Coding open-end questions

Problem

You want to code open-end questions into a numeric field.

Solution

Use cwnav.cgi along with the "Mass edit mode".

Discussion

The cwnav.cgi module displays a selection of cases (based on the criteria supplied) and a subset of questions from the questionnaire. Its "Mass edit" mode makes every field that is displayed editable.

To code open-end questions, follow these steps:

• open cwnav.cgi in the project of interest;
• enter the case selection criteria relevant to your situation; this could include selecting only cases which bear an open code on the question of interest.
• select the close-ended and the open-end questions relevant to the coding task; this includes, at a minimum, the close-ended portion of the text to be coded and the corresponding open-end part, but also any other field which may be useful in understanding the open-end comment;
• select the "Mass edit mode" checkbox;
• do not select the "Closed lists as boxes" checkbox to obtain dropdown lists of available choices;
• do select it if you want to get simple text boxes in which codes are manually entered;
• click Action!

A new page is displayed with the cases and fields you selected. Any change made to the data are saved when the Action! button is clicked again.