Uses of Metadata

From skylightwiki

This page applies to Version 1.2 (November 2008)

Metadata operates at several levels of the system

• Survey/Item Bank/Template
• Respondent Pool
• Individual Respondent
• Question Item

Metadata can be used in several distinct ways:

Search Term

Useful for searching for surveys and questions. Searching will be an important part of collaboration. (Works like keywords or tags.)

Survey Display Text

Useful in respondent pools to change the text that respondents see in survey items (see: Displaying Metadata in Survey Items) and for providing context in a message inviting a respondent to take a survey. (Works like a mail merge.)

Survey Control

Useful to control what questions are displayed to a respondent. There are two mechanisms: (1) in a Matrix Survey to selects which blocks of survey items should be delivered to a particular respondent pool and (2) in question pre-conditions to control the display of a particular question. (Has some properties related to branching or skip patterns.) (See also this tutorial and video.)

Supplemental Data

Useful in reporting to pass data into the system that will then appear in reports as if answered by the respondent. (Applies only to respondent pools and individual respondents.)

See also

Want to learn how to metadata to tailor respondent forms (e.g., Survey Display Text and Survey Control)? For a series of short video tutorials, see: http://www.tltgroup.org/Flashlight/FLO2/see.htm.