Map from case

This provides a set of colour coded blocks representing the current cases in the survey.

Map from case	Description
	An unscanned page or case. The case may have been entered without scanning, set to unscanned, or the image may have been deleted.
	A page/case that has been scanned, but is skewed and needs deskewing or manual keying.
	A page/case that has been scanned but not detected.
	A page/case that has been scanned and detected.
	A page/case needs keying or cleaning.
	The more red on the image the greater the amount of keying or cleaning required on the case.

View options

Mark As

Other options

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There are two types of scanning validation:

• Spelling validation checks a response against a stored dictionary of words, and tries to match responses to words in the dictionary.
• Pattern validation attempts to match a response against the expected pattern of characters. This is often used to validate responses such as dates, telephone number and zip or post codes.

There are different versions of spelling and pattern validation for handwritten and printed characters.

Scanning validation options

This tutorial shows how to set the scanning validation pattern for a question and provides instructions on creating your own validation pattern.

Apply a system pattern for scanning validation

1. Open the questionnaire in the Questionnaire window.
2. Select the question and click Variable Properties. This opens the Variable Properties dialog.
3. In the Scanning Validation property select Pattern. This is the pattern for handwritten response.

4. In Pattern, select the required pattern from the list of available patterns. The patterns in the list will include system patterns as well as your organisation’s patterns that are valid for the variable’s response type.

Alternatively, you can also set up the scanning validation and pattern using the Variable Details window, which is opened from the Variables window.

Set up your own validation pattern

This section shows how to create a simple validation pattern. The example is a pattern for an ID of two letters followed by five digits.

1. Select View | Patterns to open the Patterns dialog. (Prior to build 12.10 this was on the Tailor menu.)
2. Select New in the Patterns dialog to display the Pattern Properties dialog.

3. Choose a name for the pattern and type it in to the Name box.
4. Enter a Label giving more information. This will be displayed when the pattern is shown in the Patterns dialog.
5. Select the response type that the pattern will be used with from the Usage drop-down list.

6. In the Matches section, select New to create a match. This opens the Match Pattern dialog.
7. In this pattern there are two letters followed by five digits. In Global Patterns, double click the pattern ‘letter’. This adds the pattern to the Match.

8. Click Repeat then select Exactly and click OK. The default number is 2.

9. In Global Patterns, double click digit to add the digits to the Match.
10. Click Repeat then select Exactly and change the number to 5. Click OK.
11. Click OK to save the Match and return to the Pattern Properties dialog.
12. Click OK to save the pattern. This pattern can be used in scanning validation.

Further Information

You can find more details on the system patterns and creating your own patterns in Introduction to patterns.

You can find more information on scanning validation in Checking the scanning design recommendations.

If there is a topic you would like a tutorial on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com

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This tutorial describes how to create a questionnaire in booklet format and then scan the returned questionnaires. The steps assume that you have an existing scanning questionnaire that has been set up according to the advice given in Planning your scanning survey.

Set up the questionnaire as a booklet

1. In the Survey Overview window, select and open the scanning survey in the Questionnaire window.
2. If required, you can preview the scanning questionnaire by clicking the Print Preview  button on the Questionnaire window toolbar. This opens the print preview of the questionnaire where you can check the size, layout and number of pages. Click Cancel to close the preview window.
3. Click the Questionnaire Properties . This opens the Questionnaire Properties dialog.
4. In Section, select Page then select Print as booklet.

5. Set the paper size you will print on. Select the questionnaire orientation. Portrait assumes that the booklet opens like a book. The dotted line shows where the fold would be. The example shows a questionnaire to be printed on A3 paper and folded to A4. It will put two A4 portrait pages on a single A3 landscape sheet. You would need to set the printer to A3 landscape as that is how the paper is printed. To create an A5 folded booklet you need to set the Snap settings to A4 and Portrait. You would then set the printer to A4 landscape.

6. Click OK to save the settings.
7. Click Print Preview  to preview your questionnaire. The number of pages will have doubled and the pages will have reduced in size. Close the preview window.
8. Select File | Publish to publish your questionnaire as a booklet. The dialog will include the text Booklet Printing Is On. You can adjust the layout of each page of your questionnaire by changing the Spacing value below this text.

In Printer setup, you can set the printer to landscape printing and double-sided as required. Make sure that the printer is NOT using booklet printing.

Scanning the booklet

This step assumes that the questionnaire was published in Snap XMP Desktop as a booklet and that the scanner has been set up correctly.

You will need a blank questionnaire booklet (with any staples removed) to calibrate the questionnaire.

1. Prior to calibration, scanning needs to be activated. This is done in the Data Entry Tailoring dialog. Select the Tailor | Data Entry menu.

