1. Demonstration of a Blaise Instrument Documentation System “BlaiseDoc” Gina-Qian Cheung May 25, 2005 Institution for Social Research University of Michigan

2. 2Agenda Introduction BlaiseDoc Design Blaise Questionnaire Generator Demo BlaiseDoc Codebook Demo Some outstanding issues and next step

3. 3 Good Instrument Documentation Accurate content Flexible elements Quickly produced Readable Standard appearance Not easy……………….

4. 4 Current Approach Word processor / browser Interprets Four key components System produces Your previous selections are saved E.g., QxQ’s, Resp. Booklet

5. 5 DDIGen Creates eXtended Markup Language (XML) Output Creates tagged elements (e.g., variable or question) from Blaise datamodel metadata (information about survey instrument variables, e.g., name, question text, code frame, etc.)  Tags Bracket elements (examples follow) Comply with Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)  Hierarchical tree structure Generates comprehensive metadata about all Blaise survey instrument variables  Opens possibility of using XML metadata in many ways, by many systems, and customizing display of those metadata to meet many needs

6. 6 DDIxForm Transforms XML, Based on XSL Stylesheet Scripts eXtended Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) uses stylesheet scripts (*.XSL) to traverse XML tree, looking for elements and generating formatted outputs (e.g., HTML, TXT, RTF, PDF, etc.)  HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is used for commands an internet browser interprets to decide how to display information

7. 7 Examples of Elements, Attributes, & Data in Blaise XML Elements  codeBook  var (variable element)  qstn (question element within var)  qstnlit (question text, element within qstn)  varGrp (block) Attributes  name (variable name, attribute of var)  var ID (attribute of var and varGrp) Data  Actual question text  Actual short variable name (Blaise Field Name)

8. 8 Example of XML Output Based on Blaise Datamodel DDIGen captures Blaise screen formatting charac- teristics, e.g., bold, blue, special characters, etc.

9. 9 Basic HTML Stylesheets Available QNaireHTML1.XSLField names, Q text with fills, code frames/other Q types, lookups, universes QNaireHTML2.XSL… plus constructed variables, preload variables, interviewer consistency checks QNaireHTML3.XSL… plus “goto’s” with links to target questions, internal consistency checks QnaireHTML4.XSL… plus links to respondent booklet & help (QxQs) CodebookHTML1.XSLField names, Q text with fills, code frames/other Q types, lookups, constructed variables, preload variables, universes CodebookHTML2.XSL… plus frequencies CodebookHTML3.XSL… plus links to respondent booklet & help (QxQs)

10. 10 View Results DDIGen captures Blaise screen characteristics, e.g., blue for text not read to respondent

11. 11 Elements of questionnaire  Question identifier  Question text and fills  Response options for code frame / other Q types  Lookup (e.g., for states)  Goto’s (optional)  Preload variables (optional)  Constructed variables (optional)  Interviewer consistency checks (optional)  Internal checkpoints (optional)  Supplemental information (e.g., QxQ’s and respondent booklets, optional) Elements of Questionnaires

12. 12 Elements of Codebooks Elements of codebook  Question identifier  Question  Response options for code frame / other Q type  Lookup (e.g., states)  Preload variables  Constructed variables  Universes (respondents for whom Q’s asked) E.g., Females over 65  Frequencies and Percents (optional)  Variable characteristics (in this case for SAS, assuming Blaise instrument; if freqs, thus optional)  Supplemental information (e.g., QxQ’s and respondent booklets, optional)

13. 13 What you see is what you specify and what gets programmed  Fonts, upper and lower case, interviewer instructions, goto’s, etc. Elements of Questionnaires & Codebooks Example specification SRO is developing Blaise specification, screen design, and programming Guidelines. Field Name Field Tag Field Description

14. 14 Codebook without Universe

15. 15 Codebook with Universe Difference between codebook & qnaire: Universe vs. “goto”

16. 16 Editing Stylesheets DDIxFORM opens the XML file and applies an XSL stylesheet script against it  grabs data, adds text, and produces text output In addition to XSL commands, XSL file contains HTML commands that DDIxForm does not interpret, but are copied with other text  These commands are then interpreted by the user’s browser or text processor to control formatting and display  Can edit XSL and HTML commands to change the display of documentation  We’re going add HTML commands to a stylesheet to change the format of a questionnaire

17. 17 Edit Stylesheet and Generate Revised Documentation

18. 18 Exercise 3: Edit Stylesheet and Generate Revised Documentation

19. 19 Exercise 3: Edit Stylesheet and Generate Revised Documentation [Click] on the File menu and Save the file [Double click] on the Refresh Questionnaire shortcut on the computer Desktop

20. 20 From Exercise 3: View Results

21. 21 To Exercise 3: View Results

22. 22 Uses of BlaiseDoc Documentation of Blaise Instrument  IRB documentation  Qnaire or codebook documentation of final data collection instrument or dataset  Testing Can generate current documentation of instrument for use by testers at any point in development process Check question text, fills, goto’s, universes, etc. Developing program to read post- processed SAS dataset against original Blaise datamodel and generate XML for final codebook  SASToSAS--similar to BlaiseToSAS  Creates new datamodel for use with BlaiseDoc

23. 23 Summary BlaiseDoc Documents Blaise survey instruments and data Questionnaires Codebooks SRC has standard stylesheet scripts that provide options for what appears in documentation These can be modified to produce additional stylesheets to meet specific client requirements Quality of output dependent on original Blaise survey instrument specifications and programming  Need to think about questionnaire and data documentation requirements during instrument specification You can use BlaiseDoc throughout instrument development cycle, to “test” the instrument and check question wording and fills, skip logic (goto’s), including DK / RF skip logic, etc.

24. 24 “BlaiseDoc” is a Work in Progress We are using beta version Expect release of final system within next few months  Move to.NET  Modifications to handle grids, rosters and fills better  Additions of other features requested by users  Updated interface  Integration of programs (DDIGen, DDIxFORM, and BlaiseDoc interface)  Updated documentation Encourage you to use system and provide feedback (to Gina Cheung)  See slide 4 for location of installation program and user guide  Work with your Blaise programming and data operations team members to get the results you need and expect

25. 25 Discussion / Questions