StatPac for Windows Tutorial

Hello, my name is David Walonick, and I'm the author of StatPac. I'm a real person, and if you have a problem or question about this tutorial, please e-mail me at david@statpac.com

This tutorial will show you how to use the software. It takes about an hour and will teach you the basics of the package. If you're serious about learning StatPac for Windows, this is the place to start.

To begin using StatPac, click on the colorful 4-ballons icon that was placed on your desktop during the installation.

                         

The steps in running StatPac are the same as in all research:

1. Design the study2. Collect the data3. Run the analyses

Let's begin by creating a new study. Click on the StatPac icon to launch the program. A blank Study Design screen with this header will be displayed.

A study design consists of two parts:

The first part is a description of the variables. This information is stored in a file called a codebook. All codebook file names end with a .cod extension. The right side of the screen shows the current variables in the codebook. Since we haven't created any variables, none are listed.

The other part of a study design is a workspace. The left side of the screen shows the contents of the workspace. It's also blank since we haven't loaded anything yet. A wide variety of files can be viewed in the workspace area. For example, when creating a new codebook, you may want to copy and paste text from a MS Word document. You would load the document into the workspace area, and then you could copy and paste it to the codebook. The workspace may hold a data entry form, lists of e-mail addresses, or any text file.

While there are many ways to design a new study, the easiest is to use the Grid. The Grid button is at the top right of the Study Design screen.

Using the Grid to Create a New Study

Click on the Grid button to begin designing a new study. The Grid will be displayed.

A row in the Grid represents a variable. If your study has 50 variables, there will be 50 rows in the Grid. When you start the Grid, only one row will be showing. More rows will appear as needed as you enter the codebook. When you enter a variable format for the current variable, a blank row for a new variable will appear.

To begin entering information into the Grid, click in the name field of the first row.

The Variable Name is simply a name or phrase that may be used to reference the variable when designing analyses. The variable name is optional...you don't have to type a variable name, but its use is highly recommended. You'll use the variable names in designing analyses, so choose variable names that have meaning to you. As a general rule, the variable name is a short word or abbreviation. It can't be only a number.

In this study, the first variable is gender, so type Gender as the variable name. It is often convenient to use variable names that reference the question number on a survey (e.g., Q1, Q2, Q3a, Q3b, Q3c, Q4, etc.).

Using the Grid to Create a New Study   (Continued)

Use the Tab key to move to the next field.

The Variable Format defines the type and structure of the variable. It is the only information that's mandatory when defining a new variable. Once you define the format, the variable will exist in the codebook.

StatPac supports two kinds of variables: numeric and alpha. Numeric variables may contain only numbers, while alpha variables can use any character on the keyboard. Use N or A to specify a variable as numeric or alpha, followed by the number of characters needed to hold responses to the variable.

We'll use a one-column alpha variable for gender, so we type A1 in the format field (A for alpha, 1 for one column).

Use the Tab key to move to the next field.

The Variable Label is a written description of the variable that will appear on the printouts. For surveys, the variable label is usually the question itself. You can type anything for the variable label, or you can leave it blank. There are no restrictions on the content or length of a variable label.

Press the Tab key to move to the next field.

Value labels are used to define the response categories. The general format is code equals label. In our example, there are two value labels. M=Male and F=Female. Type each value label on a separate line.

The code on the left of the equals sign is what the data entry person will type. And the text to the right of the equals sign is how that code will be labeled in reports. The actual value label can be any length, but short value labels produce easier-to-read printouts.

Value labels are optional, but their use is highly recommended. They make reports easier to understand. They are also used to create data entry forms, e-mail, and Internet surveys, as well as determine what inputs will be considered valid during data entry. They can even be used to control branching.

Now look at the labels of the next three fields to the right which are marked with an X.

Missing OK refers to whether the data entry person will be able to leave this variable blank during data entry.

Auto Advance refers to whether the data entry person will need to press [Enter] to advance to the next variable. If Auto Advance is checked, it will not be necessary to press [Enter] to go to the next variable.

Caps Lock refers to the Caps Lock key on the keyboard. When Caps Lock is checked, all data entered for this variable will be upper case. Since we have coded the response categories as M=Male and F=Female (upper case M and F), use the mouse to click on the Caps Lock box to check it. The first variable entry is now completed and the screen should look like the above illustration.

Click on the Name field in the second row of the grid.

The second variable in this example age, so we'll type Age as the variable name.

Press the Tab key to move to the next field (Format).

It will take two numeric characters to hold the respondent's age so we'll give it a format of N2 (a numeric two-column variable).

Press the Tab key to move to the next field (Variable Label).

The variable label is the full text that will appear on the survey. So you might type: "What is your age?"

We don't need value labels for this variable since we're going to be entering the respondent's actual age. It's not a coded response like the previous variable.

Now we've completed the second variable and the screen looks like this.

Alternatively, you can enter information that determines what will be valid data during data entry. For example, if our survey were limited to people 18 and older, you could enter 18-99 as the value label and an error message would be shown if someone tried to enter an age less than 18.

The next variable in this example is Brand Preference. Click on the Name field in the third row to begin variable three.

We'll make Brand Preference a numeric one-column variable and code the responses using four value labels:

1=Brand X2=Brand Y3=Brand Z4=Undecided

 

The screen now looks like this:

Notice that the window where you type the value labels is larger than a row in the grid. When you move to the next variable, the window is reduced to just one row. In the above screen, you only see M=Male and the other value label (F=Female) is hidden. Use the right mouse button to click on a previously entered field to see all the value labels for that variable, and the right mouse button to reduce an enlarged window to just one row.

Now we'll look at a completed codebook with a few more variables.

Here is the completed codebook with ten variables. Save the codebook and give it name by selecting File > Save Codebook.

Let's take a look at the rest of the variables.

The fourth variable asks: "How would you rate our product?". Only the first value label is showing (1=Excellent).

Click on this field with the right mouse button to show the rest of the value labels.

Notice that only the anchors of the scale are labeled (1=Excellent and 5=Poor). We could have assigned labels to all of the codes. It just depends on what you want the printouts to look like when you perform an analysis.

Even though we only labeled the anchors of the scale, the other codes were still included as value labels. This is so the data entry program will know that 2, 3, and 4 are also valid responses.

Variable five asks: "What do you feel would be a fair price for our product?". Since we are asking for a numeric response that could be any dollar amount, no value labels are specified.

The format for the "Fair Price" variable was set to N5 to accommodate responses from 0 to 99.99. (The decimal point takes one column). Alternatively, we could have specified the format as N5.2 so that there would always be exactly two places to the right of the decimal point.

 

Variables six, seven, and eight are part of the same multiple response question. The question is "Where did you hear about our product? (check all that apply)" and the value labels are 1=Radio, 2=Television, and 3=Newspaper. Because a respondent could give up to three possible answers, we need three variables to hold the responses. When creating multiple response variables, there should be the same number of variables as there are value labels.

The way to create multiple response variables is to type the first one (variable six). Type _1 at the end of the variable name. Then click on the next row to begin variable seven and click the Duplicate button at the top of the screen. Then click on the next row to begin variable eight and click the Duplicate button again. The variable names will automatically be appended with _2 and _3 because each variable must have a unique variable name.

 Variable nine asks: "Where are you located?" and the value labels are:

1=North2=South3=East4=West.

The last variable is an open-ended question. It asks: "How could we improve our product?" The question calls for a verbatim response, and it is defined it as an A100 format, meaning that the response could contain up to 100 characters. If you were expecting very long responses, you might specify a format of A1000. No value labels should be specified for open-ended questions because the respondent could say anything.

When you've finished the codebook, click on the Save button or choose File > Save Codebook. When creating large codebooks, it is a good idea to periodically click the save button to protect your work in the even of a computer crash or power outage.

To exit the Grid, select File, Exit Grid.

After exiting the Grid, you will see the variable names in the codebook section of the main design screen

Using an MS Word Document to Create a New Study

Many surveys are initially developed using a word processor such as MS Word. StatPac provides an easy way to create a codebook from a word-processed document.

First, use your word processor to save the document in Rich Text Format (.rtf). Then close your word processor. Run StatPac and open the document in the "workspace" area. Select File, Open, Rich Text File, and select the document. The survey will appear in the workspace area of the screen.

The next step is to evoke the Variable Detail window. The Variable Detail window gives you access to the same information as the Grid. Information changed in the Variable Detail window will also be changed in the Grid

There are two ways to evoke the Variable Detail window. The first is to use the menu to select View, Variable Detail. The second is to double click on the <New> in the codebook section on the right side of the screen. The Variable Detail window can be dragged around the screen by "grabbing" any grey area of the window. The fields in the Variable Detail window are shown below.

