Changing the answer to a question

This topic explains how to change the answers to different types of questions when conducting a review. In addition to multiple-choice questions, you might also see questions that require numeric, text, date/time, or boolean (“yes” or “no”) answers.

When the question is followed by a list of answers, you must choose the answer from the list. Some questions require that only one answer is selected from the list whereas other questions allow more than one answer to be selected. The way in which you make the selection depends on whether the interview can be conducted using the keyboard only or whether the mouse must be used as well.

▪For interviews that require the keyboard only: All the answers in the list are numbered. If only one answer can be selected from the list, the numbers will be enclosed in parentheses, for example, ( 3 ). If more than one answer can be selected, the numbers will be enclosed in brackets, for example, [ 3 ]. To select an answer, press the appropriate number key. To select multiple answers, press the number keys in any order. The answer or answers that you select will be highlighted in the question.

▪For interviews that use the mouse: If only one answer can be selected from the list, a radio button is displayed next to each answer. If more than one answer can be selected, a check box is displayed next to each answer. To select an answer, click the radio button or check box.

To cancel a single-choice answer, select a different answer. To cancel a multiple-choice answer, select the same answer again.

▪Some multiple-choice questions that allow multiple answers might include answers that are shown in bold text. These answers cannot be combined with any other answer in the list.

▪If the list contains an answer called “Other” followed by a text box, first select the answer and then type the words in the text box. For interviews that require the keyboard only, the cursor will automatically move to the text box when you select the answer.

▪If the response list is shown as a grid of single-choice or multiple-choice answers, you must select an answer for each question in the grid. Usually, the questions are the rows of the grid and the answers are the columns, but this is not always so.

Questions that have numeric answers can be set up to accept only whole numbers or only real (decimal) numbers. If the question requires a real response, you must always enter a decimal point and at least one decimal place even if the answer is a whole number.

Questions that have numeric answers might specify a range of valid answers, and will reject answers outside of this range.

Questions with text answers display a box of about six lines in which the participant’s words have been entered. When amending the text, there is no need to press Return or Enter at the end of each line.

Date questions might accept an answer in several different formats, for example, mm/dd/yy, or dd/mm/yy, or dd-mmm-yyyy. To ensure that the answer that you enter is unambiguous, use the dd-mmm-yyyy format, for example, 01-Jan-2000. Time questions will normally require an answer in an hh:mm or hh:mm:ss format. Sometimes, a question might require a date/time answer, such as 01-Jan-2000 22:30:00.

Like numeric questions, date, time, and date/time questions might require an answer within a certain range.

Boolean questions require participants to answer by saying “yes” or “no”, or “true” or “false”. For some boolean questions, you have to select from one of two options, for example, “Yes, wants to subscribe” and “No, doesn’t want to subscribe”. For other boolean questions, there might be just a single option that you should select if the participant says “yes” or “true”. To select an answer to a boolean question, use one of the following methods:

▪For interviews that require the keyboard only: If two answers are shown, press the number key (either 1 or 2) that corresponds to the answer. If only one answer is shown, press 1 only if the participant answers “yes” or “true”.

▪For interviews that use the mouse: If the answer consists of two radio buttons, click the appropriate radio button. If the answer consists of a single check box, click the check box only if the participant answers “yes” or “true”.

Sometimes, a numeric, text, date/time, or boolean question might include one or more special responses that you can select when the participant cannot or does not want to answer the question. For example, you might be able to select a special response that says “Don’t know” or “Refuse to answer”. To select a special response, use one of the following methods:

▪For interviews that require the keyboard only: Press the keyboard shortcut that is shown next to the special response; that is, Ctrl+1 for the first special response in the list, Ctrl+2 for the second, and so on.

▪For interviews that use the mouse: Click the appropriate check box.

Your answer will usually be rejected if you select a special response in addition to entering an answer, or if you select more than one special response.