2. Select the Scanning option then click OK to save your settings.
3. Click Data Entry  on the Snap XMP Desktop toolbar. This opens the Data Entry window.
4. Click Prompted Mode  on the Data Entry window toolbar.
5. Click the right mouse button in the left-hand half of the window, and select Calibrate from the context menu. Click Next.

6. Click Check Sheet Map. This opens the Sheet Mapping dialog. The Layout will be set to Book if Print as booklet was selected when the questionnaire was published. If Duplex is checked, double-sided pages are expected.

7. Check that the settings are correct and click OK to return to the calibration.
8. Click Next to start the calibration and follow the on-screen instructions. (You will need to scan a blank booklet, starting with the sheet containing the first and last pages of the questionnaire.)
9. When you have finished calibrating the questionnaire, click Finish.
10. Test that a completed response booklet scans correctly. You can then scan your questionnaires as normal.

Scanning a booklet from a standard questionnaire

If you have not used the Print as booklet in the questionnaire, the scanning process expects to scan normal pages. You will need to calibrate the scanned questionnaire in Snap XMP Desktop for it to be recognised as a booklet.

1. Prior to calibration, scanning needs to be activated. This is done in the Data Entry Tailoring dialog. Select the Tailor | Data Entry menu.
2. Select the Scanning option then click OK to save your settings.
3. Click Data Entry  on the Snap XMP Desktop toolbar. This opens the Data Entry window.
4. Click Prompted Mode  on the Data Entry window toolbar.
5. Click the right mouse button in the left-hand half of the window, and select Calibrate from the context menu. Click the right mouse button in the left-hand half of the window, and select Sheet Map from the context menu.
6. Select Book in the Layout dropdown list.

7. Check through the options to make sure that they match the booklet that you are scanning, and click OK.
8. Right-click the left-hand half of the data entry window, and select Calibrate from the context menu. Follow the on-screen instructions.
   This calibration is the only way that Snap has of matching the positions of responses to questions.
9. Scan a test questionnaire that includes responses. If this is successful, you can then scan your questionnaire booklets.

If there is a topic you would like a worksheet on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com

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Prior to printing the data report, you must have retained the image files created by the scanning process. Scanning must be activated from the Data Entry Tailoring window by selecting the Scanning check box.

To print the scanned data report:

1. Click Data Entry on the Snap XMP Desktop toolbar. This opens the Data Entry window.
2. Click Print  to open the Print Data dialog. (Note: You must select Scanning in Data entry tailoring to access this dialog).

3. In Title, enter a title to describe the data in the printed report.
4. In Filter, you can select which results to print by entering a filter selection. Note: You can only use a variable as a filter with stored data, e.g. if you have not keyed in a Literal Response question and it only exists as an image in Snap XMP Desktop. You cannot filter a variable that has not been interpreted successfully.
5. In Content, specify which variables to include in the report by entering the variable names.
6. Select Scanned Questionnaire in the Style section and any other options you may require:
   • Show Boxes Only: does not show question text in the report
   • Remove Blank Space: reduces any space around an answer image
   • Show Case Number: displays the case number on the report
   • Two Columns: displays the replies in two columns
7. Click OK. This prints a list of the images for the data responses.

If there is a topic you would like a worksheet on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com

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1. Create a brand new survey specifically for scanning using the Scanning template provided with Snap XMP Desktop when creating it.
2. Provide instructions at the beginning of the survey advising on how to complete the questionnaire.
3. Use check box questions wherever you can rather than ones which ask the user to write a response.
4. Apply the grid box style for open-ended questions
5. Use scanning validation and patterns to help recognise the type of data that will be entered.
6. Calibrate and TEST your survey BEFORE distributing it. This can involve printing some copies, get colleagues to complete them and scan the answers in to check that everything works.
7. Sort your surveys before scanning and make sure the page order and orientation are consistent.
8. Scan in batches of between 10 and 50 pages.

Don’t

1. Design questionnaires with boxes that are shadowed, contain a coloured background or have a non-rectangular shape, such as a circle.
2. Design questionnaires with boxes that do not have a clear margin around the perimeter of each box or with boxes that are too close together.
3. Design questionnaires with background or drop-out colours that might conflict with the particular scanner in use. Certain light colours can appear transparent to a scanner but it is manufacturer dependent and light colours should always be used with caution.
4. Change the margins, font or questions of a survey once live.
5. Reduce the margins of the survey to any less than .25 inches/cm
6. Expect to get good results from cases containing poorly written numbers or words. Although Snap will attempt to recognise them.
7. Print on dark coloured paper; ideally stick to black text on white paper.
8. Change printer or printer driver.
9. Change the PC’s operating system.

