Work in progress
Statements can be used for questions and sequences. Statements are control constructs like sequences, conditions and question components. Constructs are concerned with positioning items within a questionnaire.
The following are examples of statements in questionnaires from different studies:
ALSPAC:
The following example contains a statement 'If no, go to C2 below'. It also contains a condition 'If yes,' - see here for more on conditions.
BCS:
The text highlighted in this example 'HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COUGHS AND COLDS' may be mistaken for a sequence however it is actually a statement.
US:
This is again could also be mistaken for a sequence like the example above but it is entered as a statement because it does not satisfy the requirements of a sequence in having an identifiable start AND end. See here for more on sequences.
Sometimes statements are not as clearly identifiable and need to be cut out from a group of text. Show example of NSHD.
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. For example …
Statements are different from instructions. There are places where an instruction becomes a statement because there is more than one instruction and only one can be input as an instruction.