Numeric Answers

Numeric answers are used when the response to a question is a number. A numeric answer consists of a Label, Type, Numeric type and Min (Minimum) and Max (Maximum) values.

Archivist Build / Response Domain (Numeric Answer):

The numeric type is entered as either 'Interger' or 'Float'. Which type to choose depends on the format of the response in the questionnaire. The numeric type ‘Float’ is used only if the response in the question contains a decimal point or requires a fraction (see examples). Min and Max values are always entered as whole numbers, regardless of the values indicated in the questionnaire.

For most numeric responses a ‘generic’ answer labelled ‘How many’ is used, with a Min value of 0 and the Max value left blank.   If there is no decimal point in the numeric response, then the numeric type ‘Integer’ should be used. Regardless of whether the numeric type is integer or float, both are labelled ‘How many’.

Archivist Build / Response Domain (How many):

The exception to this is if an integer and a float numeric type answer are needed for the same numeric response in the same questionnaire. In this case, separate answers are made for each numeric type, adding ‘I’ for integer and ‘F’ for float to the label. In the example below, the questionnaire contains questions with a ‘How many’ response with and without a decimal point.

Questionnaire: Initial Questionnaire (SWS) questions 7.4b and 8.4

Questionnaire layout:

The ‘How many’ response to question 7.4b contains a decimal point, while the response to 8.4 does not. Two ‘How many’ numeric answers are created, one with a numeric type of Integer and one with a numeric type of Float.

Archivist Build / Response Domain:

How many Integer answer	How many Float answer

Archivist view:

Numeric answers with specific labels

 There are several types of numeric answers which are specifically labelled:

• Age-related numeric responses
• Physical measurements
• Quantities (generally food-related) 
• Numeric responses with minimum and/or maximum values defined in the question text
• Time period responses that are not input as Time/Date Duration answers

Note: Specifically labelled answers are not created for distance (i.e. miles), single unit time responses (i.e. hours only, minutes only - entered as a How many answer), and measurements without a defined length or size (i.e. days, nights, slices, cups, mugs, etc.).

Age-related numeric answers

 Answers to ‘How old’ questions are entered as follows:

Physical measurements

 Physical measurement responses (height, circumference and weight) are input as labelled numeric answers  regardless of whether the question response contains a single measurement (inches, cm, mm, kilos) or a compound measurement (… lbs … oz; … stones … lbs; … ft … in). The answer label for the measurement should be fully spelled out regardless of how it is written in the questionnaire.

When the answer is the second measurement in a compound response, the label is entered as ‘[X] in [Y]’, where [X] is the second part of the measurement and [Y] is first part. So for a response ‘… lbs … oz’ the label for the ‘oz’ numeric answer is ‘Ounces in pound’, with a Min of 0 and Max of 15 (for an integer response) or 16 (for a float response). For the response ‘… stones … lbs’ the label for the ‘lbs’ numeric answer is ‘Pounds in stone’, with a Min of 0 and Max of 13 (for an integer response) or 14 (for a float response).

Common physical measurement answers:

Quantities

Quantities which have a precise unit of measurement are entered as specifically labelled numeric answers. Tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces (fl.ozs), centilitres (cls), millilitres (mls), and grams are examples of quantity responses that are entered as labelled numeric answers. Responses asking average amount per serving, no of cups/mugs of tea/coffee , glasses, spoons, slices, scoops, bananas, eggs, etc., where the serving size is variable, are not entered as specifically labelled numeric answers. ‘How many’ is used as the answer for these types of quantities.

Common quantity answers:

Numeric responses with Min and/or Max values defined in question

 Most of the time when a question asks ‘How many of [X]’ there is no restriction within the question as to what the numeric response to the question might be. However, some questions contain defined minimum or maximum values in the question text. A specifically labelled numeric answer is created when a question restricts the numeric answer that may be given in response to the question.

Note: The restriction must be written in words in the question or response text. A particular number of blank boxes for writing in a numeric response is not treated as defining a maximum value.

Common answers with defined min/max values:

Time period (duration) responses input as a Numeric answer

For a period of time response to be entered as a duration, it must meet the following criteria: the time period must be for a specific event, for a continuous period of time, and the period must be sufficiently described, so that the start and end of the event are discrete time points. Responses that do not meet these criteria for a duration answer are entered as Numeric answers.  See the Duration section of the date and time answers guidance for a detailed discussion of the use of duration versus numeric answers. Examples of time period responses that are entered as a duration answer may be found here. Examples of time period responses that are entered as a numeric answer may be found here.

Time period responses with only one time point (i.e. years only, hours only) are not sufficiently described to be entered as a duration answer and a ‘How many’ answer is entered (Example). When a compound time period response is input as two numeric answers, the first element of the time period is entered as a ‘How many’ answer; the second element is entered as a specifically labelled answer (Example).