Questionnaire

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Questions


Via the list view, you can create the questions that are to appear on the new questionnaire page. Click the split button + New question directly or select “New question”.


Creating new questions

Please proceed as follows:

  • Alternatively, use “Import questions” to copy a specific question from an existing questionnaire.

  • If you want to re-use questions based on classic EFS question types, you may select the options “Paste from Word” or “Question library”.

  • Enter the question title. It is used for orientation when working in EFS, the survey

    participants cannot see it.

  • Select a fitting category first, then select the appropriate question type.

    • The preview displays screenshots of the selected question types.

    • Only in “Responsive layout” surveys: If you activate Dynamic, the question type will be displayed realistically. Click into it and you’ll see e.g. how the form elements behave.

    • Only in “Responsive layout” surveys: You may try what the selected question type will look like on mobile devices, tablet or desktop. Simply resize the width of your browser window: the dynamic question preview will adapt automatically.

  • Select the appropriate saving process:

    • Save will route you back to the list view and you can create the next question.

    • Save and edit will bring you to the detail view, where you can configure the new question.


Changing question properties

You can change the title and type of a question retrospectively

  • Changing the question title: Switch to the detail view. In the head section, you can change the title.

  • Only suitable for classic question types: Changing question type:

    • From EFS 10.3: Switch to the detail view and click on the Change question type icon.

    • Until EFS 10.2: Switch to the detail view and click on the Change question type tab.

Please note:

  • Various special settings cannot be transferred when changing the question type. For example, hiding conditions and type checks will be lost.

  • Question type 911 cannot be converted into any other question type.

  • For several of the more recent “Responsive layout” question types, conversion is not possible.


Copying or moving questions

Questions can be copied and/or from EFS 10.3 moved to other pages. To do so, in the questionnaire view or list view, click on the Copy icon of the desired question, select the target page and specify the desired action, i.e. “Copy” or “Move”.


Deleting questions

Questions already created can be removed by clicking on the Delete icon in the list view.


Editing Questions

If you wish to edit an existing question, simply click on its title in the list view.

In the detail view, which can contain different input fields and functions depending on the question type, you can enter your question text and answer options and configure all question-specific settings.

Using HTML in Questions

You can use HTML in the question text, fill-in instructions, help text and answer options to layout the text or to insert images.

You should use the option to manually format individual questions with care. Wherever possible, use the layout features of standard and pro editor instead: it increases uniform appearance and reduces the maintenance effort in case of changes.

Also, please be aware, that while it is possible to use any HTML tag in any part of the questionnaire, this not always leads to the desired outcome. Please test your surveys in different browsers and revert the HTML changes if any display errors occur.

In question types “(113) Single response list (scale above, wrapping)”, “(111) Single response list (horizontal)” with Text alignment set to Top in the Detail configuration and “(311) Accordion” with Control elements set to Bottom in the Detail configuration spaces around the tag might not be displayed correctly when using HTML tags in answer options. The answer option “I <b>don’t</b> agree” would, for example, be displayed as follows:

Idon’tagree

To solve this problem, just insert non-breaking spaces around the tag by using the code &nbsp;. Our example sentence should now be displayed correctly and would look like this:

I&nbsp;<b>don’t</b>&nbsp;agree.

For question type “(311) Accordion” you can also set the option Below under Control elements → Detail configuration to fully support HTML in answer options.


Paste from word

EFS allows you to paste several questions at once from such a draft into the questionnaire editor. To do so, you merely need to arrange the contents of your draft according to certain rules, in order for EFS to differentiate between question texts, answers and scale characteristics.

Please note: This import feature cannot be used for all question types. The drop-down list in the second dialog offers the question types which are permitted for the respective layout generation.


Formatting the draft

The questions must be formatted in the draft according to the following pattern:

Formatted Question

Question Element

Question Type to be generated

Formatted Question

Question Element

Question Type to be generated

How often do you use the following leisure information?

Question text

311

You can make several statements.

Fill-in instruction

 

Never - seldom - 1x a week - daily

Categories

 

Magazines

TV

Radio

Answers

 

 

Blank row to next question

 

Please state your area of employment.

Question text

111

 

Fill-in instruction (may be left blank)

 

 

Categories
(may be left blank)

 

Marketing

Training

Administration

Answers

 

 

Blank row to next question

 

How do you feel in your team?

Question text

340

 

Fill-in instruction

 

1- 2- 3- 4- 5

Categories

 

left - right

Answers

 


Pasting the draft texts

Please proceed as follows:

  1. In the page view, open the + New question split button and select the option “Paste from Word”. (Previously, the feature was accessed via a tab in the questionnaire view.)

  2. Highlight the questions in your draft file and right-click to save them to the cache. Then right-click on the question import input field and insert the questions.

  3. Then click on Next.

  4. In the next dialog, specify the question type.

  5. Use the “New page” column to determine whether the questions are to appear on one page or whether and where additional pages should be created.

  6. Confirm by clicking Save.


Pasting Batches of Answer and Scale Options

If you require a large number of answer options or scale options for a certain question, you can simply paste the whole batch from your draft document into EFS. All you need to do is simply copy out a block of options and paste it into the respective dialog.

Example:

Software

Consulting

The Company

Service

The answer or scale options are created automatically.


Particularities of specific question types

Please mind the following particularities of specific question types:

  • When mass-importing the answer options of a semantic differential, use a vertical line to separate the left- and right-hand pole texts. Example: left|right Example with code: 1;left|right

  • You can create answer options with your own alternative text and code for multimedia question types 511, 521 and 522; you must, however, upload and select the multimedia elements manually.


