AskiaSurf is a desktop application that allows the data processor to align tracking data, questions, responses and waves without merging data files.

An Edge is the third dimension of a cross tabulation (Rows, Columns, Edges). Sometimes referred to as a Super Column. Very useful for creating nested edges (and especially so with the nested edge feature turned on).

The Footer in Askia refers to the HTML element of an AskiaWeb survey page. The Footer element controls the content that is displayed at the bottom of the survey page. This control is managed in AskiaDesign in the Header/Footer Tab of the Internet Settings.

Geolocation refers to the respondent's physical location and provides the latitude and the longitude coordinates.

The Head in Askia refers to the HTML element of an AskiaWeb survey page. The Head element is a container for metadata and links to scripts and stylesheets. This control is managed in AskiaDesign in the Header/Footer Tab of the Internet Settings.

The Header in Askia refers to the HTML element of an AskiaWeb survey page. The Header element controls the content that is at the top of the survey page. This control is managed in AskiaDesign in the Header/Footer Tab of the Internet Settings.

A holecount is defined as the number of respondents who gave each possible answer to each question in a questionnaire. Sometimes known as frequency distributions or topline numbers. Holecounts can be viewed in the Distribution Panel (see entry above) in both AskiaAnalyse and AskiaVista.

This is a type of question control, where you define clickable areas on any given image for respondents to select in web surveys. Each clickable area can have a sentiment attached to it e.g. Like, Dislike and Neutral. Askia has an ADC for this question-type called Image Hotspot.

 We use indentation (alt + ->) to move a question under a chapter or a parent question. 

Design, Rapide

An Interactive Variable is a specially defined question in AskiaDesign that is perfect for clients that want to build templated surveys. When an interactive variable is inserted into a questionnaire from the Library, an AskiaDesign wizard is initiated and asks the person inserting it to provide specific details of the question's content (for example they may be asked to enter a long caption, answer list or add a multimedia file). You can use interactive variables to assemble a repertoire of stock questions in the library that can easily be customised for specific situations, such as templated multi-coded brand awareness questions where the brand list may vary, but you want the overall style to remain consistent across questionnaires. Once inserted into a questionnaire, an interactive variable behaves just like a normal variable and can be edited as required.

AskiaDesign

Refers to a variable's responses. Only closed question variables or loop variables contain items.

AskiaDesign, Rapide

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation and is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write and even easier for machines to parse and generate.  JSON is a text format that is completely language-independent, but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language and is used increasingly in Askia.

Jupiter is a feature in AskiaDesign that allows you to test a survey without publishing it. You can emulate a local web server and share network links with your colleagues for survey testing purposes. Jupiter test links can be used on different browsers and devices. Each test interview is saved, so you can make changes in Design and then switch back to the same link (at the same place in the survey) and see how the changes are rendered in the survey.

Demo video showing the Jupiter feature.

Khi² (often also written with a "C", Chi-squared) is a statistical test to predict the independence of two questions, by testing the 'goodness of fit' between the observed distribution and the expected distribution of a variable.

A self-completed survey often undertaken at an exhibition or event using touch screen computers to collect information from respondents directly. Devices can be programmed to deliver engaging surveys. They can be much cheaper to administer in comparison with the same survey undertaken by human interviewers. Askia's CAPI solution AskiaFace has a Kiosk mode for this scenario. After each survey (or after a set timeout period) the software sets the survey back to the start screen, ready for the next respondent.

A level refers to the level of data to be analysed (e.g. interviews, loops). For example, in a healthcare study, you could analyse your survey results based at the doctor level (interviews), the patient level (first loop) or the prescription/drug level (second loop). So if you have interviewed 100 doctors and each doctor has ten patients and each patient receives two drug prescriptions, your prescription/drug level base will be 100 X 10 X 2  = 2000 prescriptions.

AskiaDesign has libraries that allow users to store variables or groups of variables for future use (variables are either questions, chapters or loops). These variables can be inserted from the library into your questionnaires, alleviating the need to continually define similar questions. This process not only saves time, but it ensures consistency, and allows you to share model variables with your co-workers, which can be inserted and edited to suit individual surveys.

Once you have inserted a variable from the library, you can edit it, just as if you had created the variable from scratch, for example by changing the long caption and editing the response list.

A Likert scale is a rating scale which requires the respondent to state their level of agreement with a series of statements about a product, organisation or concept. The scale using the descriptors Strongly agree; Agree; Neither agree nor disagree; Disagree; and Strongly disagree. It is based on a format originally developed by Renis Likert in 1932.

Linear regression analysis is used to predict the value of a variable based on the value of another variable. The variable you want to predict is called the dependent variable. The variable you are using to predict the other variable's value is called the independent variable.

Linear regression is useful as the models are relatively simple and provide an easy-to-interpret mathematical formula that can generate predictions. Linear regression can be applied to various areas in business and academic study.

More details about using linear regression in Askia here.

A logical operator is used to combine two conditions. The available operators are:

• NOT: Reverses the result of a condition.
• AND: Joins two conditions and returns TRUE only when both conditions are true.
• OR: Joins two conditions and returns TRUE when either of the conditions is true.

Operators are evaluated in the order listed above. You can use brackets to change the evaluation order of a logical expression.

A variable's descriptive caption. It will usually contain the question text, but it can also contain commentaries or instructions intended for interviewers or respondents.

