The Metadata Model to Quantum window resembles a spreadsheet. Each variable (VariableInstance object) in the questionnaire definition is displayed on a separate row. Variables store the responses to the questions in the questionnaire. Generally each question has a corresponding variable. In fact, a question and its corresponding variable are one entity within the questionnaire definition, and so share the same name. However, some questions have more than one associated variable. For example, the responses to each subquestion in a grid question are stored in a separate variable and the responses entered in each cell of a numeric grid question are stored in a separate numeric variable. And a categorical question with an Other Specify category generally has two or more helper variables, one for the open-ended responses, and one for the coded responses. Sometimes there is also a third helper variable that is used to store the name of the file that contains an image of the scanned response. These variables are called source file variables and typically have the name SourceFile.

Variables appear dimmed when they are to be excluded from the Quantum specification. You can define which variables are to be included and which are to be excluded in the Quantum Variable Selection dialog. For more information, see Quantum Variable Selection. When you open a questionnaire definition for the first time in Metadata Model to Quantum, the Quantum variable selection rules are used to define which variables are to be excluded. For more information, see Quantum Variable Selection Rules.

By default the System variables are shown at the end of the list. However, if you select the option to allocate system variables at the beginning, they will be shown first. Which system variables are used to store data depends on how you are collecting the data. For example, when you collect data using UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer, the system variables automatically record various details about the interview, such as its start and end time. But when you collect data using UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper, generally the only system variable that is used is the serial number. Note that the serial number system variable (Respondent.Serial or any other variable selected as the serial variable in the Select Serial Variable dialog) is not shown because it is recorded in the serialfield on every card. For more information, see Card and Column preferences.

The top of the window (between the toolbar and the list of variables) displays the system settings in the document, including the columns assigned to the serial and card number fields, the card length, the punch mask, and the version or version selection you are using. Note that this information is updated only when you run Allocate Cols and Punches.

An abbreviated version of the full name of the variable.

The variable's description. Typically variables have several descriptions for use in different environments or contexts. You can choose the context and language for the labels on the General tab in the Preferences dialog. For more information, see General preferences.

The number of categories in a categorical variable. For text and numeric variables, this is always zero.

The UNICOM Intelligence Data Model variable type. This can be:

This generally shows the combined card and column number of the first column used to store data for this variable when it is exported to Quantum. For example, 134 represents column 34 on card 1, and 211 represents column 11 on card 2. However, if you are using one card of unlimited length, this shows the column number.

The total number of columns allocated to this variable.

If an error has been detected for this variable, this column displays one or more error codes and the column heading shows a question mark (?). However, note that Metadata Model to Quantum checks the definitions only when you run the Check Cols and Punches (see Checking the card, column, and punch definitions, Export Quantum Specification, and Export Data Map ( see Using the Data Map) commands. This means that Metadata Model to Quantum does not display an error if you have manually allocated any invalid or overlapping card, column, and punch definitions since you last ran one of these commands. For more information, see Metadata Model to Quantum error codes.

When there are errors, you can click on the Error Flag column heading to get help on the error codes.

This is the eight-character name that will be used for the axis name in the Quantum specification if you choose the option to use short axis names. For more information, see Quantum Specification preferences.

The variable's full name.

You can select one or more variables and right-click to open the shortcut menu. This contains handy commands that enable you to change and clear the card allocation of the selected variables, and to reallocate columns to the selected variables from a specified starting column. For more information, see Metadata Model to Quantum shortcut menu.