The process of creating a survey from a word-processed document consists of copying the information from the workspace area to the Variable Detail window. Special features make it easy to copy and paste information.

First, type a variable name and format. "Gender" would be a good name for the first variable (although many people prefer to use variable names like "Q1", "Q2", etc.). The format begins with the letter "A" or "N" (alpha or numeric) followed by the number of characters reserved for the variable. In this example, gender will be entered as "M" or "F" so the format is "A1".

Now we copy the text from the workspace to the Variable Detail window.

Use the left mouse button to highlight the first question in the text. Then use the left mouse button to click in the variable label area of Variable Detail window. The text will be transferred to the window. It is not necessary to use Edit, Copy and Edit, Paste. Just highlight the text and click in the Variable Detail window.

The value labels can be copied in a similar fashion.

Use the left mouse button to highlight the value label and then click in the value labels area of Variable Detail window. The text will be transferred to the window. However, the value labels text will need to be edited to add the code and equals symbol.

Add the code and equals symbol to the value labels text by typing them in the Variable Detail window. Each value label should appear on a separate line in the window.

The process consists of adding variables one at a time to the Variable Detail window.

There are two ways to begin a new variable. Use the dropdown list in the Variable Detail window to select the next variable, or double click in the blank space immediately below the last variable of the variable list.

Enter the new variable in the same manner as the previous variable. Type a variable name and format, and then add the variable label and value labels by copying them from the workspace. Continue adding new variables until the codebook is completed. You can save the codebook at any time by selecting File, Save Codebook from the menu.

Creating a Form for Data Entry

The Data Entry Form is a template that can be used to enter and edit data. It is needed to collect information from paper & pencil surveys and interviews. It is not needed for Internet or e-mail surveys because the data is electronically captured and no manual data entry is necessary.

The Data Entry Form can be created automatically or manually (using StatPac or your word processor). When you have finished designing the codebook, the main screen will show the variables in the codebook and the workspace area will be empty.

There are two components to the form. One is the text itself. The text is simply the questions on the survey. The text can be typed directly into the workspace window, loaded from an existing word-processed document, or automatically generated from the codebook. It may be formatted in any style you want.

The other component is the data input fields. Data input fields define where the responses will be typed on the form. The form is a combination of text and data input fields. Data input fields are easy to identify because they are shown on the form in yellow. They appear as a variable number enclosed in brackets. Usually, a form will have one data input field for each variable in the codebook.

This is what a form might look like:

StatPac makes it easy to create a data entry form. After the codebook has been created, StatPac can automatically create a Data Entry Form containing both the text and data input fields.

To automatically create a form, select Design > Data Manager Form.

The appearance of the form can be set with the Variable Text Formatting parameters. Changing these parameters will alter the appearance of the form when it gets created. Click OK to automatically create the form.

This is the form that was automatically created.

If you want to delete some or all of the variables from the form, highlight the text and data input fields to be deleted. Then click the Cut Button (or choose Edit, Delete) to delete the variables from the form. To delete all the variables on a form (for example, to just start over), choose Edit, Select All, and then click the Cut Button or choose Edit, Delete. The codebook is not affected by any changes made to the form.

If you double-click on a data input field (the yellow brackets), the Variable Detail window will show the information for that variable. If the Variable Detail window is already showing, a single click will switch the Variable Detail window to that variable.

The final step is to save the form. Select File, Save Workspace to save the form.

Creating an Internet Survey

In order to show a survey on the Internet, you need a server to "host" the survey. You can host your surveys on your own Web site server or the StatPac server.

If you will be using the StatPac server, you may skip this section.

If you will be using your own server, you need to tell StatPac about it. Select Server > Setup.

The server setup window will be displayed. The online help and User's Guide contain detailed information and examples on setting up your server.

The left side of the screen contain the information required to connect to your FTP server.

StatPac supports two types of servers: 1) Unix / Linux and 2) Windows NT / IIS. When you make a Server Type selection, the most likely Paths and Folders settings will be filled in. The settings are probably correct but may need to be changed for you server.

The domain name should be specified without an http or www prefix. For example, yourdomain.com.

The FTP Server is the address of the FTP server. It almost always your domain name with an "ftp." prefix. For example, ftp.yourdomain.com. It could even be an IP address.

Your Username and Password will be provided by your ISP. Usernames and passwords are usually case sensitive, so use care when entering the information.

The right side of the screen describes the folder structure.

Web surveys will not function properly unless you get the settings right. There is a good chance that the default settings are correct, but not necessarily.

When you log in to your server using an FTP program, you'll be sitting in the "ftp login folder" on the server. Your wwwroot folder is the folder where you put your Web site HTML files. You should see your Web site home page in that folder. It might be the FTP login folder or it might be a subfolder All of these are likely subfolder names.

     public_html     wwwroot     docs     yourdomain name.com

If your FTP login folder is the same as your wwwroot folder, then leave this setting blank. If your wwwroot folder is in a subfolder, specify the subfolder name.

The CGI script folder is easy to identify because it is nearly always called cgi-bin or cgi. It is usually a subfolder of the wwwroot folder. Specify the path as the full path to the folder beginning at the FTP login folder.

The Response Storage Folder is where respondents answers will be stored.

The Server Path to Perl is the absolute path where Perl is installed on your server.

If you will be using your server to send email, you also need to specify a mail method and it's associated information.

Creating an Internet survey is easy. Select Design > Internet Survey.

StatPac internet surveys are created from a script. The first time you select Design > Internet Survey, a default script will be created. The program might also change the variable names in your codebook (if necessary) because Internet surveys cannot contain variable names with special characters or spaces.

Usually, the script will require minor editing (especially the first time you create an online survey). You can edit the settings directly in the script window (check Settings), or you click the Settings button.

The Primary Settings section of the script is very important. They should be set for each new survey because they specify critical information that is likely to vary from survey to survey. There are seven Primary settings.

 

Detailed information on these settings is in the User's Guide and online help.

The URL to survey folder is the only critical setting. It sets the server and optionally the folder where the survey will reside. It is the full URL to the folder that will hold the survey. All of the survey pages are uploaded to this folder.

If you will be using the StatPac server, specify: http://take-survey.com. If you want to use StatPac's secure SSL server, add an https://www. prefix: https://www.take-survey.com. (StatPac will modify your setting to include the proper folder when you upload your files to the server.)

If you will be using your own server, specify the full URL to the folder that will hold your surveys. For example, if your domain name is acme.com and you want to place the survey in a folder called "surveys", the setting would be: http://www.acme.com/surveys

HTML name sets the name for all survey pages. The default will be the same as the codebook name but you may change it. This will be the name of the survey on the Web and it will be part of the link to the survey. It may not contain any spaces or special characters. For example, if you set the HTML name to "Tutorial", the link to your survey might be: http://www.acme.com/surveys/Tutorial.htm (Note that Unix and Linux servers are case sensitive).

Banner image(s) sets the image(s) that will be shown at the top of the page. If you're doing a survey for a client, it's probably your client's logo. If it's for your own company, it's probably your company logo.

Heading sets the text for the page heading. It is generally the title of the survey and will appear at the top of the survey page.

Finish text sets the text for a link on the thank you page and Finish URL sets the URL for the link. If you are doing a survey for a client, this is probably a link to their home page. If the survey is for your company, it's probably a link to your home page.

Cookie sets the type of cookie that will be used to prevent multiple submissions from the same computer. The valid settings are: None, ID, Partial, or Full.

After you've changed the Primary settings, click OK to exit the editor. Then click OK to generate the html files for the survey. 

The Primary script settings for a sample survey might be:

     HTMLName=Tutorial     BannerImage=c:\images\logo.gif     Heading=My First Sample Survey     FinishText=Click here for the StatPac home page     FinishURL=http://statpac.com     Cookie=None     WebFolderURL=http://take-survey.com

Check Settings to see these settings in the script.

The survey will be shown in the Preview window. For a multiple page survey, you can select the page you want to look at by selecting View.

After examining the survey, the process becomes one of "refinement": 1) changing the script, 2) regenerating the HTML files, and 3) viewing the HTML files to make sure they are the way you want.

For example, one thing we'd want to change is the "Type Page Heading Here" line. In the script (or the editor), you'd change the Heading line and click OK to regenerate the HTML pages. Each time you change the script, you should regenerate the HTML so it uses the new settings.

The next few pages contain technical information on modifications that can be made to the script. You may skip over this section if you want.

The script contains sections for the basic layout, passwords, colors, and the format for each variable.