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Questionnaire design recommendations

Creating the survey

The survey variables need to be set up before the scanning definition process is started. The layout of a questionnaire does not have to match that of the original questionnaire. You do not have to set up variables for every question as there may be some questions, which you do not wish to analyse.

1. From the Survey Overview window, click Online Surveys to show the online surveys.
2. Click to create a new online survey.
3. Choose the Scanning survey template, which is supplied with Snap, as a starting point for the new scanning survey and click Next.
4. In the New Online Survey dialog, enter a name for the survey and select the location of the survey. Click OK. This creates the new survey.
5. You can now enter the questions in the Questionnaire window. There is no need to enter a Title or Sub Title, just select the appropriate question style for each of the questions from the external questionnaire.
6. Set your Response types and add any Routing if required. There is no need to customise.

Further details of creating a scanning survey can be found at Setting up the online survey framework for scanning and Designing your scanning questionnaire.

Matching a scanned questionnaire to variables in Snap

The Define external questionnaire process allows you to match questions and codes on a paper questionnaire with appropriate variables in the survey. All code boxes that are to be scanned must be defined using the Define external questionnaire process. Using Define external questionnaire locks the questionnaire for scanning.

Note. If you have used Define external questionnaire to specify the location of the boxes you should NOT, under any circumstances, use Calibration, as this will overwrite the definition you have created.

The next step is to scan a blank copy of the questionnaire from a paper copy of an image file.

1. Open the Questionnaire window .
2. Click on the Define external questionnaire button in the Questionnaire window toolbar. This appears at the end of the toolbar for Scanning surveys.
3. The Questionnaire window changes to show the Define external questionnaire window with the first variable selected.

4. Click on the Scan button . The Acquire window opens.
5. Specify the number of sheets for the questionnaire and in which order the sheets will appear; Single Sided, Front then Back or Duplex.
6. If you are using a scanner directly attached to the computer, place a blank copy of the questionnaire in the scanner.
7. If you are using an image file, select Read from File then click File Details.
8. In the Input File Details dialog enter or browse to the image file. Click OK to save the file details and return to the Acquire dialog.

9. In the Acquire dialog, click OK. The questionnaire will be scanned and an image of the questionnaire will appear in the definition screen. You now need to define where the box for each question or code is located, to prevent the accidental re-sizing or re-positioning of code-boxes when in the definition screen.
10. Zoom In on the first section of the questionnaire, either by clicking on or selecting Zoom In from the right-click menu. The mouse arrow becomes a magnifying glass .
11. If the first box is detected then a field will be created around it otherwise select the Create Field button and adjust the field to be larger than the actual area, by dragging to mark the area. The marked area will then appear.
12. To match the box size exactly, click Attach .

13. If you have accidentally selected the wrong question or code, you can undo the definition by clicking on Delete Field .
14. To move onto the next question or code, press Enter on your keyboard or click .
15. Repeat this process for each question.
16. To see which Code Boxes have been defined select all from the question drop down.
17. To save the definitions you have created click Save . To abandon all the definitions you have created select Cancel . It is advisable to save your work at regular intervals.

Scanning

1. Open the Data Entry window and select Interview Mode .
2. Click for New Case. This will open the Scanning Calibration window, DO NOT CALIBRATE as this will override the manual calibration you have already done.
3. Select Cancel and the Acquire dialog opens.
4. If you know the number of cases you will be scanning you can specify it here. Ensure Scan and Detect are both ticked.

5. Click OK.
6. When the scanning and detection process is complete, a message is displayed showing how many sheets have been read and detected.
7. If you are using a scanner which isn’t connected directly to your PC but on your network, select Image File and then browse to the folder where your PDF/TIFF files are stored.

Once cases are scanned, you will need to clean the data to make sure it has been collected accurately.

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• The Scanner make and model number.
• The SCSI Card make and model number, if necessary.
• The Operating System used on the PC, e.g. Windows 10.
• The build number and serial number of Snap XMP Desktop, which can be found by accessing Help | About Snap.
• The name of your organisation.
• The name of the Snap XMP Licence Holder at your organisation.

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1. Open the Data Entry window and select the Keying/Cleaning button.
2. Click the Cleaning tab.

3. There are five options under the Cleaning tab. Select all five options to ensure that no incorrect data is missed.

4. Click OK to start the cleaning process. Messages will appear above the scanned image explaining any specific errors. The variable that needs cleaning is highlighted.
5. Make the necessary corrections then press Enter to advance to the next question response to clean until the Keying Completed message is displayed. Click OK to finish the cleaning.
   

View scanned images of free text questions

The scanning and detection process automatically saves a scanned image of each handwritten reply without making an attempt to interpret the text. You can then print a report of all your scanned images.

This option is best if you are not planning in-depth analysis of free text replies but would like to view the comments which have been made.

