Refuse to Answer
To define a Refuse to answer response, put the following line in the question’s response list in the metadata section of the interview script:
<response_name> "<response_text>" ref
For example:
Purpose "What is the purpose of your research?" categorical [1..]
{
General "General interest",
Family "Family history",
Research "A research project",
Legal "Legal work",
Book "Writing a book",
OtherPurpose "Something else",
Refused "Prefer not to say" ref
};
To allow Refuse to answer as a response to a numeric, text, or date question, define the question as follows:
<question_name> "<text>" <type> [<size>] codes (
{
<response_name> "<response_text>" ref
}
);
For example:
HowLong "How many years have you lived at this address?"
long [1..50] codes (
{
Refused "Refuse to answer" ref
}
);
When the interviewing program reaches this question, it displays a numeric input box with a “Refuse to answer” check box below it. Respondents can answer the question by either typing a number between 18 and 99 in the input box or selecting the check box.
mrScriptMetadata accepts a dash or hyphen (–) as the response name for special responses, and will generate a response whose name matches the special response keyword (“ref” in this instance). Although this is acceptable scriptwriting, it is better to choose unique names for all categorical responses, including special responses.
If you need to test for refusals in the routing section of the script, use
<question_name>.Response.Coded as described in
Checking for special responses to non-categorical questions.
See also