The last part of the script contains the commands that will create the internet survey variables. It's easy to identify this section of the script because it begins with a line that says:

///// SURVEY CREATION /////

Most of the time, the commands in the Survey Creation section of the script will create a nicely formatted survey. However, there are many reasons you might want to edit the script. For example, you might insert a line of text, switch a group of radio button questions to matrix format, or begin a new page.

You could add a line at the beginning Survey Creation section of the script that says:

     Text=Please complete this survey by October 31st.

or you could begin a new page after the Age question by inserting the word "NewPage".

     Text=Please complete this survey by October 31st.     BlankLine     Radio Gender     BlankLine     TextBox Age     NewPage     Radio Brand     etc.

When StatPac creates a default script, it will choose the object that is most appropriate for each variable. You can change the script if you feel that a different object would be better.

Here are the most common lines that can be inserted into the script to change the appearance of the HTML pages.

 

Commands to display text 

Heading=Text Displays very large text

Title=Text Displays large text

Text=Text Displays normal text

Footnote=Text Sets the footnote text

Instructions=Text Displays text using instructions color scheme

Question=Text Displays text using question color scheme 

Commands for spacing and pagination 

BlankLine Inserts blank line

NewPage Begins a new survey page 

Commands to insert images and links 

Image=Filename(s) Insert one or more images

LinkURL=URL Sets the URL for the next hyperlink

LinkText=Text Sets the text for the next link on the survey

Link Inserts the hyperlink in the survey 

Commands for help and popup windows 

HelpLinkText=Text Sets the text for the help link on the survey

HelpText=Text Sets the text that will appear in the popup help window

HelpFileName=Filename Sets the name of an existing popup help window file

HelpWindow Inserts the help window hyperlink into the survey

PopupStart Begin a popup window

PopupEnd End a popup window 

Commands to create objects 

Radio Vx Inserts radio buttons for variable x

Radio Vx-Vy Inserts horizontal radio buttons for variables x-y (matrix format)

DropDown Vx Inserts a dropdown box for variable x

TextBox Vx Inserts a single or multiple line text box for variable x (depending on the field width of the variable)

TextBox Vx-Vy Inserts text boxes for variables x-y into a single frame

CheckBox Vx-Vy Inserts check boxes for multiple response variables x-y

ListBox Vx Inserts a list box for variable x

   <>

You can insert these lines anywhere in the Survey Creation section of the script.

Note: Vx and Vy refer to variable numbers or names. You could, for example, refer to variable one as V1 or Gender and variable two as V2 or Age.

For example, let's say that variables Q5a to Q5f were Likert scale items all containing the same response categories. When you create the default script, StatPac doesn't know that these items should be grouped together, so each item will be specified as an individual radio button variable. The default script might look like this:

     Radio Q5a     BlankLine     Radio Q5b     BlankLine     Radio Q5c     BlankLine     Radio Q5d     BlankLine     Radio Q5e     BlankLine     Radio Q5f     BlankLine

To convert these to a horizontal matrix format, you would change the script so the items to be grouped together are specified as a range on a single script line instead of each on their own script line.

     Radio Q5a - Q5f     BlankLine

You probably would also want to add the preface question text:

     Question=Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following items.     Radio Q5a - Q5f     BlankLine

Altering the syntax of the script commands can be used to modify the objects. In the above example, you could modify the Radio command so it shows the radio buttons to the left of the text, labels only the scale anchors and shows numeric codes.

     Question=Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following items.     Radio (REY) Q5a - Q5f     BlankLine

You don't have to remember all the variations of each command. To get help on a command, set the cursor on the command line, right click your mouse and select Help.

The Advanced Settings section of the script sets all the default attributes (font faces, sizes, etc.) for the survey. These settings can also be used in the Survey Creation section to override the defaults and make changes "on the fly".  To find out more about a command show the advanced script, right click on line, and select Help.

Here are examples of the objects that can be used in an internet survey.

Radio Vx -or- Radio (parameters) Vx

The Radio command will create a radio button for each value label. It is most appropriate when there are a small number of choices. The first form of the command will create all the radio button in a single column. The second form of the command will allow you to specify various display parameters. The parameters are:

     V H      vertical or horizontal     1 2       one or two columns of radio buttons (applies to vertical format only)     A E      label all points or label only the end points     Y N      show numeric codes (yes or no)

Parameters may be any combination in any order (upper or lower case).  Here's an example of a vertical, two-column set of radio buttons.

Radio (V2) Age

Radio Vx - Vy -or- Radio (parameters) Vx - Vy

When your survey has a series of Likert scale or semantic differential scale items, a horizontal radio button format can be specified. Change the default script so the items to be grouped together are specified as a range on a single script line instead of each on their own script line. The second form of the command will allow you to specify various display parameters. The parameters are:

     L R      radio buttons to left or right of text     A E      label all points or label only the end points     Y N      show numeric codes (yes or no)

Radio (REY) Q5a - Q5f

DropDown Vx -or- DropDown (parameters) Vx

The dropdown menu is used when there are a large number of possible categories for the respondent to choose from. The most common example of this is when asking for a country or state. The first form of the command will create a dropdown menu where only one line shows until the menu is selected by the user. In the second form of the command, you can specify the number of value labels to display before the dropdown occurs. Y is the number of lines you want to display before the user selects the menu. If y equals the number of value labels, then all the value labels will be shown all the time.

TextBox Vx -or- TextBox (parameters) Vx

A TextBox is used when requesting that the user type something rather than choose from a menu of items. The default script will use a textbox if there are no value labels for a variable and the variable has a field width greater than 1. When the field width for a variable is a long alpha field (greater than A60), the textbox will have multiple lines and a scroll bar. If you want to force a long alpha field to use a single line TextBox, then use the command format of: TextBox (1) VxThe parameters for the textbox are:

     L C       left justify or center the TextBox in the frame     n          number of lines to show in the TextBox (1 to 5)     P N      progress bar or no progress bar (multiple line TextBox only)

The following TextBox was centered, shows five lines, and show no progress bar as the respondent is typing:

TextBox (C5N) Q7

TextBox Vx - Vy -or- TextBox (parameters) Vx -Vy

More that one TextBox can be inserted into a single frame by specifying a variable range. Fields with less than 40 characters will shown as a single line TextBox and longer fields will be shown as a multiple line text box with a scroll bar. In te seconf form of the command, parameters are used to control the number of lines in each TextBox and the location of the text.

     L R T B         set the text to the left, right, top, or bottom of the TextBox     n                  number of lines to show in the TextBox (1 to 5)

For example, in the following command, parameters were used to set the text to the right and to create single-line TextBoxes:

Question=Please rank each of the following by typing a 1 for the most important, 2 for the second most important, and so on.TextBox (R1) Taste - Package

CheckBox Vx - Vy -or- CheckBox (2) Vx - Vy

The CheckBox is used for multiple response. When creating internet surveys with multiple response variables, the codebook will have the same number of variables as there are value labels. The first form of the command will create all the CheckBoxes in a single column. The second form of the command will create two columns of CheckBoxes.

CheckBox Hear_1 - Hear_4

ListBox Vx

The ListBox may be used as an alternative to radio buttons. Functionally, the ListBox is identical to the radio buttons.

 ListBox Race

After you have generated the survey and you are satisfied with it's appearance, you'll close the script window. StatPac will ask if you want to add some special variables to the codebook. These variables can be used to track respondents and should usually be included.

The final step is to upload the files to your web site. StatPac has a built-in FTP feature to automatically upload all the necessary files to your server. Select Server > Auto Transfer.

Auto Transfer will upload all the files necessary to conduct the survey. This includes all the survey pages, popup pages, help pages, login screen, and Perl scripts. On Unix/Linux servers, it will also set the permissions for the Perl scripts. To evoke Auto Transfer, click the Server button in the script window or select Server > Auto Trasnfer,

Make sure you're online, and click the Upload Survey button to upload all the files to your server.

The link to the survey will be copied to the clipboard upon completion of the upload. To test your survey online, open your browser and paste (Ctrl V) the URL into the address window.

Test the survey (enter dummy information as if you were a respondent) and then click the Download Responses button to download the responses from your practice survey to a StatPac data file.

The Delete tab in Auto Transfer lets you delete a survey or a response file from the server. You can either use the Delete Survey button or the Delete Response button. If you are using the StatPac server, you can optionally check "Show the files on the server" and delete them there.

You'll use this screen to delete your test data before you go live.

 

Registered owners of StatPac who have a current technical support and update agreement will be able to create a private folder on the StatPac server.

The Folder tab lets you select a private folder name.

You may choose any folder name that is not being used by other StatPac users. Your folder name may not contain spaces or special characters. It will become part of the link to your surveys.