1. Open the Data Entry window and select the Print button.
2. In the Print Data dialog, enter the open response question in the Content field.
3. Leave ticks in the boxes for Show boxes only, Remove blank space and Show case number.
4. Click Setup in order to access your printer settings and if you want to include a Header/Footer.
5. Click OK.
6. The printed report or PDF lists the text images captured for the open ended question.

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1. Open the Data Entry window and select the Keying/Cleaning button.

2. The Key from Image tab is used for open ended questions.
   • Needs Keying option is for open ended question responses that have been set to be keyed by hand.
   • Validation Failure finds any questions where pattern matching has failed and so keying is also required.
   • Validation Uncertain is where the scanning detection has tried to find a pattern or spelling match and is unsure whether the answer given is correct.
3. You can go directly to particular variables or cases by using the Selection and Filter options. Checking Selection allows you to enter the names of variables you want to key. You will then go directly to that variable. You can enter a list of case numbers in the Filter to check those cases or you can enter a range of cases e.g. 1~50.
4. Check Needs Keying, Validation Failure and the Validation Uncertain boxes. Leave the Selection and Filter options empty to see all the open-ended questions appear in the order in which they are on the questionnaire. Click OK to begin the Key from Image process.
5. The detection process will attempt to read the hand written response but if there is an error you are directed to the data entry window to enter the correct response.
6. Once the reply is keyed, click Enter to advance to the next case until all cases have been entered.
7. At that point the Keying Complete dialog is displayed. Click OK and proceed to the Cleaning data function.

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The sheet mapping is accessed from the Data Entry window and the Calibration Wizard.

1. Open the Data Entry window and select Interview Mode .
2. Move the mouse pointer over the left hand side of the window (which is blank) and Right Mouse click, select Sheet Map. The Sheet Mapping dialog opens.

3. Select the appropriate layout

4. Sheets can be ignored or excluded. Ignored pages are scanned but not detected. Excluded pages will not be sent through the scanner.
   • To ignore a sheet, select the relevant page in Page Layout and select Ignore Page.
   • To exclude a sheet, select the relevant page in Page Layout and select Exclude Sheet

5. Select the other settings that match the layout of the scanning questionnaire.

6. Click OK to save the sheet mapping.

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1. Open the Data Entry window and select Interview Mode .
2. Click for New Case. The Acquire window opens. Click OK.
3. Select Scan and Detect to scan and detect the values on the questionnaire.
4. Select Print Batch Header to print a report of the scanned questionnaires from the current batch. The report lists date and time, together with the name of the survey, and the case numbers allocated within the survey. Attaching the Batch Report to each batch of questionnaires that have been scanned can help if there is a need to examine the questionnaires at a later date.

5. In Source, select Scanner, if you are scanning the questionnaires, or Image File, if you are loading image files containing the scanned questionnaires.

Using Scanner

6. If you are scanning the questionnaires, place your completed questionnaires in the scanner and click OK.
7. The questionnaires are scanned and once completed a message is displayed, showing the number of sheets read and cases detected. Click OK.

Using Image Files

8. If you are using image files that have previously been scanned and are stored on an accessible drive, browse to the folder where your PDF/TIFF files are stored. Click Select file(s) and select the image files.

Scanning questionnaires and detecting responses separately

For larger volumes it may be advisable to separate the scan and detect processes. Scanning the questionnaires becomes faster as the detection process is run later, at a convenient time, to process images, detect the questionnaire responses, and create the Snap .rdf data files.

Scanning without detecting

1. Click . The Acquire window opens. Select Scan and clear Detect. Only the scanning will be performed.
2. Click OK.

Detecting without scanning

With a number of scanned images ready to detect, the same procedure is followed.

1. Click . The Acquire window opens. Clear Scan and select Detect. Only the detection will be performed.

2. Enter the Starting Case and Number of Cases to indicate which cases to detect.
3. Click OK.

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By default, the Scanning Module follows the routing rules set up in the questionnaire. When a routing condition is met, any question that is skipped when the questionnaire is completed will also be skipped by the scanning module. As this is a paper questionnaire there may be some responses where the participant has answered questions that were not required. These questions will not be scanned.

Scanning all questions

Routing can be turned off prior to scanning the completed questionnaires. If routing is turned off the scanning process scans all questions on the questionnaire.

1. On the main Snap XMP Desktop menu click Tailor | Data Entry.
2. In the Data Entry Tailoring dialog, clear Follow question routing. This turns question routing off for the selected survey.
3. Click OK to save the settings.
4. To turn the question routing on again select Follow question routing.

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Requirements before you start

Before starting, you will require the following

• A blank finalised and published questionnaire or the first case of cases that you wish to scan.
• A scanner that is either directly connected to the PC which has Snap installed on it or that can save images (TIFF or PDF) to an accessible drive.

