dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard

Instructions and information - Feb 2001

Contact wizard@dobney.com for more information.



About the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard

The dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard is designed to greatly simplify and speed up the process of creating professional standard market research questionnaires and is suitable for use those new to questionnaire design and professional research agencies looking to speed up and improve the consistency of their questionnaire designs.

This version of the Questionnaire Wizard includes:

It is estimated that use of the Wizard can reduce the time to produce the basics of a questionnaire from 5-7 hours, down to 5-7 minutes, while improving consistency by using standard question designs and formats.



Installing the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard

The QWizard.zip file contains all the files you need to use the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard. Installation is easy but in order to keep the download file small, no automatic installation has been included. Just "extract" ALL the files from the QWizard.zip archive and save them so they are in the same directory. If you add a short-cut to QWizard.exe on the desktop, the Questionnaire Wizard will be easy to find and use.

If you wish to remove the Questionnaire Wizard, just delete the files. The Questionnaire Wizard does not affect any other parts of Windows.

Note: You must have QWizard.exe in the same directory as the files named ddcqw2k_qt.qwd and ddcqw2k_st.qwd to use the Questionnaire Wizard. The Questionnaire Wizard will not run from QWizard.zip archive



How to use the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard

Double-click on the QWizard file (QWizard.exe) to start the Questionnaire Wizard. The first screen tells you a little about the Questionnaire Wizard. Click on the button marked "Start"

The next screen allows you to choose the type of questionnaire you would like to create. Make a choice then click on the button marked "Next"

The third screen allows you to select questions to be included in your questionnaire. Depending on the type of questionnaire you chose, different questions will already be selected. You can add more questions, or remove questions by clicking on them in the list. When you are happy click on the button marked "Next"

At this point you will be asked some questions about the subject you are researching. Your answers are used to "fill-in the gaps" in the questionnaire so that it is tailored to your circumstances. Answer each question and click on the button marked "Next"

Having answered all the questions, you will now have some options for output:

Once the output has been generated you will have a final screen, where you can click on the button market "Finished" to end the Questionnaire Wizard. If you want to output in a different format, click on the button marked "Back" and output again. If you have created a Word document, you will see the new document on your program taskbar along from the Microsoft "Start" button



More technical details


Version and improvements

The dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard is the second version of the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard, but the first stand-alone version. The previous version of the Questionnaire Wizard ran as a Microsoft Word (TM) macro and so required Microsoft Word for its use. Main improvements are


Question types

The Questionnaire Wizard produces questions that can be single coded, multi-coded, open-ended, numeric or plain text. A special question type is an "Attribute/Level" question. For example "How good are our deliveries? 70% on time, 80% on time, 90% on time, 100% on time". These are output as single coded questions, but for HTML, they can be output in a grid format similar to a trade-off grid or Simalto, or as a drop down list.


Filling-in gaps

The gaps are filled in through "parameters" which are collected when you are asked the specific questions about what you are researching. If you choose leave a parameter blank, the code will not appear in the questionnaire.

It is suggested that you experiment a little with the parameters you use - for instance when to use singular or plural nouns as this will affect how well the final questionnaire reads and how much later editing is necessary. Of course you can always do search & replace for the final editing if a parameter has been misspelt for example.


Modifying the output questionnaire

The output questionnaire is entirely separate from the Questionnaire Wizard and can be modified at will using an appropriate editor (eg Word, Notepad, Frontpage). You should not expect the Wizard to be absolutely word perfect - there are likely to be bits that you will want to change/modify.

If you have output to a Word document, you may want to do Select All and change the font size/characteristics. The questions use a "Style" (Format -> Style) called "Question", the codes use a style called "CodeStyle", both of which can be modified and will then apply changes to all questions and all codes. Word questionnaires also use automatic numbering so if you add a question and copy and paste the "Q.x" from an old question to your new question, all question numbering will be changed as appropriate.

HTML questionnaires are setup to use a "mailto:" protocol to send back data from the questionnaire. You need to modify this in the

tag to your email address. The HTML form does no data checking and produces a single HTML page without anything fancy such as routing.


Filters, rotations and other fancy code

The Questionnaire Wizard produces questionnaires without filtering or rotations. However these are easy to add to the output by adding appropriate text instructions for the interviewer using an editor or exporting to another survey design tool that can add these features (eg for CATI/CAPI interviewing).