Users with a current technical support and update agreement may change their private folder name at any time. All HTML files in your folder will be modified so they work with the new folder name. The only exception is that surveys in the guest folder will not be moved to a private folder when you change folder names. After changing folder names, the link to your survey will incorporate the new folder name instead of the previous folder name.

You can also manually upload files to and from the server. FTP (file transfer protocol) is the method used to transfer files. Auto Transfer also uses FTP... it just happens "behind the scenes".

Demo users all share the folder name of "guest" and therefore will not have FTP access to the StatPac server. When using your own server, you will have complete FTP navigation.

Select Server > FTP > and choose the server you want to access.

Two panes will be displayed. The top pane is your server and the bottom pane is your local computer. You can drag and drop files from one pane to the other. Highlight one or more files in one page. To select multiple files use the <Ctrl> or <Shift> keys. Drag and drop the file(s) on the other pane

The current folder is shown in the text on top of the pane. That is the folder where files will be dropped. To drop file(s) to a folder, first double click on that folder to make it the current folder. Then you can drag and drop to and from that folder.

When using the StatPac server, you will only have access to two server folders, 1) the folder where your surveys reside, and 2) the folder where your response files are written. Select View to change folders.

You can also right click on a file in either pane for additional options.

 

You have finished the Design portion of the tutorial.

Data Manager

The Data Manager is used to enter new data, edit existing data, and print data using a form created with the Study Design program. In order to use the Data Manager, you must have first created a form. You can not enter new data or edit existing data without a form.

There are two different ways to launch the Data Manager. If the data file already exists, you can select File, Open, Data File.

The other method to launch the data manager is to select Data, Run Data Manager. If a codebook and form have already been loaded, the data manager will load the data file with that same name (if one exists), or it will allow you to create a new data file with that name.

If you open the Data Manager without first loading a codebook and form, then the Data Manager screen will be blank, and you will need to select File, Open to specify the data file name

Usually, you would name the data file the same as the form and codebook. However, there are some situations where you would specify a different name for the data file. For example, if you are collecting monthly data, you may wish to name the data files JAN, FEB, MAR, and so on. You could use the same form to enter each of the data files.

Once you name the data file, the form will be displayed and you'll be ready to begin entering data. The current field is the one you are ready to enter data into. It will be highlighted on the form in yellow (although the colors can be changed with the Data Manager program)

During normal data entry, the current field will change automatically. Clicking the mouse on any field will make it the current field. Clicking the mouse on the Previous Field Button or the Next Field Button will change to the previous or next field. You can also type a field number into the Current Field window and press enter.

The Variable List and Variable Detail windows can be displayed by selecting View. If the Variable List window is displayed, clicking on a variable will make that variable the current field. If the Variable Detail window is displayed, selecting a new variable will make it the current field.

The following keys can also be used to manually change fields:

Enter - Advance to the next field using skip pattern if presentTab - Advance to the next field using skip pattern if presentShift Tab - Move to the previous field. Does not follow skip patterns.Down Arrow - Advance to the next field using skip pattern if presentUp Arrow - Move to the previous field. Follows skip patterns that were used.Page Up - Move to previous record.Page Down - Advance to next record.

Select Options, Data Input Settings to control whether the current record will be automatically incremented when the data entry person reaches the last field in the current record.

If the Automatic Record Advance option is set, the program will automatically advance to the next record when the last field of the current record has been entered. This way, it is possible to enter a large number of records without clicking on the New Record button for each record. Your data is automatically saved as you go from one record to the next. To change the Automatic Record Advance option, select Options, Data Input Settings.

There are several ways to manually change records. Clicking on the Previous Record Button or the Next Record Button will change to the previous or next record. You can also type a record number into the Current Record window and press enter.

There are two ways to view the data for a record with a known record number. The first is to type the desired record number into the current record number window and press enter. The second is to select Edit, Go To Record (or use the Control G shortcut).

The following keys can also be used to manually change records:

Page Up - Move to previous record.Page Down - Advance to next record

When you are creating a new data file, the program will begin in the "enter new record" mode. After some data has already been entered, you need to tell StatPac that you wish to enter a new record. There are two ways to enter a new data record. The first is to click on the New Record Button on the top left of the screen.

The second way to enter a new data record is to select Edit, Begin New Record.

The current record number window will be updated to show the record number for the new record. If you do not enter any data for the new record, it will not be saved. If any data is entered, the new record will be added to the end of the data file. It is not possible to insert a new record into the middle of an existing data file.

Deleting a record is a fairly common procedure because duplicate records are often discovered in a data file. There are two ways to delete a record. The first is to click on the DEL Button on the far right of the menu bar. The second way to delete a record is to select Edit, Delete Current Record.

StatPac will not actually delete the record at this time. Instead, the contents of all variables in the record are set to blanks (missing). In this way, the record is marked for deletion rather than actually being deleted. The rationale being that deleting a record would cause all subsequent records to move down in the data file, in effect changing their record numbers. Since editing is often done by record number, it is important that the record numbers do not change during an editing session.

When you decide to eliminate the blank data records, select Options on the top menu bar, then chose Compact Data. This will change the record numbers for future editing sessions. If you want to preserve the record numbers for the next editing session, don't compact the file. You can manually compact the data file at any time by selecting Options, Compact Data File. If you have deleted records, it is important to compact the data file before performing any statistical analysis. Otherwise, the deleted records would be counted as missing data in the analysis.

You have finished the Data Management portion of the tutorial.

Designing & Running Analyses

A procedure in StatPac refers to a set of keywords that perform one or more tasks. A procedure may specify a single analysis or several analyses of the same type. Procedures can also contain commands to perform transformations and write subfiles.

The commands to perform an analysis (or series of analyses), can be stored in a file called a procedure file. This means that you can easily recall a previously created procedure file, and make changes to it without having to retype the commands. The procedure file is stored on disk with a .pro extension. Procedure files can be saved, loaded and merged with other procedure files.

To begin running analyses, click the Analysis button. The analysis screen has two parts. The left side of the screen shows the commands to run the procedures, and the right side of the screen shows the list of variables.

StatPac uses an easy programming language for designing procedures. Each line in the procedure file begins with a keyword.

The first line in a procedure file should specify what study you want to use. For example:

Study Tutorial

When you type this line on the left side of the screen and press enter, the variables from your codebook will automatically load and be displayed on the right side of the screen.

From this point on, all subsequent lines will use the codebook and data file called TUTORIAL unless the STUDY keyword is used again in the procedure file.

Now we're ready to begin designing procedures to run analyses. A simple procedure might be:

STUDY TUTORIALFREQUENCIES GENDER

This procedure consists of a single task. The procedure says to use the codebook and data file called TUTORIAL, and perform a frequency analysis of the GENDER variable.

When writing procedures, variables may be referenced by their variable name or variable number. When using a number to reference a variable, always use the letter "V" as a prefix. In our sample, GENDER is the first variable, so this procedure could also be written as:

STUDY TUTOTIALFREQUENCIES V1

To run the frequencies procedure, click the Run button.

The "Run Procedures" window offers several options. It let's you specify the procedure(s) to run and the output destination (screen, printer, or file). Since this procedure file has only one procedure, click OK to run the analysis.

The results of this procedure will be displayed..

You'll notice at the top of the Results File page, this icon  

This is the button which will allow you to create graphics for your reports.

Click on the graphics icon     to see a graphic of the gender variable.

There are several choices now. You can: 1) choose another type of graph, 2) modify this graph, or 3) add this graph to your report.

To chose another type of graph, use the drop down menu at the top.

If you are satisfied with the graph and want to add it to your report, select Edit, Copy Graph to Report.

You can also modify the text or appearance of a graph. To change the text in a graph, select Edit, Labels & Legend.

Enter the revised labels into the Graphics Legends and Labels window. Use the Font buttons to change the font sizes or colors.

If you need to modify another graph characteristic other than the text, use the right mouse button and click anywhere on the graph to evoke the Graph Control window.

Procedure files can contain multiple tasks and multiple procedures. Here is a more extensive procedure file that contains five procedures. Note that the procedures are separated from one another by two periods.

In the first procedure, we're doing a frequency analysis of four variables (Gender, Brand, Rating, and Location). We also used the heading command to put our company name at the top of each page of the analysis. All subsequent procedures will use this page heading.

The second procedure performs a multiple response frequency analysis of the three "How did you hear about our product?" variables. The options command is used to tell StatPac to treat these as multiple response rather than separate variables.

The third procedure performs descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, etc.) of the Fair_Price variable.

The fourth procedure says to perform a banner crosstabs of the Brand variable by the Gender and Location variables.

The fifth procedure says to list all the open-ended comments.

Click the run button to run the procedures. You can specify which procedures you want to run in the Procedure(s) To Run text box.

