Matrix Survey
From skylightwiki
- Matrix Survey
- is a mechanism to deliver multiple survey experiences to different sub-populations of the respondents to the survey
Contents |
Voting Example
This page provides a demonstration of a matrix survey, a survey that asks different questions of respondents, depending on which respondent pool they are in.
For this example, imagine a primary election in the city and county of Podunk, depicted in this precinct map.
The Ballot
This is a primary election, and because the state has a closed primary system, voters must choose either a Democratic or Republican ballot.
- County Commissioner
- This is a partisan position, voters in each precinct choose among a party's slate of Commissioners.
- Mayor of Podunkville
- This is a non-partisan position, but only city voters (Precincts 1 & 2) can vote on this ballot item.
- City Council
- Precinct 1 and 2 each have a non-partisan council seat up for election. Voters in the precinct can choose among the slate of candidates running in their precinct.
- Rural Fire District Tax
- In the county (Precinct 3) voters are deciding a tax issue.
Diagramming the different ballots (aka surveys)
The different ballots items can be represented in this matrix, precinct vs ballot item. (Blue cells indicate an that a particular item is on the ballot for a given precinct of electors.
Implementing the Matrix in Skylight
The ballot items (columns) of the matrix above are represented by "Question Groups." Each question group has metadata associated with it that describes the kind of voter that is eligible to see that ballot issue.
The rows in the diagram above are represented by "Respondent Pools." Each respondent pool has metadata associated with it that describes the attributes of the voters in that precinct.
Question Groups' Metadata
For this example, the metadata for the question groups (ballot items) are:
- County Commissioner (Dem)
- Any precinct, registered Democrat voters only
- County Commissioner (Rep)
- Any precinct, registered Republican voters only
- Mayor (City only)
- Precinct 1 and Precinct 2 only
- Council Seat 1
- Precinct 1 only, any party
- Council Seat 2
- Precinct 2 only, any party
- Rural Fire Tax
- Precinct 3 only, any party
Respondent Pools' Metadata
For this example, the metadata for the respondent pools (voter precincts are):
- Precinct 1
- Democrat, Precinct 1
- Precinct 1
- Republican, Precinct 1
- Precinct 2
- Democrat, Precinct 2
- Precinct 2
- Republican, Precinct 2
- Precinct 3
- Democrat, Precinct 3
- Precinct 3
- Republican, Precinct 3
When the metadata of a row and column match, that cell is blue and that respondent pool sees the questions in the question group.
Reporting for the Survey
Reports of survey results (aka voting) are available for the whole survey and for individual respondent pools (precincts) in both an HTML quick report and as an Excel download.
Advantage of this design
Another survey system could represent these ballots with six surveys, whose results would later be aggregated. Advantage of this design include:
- Edit the shared questions once, in one place
- Data of the six surveys is automatically aggregated in a report (but can be disaggregated). This facilitates reporting a aggregated result for the elections of County Commissioner and City Mayor.
- The whole election (survey) can be managed as a single unit (backup, deletion, etc.)
Other Matrix Examples
- Manual methods
- Automated methods
Instructions for Creating Matrix Surveys
Matrix survey How-to by TLT Group (manual method) Using a survey to make a matrix survey
See also
ContextHelp:Survey_matrix Respondent Pool Question Group