar to a cross-table, with one question presented in the rows and the other questions nested in the columns. You select which question is to be in the rows in the Settings tab (see below). Grid mode is recommended when you have quotas consisting of only a few questions, and you wish to define targets for all or nearly all combinations of responses to those questions.

Important
If you add a custom total, the quota will check against the number of completes regardless of whether or not the single questions have been answered. So the custom total in Grid mode will only make sense if the quota contains single questions that store a value for all respondents.
This is because a custom total will automatically generate an 'Any' limit (if you switch to list mode you can see this limit). [Any] is more applicable to multi questions, and [Any] quota limits are incremented for any answer, even for blank. So if you have a quota limit with [Any] fields, it will merely count interview completes irrespective of whether the questions are answered or left blank.

Figure 1 - Example of a Grid mode table

For system performance reasons, a limit on the maximum number of cells in the quota grid is enforced. This limit is configurable at server level, and the default for this is 500 cells. To reduce the number of cells, you can hide or mask answer alternatives that are not used for quota targets (go to Hiding Unwanted Answer Alternatives for more information). If this method will not reduce the number of cells below the limit, consider using List mode instead (go to List Mode for more information).

Examples of Quotas using the Grid Mode

The grid mode displays the quota definition in a table, with questions on which the quota are to be based, located in the rows and columns. The various quota targets and counts are presented between the questions' answer alternatives. The three examples shownhere below illustrate the quota grid for a quota based on one single question, a quota based on two single questions, and a quota based on three single questions.

The targets (black text on white background) are in editable cells. These are the values you type in to define the quota limits. The cells are not "required", so you do not have to input values in all the cells. You can define quotas for only some of the answers (or some combinations of answers in multidimensional quotas) if desired. If a cell is left blank there will be no quota for that cell.

The green numbers to the right of each target indicate the counts (the number of complete responses received so far). To hide the Counts, click the Hide Counters button above the table. If you wish to show the amount remaining to reach the target for each quota cell, click Show Remaining Count.

This figure - shows the quota grid for a quota with one question:

Figure 2 - Quota based on one question

In the above example, the user requires a total of 200 responses evenly divided between the five age groups. Some respondents have already replied to the Survey; for example the user has received two replies in the 51 to 67 age group.

This figure - shows an example with two questions in the quota:

Figure 3 - Quota with two questions

In the above example the responses are to be divided "manually" both by age group and gender. The user has defined individual scores for each cell (black figures), and these have been added automatically by Reportal to give the totals (blue figures). For example, in the 51 to 67 age group the user wants replies from 25 male and 25 female respondents.

This figure - shows an example of a quota based on three questions:

Figure 4 - Example of a quota with three questions

Here, the user wants a total of 250 responses, specified by age group, gender and task.

Settings

In the Grid mode's Settings tab, you can select the question that is to be used in rows. If you have more than two questions, you can also control the nesting order in the columns (which question is nested on top of which) - .

Note: Changes to quota attributes, such as the quota name, row header, column ordering etc. can only be made whilst in the Production database. When in the Test database you can only change the quota limits; all other quota functionality is disabled.

Figure 5 - Row selection and column header ordering

The fields are as follows:

• Quota Name - the name of the quota as used in the Survey tree. Here you can change the name of the quota as required.
• Quota Full Email - the address to which the notification email will be send when the quota is filled (go to Email Alert on Full Quota for more information).
• Row Header - click the down-arrow to open a drop-down list of the questions selected for the quota, and select the question you wish to use in the rows. The remaining questions will be listed automatically in the Column header ordering field.
• Column Header Ordering - all questions that are selected for the quota that are not selected to be in the rows, will be listed here. Click on a question and click one of the green arrow buttons to the right of the field to change the nesting order for the questions.

In the event the CATI Survey option is checked in the Survey Settings > Survey Channels tab, then two additional options become available below the Column Header Ordering field:

• Display Quota in CATI Supervisor - when enabled, this quota will be available for CATI Supervisors to manage from the survey view. Enabling this option will result in the “Available as CATI filter” property being enabled for all questions used in this quota.
• CATI Delivery when Quota Not Full - when enabled, CATI interviews will automatically be removed from the CATI call list and be given an extended status value of 27 (Filtered by call delivery) when the quota cell they fall into is full. The only exception is interviews with the extend status value of 1 (appointment); these will remain in the call list.