Creating a question requesting a value and a unit

Problem

You want to ask a respondent for a number which could be expressed in different units.

Solution

  • create a single-choice question;
  • add the unit categories (such as miles and kilometers);
  • add another category and assign it the open-end part;
  • give that category an N (non-selectable) behaviour code;
  • eventually, add one or more categories with values greater than 900 which could be selected without entering a numeric value in the open-end part (such as Don't know).

Discussion

Questions like this are called "unit-type questions". They have two components: an open-end numeric value and a single-choice series of units. For example, asking for the distance between home and work could be a unit-type question: the open-end numeric value is the number of units of distance and the single-choice series refers to the unit of measurement such as kilometers and miles. From CallWeb's standpoint, what is particular to unit-type questions is that the open-end part should not correspond to a particular unit choice and that the selection of a unit which is not the same code as the open-end must be permissible.

When a code corresponding to an open-end part has an N behaviour code, CallWeb expects that an answer other than that code will be selected by the respondent.

Creating a question requesting a value and a unit

Problem

You want to ask a respondent for a number which could be expressed in different units.

Solution

  • create a single-choice question;
  • add the unit categories (such as miles and kilometers);
  • add another category and assign it the open-end part;
  • give that category an N (non-selectable) behaviour code;
  • eventually, add one or more categories with values greater than 900 which could be selected without entering a numeric value in the open-end part (such as Don't know).

Discussion

Questions like this are called "unit-type questions". They have two components: an open-end numeric value and a single-choice series of units. For example, asking for the distance between home and work could be a unit-type question: the open-end numeric value is the number of units of distance and the single-choice series refers to the unit of measurement such as kilometers and miles. From CallWeb's standpoint, what is particular to unit-type questions is that the open-end part should not correspond to a particular unit choice and that the selection of a unit which is not the same code as the open-end must be permissible.

When a code corresponding to an open-end part has an N behaviour code, CallWeb expects that an answer other than that code will be selected by the respondent.