Procedure(s) To Run" may be an individual procedure or range of procedures. The default will be the procedure where the cursor was located when the Run button was clicked. If you highlight text before clicking the Run button, the default procedure(s) will be all the procedures that contained highlighted text. A range of procedures may be specified with a dash. To run procedures one through five, you would type 1-5 in the Procedure(s) to Run field. To run a single procedure, simply type the procedure number.

The Mode selection allows you to set the analysis to operate interactively (output to the screen), or batch (output to the printer or a file). The Test mode will simply check the syntax of the selected procedures without actually running them.

Running all of the procedures will produce a multi-page report. Each analysis will appear on a separate page. Click the Next Task button to advance from one procedure to the next. Here's the output from the fourth procedure (the banner table).

The Options keyword is very important in StatPac. It lets you customize the analyses and control the appearance of the output. There are many options available for each type of analysis.

Fortunately, you do not have to remember the options. Simply place the cursor in the procedure you want to modify and click the Options selection. All of the options for that analysis will be displayed and you can change them in the Options menu. For example, here are the options for the Banners procedure.

To change the option temporarily, simply type the new value for the option. To make a permanent option change, type the new value and add an exclamation point as a suffix. For example, typing Y changes an option to yes for the current procedure only. Typing Y! changes the option permanently so that all future analyses will use the default of Y.

Some options are global and apply to all analyses. They allow you to set the pitch (font size) for the report, the page margins, paper orientation, the next page number to be printed, and the zoom factor.

The OR and ZF options are very important. They are global options and work with any analysis. The paper orientation may be set to OR=P (portrait) or OR=L (landscape). The zoom factor option is any easy way to reduce the size of a table so it will fit on one page. Normally, ZF=100 and the printouts will be displayed at 100% their normal size. Setting ZF=90 would display the tables at 90% of their normal size, so more columns would be able to fit on a page. If an analysis won't fit on one page, or if it appears too squished together, you can often improve its appearance by using the zoom factor option.

After you have designed a series of procedures, you can save them in a file. Thus, you could load the file at a future time in order to add additional procedures or to modify it. Procedure files have a .pro extension.

In most cases, the codebook, data file, and procedure file use the same file name. When you save the procedure file, it's a good idea to give it the same name as the codebook.

The syntax for all the analyses is similar. While using the program, the fastest way to get the syntax for an analysis is to select Help, Analyses.

The help menu has a link to each kind of analysis.

The following is the basic syntax for each of the analyses. When you use the commands in a procedure, replace <Variables> with one or more variable names from your study:

LIST <Variables>FREQUENCIES <Variables>CROSSTABS <Variables> BY <Variables>BANNERS <Variables> BY <Variables>DESCRIPTIVES <Variables>BREAKDOWN <Variables> BY <Variables>TTEST <Variables> WITH <Variables>TTEST <Variables> WITH <Grouping variables>=(<Code1>)(<Code2>)CORRELATE <Variables>

Analyses are specified by using a keyword. All analysis keywords can be abbreviated by using the first two characters of the keyword. For example, Frequencies can be abbreviated as FR, Banners can be abbreviated as BA, and so on.

Some analyses also require that an option be specified. For example, there are a number of ways that a frequency analysis can be performed, depending on the data. Frequencies on multiple response data requires using the MR option, and frequencies on open-ended comments requires using the OE option to code the responses into categories.

The following options have profound impact on how the analyses are formed.

StatPac Keyword

Special Option

Type of Analysis

LIST None Listing dataFREQUENCIES None Frequency analyses of one or more

variables showing each one on a separate page

FREQUENCIES MR=Y Multiple response frequency analysisFREQUENCIES OA=Y Frequency analysis of several variables

with the same value labels, showing all the results on one page

FREQUENCIES OE=Y Frequency analysis with coding of an open-ended variable

CROSSTABS None Two and three-way crosstabsBANNERS TY=C

TY=PBanner table with either categorical or parametric stub variables

DESCRIPTIVES None Descriptive statistics for one or more variables showing each one on a separate page

DESCRIPTIVES OA=Y Descriptive statistics for several variables, showing all the results on one page

BREAKDOWN None Descriptive statistics for a variable broken down by one or more subgroup variables

TTEST None Matched pairs t-test and independent samples t-test

CORRELATE TY=PTY=S

Pearson's and Spearman's correlation analysis

Conclusion

This tutorial covered the basics of StatPac, but there are many features that haven't been mentioned.

The best way to learn to use StatPac is to first explore the sample files provided with the demo. They will teach much about the software. The sample data is located in a folder called DATA immediately below the StatPac folder (probably C:\StatPac\Data). There are codebooks, forms, data files, and procedure files in this folder.

Then we encourage you to create a practice study yourself. You'll be impressed with how easily you can create and analyze data.

Enjoy!

See Frequently Asked Questions at:

Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral

1. What are the limits of the free trial software? 2. What are the system requirements for StatPac? 3. I am having trouble downloading the software. Can you send me a CD? 4. How can I find out the serial number or version of my software? 5. What's the fastest way to learn StatPac? 6. What kind of support do I get? 7. Do I need previous research experience to create effective surveys? 8. How much does StatPac cost? 9. How can I order StatPac? 10. How many computers can I install the software on? 11. How do I get an upgrade for my copy StatPac? 12. Who is StatPac Inc.?

QUESTION 1 - What are the limits of the free trial software?

ANSWER - The free trial version is the same as the full version except it will only analyze the first 35 records (respondents) from a data file. It includes the Basic Analysis Module, Web Survey Module, and Advanced Analysis Module. The demo does not expire and you can create an unlimited number of surveys. You may use your own server or the guest folder at http://take-survey.com to host your online survey.

QUESTION 2 - What are the system requirements for StatPac?

ANSWER - StatPac for Windows survey software requires the following environment:

PC with Windows 9x, 2000, NT, XP, or Vista Minimum 256M RAM memory Minimum recommended CPU speed: 300 MHz 40 megabytes of hard drive space Any printer

QUESTION 3- I am having trouble downloading the software. Can you send me a CD?

ANSWER - We can send complimentary CDs to the United States and Canada.

QUESTION 4 - How can I find out the serial number or version of my software?

ANSWER - To determine which version of StatPac you have, run the software and select Help > About StatPac for Windows. You can visit our updates page to check for updated versions of the software.

QUESTION 5 - What's the fastest way to learn StatPac?

ANSWER – Read this tutorial. Also look at the Sample_Survey that was placed in the Data folder.

QUESTION 6 - What kind of support do I get?

ANSWER - You receive 90 days of free technical support when you purchase the package. This is sufficient to learn to use the software and conduct a couple of surveys. After that, you can purchase a yearly support/maintenance agreement or pay for each support call. Support is available by e-mail, phone, or fax.

QUESTION 7 - Do I need previous research experience to create effective surveys?

ANSWER - No. StatPac can be used by anyone. Our technical support personnel will help you through any difficulties.

QUESTION 8 - How much does StatPac cost?

ANSWER - It depends which modules you order.

Basic Statistics Module - StatPac's basic statistics module includes study design, data management, basic statistical analyses, graphics, and the statistics calculator. It will produce beautifully formatted frequency tables, descriptive statistics, and crosstab and banner tables. ($695)

Web Survey Module - The web survey module includes study design, data management, e-mail list management, a bulk e-mail program, web survey design, upload and download capabilities, and the ability to export the data to Access or to a tab or comma delimited text file. It does not include any analysis capabilities. ($495)

Technical Support/Maintenance Agreement - New users receive technical support and updates for three months. Most users also purchase a technical support/maintenance agreement which covers technical support and all software updates for one year. ($150 per year). Users who do not purchase an agreement may still receive technical support ($25 per incident).

Special Combination Offer - Purchase the basic statistics module, the web survey module, and a one-year technical support/maintenance agreement for $995 (a savings of $345). This special combination offer is only available when all three are purchased together. Regular prices apply if purchased separately.

Advanced Statistics Module - All the popular advanced multivariate statistical techniques are included in this powerful add-on module. Most of our users do not need these advanced statistical procedures, but if you do they're here for you. ($495)

Additional Data Manager - Install just the data manager on a separate computer so multiple data entry people can be entering data simultaneously. Ideal for high volume data entry. ($195 for a single user or $995 for unlimited users)

Student Version of StatPac for Windows - The student version is the same as the full version except there is a limit of 100 data records (respondents) per file. It includes the basic analysis module, web survey module, and the advanced analyses module. Technical support is not provided to users of the student version who have not also purchased a one-year technical support/maintenance agreement. ($95)

Multiple User / Network / Site License Agreement - StatPac for Windows with a perpetual license for 10 users on a network or stand-alone computers. It includes the basic analysis module, web survey module, the advanced analyses module, and one year of technical support. ($2,495)

Discounts and Upgrades

Additional Copies - 50% discount on additional copies of all products except the technical support/maintenance agreement.