Calibrate the questionnaire

1. Open the Data Entry window and select Interview Mode .
2. Click on Tailor on the Data Entry toolbar and select Scanning. Click OK to return to the Data Entry window.

3. Move the mouse pointer over the left hand side of the window (which is blank) and Right Mouse click, select (Re) Calibrate.

4. This opens the Welcome to Scanning Calibration window. The Calibration Wizard guides you through the calibration process. Click Next.
5. The next step is to scan the (test) case that you wish to use for calibration. You can use a blank finalised and published questionnaire or the first case that you wish to scan. Select the source for this case, which can be either:
   • Scanner where the case will be scanned from a scanning device attached to your PC
   • Image File where the case is loaded from an image file (e.g. TIFF, PDF) saved on an accessible drive.
6. Select Duplex, if the case is printed on both sides of the paper.
7. Click Check Sheet Map to view and edit the Sheet Mapping for the questionnaire. You can select the appropriate layout including duplex and booklet.

8. If you are scanning directly from a scanner, under Source, select Scanner then click Next. When asked, you need to place a blank questionnaire into the scanner. Click OK to start scanning.
9. If you are using image files under Source, select Image File then click Next. When asked, you need to locate and select the image file. Click Open to load the image file.
10. After the questionnaire has been scanned or loaded you will see the image on the right hand side of the window. The on-screen instructions will advise that it needs calibrating, click Next.
11. Follow the on-screen instructions shown at the top of the Calibration Wizard. These instructions will tell you where to click in the image of the scanned questionnaire. Click Next after completing each instruction.
12. When the calibration is complete, you will see the message “All pages are now calibrated correctly. Click Finish to continue and scan your responses“. Now that the questionnaire has been calibrated, all future scanned questionnaires will use the markers you have identified in the above process.

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Click Publish on the Questionnaire toolbar.

2. Once you have selected your printer, click the Publish button. This locks your questionnaire for scanning.
3. DO NOT make any changes to the questionnaire once it has been locked for scanning.
4. Once you have printed and distributed your survey, your completed questionnaires are ready to be scanned.

Note.
If a survey has only been printed and not published, it will display a watermark across the page.

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Click Print Preview on the Questionnaire toolbar to show a print preview of the questionnaire. A watermark is displayed across the questionnaire to show that it is a draft that has not been published yet.

2. If the scanning module has detected any design recommendations, these are displayed. The recommendations indicate any questions that may make the questionnaire difficult to scan. The recommendations shown here are advising you to add scanning validation to the open-response questions. This makes it easier for the scanning module to determine the data response. The design recommendations help improve the scanning accuracy but are not mandatory.

3. Click Cancel to close the dialog and end the preview.

Using a scanning validation property

You can help improve character recognition when scanning in open responses by using patterns and settings.

The following scanning validation options are available.

Adding a scanning validation pattern

Scanning validation properties guide the scanning module as to the type and pattern of data that is expected in the response.

The question ‘How many people did you attend the event with?’ is expected to be a whole number that will be a handwritten entry.

1. Select the question and click Variable Properties from the Questionnaire toolbar.
2. In the example, the pattern is called whole number and is supplied with Snap XMP Desktop. In Source Pattern select whole number from the list of quantity patterns available.
3. Change the Scanning Validation property to Pattern. The Scanning module expects the response to be handwritten and with the pattern entered in the Source Pattern.

4. Click OK to continue.
5. Click Save to save the changes to your questionnaire

Key an open question instead of scanning it

Lengthy comments that are often entered when a participant is asked for their opinions can have a poor scanning accuracy that is dependent of the quality of the handwriting. Often it is easier to recode or key an entire response rather than correct one that has been poorly interpreted.

You can set open ended questions that ask for comments as being keyed. This prompts you to hand key the response during the keying and cleaning phase of the scanning process.

1. Select the comment question and click Variable Properties from the Questionnaire toolbar.
2. Change the Scanning Validation property to Keyed. The Scanning module will not attempt to interpret the hand written reply for this question but mark it to be entered by hand.

3. Click OK to continue.
4. Click Save to save the changes to your questionnaire.

Repeat the recommendation review

1. Click Print Preview on the Questionnaire toolbar to look at the print preview again as there may be more design recommendations.

2. There are further recommendations to change the style of the open ended response questions to use the gridded box style.
3. The design recommendations help improve the scanning accuracy but are not mandatory. If there are no recommendations this section is not displayed. When you are happy that your questionnaire is ready you can move on to publishing the questionnaire.

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Changing column settings for a question

Increasing the number of columns a Single Choice or Multi Choice question is spread over can save a lot of space when trying to fit a questionnaire onto one page.