Formatting the draft

The desired options are listed one below the other.

Software

Consulting

The company

Service

Each row in the input field is interpreted as an answer option. During import, the options are automatically numbered and encoded.

Optionally, you can specify the codes yourself. To do so, enter the desired code before each answer option, using a semicolon as the separator:

1;Software

2;Consulting

3;The company

4;Service


Pasting the draft texts

Please proceed as follows:

  1. Open the question view.

  2. Click on the Paste from Word button in the “Answers” section (or “Scale” resp.).

  3. The input dialog will be displayed directly in the question view.

  4. Enter the options as explained above. Each option must be entered in a separate row.

  5. Trigger the creation by clicking on the Paste from Word button.

  6. The imported options will be listed in the “New” section. Check the data, and make any necessary changes. If you wish to manually add more options, click on the [+] icon to open additional “New” rows.

  7. Confirm by clicking on Save. The options are now finally created.

  8. Finally, delete all the default options you do not need.


Import questions

The feature Import questions can be invoked via the split button + Question in the list view.


Question library

You can use the question library to reduce tiresome routine operations. It is located in the LibrariesQuestion library menu, but can also be accessed from the questionnaire editor. It can be used to store frequently used questions for insertion in other projects in the installation later on.

  • The library category structure allows you to arrange the questions entered, e.g. according to projects of topics, in order to improve clarity.

  • The external variable names are stored in the library. When loading the archived questions into a questionnaire, the system ensures uniqueness of the variable names: If a variable name does already exist, a prefix “dupl1_”, “dupl2_”... will be inserted.

Please note: The question library does not support “Responsive Layout” question types. Please use page import instead


The Question Library Structure

Invoking the question library in the Libraries menu will take you to the Overview tab. The so-called category tree is displayed on the left-hand side of this tab, the contents of the currently opened category are displayed on the right-hand side.

  • The category tree displays the question library structure. The category system is similar to the file tree on a hard disk with main directories and subdirectories. Here, categories correspond to folders.

    • The main directory in an empty library is called “root”. Below “root” you can create main categories, which in turn can be followed by specific subcategories.

    • A flashing red cursor at the right-hand side displays the category you are currently in.

  • To the right of the overview, the “Content of the category” table displays the questions in the opened categories.


Working with the Question Library

The following section will illustrate the executable actions in connection with the question library:

  • Adding a question to the library

  • Loading a question from the library into a questionnaire

  • Moving and deleting questions

  • Using categories for organizing

  • Deleting categories

  • Assigning access rights for library categories


Adding a question to the library

  1. To add a question to the library, switch to the Questionnaire editor. Select the page which contains the question you wish to add to the library.

  2. Select the question you wish to add to the library.

  3. Click on Add to library in the editor.

  4. The question library will open.

  5. Select the category in which the question is to be filed. The question will be copied into the library automatically.


Loading a question from the library into the questionnaire

  1. To add a question from the library into a questionnaire, switch to the Questionnaire editor.

  2. In the editor, choose the page into which you wish to insert the question.

  3. Select + QuestionQuestion library.

  4. In the library, you can search for and select the desired question in the individual categories.

  5. Tick the checkboxes of the questions you wish to incorporate into the questionnaire page.

  6. Confirm by clicking on Choose.

  7. The selected questions will be inserted into your questionnaire.


Moving and deleting questions

In addition to choosing questions for insertion into a project, you can perform several other useful functions by clicking on the icons in the “Actions” column:

  • Checkbox: This function allows you to choose a question, as described in the pre-

    vious paragraph.

  • Move: This function allows you to move a question into another category.

  • Delete: Clicking on this icon will delete the selected question.

  • Copy: This function allows you to copy a question into a category of your choice.


Using categories for organizing

  1. You can access the question library either from the questionnaire editor or via Libraries->Question library.

  2. Use the category tree to locate the new category. To create main categories, click on the root folder. To create subfolders, click on the respective main folder.

  3. Click on the Add category tab.

  4. Give your category a name.

  5. Click on Add category.


Deleting categories

  1. Select the category you wish to delete from the category tree.

  2. Click on the Delete category tab.

  3. A dialog containing a warning message will open. Clicking on OK in the dialog will delete the category.


Assigning access rights for library categories

It is possible to assign different access rights for the various main categories in the library to the user teams in an EFS installation. To do so, please proceed as follows:

  1. Select the respective main categories.

  2. Click on the Folder rights tab.

  3. The object rights dialog is opened. Assign “read” and / or “write” rights to the appropriate teams.

  4. Confirm your selection by clicking on Change rights.


Properties


Standard pages are configured in the Properties submenu. To open it, click on the page title in the questionnaire view, then select the submenu.


Standard Pages

Standard pages are configured in the Properties submenu. To open it, from EFS 10.2 click on the page title in the questionnaire view, then select the submenu. The table provides an overview. The page properties are explained in detail in the following chapters.

Property

Explanation

Property

Explanation

Only in projects with classic system layout: Layout width and height

The breadth and the width of the layout can be modified for a particular page.

If you want the layout on a certain page to be particularly narrow, you can, forexample, enter the number “100” (for 100 pixels) in this field. On the next page, the questionnaire’s layout will then revert to the standard width.

Layout template for page

This option allows to specify a dedicated main template for the current page.

  • If nothing is selected, for standard pages the template “main.tpl” will be used as usual, for mixed-external pages the template “mixedextern.tpl” will be used.

  • The option is available for standard pages and mixed-external pages.

Layout template for displaying questions

This option allows to modify the positioning of the questions on the current page via a dedicated template. In the long