Work in progress
Text within a questionnaire becomes a statement when it does not fulfill the criteria of becoming any of the other elements (sequence, instruction or condition) and does not provide any context to be part of the actual question text. Statements can be found throughout the questionnaire; at the beginning, middle and end and they are used for both questions and sequences within a questionnaire. Statements are also known as control constructs which are concerned with the positioning of items within a questionnaire. Below are some examples of statements within different questionnaires:
- 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. This is because it does not satisfy the requirements of a sequence in having an clear start and end. See here for more on sequences.
- NSHD
This example contains instructions for the questionnaire however the text is still entered as multiple statements. The text within this example is not relevant as question text, an instruction or a condition and therefore remains as statements.
- ALSPAC:
This is an example of a question which consists of the question text as well as a statement. However, the text is continuous and therefore is not as clear as to which parts of the text classify as the statement. The first paragraph contains text regarding what information the interviewer would like from the interviewee and hence is input as the question text. Upon further analysis if becomes more evident that the second part of the statement becomes a statement and the first paragraph becomes the question literal.
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 as all statements that are referenced back to a sequence need to be numbered even if there is only one statement.
- US:
This could also be mistaken for a sequence like the example above but it is entered as a statement.
- NSHD
This example is of a question with more than one apparent instruction.
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.