Building Reports: Using the Data Filter
The data filter is a workscreen that appears
whenever you tell SurveyMaker to scan a data
file and generate a report.  You can use it
to select a certain subpopulation of
respondents from the data file, according to
the answer patterns they gave for certain
questions.

You can leave the data filter settings "wide
open" and simply accept all responses in the
selected data file, or you can set certain
parameters to filter the responses and
thereby include only certain ones.






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The data filter gives you six parameters you
can use for filtering:

1.  The number of responses to retrieve.
    (All or some selected number)

2.  The number of the starting response.
    (Usually 1, but you can skip so many
     responses and start with the n-th)

3.  The skip pattern, every n-th response.
    (e.g. 1 out of every 5 responses)

4.  The identifier of the respondent.
    (Alphanumeric identifier up to 25
     characters; name, occupation, etc.)

5.  The match criterion for the identifier.
    (exact match, included match, reject exact
    match, or reject included match).
6.  The questions to use as discriminators.
    (question number and answer limits for
     acceptance; you can use up to 10 items
     in addition to the other parameters)

You can also choose to print the identifiers
of the qualifying respondents during the
process of scanning the data file.  This is
sometimes useful in getting an idea of the
types of people in your subpopulation.

If you want to choose certain question items
as part of the data filter, just hit PgDn and
you will see a list of the key-word
descriptors for all items in the selected
data file.  Just move the cursor to the item
you want to select and hit the Enter key.



The descriptor for the selected item will
"light up" to show that you have selected it.
To de-select it, just hit the Enter key again
with the cursor on that item.

You can choose up to 10 question items for
your filter.  However, you will usually only
need a few.  When you have selected all of
the items you want to use for screening, hit
Ctrl-End and you will return to the main
workscreen for the data filter.  Then move the
cursor to the various selected items and fill
in the low and high recognition limits.

When you have set the parameters of the data
filter the way you want them, hit Ctrl-End to
proceed with the data scan.  SurveyMaker will
build the report from those qualifying
responses that met the data filter criteria.