Conducting an Ascribe Schema Export

The Ascribe™ schema export will result in a CXML file with Survey and codebook definitions, and response data. To perform an Ascribe™ export:

1. Go to the Survey Data > Coding > Ascribe™ Export menu command.

The Ascribe™ Export Properties overlay opens - .



Figure 1 - The Ascribe™ Export Properties page

The export will be performed on the active database. Switch between test and production using the global switch in the lower-right corner of the window. The properties in the page are as follows:

• Survey ID - the identification number for the current survey.
• Active Database - the currently selected database (Production or Test).
• Language - the Survey texts and code books in the XML file will be included in the language you select.
• Questions- select one of the options to specify which questions with code books are to be included in the export. The options are:
• All - the entire Survey.
• Only opentext - includes open text questions, other specify options in answer lists and multis with the open-text property.
• Only coded opentext - includes only questions that have been set up to be coded, i.e. open text questions that are referred in the "Coding of" property of a multi question that is set up as an "Open text coding" - . See the figure below.



Figure 2 - The Opentext coding properties

• Variable selection (Triple-S template) - - when this option is selected, a further field appears where you select the template to be used. The template allows you to select a list of variables that are to be included in the Ascribe schema export. For example, if you have 200 variables in the survey and you want to export only 20 of them, this allows you to select just those.

Open text questions that are referred as "Coding of" in a multi, as in the figure above, will have the answer list of the multi provided as the codebook for the open text. Otherwise, the codebook for the open texts will be empty. When exporting the entire Survey ("all"), the codebook of closed questions (singles, grids, multis) will be their answer list.

Note: If the survey is set to use the Optimized database format, questions with loop references will not be included in the export.

• File transfer - select the transfer method to be used. If your company has licensed the FTP add-on (go to Data Transfer Encryption and FTP for more information), then the options available to you will be Email or FTP. If the FTP add-on is not licensed, then only Email will be available.
• Email - if Email is selected, the Recipient Email field appears where you specify the address to which the email is to be sent.
• File name - if FTP is selected, then the File Name field appears. Here you specify the file name of the file to be transferred to the FTP site.
• Comment - type in a free-text comment as required.
• Start time - the export will run as a batch task. As with all other Authoring batch tasks, you can choose between instantly sending it to the batch queue (ASAP), or to schedule it for later execution.
2. Make the appropriate settings and click OK.

The Ascribe™ Export task is run. On completion, if Email transmission is selected, an email with the zipped export file attached is sent to the specified address. If FTP is set up and selected, then the zipped file is placed on that FTP site.