Academic & Nonprofit Organizations - 15% discount on all prices except the student version and the technical support/maintenance agreement.

Upgrade from a Previous Version of StatPac - Free if you have a current technical support agreement. Technical support and upgrade costs depend on how long ago your support agreement expired ($150-$350)

Competitive Upgrade Discount - You are eligible for a $100 discount if upgrading from another survey software software product.

QUESTION 9 - How can I order StatPac?

ANSWER - You can purchase the software online (http://www.statpac.com) or by calling us at (715) 442-2261. Our business hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm Central Time.

QUESTION 10 - How many computers can I install the software on?

ANSWER - StatPac for Windows is licensed for use on a single computer. We specifically give you permission to install the software on your office computer and your home computer or laptop. Additional copies may be purchased for half price.

QUESTION 11 - How do I get an upgrade for my copy StatPac?

ANSWER - When you have a current technical support agreement you'll be able to download updates as they become available. You can order a support agreement online, or by calling our office.

QUESTION 12 - Who is StatPac Inc.?

ANSWER - In 1978 StatPac Inc. became the first company in the world to offer survey software for "micro" computers (as they were called back then). When IBM released their first PC, we were the first company to offer survey software for it. Since its beginning, StatPac's software has been enhanced, updated, and improved, so you know it's well-tested and easy to use. Our customer list includes well-known companies from all sectors (business, healthcare, education, government, and social sciences).

Frequently Asked Questionsabout an Online Survey

1. How does an online survey compare to traditional telephone and mail surveys? 2. What is typical response rates for an online survey? 3. Who can complete an online survey? 4. How secure is my survey and my data? 5. Do I need to install a Perl script on my server? 6. Can I do an e-mail survey? 7. What mail systems can I use to send e-mail invitations? 8. How are responses collected? 9. Can results be displayed in real time? 10. After I've done an analysis, can I make the results available online? 11. How many surveys can I create? 12. Can I keep track of who responded and who didn't?

QUESTION 1 - How does an online survey compare to traditional telephone and mail surveys?

ANSWER - The primary advantages of an online survey over traditional methods is cost and time.

The only cost associated with the administration of an online survey is the time to prepare and analyze the survey. There are no interviewer or postal costs. There are also no data entry costs because the data is captured electronically.

An online survey can be completed in a short time. A typical online survey lasts 4 to 7 days (about the same as telephone interviews). Mail surveys usually last several weeks.

QUESTION 2 - What is a typical response rate for an online survey?

ANSWER - The response rate for an online survey can be low or high... just like mail surveys. If the potential respondents are motivated, you will receive a high response (we saw an 87% response rate in one survey). We've also seen response rates near 2%.

The degree to which you can motivate potential respondents will determine your response rate. Sending a postcard via the postal service with the url to the survey has consistently produced response rates of less than 5%. Sending e-mail invitations to participate seems to work best. Incentives (a drawing for a prize or access to a free report, etc.) always increases response rate.

Response rates are also highly affected by the length of the survey. Short surveys almost always have higher completion rates that long surveys. On surveys exceeding a couple of pages (with multiple questions per page), we have seen a 6% to 10% dropout rate for each additional page of questions.

The bottom line is that you need to keep your online survey short and you need to do a good sales job in your invitation. That is, you need to sell the potential respondent on why she should complete the survey.

QUESTION 3 - Who can complete an online survey?

ANSWER - Anyone who has a browser with access to the internet can participate in an online survey. No special software needs to be installed on respondents' computers.

If a potential respondent does not have internet access, they can still respond by mail, e-mail, fax, or personal interview. StatPac has a data manager to allow manual entry of surveys completed by these methods.

QUESTION 4 - How secure is my survey and my data?

ANSWER - In most cases, nobody will ever know you have a survey posted on your web site unless you tell them it's there, or if you insert a link to it from one of your web pages. If you plan to send e-mail invitations to potential participants, then you probably don't have to worry about people just stumbling across the survey.

StatPac installs a Perl script on your server to process the responses as they come in. This script stores the data in an ASCII file on your server. No data ever leaves your server and no 3rd parties are involved. You have complete and exclusive control of the data you collect.

There are several other security features you can use:

You can also use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to create more secure surveys. SSL will encrypt respondents answers while they are on-route to your server.

You can assign a password to the survey, so respondents will have to log in using that password.

You can assign individual passwords to potential respondents so they will have to log in using their own unique password.

You can use cookies to stop a person from taking a survey more than once (prevents stuffing the ballot box).

You can use a respondent ID to eliminate any duplicates from the same respondent.

QUESTION 5 - Do I need to install a Perl script on my server?

ANSWER - Yes. StatPac will install and configure the script for you. If you use your own server, it must be capable of running a CGI script. However, if you don't have a web site or don't want to install the Perl script on your own server, you can use ours. We provide a free web hosting service for all StatPac users. Out free server is http://www.take-survey.com

QUESTION 6 - Can I do an e-mail survey?

ANSWER - When most people say they want to do an "e-mail survey" they mean that they want to send e-mail invitations to potential respondents with a link in the e-mail that says "Click here to take the survey". When the respondent clicks the link, their browser opens the survey which is posted on your web site. This is the preferred method for conducting an online survey because it gives you the greatest versatility and control.

However, if your survey is short and does not use validity checking or branching, you can send potential respondents an e-mail containing the survey itself. StatPac will create the survey portion of the e-mail for you. Respondent's would receive your e-mail and click their Reply button to answer the survey.

QUESTION 7 - What mail systems can I use to send e-mail invitations?

ANSWER - While you can use any e-mail program to send invitations, StatPac has it's own built-in e-mail management system that gives you capabilities far beyond most e-mail systems. It works like a mail-merge

program and enables you to personalize and serialize e-mail invitations. It sends thousands of individualized e-mails per hours through your SMTP e-mail account.

How can I find out the name of my SMTP host for sending e-mail in StatPac?

If you don't recall your SMTP host name, look at the setup of your e-mail program. In Outlook Express, select Tools, Accounts, Mail, Properties, Servers. In Eudora, select Tools, Options, Hosts. Alternatively, ask your ISP.

QUESTION 8 - How are responses collected?

ANSWER - StatPac has two different methods of data collection. The first is the file method. When a respondent clicks the submit button (or the continue button on a multiple page survey), their responses are stored in an ASCII text file on your server. No information leaves your server. A response file on your server (with two respondents) might look like this:

StatPac_ID: 207.47.93.2Respondent_ID: 49264524Date_Time: Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 17:34:24Gender: 1Location: 3Attitude: 5Comment: Looks real good!button: Click Here to Finish

StatPac_ID: 66.137.143.17Respondent_ID: 64313939Date_Time: Monday, January 20, 2003 at 10:27:21Gender: 1Location: 3Attitude: 3Comment: Please get in touch with me.button: Click Here to Finish

When the survey is completed (or partially completed) the results file can be downloaded to your workstation. During the download, the data is converted to a fixed record length ASCII text file with a carriage return and line feed at the end of each record... which is StatPac's internal data file structure.

The second is the email method. The email method can only be used on one-page surveys. When a respondent clicks the submit button (which is automatically placed at the end of the survey), their answers are sent to you in a specially formatted e-mail. The contents of the incoming e-mails can be electronically captured and added to the data file on your local computer.

QUESTION 9 - Can results be displayed in real time?

ANSWER - No. StatPac does not perform real-time data analyses. When you want to do an analysis, you must first download the response file from your web site and import it into StatPac. Then you perform the analysis on the data.

QUESTION 10 - After I've done an analysis, can I make the results available online?

ANSWER - Yes. All StatPac reports are rich text format. This means they can be loaded directly into your word processor (e.g., MS Word) or they can be uploaded to your web site for viewing with any browser.

QUESTION 11 - How many surveys can I create?

ANSWER - You can create an unlimited number of surveys. The free version is limited to 35 respondents per survey. The registered version will handle an unlimited number of respondents.

QUESTION 12 - Can I keep track of who responded and who didn't?

ANSWER - Yes, StatPac can assign a unique respondent ID number to each person who receives an e-mail invitation. This ID number is used to track who responded. Reminder e-mails can easily be sent to non-responders.

