A question requests information from a respondent and the Response Domain is the format in which that information is provided. In Archivist responses to questions are grouped into four types of response domain; Text answers, Numeric answers, Date and time answers and Code lists. Most questions have a single response domain. Questions with more than one answer type e.g. a code list with a space for writing text, is input as a mixed response domain.
Text answers
Text answers are used when a response to a question is alphanumeric. Most text answers will fit a short ‘Generic text’ answer (maximum length 255 characters). ‘Long text’ answers (no maximum length) may be required where several lines of a page or a space is provided in the questionnaire. The text answer ‘Other’ is used when the question asks the respondent to supply an additional answer to those include in the question. See Text answers for more information.
Numeric answers
Numeric answers are used when the response to a question is a number. For most numeric responses a generic answer labelled ‘How many’ is used. Most numeric answers are whole numbers and are entered with a numeric type ‘Integer’. Numeric types of ‘Float’ are only used if a decimal point or a fraction is requested in the questionnaire answer. See Numeric answers for more information.
Date and time answers
Date and time answers (Datetime) are used when the response to a question is a date, time or a measurable length of time (duration). Most date and time responses are entered as either ‘Generic date’ or ‘Generic time’ answers. See Time and Date answers for more information.
Code Lists
Code lists are used when a question requests the respondent to choose from a multiple choice list. See Code Lists for more information.