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Sometimes a form is nearly identical at every data collection point, but there is a slight difference in the question for some items. For example, at baseline the prompt maybe is "what's your highest pain rating in the last two weeks?", whereas at follow-up, the prompt is "What's your highest pain rating since the last visit?" There Note that the data entry prompt is part of the data definition (i.e., tied together with how the variable is defined , e.g., a number with the prompt "Age:") and each variable only has ONE prompt.
Often with only a slight change in the display prompt the statistician will prefer to keep the variable in the same column within the data set (option 1 below). This is done in study by either creating a second, non-exportable variable, that is only used for the display prompt and is shown/hidden when appropriate. Or the time reference is taken out of the prompt and put in a heading and the heading is shown/hidden when appropriate (e.g., one heading says, "The following question refer to in the past week", whereas the other heading says, "The following questions refer to since the last visit".
Other times, the statistician will prefer a completely new variable (option 2 below). There are pro's and con's as to how to handle such cases, but the general recommendation is to define as few of variables as possible to that everything lines up in the dataset (see image below).possible using different display prompts so that everything lines up in the dataset (Option 1).
What to Consider
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- Multi-media data entry with video, sounds, pictures, etc.
- Data entry forms with extensive validation routines (e.g. skip logic, etc.)
- Forms that integrate data entry with clicking on an image, or a form with a background image with data entry field positions designed accordingly
- Standard layouts with one variable per row
- Matrix type layout
- Table layouts
- Automatic scoring
See ExamplesSee Form Design for ideas on what can be done with forms.