Frequently Asked QuestionsAnalysis

1. How can I change the appearance of the printouts? 2. How can I do an analysis on a subgroup of the data (e.g., just females)? 3. How can I do an analysis on more than one subgroup? 4. How can I create groups (categories) for interval data? 5. How do I keep track of all the options? 6. How do I deal with the open-ended questions? 7. How can I get the Input fields in the Data Manager to line up properly? 8. How can I get the Data Manager to accept data for a particular variable? 9. How can I do the same study again with a new set of data? 10. How can I create a new study that is similar (not identical) to a previous study? 11. Can I change the codebook and form after entering some data? 12. How can I import a fixed format sequential ASCII data file into StatPac? 13. How can I fix a "duplicate variable" error message? 14. How do I combine data files so they can be analyzed together? 15. How do I deal with an "other" category?

QUESTION 1 - My printouts are close to what I want, but not exactly. What can I do to change the way StatPac works?

ANSWER - Options are used to control the way that StatPac formats reports. While using the analysis procedure file editor, move the cursor to the procedure you want to modify. Select Options to evoke the Options window. Change the desired option(s) and click OK.

QUESTION 2 - I want to perform an analysis using just the female respondents. What line do I include in the procedure?

ANSWER - To perform an analysis on a subset of data (e.g., just the females), use the SELECT command in the same procedure as the analysis command. For example, if Sex had been coded as M=Male and F=Female, the command might be:

IF Sex="F" THEN SELECTFREQ Some_Other_Variable..

Quotation marks are used around the "F" because Sex was coded as an alpha variable. Numeric variables do not need quotation marks around the selection criteria. For example, if Sex had been coded as 1=Male and 2=Female, the command would be:

IF SEX=2 THEN SELECTFREQ Some_Other_Variable.

QUESTION 3 - I want to perform an analysis on respondents that make at least $20,000 per year. What line do I include in the procedure?

ANSWER - This is essentially the same as the previous problem. The difference being that we're selecting multiple categories, instead of just one. Suppose the Income variable is coded as:

1=Under 10,000 2=10,000 - 19,999 3=20,000 - 29,999 4=30,000 - 39,999 5=40,000 or more.

To select respondents making 20,000 or more, we need to select response codes 3, 4 and 5. Any of the following lines could be used to solve the problem:

IF Income>2 THEN SELECT IF Income>=3 THEN SELECT IF Income>=3 AND Income<=5 THEN SELECTIF Income=3 OR Income=4 OR Income=5 THEN SELECT IF Income="3/4/5" THEN SELECT

When using the slash to indicate a series of OR statements (last example), quotation marks are required for both alpha and numeric-type variables.

QUESTION 4 - I want to use an Age variable as one of the points in a banner table, but age was entered as the actual age instead of being coded into categories. How can I make it work in a banner table?

ANSWER - There are many different solutions to this problem. In order to do this, you need to define age groups. The first solution is to recode the Age variable, and then assign value labels to the recoded data. Two lines are required.

RECODE Age (LO-20=1)(21-30=2)(31-40=3)(41-HI=4) LABELS Age (1=Under 21)(2=21-30)(3=31-40)(4=Over 40)

The recoded and newly labeled Age variable could then be used in a banners or crosstabs table.

If you wanted access to both the raw data and the recoded data, you could create a new variable and have it contain the recoded age data. This technique has the added advantage that the original data remains intact even when the SAVE command is used. Here are three more solutions to this problem:

LET Age-Group=Age RECODE Age-Group (LO-20=1)(21-30=2)(31-40=3)(41-HI=4)LABELS Age-Group (1=Under 21)(2=21-30)(3=31-40)(4=Over 40)..

COMPUTE (N2) Age-Group=Age RECODE Age-Group (LO-20=1)(21-30=2)(31-40=3)(41-HI=4)LABELS Age-Group (1=Under 21)(2=21-30)(3=31-40)(4=Over 40)...

NEW (N1) "Age-Group" Age GroupIF Age<21 THEN COMPUTE Age-Group=1IF Age>=21 AND Age<=30 THEN COMPUTE Age-Group=2IF Age>=31 AND Age<=40 THEN COMPUTE Age-Group="3" IF Age>=41 THEN COMPUTE Age-Group=4 LABELS Age-Group (1=Under 21)(2=21-30)(3=31-40)(4=Over 40) ..

QUESTION 5 - There seem to be so many options for some of the analyses. How do I keep them all straight?

ANSWER - This one's easy...you don't have to. There are only a few options that have profound impact on the way analyses are performed. The default values for the options are sufficient for most applications. When in doubt, first try running the procedure and make note of what you would like to change. Then select Options to see if the appropriate option is readily apparent. If not, use the on-line help to review the analysis. After you've found the option you are looking for, add it to the procedure to confirm that it does what you want. Finally, if this is something you want to change on all future analyses, add an exclamation point suffix to the option and rerun the procedure. This will make the current option setting the default and you won't need to be concerned with that option again. After running a few procedures, you'll have configured the default formats for StatPac to produce the reports you most often use.

QUESTION 6 - How do I deal with the open-ended questions?

ANSWER - You can do two things with open-ended data. The first is to just list the actual comments. Use the LIST keyword to show the actual verbatim text. If the variable were called Comments, the command would be:.

LIST Comments..

The output from the procedure would print dashes for respondents who made no comment. The IF-THEN command could be used to limit the output to only those respondents who made a comment. These two procedures would produce identical output. The first one selects all records where the Comments variable is not blank. The second one rejects all records that are blank.

IF Comments <> " " THEN SELECTLIST Comments..

IF Comments = " " THEN REJECTLIST Comments ..

Another solution is to code the responses into categories. Run FREQUENCIES on the open-ended comment and set the OE option equal to Y. This will evoke StatPac's coding program (Verbatim Blaster). Your procedure might look like this:

FR CommentsOPTIONS OE=Y

StatPac's Verbatim Blaster module is easy to use, but will be even easier if you first read about it in the manual. You'll find complete information on-line under FREQUENCIES with the OE option.

QUESTION 7 - I'm using the Data Manager and the program is acting goofy (things are not lining up properly). What did I do wrong?

ANSWER - The most likely problem is that the data entry form was compiled on a different computer with a different screen resolution. Close StatPac. Delete the "codebookname.frc" file. Then run StatPac again and the problem will correct itself.

QUESTION 8 - I'm using the Data Manager and one of the data input fields won't accept data even though the data is correct. How do I fix the problem?

ANSWER - The codebook is somehow limiting the data input for that variable. Examine the variable with the Variable Detail window or the Grid. Check the valid codes. A common problem is where the valid codes are lower

case, but the data entry control parameters have Caps Lock set. No matter what the data entry person types, it is converted to upper case, and the only valid codes are defined as lower case. To fix the problem, either change the valid codes to upper case, or set Caps Lock off. Another common problem is having defined a field as numeric, when the data actually contains numbers and letters. For example, many internal ID codes use numbers and letters. The solution is to change the format for the variable from "N" to "A". Another common problem is to have defined some of the valid codes (but not all of them).

QUESTION 9 - I have finished analyzing a study and I want to do the same study again with a new set of data. How can I do this without retyping the study design?

ANSWER - If the new study uses exactly the same variables, then the easiest way to do this is to rename the existing data file to something else. For example, if you conducted a survey called "Opinions" in 2002 and you wanted to do the same survey in 2003, you might rename the 2002 data from "Opinions.dat" to "Opinions-2002.dat" and then begin entering the new data. To rename the old data file, select File, Open, Data File, and right click on the file to be renamed.

If for some reason you wanted to analyze the old data file, use the DATA command to specify the old data file (with a different name than the codebook).

STUDY Opinions DATA Opinions-2002

QUESTION 10 - I need to do a new study similar to a previous study, but some of the questions are different. Do I have to retype all the study information?

ANSWER - No. There are two ways to do this. The first way is to first create a duplicate copy of the previous codebook using a new name. Load the codebook and then select File, Save Codebook, and give it a new name. You can then modify the new codebook file. The other way to do this is in the Grid. Load the previous codebook as a library (select File, Open Library) and you will be able to extract selected variables from the previous codebook into the Grid.

QUESTION 11 - I designed a codebook and form and tried entering a few data records and discovered that I need to change something in the study design. How can I do this after the data file already has data?

ANSWER - Once data has been entered into a data file, you can still change any text in the codebook or data manager form. You can also change the field width of any variable. If you change the field width of a variable, the associated data file will also be adjusted when you save the codebook..

However, once a data file exists, you should not 1) add a new variable, 2) delete a variable, or 3) change the order of variables, because the data file would no longer match the revised codebook. When you load a codebook that has an associated data file, StatPac will give you a warning that lets you turn off the buttons for these operations. (You can turn off the warning by selecting Format, Codebook Safety, No).

