Use the Output Options to change the way in which data is displayed and saved. To access the options, select Output Options from the View menu at the top of the Query module main screen. Below is an explanation of each field:
Use this area to specify which of the subject identification fields will be displayed in the output. Tick a checkbox to include the element.
Select 'Split bar between identification fields...' to keep your chosen identification fields fixed on the screen as the question response fields scroll.
Subject labels can contain identifying subject data so you may wish to exclude them from output data. To do this, select 'Exclude Subject Label from Saved Output Files'.
Use these radio buttons to specify whether you wish to use 'Long Codes' or 'Short Codes' for the column headings in the output.
Long codes are created in the format: Visit code/eForm code/Question code. Long codes will always be unique and they document the source of a question, but they end up being to long and unacceptable to most statistical packages.
Short codes are created from the Question Code. Codes greater than 8 characters are shortened to 5 characters. Codes are checked for uniqueness and numbers 1-999 are appended where a code is not unique.
The default is short codes and we advise using these as they are more likely to be accepted by an external package and they result in narrower grid columns which are easier to read.
When using short codes, you can hover over a column in the output grid and the long name will be displayed as a tooltip.
When using short codes, a QLU (Question Lookup File) file is added to the saved output. This correlates the full Visit/eForm/Question codes with the short codes.
You can set a maximum length of between 8 - 18 characters for your short codes. The default length is 8 characters in order to comply with old SAS limits.
Any change you make can be seen the next time you run a query.
When entering study data, category questions require a response to be selected from a predefined list. Each option in a category question has a unique code and a value. Use these radio button to specify whether you wish the code or the value to be displayed in the output.
If you choose to export data using the code, you will be able to convert between code and value format. However, if you export the data as a value, you will not be able to convert back to codes.
Check the first box to save the output file in the Out Folder or uncheck the box to select a different location.
Check the second box to use the study name in the filename or uncheck the box to enter a different name.
If you wish, you can choose to suffix the filename with the date of creation or the date and time of creation.
If the study data you are exporting includes Unicode characters, and you are using a SQL Server database, you must check the 'Output as Unicode' option before attempting to run the query. Failure to do this will result in a system crash in this version. Please note that this setting is not saved so you must select it every time you want to export Unicode data. This setting only works with SQL Server databases.
In order to successfully open CSV output containing Unicode characters in Excel:
Open the CSV file in Notepad.
Select File > Save As > Unicode big endian
Click Save.
If a question has data missing, it will have been assigned one of three statuses; Missing, Not Available or Not Applicable. If you want to identify these in your output, you must specify a code for each status so that it might be indicated within the tables. Use numbers from -1 to -9 to avoid confusion with real data. The values you enter will be inserted where applicable both on screen and in any output you save.
It is not possible for values -1 to -9 to be inserted in a date field so if a date question has a full date format and does not have the 'Allow partial dates' flag set, dates from 29/12/1899 (-1) to 21/12/1899 (-9) will be automatically inserted instead as missing values. If a date question has a partial date format OR has the 'Allow partial dates' flag selected, the special value will be output as the -1 to -9 values, as specified.
You can save in the following formats:
Comma Separated Variable (CSV). Click here for more information.
Microsoft Access. Click here for more information.
SAS-readable text files. Click here for more information.
Check 'Precede SAS informats with colons' if you want a colon to be displayed before SAS informats in the output file. For example, :$11
Check 'Limit SAS strings to 200 characters' if you want to retain compatibility with older versions of SAS which truncated values to 200 characters.
STATA. Click here for more information. The 'Standard dates' version exports dates as single numbers with 0 being 01jan1960, 1 being 02jan1960, etc. The 'Float dates' version exports dates in the ddmmyyyy format e.g. 31071955
Batch Data Format. Click here for more information.
There is no option within the user interface to support export in SPSS format. If you wish to do so, you should:
Select 'Short Codes' from the Question Code options
Select 'Comma Separated Values' from the Output To options