Creating Questionnaires
You create questionnaires using the DESIGN
module of SurveyMaker.  This is an optional
process, as explained below.

Each questionnnaire you create becomes a
separate .QNR file on the disk.  You can
merge questionnaires to make new ones, and
you can keep a library of questionnaires for
future use.

You have great flexibility in rearranging the
questionnaire.  You enter the text of each
question and the text of any multiple-choice
options.  You can easily shift the questions
around in sequence, delete some, insert
others, and define each question in terms of
its type (multiple-choice, numeric, or
comment).  Each questionnaire includes a title
and a preface you can use for a brief message
to the respondent.
You can set the range of the multiple-
choice scale anywhere from 2 options up to
10 options.  The most commonly used option
scale in surveys is the basic 5-point scale,
which we STRONGLY recommend.  Wide scales, up
to 10 options, tend to be unwieldy and add
little value.  They also create formatting
limitations with screen displays and print
layouts, because the program has to squeeze
a large number of columns onto the screen and
the page.

The option scale you set for any one
questionnaire, and for its associated data
files, imposes a limit on the range of
answers to every multiple-choice item on that
particular questionnaire.  A question item
can use fewer than the maximum number of
options, but not more.  Unused options do not
show up on the questionnaire.
SurveyMaker automatically formats your
questionnaire for printing.  You have the
option of printing it as a text file that's
readable by other software packages, so you
can include it in other documents or dress it
up with a graphics/layout package.

The format of your questionnaire, i.e. the
sequence and type of question items, defines
the format of the data file into which you
will enter the data.  SurveyMaker will
automatically create your data files on
command, by copying the format from the
questionnaire file.

It isn't necessary to create a questionnaire
file in order to enter and process data,
If you have existing questionnaire surveys,
you don't have to enter them into the system.
You can set up a data format manually.