1. Select the question that you wish to change. From the Topics drop down list, select Columns and increase the number from 1 to 2.
2. Repeat for the Single Choice and Multiple Choice questions in the survey.

3. From here you also have the option to override any page settings and select Full Page.

Adjust the spacing within a question

In a scanning questionnaire the boxes in a Single Choice, Multiple Choice and Grid style questions should be well spaced. You can adjust spacing within a question and this is particularly useful for Grid style questions.

1. Highlight the Grid question then from the Topics drop-down list, select Tabs and then Grid Label. Reduce or increase the % so that the text fits nicely on the page. Make sure there is adequate space around the tick boxes, DO NOT butt them up against each other.

2. Within the Tabs setting you can adjust different elements of the question using the 3^rd drop-down. For example, change the spacing between the code boxes in a row by selecting Code Gutter and increasing or decreasing the %.
3. Highlight the Grid question then from the Topics drop-down list, select Margins and then highlight the entire Grid question. Increase the Top margin to increase the spacing between the grid rows.

Setting the box style for scanning

The Scanning survey template supplied with Snap XMP Desktop uses the standard box with the Force Square option selected. You are advised not to change this box style as it is designed to improve scanning accuracy.

For Open Ended questions there is the box style that can be used to separate the text box into individual character boxes. This encourages participants to enter one character in each box, improving the accuracy of scanning. This is useful for formatted information such as dates and times. You may still want to keep free format comments with the standard box style.

1. Select the question that you wish to change. From the Topics drop down list, select Boxes then select from the list.

2. Repeat for any other Open Ended questions in the survey required.

Setting variable properties for open style questions

Open style questions have a set of properties that can be specified. For example, Literals need to state the number of characters that can be entered by the participant. Some questions that ask for comments would require the literal length to be set quite high in order to capture the full response. Each Literal response can have a maximum of 9,999 characters; it is recommended that you set the appropriate length for each question.

Other open style questions with the response of Quantity, Date or Time can have a Valid range or Pattern added.

Literal response

1. Select a Literal response question such as Q6 Is there anything else you would like to say about this event?
2. Select the Variable Properties button
3. Scroll down to Max Data Length and specify the maximum number of characters. For example 100. This will allow for a maximum of 100 characters

Quantity, date and time responses

When selecting a Date response you may wish to specify a date range. For example, your survey may only be running for a limited period therefore, you can ensure that all data entered will fall between those dates.

1. Open the Variable Properties for a Date response question and click in the Valid field. Specify your date range such as 01.07.20~31.08.20. This will only allow data between/including these two dates.
2. With a Time response you can specify your opening times, this way data outside of these won’t be valid. For example the Valid field might specify 10.00~17.00
3. With quantity responses such as How many people did you attend the event with, you might want to set the Valid range 0~20.
   

Using a decorated date pattern

You can use a decorated pattern to insert fixed characters into a variable of known length. This would be used for printing dividers between date elements on a paper questionnaire, for example, before scanning.

You can only use a decorated pattern if the data pattern is of fixed length, and the fixed, printable characters always appear in the same place within the variable.

1. The decorated date pattern that is supplied with Snap XMP Desktop is used in this example. Open Tailor | Patterns to view this pattern.
2. Select the date question that you wish to change. From the Topics drop down list, select Boxes then select from the list.

3. Click Variable Properties to open a list of the variable properties for the selected question.
4. Set the Max Data Length to the exact number of characters used (10 in the DD/MM/YYYY example).
5. Set the Box Length to the exact number of characters used (10 in the DD/MM/YYYY example).
6. Set the Source Pattern to the decorated pattern you wish to use (decorated date in the example).

7. Click OK. The fixed characters appear in the correct places in the response box.

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Add an image

The new questionnaire created using the supplied Scanning survey template contains an image placeholder and a title question.

1. Double click the logo placeholder to open the Image Properties dialog.
2. Click Browse to find the logo then click Open to show it in the dialog.

3. Use Zoom to alter the size of the logo; Colourize Gif to change the color of the image (if available) and Alt text to provide alternative text for the image.
4. When you’ve made your changes, click OK to return to the questionnaire
5. Click to save the changes to the questionnaire.

Add the title and sub title

A questionnaire usually includes a heading together with text to explain its purpose and how it should be completed. When a new questionnaire is created using the Scanning survey template, you are prompted for a title and then a sub title.

1. In the area marked “Enter your Title here”, enter the title of your questionnaire. The style displayed at the top of the window is set to Title.
2. Press the down arrow to move to the sub title that is included in the Scanning template. The Sub Title style is displayed on the toolbar.

3. Type your sub title text.

The text of the sub title will automatically move onto a new line as the first line is completed. If you want to force a new line as part of the text of the title or sub title, use the key combination Shift + Enter.

