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Text within a questionnaire becomes a statement when it does not fulfill the criteria of becoming any of the other elements (sequenceSequence, Instruction, instruction Condition or condition) and does not provide any context to be part of the question text Question). It must not contain any context which is not already included in the question literal. Statements can be found throughout the questionnaire; at the beginning, middle and end and they are used for both questions and sequences. Statements are control constructs which are concerned with the positioning of items within a questionnaire.
Statements need to refer back to a question or a sequence to provide them with unique labels. This helps to understand their position within the questionnaire. Statements are labelled with the prefix ‘s_intro_…’. If there is a statement connected to a section then it always needs to be numbered even if there is only one, see second example from ALSPAC above. For more on labelling statements please see constructing label (IDs) for more information.
Statements are positional and are independent of questionnaire. Their . They can be referenced to both questions or sequences depending on their location and content.
Statements are control constructs that are independent of questions. Control constructs are concerned with positioning in a questionnaire. The statement's position is dependent upon where the statement text appears in the questionnaire; for example, if it appears before a question then it needs to be input before the question on Archivist and , see Example 1.
Similarly, if the statement text is appears after a the question in the questionnaire text then it needs to be input after the question .
Statements can be related to either a question or a sequence and they need to labelled and positioned accordingly. See example 1 for when the statement is labelled after the question because it is specific to that question. Note also that it has been input before the question on archivist to match the questionnaire layout.
on Archivist, see Example 2.
Example 1 Questionnaire: ALSPAC My Son/Daughter’s Health
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Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view : (alspac_00_msdh):
Now see example 2 for when the statement is not just specific to a question alone but to an entire section:
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Example 2 Questionnaire: NCDS Medical Questionnaire 1974
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (ncds_74_mq):
Statement labels
Statement ID labels are a way to understand the position of a statement within a questionnaire. In order for statements to have a unique label they need to refer back to either a question or a sequence. If there is a statement connected to an entire section within a questionnaire then it needs to be labelled after the section and it always needs to be numbered; even if there is only one, see Example 3 below. For more on labeling statements please see Constructing Label (IDs) for more information.
Example 3 Questionnaire: ALSPAC My Son/Daughter’s Health and Behaviour
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Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view : (alspac_00_msdh):
The statement in example 2 is labelled not after the question but the section and this is because of the indication of the statement text. It has positioned not before but after the section heading as this is how it appears in the questionnaire layout. Some questionnaires have a lot text 
Statements may contain context
Some statements have text that is contextually important information which is then repeated within the question such as in Example 4. This example shows a simple sentence before a question explaining what the next questions are about. The important context of ‘you and your family’ is repeated in the question, so the statement does not need to be included as part of the question text.
Example 4 Questionnaire: USoc Adult Self completion 2008
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist layout (us1_ysc):
Multiple statements
Some questionnaires have long continuous text with breaks at the beginning of a questionnaire explaining to the interviewee how to complete it, as shown in example 3Example 5. In the Archivist view below you will see that five seperate separate statements have been entered. This is because , in the case where you have a series of statements , they are seperated entered separately where a carriage return is used in the questionnaire layout.
Example
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5 Questionnaire: NSHD Final Interview with Mother 1961
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Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (nshd_61_iwm):
Example 4 Questionnaire: Food and Things 2004 (ALSPAC) Section B
This is an example consisting of question text and statements. As 
Statements and question text
Some questions contain text which can be split into both statements and question text. Where the text is continuous, deciding which parts are included in the question text and which parts are included in the statement can be tricky, see Example 6 questionnaire layout. As the first paragraph contains text regarding what information the interviewer would like from the interviewee, it is input as the question text. Whereas However as the second paragraph does not provide such information and it also does not have anything that contain text which the first paragraph is contextually dependent on and , it is therefore entered as a statement. As Note also that as the question text cannot be seperate separate or split from their its response domain note that , the statement will therefore appear after the whole question and not just after the question text as shown in the questionnaire layout. Note also that when constructing the id label for this statement, it's reference is the sequence 'Section B:...' and therefore the label should be entered as the following 's_SectionB_i'. It has also been numbered (_i) as all statements that are referenced back to a sequence need to be numbered even if there is only one statement.
Example 6 Questionnaire: ALSPAC Food and Things
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (alspac_04_fat):
Statements
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and sequences
Statements can also sometimes be mistaken for a sequence like in example 5 but it Sequence, as in Example 7. However the text ‘The next questions are about your opinions on the environment’ is entered as a statement because it does not fulfill the criteria of statement of there being a sequence; of having a clear start and end.
Example
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7 Questionnaire:USoc Adult
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self- completion 2008
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Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (us1_asc
This example is of a question with ):
Statements and instructions
Finally, some questions contain more than one instruction . Each question is allowed only on instruction and therefore any other text that appears as an instruction to the question needs to be entered as part of another element (statement) or the question text. In this case, the first
which is not possible to enter into Archivist. Therefore, only one instruction is entered and the remaining ones are entered as statements as shown in Example 8. The decision of choosing which text is entered as a statement and which as an instruction is usually left at the enterer's discretion. This is because the way instructions are used within questionnaires can vary greatly and therefore it is difficult to apply a generic method. Some salient features of text input as instructions are that the text is often shorter, practically-orientated (in answering the question), and positioned closer to the response domain. See Interviewer Instructions for more on instructions.
Example 8 Questionnaire: BCS Home and All That 1986
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (bcs_86_haat):
Combining statements
Some questionnaires have groups of statements placed closely together but they are not always entered as one statement. This is mainly the case with questionnaires which begin with names and addresses. In most cases a carriage return is a strong indication to create a separate statement (Example 9). Other times there is a carriage return between two statements but they are still entered as one statement because of a punctuation marker which links them together; for example, a semi-colon (Example 10).
Example 9 Questionnaire: NSHD Teacher's Questionnaire 1959
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (nshd_59_ts):
Example 10 Questionnaire: NCDS Parental Questionnaire 1984
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (ncds_74_pq):