If you don't need the data file (e.g., it's just dummy test data), simply delete the data file and then make the desired changes to the codebook You will also have to modify the data entry form because it does not automatically reflect the changes in the codebook. The easiest way to change the form is to simply delete the existing form and recreate it after the codebook has been modified. To delete the form, select Edit, Select All, and then click the Cut button or select Edit, Cut. Make the changes to the codebook with the Variable Detail window or the Grid and then recreate the form.

If you have already entered a substantial number of real data records, and then discover you need to add a new variable, you must run an analysis to create the new variable in both the study design and data file. The form however, will not automatically be updated to reflect the new variable. Therefore, you must either delete the form

(see above) and recreate it, or you can manually insert the new variable in the proper place of the form. A new variable can be created by running a three-line procedure:

STUDY CodebookName NEW (Format) "New_Variable_Name" New Variable Label SAVE ..

For example, in a study called "Research", you could create a new numeric two-column variable called Number, with the following commands:

STUDY ResearchNEW (N2) "Number" Special New VariableSAVE..

When you run the procedure, both the codebook and data will be updated to include the new Number variable. The new Number variable would be added to the end of the existing codebook. You can insert the new variable in the middle of the codebook by using the WRITE command instead of the SAVE command. If you had 100 variables in the codebook and you wanted the new Number variable to become the 26th variable, the commands would be:

STUDY ResearchNEW (N2) "Number" Special New VariableWRITE  Research  V1 - V25 Number V26 - V100..

The above commands are "risky" because a mistake in the WRITE command might cause a loss of data. For example, if you made a typo in the WRITE command and inadvertently left out the number "5", there would be a loss of variables 3 through 25 in both the codebook and data files:

WRITE  Research  V1 - V2 Number V26 - V100       (Bad)

A safer way is to use the WRITE command to create a new codebook and data file rather than replacing the existing file. The following procedure creates a new codebook and data file called RESEARCH-2. The orignal codebook and data file will not be altered. You could then create a data entry form for RESEARCH-2:

STUDY ResearchNEW (N2) "Number" Special New VariableWRITE  Research-2  V1 - V25 Number V26 - V100..

For more information on creating and saving new variables, see the NEW, LET, COMPUTE, and WRITE commands.

QUESTION 12 - How can I import a fixed format sequential ASCII data file into StatPac?

ANSWER - Data files already in sequential ASCII fixed format do not usually need any conversion to be used by StatPac. The only requirement is that they have a .dat extension. First, design a codebook with StatPac so that the field widths for each variable are exactly the same as the data file you will be using. Then copy the data file to the same folder as the codebook and rename it so it has the same prefix as the codebook and a .dat extension. That's all there is to it.

As a final check, you can run the utility program to check a codebook and data file for errors (Analysis, Utilities, Codebook, Check Codebook and Data). If no errors are reported, the length of each data record matches the length defined by the codebook, and you can be assured that the codebook design and data file will interface properly.

If a data file is in any format other than fixed format sequential ASCII, you must use the import program to import the file. The import program will create a new data file and new codebook that best accommodates the format of the data being imported. You could then add variable and value labeling to the codebook.

QUESTION 13 - I ran an analysis that creates new variables and found that some of the computations were wrong. I fixed the procedure and tried to re-run it but it keeps giving me a "duplicate variable" message.

ANSWER -When you used the SAVE keyword, the new variables were saved in the codebook and data file...even though the computations were not correct. When you try to re-run the procedure, StatPac thinks you are attempting to create more new variables with the same names. To fix the problem, comment out the NEW keywords by placing an apostrophe at the beginning of the NEW lines. Then re-run the procedure.

QUESTION 14 - I have data files that I want to merge together. How can I combine them into one file so that I can analyze them together as one group of data?

ANSWER - When the data files contain identical variables in the same order, the data files can by joined by a process called concatenation. Usually, the data files are another administration of the same survey to a different group of people. To merge the files, in the Analysis program, select Utilities, Merge, Concatenate Data Files. For example, suppose you administered a consumer survey at three different shopping malls. The data file names are Mall-1.dat, Mall-2.dat, and Mall-3.dat. The codebook was the same for all three surveys (Mall-Survey.cod).

In many studies, it may also be important to know which data file each record came from after the data is merged. For example, if the purpose of the study were to identify differences between the shoppers at the different malls, it would be important that the final merged data file contained a variable that identified each respondent from Mall 1, 2 or 3. If the original data files do not already contain a group identifier variable, it can be added by running procedures to create the new variable, assign value labels to it, and assign the appropriate value to each record in the data files. This must be done before concatenating the data files. For this example, the procedures might be:

STUDY Mall-SurveyDATA Mall-1COMPUTE (N1) Location = 1LABELS Location (1=Mall 1)(2=Mall 2)(3=Mall 3) WRITE File-1..STUDY Mall-SurveyDATA Mall-2COMPUTE (N1) Location = 2 LABELS Location (1=Mall 1)(2=Mall 2)(3=Mall 3) WRITE File-2 .. STUDY Mall-SurveyDATA Mall-3COMPUTE (N1) Location = 3 LABELS Location (1=Mall 1)(2=Mall 2)(3=Mall 3) WRITE File-3..

After running the three procedures, each data file would contain a new variable called Location. This variable would have a value of 1 for all the records in the File-1.dat, 2 for all the records in the File-2.dat, and 3 for all the records in the File-3.dat.. The data files could then be concatenated into a single large data file. You would concatenate File-1.dat, File-2.dat and File-3.dat into a new data file called Combined.dat. Subsequent analyses could use the DATA command to specify the concatenated data file as the one to be analyzed. All three codebooks (File-1.cod, File-2.cod and File-3.cod) would be identical, so you could use any of them in the STUDY command.

STUDY File-1DATA Combined

The concatenation method of creating a merged data file is used only when the data files contain exactly the same variables in the same order.

Often, subsequent administrations of a survey will contain revised and new questions. Although most of the information is the same, small differences make it impossible to just use concatenation The first step in merging this kind of data is to identify the variables that are common to both surveys. Next, run one or more procedures using the WRITE keyword to create subfiles that only consist of the common variables (those variables that are identical in each study).

STUDY FirstStudyWRITE File-1 V4 V2 V12 - V22..STUDY SecondStudyWRITE File-2 V7 V2 V15-V25..

Finally, use concatenation to merge the data files. In this example, you would merge File1.dat and File-2.dat into a new larger file called CommonVars.dat. You could then perform the analysis on the combined data by beginning the procedure file with these commands:

STUDY File-1DATA CommonVars

The other type of merge that StatPac can perform is for a matched pairs or pre/post type of experiment. When two or more data files represent the same individuals, but different variables, you should not use concatenation Instead, you would use the MERGE keyword. Examples are before and after surveys, client follow-up surveys, etc. The data files may contain the same or different variables. The key point is that information on a particular individual is in each data file.

If each data file contains exactly the same number of records in the same order, you can use the MERGE command to merge the files without any additional steps. For example, suppose you have pretest and posttest surveys for the same group of people and the records in the data files are in the same order (i.e., the first record in the PreTest file is John Jones, and the first record in the PostTest file is John Jones; the second record in the PreTest file is Mary Smith, and the second record in the PostTest file is Mary Smith, etc.). The command to merge the posttest data into the pretest data would be:

STUDY PreTestMERGE PostTest..

If the data files contain records that are not in the same order, or if there are not the same number of records in each data file, then all the files must contain a unique ID variable that will allow you to match up data in the files. First you will have to sort all the files by the ID variable. It is OK if a data file does not contain a matching record for each record in the other file(s) (e.g., a respondent dropped out of the experiment). They just have to be in ascending sorted order. An example would be:

STUDY PreTestSORT (A) IDSAVE..STUDY PostTestSORT (A) IDSAVE..

After the data has been sorted, select Analysis, Utility, Merge, Restructure/Merge to perform the merge using ID as the common variable. That is, the ID number will be used to match up the records from each data file. For more information on the merge utility program, see the Utilities section of the on-line help.

QUESTION 15 - One of the variables in my study has an "other" category and a place for the respondent to write in their answer. How do I include this is the study design?

ANSWER - A variable in StatPac is a "piece of information". In this question, you really have two pieces of information, and thus, two variables. The first variable is the one with the defined response codes. The second is the "other" response.

For example, the following question has four response categories:

Who would you vote for to be the next president of our club?

1=Sally Nelson 2=Jim French 3=Brenda Johnson 4=Other   Specify: __________________________________

Two variables would be specified in the study design to hold the information for this question. The first variable would be a numeric one-column variable, and the second would be an alpha variable (about forty columns). Skip codes could be used to bypass the open-ended variable if 1, 2, or 3 is entered for the first variable.

1=Sally Nelson ;32=Jim French ;33=Brenda Johnson ;34=Other   Specify: __________________________________

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