Add a single choice and multiple choice question

The Scanning survey template includes a Single Choice question as the first question in the questionnaire. A Single Choice question allows the respondent to select one answer; a Multi Choice allows for multiple answers.

1. The first question is a Single Choice question. In the area marked Enter your question text here type the question Have you attended this event before? Press the down arrow to select the code label and type Yes then repeat with the next code entering No.
2. Press Ctrl + Y to delete any remaining codes.

3. Press Enter to create a new Single Choice question.
4. Change the style to Multi Choice by choosing Multi Choice in the Style selection drop down menu. The shape of the response boxes are the same for Single and Multi Choice questions in the scanning template.

5. An area is marked “Click here for text”. Type your question text here.
6. Press the Tab key on your keyboard and the cursor moves into an area by the first box. Type the first of your answer codes. Press Tab to create and move to the next line.
7. Continue with the text for the other items and press Tab after each one.

8. Press Enter to start a new question or Ctrl + Enter if you wish to add an “Other” to the question.

Including an “other” question

When you are creating a list of items it is likely the list will not contain every answer and you may want to collect further information from the respondent. Snap has its own style called Other to collect such text, and is designed in such a way that it appears as part of the main question with its list of codes.

1. When you complete your list of choices, press Ctrl + Enter to add an Other style question after the Multi Choice question. The style of an Other question contains a question text label and a text box for free format comments.
2. In the area marked “Click here for text”, enter your question text.
3. To make the text box larger press Ctrl + +. Press Ctrl + – to make the box smaller.

The question number is not displayed but can be identified in the notification area of Snap XMP Desktop.

Add a grid question

A Grid is made up of a series of Single Response questions, which have exactly the same choice of answers, organised in grid rows. Often they ask for people’s attitude towards something. A grid can be set up using the styles Grid First and Grid Next.

1. Press Enter to create a new question.
2. In the style selection drop down list change the style to Grid First. This will allow you to set up the headings for the first of a series of grid questions.

3. In the area marked Click here for text, type your question text, for example “Focusing on today’s event please rate the following…” Press the Tab key on your keyboard.
4. The cursor will now move to the list of codes across the top of the first grid question. Type the first of the possible answers, such as “Good”. Press Tab to create the next code. Type each subsequent answer and follow each by pressing Tab. After the last code press instead of Tab.
5. The cursor will move to the text of the first Grid Label. Type the first item, such as “Speed of service” and press Tab.

6. This creates the next grid row automatically changing the style to Grid Next for the second and subsequent rows. Type the next Grid Label.
7. Press Tab to create another grid row or press Enter to complete the grid and move to a new question.

Add an open ended quantity question

The next question asks the participant how many people they attended the event with. This requires an Open Ended style question so a number has to be entered.

1. In the style selection, change the style to Open Ended to allow any character or number to be entered in the box.
2. In the field marked Click here for text, type How many people did you attend the event with?
3. By default, open-ended questions have a response type of literal. This means that any characters can be entered in the box. To ensure that respondents enter a number, change the response type to Quantity. This allows calculations on the response.

4. Click Variable Properties to show the list of variable properties. Change the Data Length and the Box Length to 2 which restrict the number entered to 2 digits.
5. Change the number of Decimal Places to 0 as a whole number is required.

6. Click OK to return to the questionnaire.
7. Press Enter to start a new question.

Allow for any free format comments

An Open Ended question is used to collect free format text, number, date or time. A common use is to provide space for general comments.

1. In the style selection, change the style to Open Ended.
2. Click on the box that reads Click here for text and type in your question text.
3. Set the Response to Literal. This will allow you to enter free format text as a reply.

4. To make the box bigger hold down the Ctrl key and press the + key. Press Ctrl and – to make the box smaller.
5. Press Enter to start a new question.

Adding a date question

Adding date and time question uses the Open Ended style of question.

1. In the style selection, change the style to Open Ended.
2. Click on the box that reads Click here for text and type in your question text.
3. Set the Response to Date. This allows only dates to be entered.

4. To make the box bigger hold down the [Ctrl] key and press the [+] key. Press [Ctrl] and [-] to make the box smaller.
   

The post Designing your scanning questionnaire appeared first on SnapSurveys.

The Survey Overview window opens when you first start Snap XMP Desktop. There are two types of survey: online surveys and offline surveys. Click Online surveys to show a list of all the online surveys that are available to the current online account. Click Offline surveys to show a list of all the surveys that are stored in your current offline working folder.

These instructions show how to create an online survey with the Scanning survey template, available with Snap XMP Desktop. Using an online survey allows you to access the survey in Snap XMP Online as well.