Using HTML as a survey input format

If you are using a team of interviewers, then you might consider printing the questionnaire and using an HTML version so that the interviewers can enter the answers directly to the HTML for ease of analysis. dobney.com will be producing an easy to use HTML data extractor that will make this the simplest way of gathering data in the field.


Changing the output format or question wordings

The dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard is limited to the question wording and formats as provided with the Wizard. A separate management utility is available and means that any of the questionnaire types or question wording can be modified to suit your house-style. In addition, the format of the outputs can be adjusted relatively simply to meet your specific output needs. Contact wizard@dobney.com for more information and pricing or see below.


Why no Save-As dialog boxes?

At present if you want to save a file, you are required to type in the file name, path and all. This can be cumbersome and off-putting. However this means that the resultant download is less than 250k which is acceptable for lower speed modems and the Questionnaire Wizard can be installed stand-alone. If you add the save-as dialog this requires a full installation shield and inflates the download size to 3+MB (don't ask why) and we felt this was unacceptable. For customised versions we will include the Save As box and full installation shield.


Licence fees

If you use the Questionnaire Wizard as part of the process of generating a questionnaire design for a commercial (for-profit) organisation, and that questionnaire design is used as a data collection tool you are required to pay £10(GBP) to dobney.com for each design you use. In other words, £10 for each questionnaire design (not individual questionnaire) that goes "live". Think of it as £10 for saving you up around 5-7 hours work. Or you can pay £200(GBP) for an annual licence for a copy of the Questionnaire Wizard on an single computer. Send cheques payable to dobney.com to dobney.com, 67 Minster Way, Bath, England, BA2 6RJ.



Customising the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard

Professional Research Agencies or Client researchers often have their own house-style and particular preferences for questions and question wording.

A separate program is available for modifying survey and question details and adding/deleting entries. Using this program it becomes straightforward to develop custom question and questionnaire types which means that your organisation can more easily manage and standardise the questionnaires you use, in addition to achieving a greater throughput of questionnaire design work.

One example of this could be a retailer looking to arrange with local store managers to conduct surveys. Using the Questionnaire Wizard a central researcher can set the standards for question wording, but the local manager could then select the type of questionnaire to use and have some flexibility in the specific questions that are asked. Consequently global standards are in force to allow comparison in survey results, while allowing for flexibility and local variation. In addition, the use of the Wizard means that managers who are not research experts can undertake their own market research as appropriate.

In addition to customising the questions, it is also possible to have a customised output. This can be provided as as service by dobney.com.

For more information and prices contact wizard@dobney.com.


Licence terms

The Questionnaire Wizard and associated data files (the Questionnaire Wizard Software) are protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties and is provided under license by dobney.com. By installing, copying, downloading, accessing or otherwise using this Questionnaire Wizard Software, you agree to be bound by the terms of the license.

This license permits you to install and use the Questionnaire Wizard Software for your own use only for the production of market research questionnaires.

You may make and distribute copies of the Questionnaire Wizard Software only if any copy includes all the original components (including this file "Instructions.html") and dobney.com is acknowledged as the author and owner of the licence. Each copy of this Questionnaire Wizard Software is subject individually to the licence fees spelt out below.

You may not make changes to or resell the Questionnaire Wizard Software or pass-off the Questionnaire Wizard Software or any part of the Questionnaire Wizard Software as your own.

For each questionnaire design used for data collection where the Questionnaire Wizard Software has been used in the process of generating that questionnaire a fee of £10 (GBP) is payable to dobney.com. Alternatively users can choose to pay an annual fee of £200 (GBP) for unlimited use of the Questionnaire Wizard Software installed on a single computer (non-transferrable). These fees are waived for not-for-profit organisations, but the words "Produced with the help of the dobney.com Questionnaire Wizard" must be included on the front of the questionnaire.

Without prejudice to any other rights, dobney.com may terminate this license if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this licence. In this instance, you must destroy all copies of the Questionnaire Wizard Software.

Any rights not expressly granted are reserved by dobney.com

dobney.com makes no warranties or promises, expressed or implied, about the Questionnaire Wizard Software or questionnaires produced from the Questionnaire Wizard Software. You accept that no software product is error-free. The liability of dobney.com shall not in any event include losses to your business, such as lost data, lost profits or business interruption. To the extent that you could have avoided damages by taking reasonable care, including backing up your software and other files, dobney.com will not be liable for such damages.

Microsoft and Word are trademarks of Microsoft. All other trademarks are acknowledged