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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 are positional and are independent of questions. 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 on Archivist, see Example 1. Statement labels are also used to understand their position within the Example 2.
Example 1 Questionnaire: ALSPAC My Son/Daughter’s Health
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (alspac_00_msdh):
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. Statements are labelled with the prefix ‘s_intro_…’. 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 labelling labeling statements please see constructing label Constructing Label (IDs) for more information.
Example
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3 Questionnaire: ALSPAC My Son/Daughter’s Health and Behaviour
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Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (alspac_00_msdh):
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Now see example 2 for when the statement is not just specific to a question alone but to an entire section and is labelled and positioned accordingly in Archivist:
Example 2 Questionnaire: My Son/Daughter’s Health and Behaviour 2000 (ALSPAC) Section A
Archivist view: alspac_00_msdh:
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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 35. In the Archivist view below you will see that five seperate separate statements have been entered. This is because when you have a series of statements they are entered seperately in Archivist 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):
Statements and question text
Some questions contain text which can be split into both statements and question text.
Example 4 Questionnaire: Food and Things 2004 (ALSPAC) Section B
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 4 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. However as the second paragraph does not provide such information and it also does not contain text which the first paragraph is contextually dependent on, it is therefore entered as a statement. Note also that as the question text cannot be seperate separate or split from their its response domain, the statement will therefore appear after the question in the Archivist view and not just after the question text as shown in the questionnaire layout.
Example 6 Questionnaire: ALSPAC Food and Things
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view (alspac_04_fat):
Statements and sequences
Statements can also sometimes be mistaken for a sequence like in example 5 but 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 a sequence; of 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
Some statements have text that is contexually important information which is then repeated within the question such as in Example 6. 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.
Example 6 Questionnaire: Adult Self completion 2008 (US)
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist layout us1_ysc
Finally some questions contain more than instruction which is not possible to input into Archivist. Therefore only one instruction is input and the remaining are entered as statements as shown in example 7:
Example 7: University Questionnaire 1964 (US) question 47_i-xii
Questionnaire layout:
Archivist view nshd_64_cmu
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Statements and instructions
Finally, some questions contain more than one instruction 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):