Add your online account details

Before you can create or view the online surveys in Snap XMP Desktop you will need to set up a link with a Snap XMP Online user account. You will need to enter your Snap XMP Online account details to link the surveys created in this Snap XMP Online account to Snap XMP Desktop.

1. Close any open surveys in Snap XMP Desktop using File/Close Survey.
2. Click the Tailor menu and click Online Account to open the Log in to Snap XMP Online dialog.

3. In the Select Server section there are two options
   • Select Snap XMP Online if your account is run by Snap Surveys. Select the Snap XMP Online server to log in.
   • Select Own Server if your organisation is running Snap XMP Online on their server. Select the server URL to log in.
4. In the User Details section enter the Email Address and Password to connect to the server.
5. Check Remember my credentials if you would like the Password to be remembered every time you use Snap XMP Desktop.
6. Click OK to log in to the online surveys via Snap XMP Desktop.

Creating a folder for your scanning online surveys

Folders help to organise your online surveys. Creating your folders first allows you to create or transfer your online surveys to the place you want straight away.

1. When you start Snap XMP Desktop the Survey Overview window appears. If it is not open, click Survey Overview on the Snap XMP toolbar, which opens the Survey Overview window.
2. On the Survey Overview toolbar, click Online Surveys to show the online surveys. When opening the online surveys for the first time, you will see a top level folder called Your work.

3. Click on Your work then right click to show a popup menu and click New Folder.

4. In the New Folder Name dialog, enter a name for the folder. In the example, the new folder name is ‘Scanning surveys’.

5. Click OK and the new folder is shown in the Survey Overview window.

Creating a new scanning survey

1. Click to create a new online survey.
2. Choose the Scanning survey template, which is supplied with Snap XMP Desktop, as a starting point for the new scanning survey. Click Next.

3. In the New Online Survey dialog, enter a name for the survey and select the folder to add the survey. Click OK.

4. This creates the new survey. You can now build your questionnaire in the Questionnaire window. The tabs for the different editions are shown at the bottom.

The post Setting up the online survey framework for scanning appeared first on SnapSurveys.

Before you start designing your questionnaire for scanning, please keep in the mind the following do’s and don’ts to help with the success of scanning.

Scanning hardware

Hardware if you are using a physical scanner

It is essential that you have completed the following:

• Installed both the scanner and appropriate ISIS Scanner Driver onto your PC. Sheet feeder required.

If scanning from a network scanner

• Scan to PDF or TIFF, 300dpi and black and white.

The three golden rules

1. Never change the survey once interviewing has started
2. Always print from the same source, preferably a pdf (don’t photocopy).
3. Always scan at a resolution of 300 dpi and black and white

The Dos and Don’ts of Scanning

Do

1. Create a brand new survey specifically for scanning using the Scanning template provided with Snap XMP Desktop when creating it.
2. Provide instructions at the beginning of the survey advising on how to complete the questionnaire.
3. Use check box questions wherever you can rather than ones which ask the user to write a response.
4. Apply the grid box style for open-ended questions
5. Use scanning validation and patterns to help recognise the type of data that will be entered.
6. Calibrate and TEST your survey BEFORE distributing it. This can involve printing some copies, get colleagues to complete them and scan the answers in to check that everything works.
7. Sort your surveys before scanning and make sure the page order and orientation are consistent.
8. Scan in batches of between 10 and 50 pages.

Don’t

1. Design questionnaires with boxes that are shadowed, contain a coloured background or have a non-rectangular shape, such as a circle.
2. Design questionnaires with boxes that do not have a clear margin around the perimeter of each box or with boxes that are too close together.
3. Design questionnaires with background or drop-out colours that might conflict with the particular scanner in use. Certain light colours can appear transparent to a scanner but it is manufacturer dependent and light colours should always be used with caution.
4. Change the margins, font or questions of a survey once live.
5. Reduce the margins of the survey to any less than .25 inches/cm
6. Expect to get good results from cases containing poorly written numbers or words. Although Snap will attempt to recognise them.
7. Print on dark coloured paper; ideally stick to black text on white paper.
8. Change printer or printer driver.
9. Change the PC’s operating system.

Steps for designing a scanning survey using Snap XMP Desktop

1. Set up a survey framework
2. Design a questionnaire
3. Check the questionnaire can be scanned
4. Format the questionnaire
5. Publish and distribute the questionnaire
6. Collect the survey responses
7. Clean the data and key any Open Ended questions as required.

Steps for using an externally defined questionnaire

1. Create a Snap XMP questionnaire with the correct variables
2. Scan a blank copy of the questionnaire
3. Match the scan to the variables (the scanning definition process)
4. Start the scan of the survey responses
5. Clean the data and key any Open Ended questions as required.

The post Planning your scanning survey appeared first on SnapSurveys.