A loop is a question hierarchy.  You can have 4 kinds of loop:

• Question table (or grid question).
• A loop with a selection for each iteration.
• A loop with a preliminary selection.
• A loop with an iteration count entry.

A loop is always followed by at least one indented sub-question.

MaxDiff is short for maximum difference scaling, is sometimes referred to as best-worst scaling. MaxDiff forces respondents to pick the most and least important items from a series of lists, helping to identify what your audience truly values. There is an example of this methodology in Askia here and also an article on the basic analysis of MaxDiff data in Askia here.

Une modalité désigne un item de réponse dans une question fermée à réponse unique ou à réponses multiples.

Multivariate analysis can be used to identify patterns and relationships in many variables simultaneously, and it can be used in situations where the number of variables you want to analyse is too great to be included in a standard cross-tab (which is also known as bivariate analysis).

By running a multivariate analysis, you can understand the dependence or the interdependence of the variables being analysed. See here for more details.

The available multivariate analyses included in Askia are as follows:

• For numeric or scaled response variables: Linear Regression.

• For numeric or scaled response variables: Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

• For numeric or scaled response variables and closed variables: Typology (for Cluster Analysis).

• For closed or or scaled response variables: Specificities.

MyView is an alternative view of the questionnaire tree in AskiaAnalyse, for example, to simplify the structure. The resulting myView can be saved as an *.MLV that can be opened in AskiaAnalyse by relevant individuals or teams. A different *.MLV file can be supplied to each team or individual, so that everyone will have a simplified questionnaire structure containing only the profile of questions that are relevant to them.

Examples of situations where you might use myView include:

• simplifying working with very complex QES or QEW files (e.g. with many loops or historical questions) that have become difficult to navigate;
• hiding variables that are useful to the DP (data processing) team, but not by researchers, thus making the file easier to work with for the latter group;
• hiding sections of the questionnaire that are not relevant to specific researchers (e.g. country-specific sections).

We nest variables when we want to combine several variables in the banner header in an Edge.

An open-ended question is an question that is open and has space to record verbatim responses. 

We use Quota sampling when we want to select the representative respondents of a larger population. 

RDG stands for random data generation, which is extremely useful when you want to test or preview your questionnaire before it goes live. RDG is an AskiaTools feature, whereby random interview data is created for testing purposes and then, in AskiaAnalyse, an analysis portfolio is prepared based on this randomly generated data.

It can also be used to check the routing efficiency in your survey. The routing efficiency feature generates a log file which helps you determine whether the survey is running slowly, and if so, where the problem may be. The operation counts how many times each routing instruction was run and how long the operation took.

See Linear Regression.

Revisions are comments recorded by users working on a QES file, relating to the changes they have made.

When saving changes made to a QES file, AskiaDesign prompts the user to specify his or her name, and if they wish to comment about the changes they have just made to the questionnaire. This information is stored in the QES file. AskiaDesign will indicate which variables, items and routings have been amended.

Routing refers to the survey logic, that allows you to change / limit the content based on previous answers given by respondents. 

A sample list is a list of potential respondents, containing either . . .

• Telephone numbers that are to be called in a CATI survey, or
• Email addresses to be invited (via email message) to participate in a web survey

A scenario includes a set of questions, responses and routings visible to the respondents (in Design/Field) or to the user (in AskiaVista).

Note: Scenarios in Design, prior to version 5.5.2 were named versions.

A seed is a number (between 1 and 2,147,483,647), which uniquely identifies an interview and is used for the definition of the randomisation within the interview.

A variable's optional caption. Specifying a short caption serves two purposes:

• It will be referred to in error messages during data-entry (e.g. if the short caption is Q1, "a response is expected for Q1").
• It will identify the variable in both AskiaAnalyse and AskiaVista.

A question's shortcut is its unique identifier. The shortcut is not visible to interviewers or respondents, and is consistent (it does not change) across all the language versions of a multi-lingual survey. It is used when defining routing instructions, referring to the question in AskiaScript, or during data analysis (e.g. in AskiaVista or AskiaAnalyse).

We use Skills to allocate specific contacts to specific agents based on their abilities (e.g. if an agent speaks French then the contacts in France could be allocated to this agent using the Skills feature). A skill is allocated to a quota.

Specificities Analysis is a descriptive multivariate technique that allows you to prioritise the variables that best describe a category of a population. It is used on closed questions (single, multi-coded or scaled responses). The higher the probability, the more the variable contributes to this category. The more the group depends on this category, the more this category will explain this group.

More details about using this type of analysis in Askia here.

A Sub-population defines a specific part of the population. E.g. "Young male" (all people interviewed and qualified as male, who are aged less than 30 years old). Often referred to as a filter.

A sub-variable is a variable (question or loop) which is indented to another parent variable. For example, a loop variable by definition needs at least one sub-question.

Furthermore, a sub-variable is subordinate to its parent variable, meaning that if, for example, a do not ask routing targets a parent variable, its sub-variable will also not be asked.

The Supervisor module is used by supervisors to manage their surveys and the call centre itself. It can be run on multiple Windows computers, each connecting separately to CCA (typically each supervisor runs this module on his or her own computer). Supervisor has the same interface as CCA, and provides access to all the same functions, including configuring the CCA settings, unless restrictions have been set up in CCA to prevent this to limit the available functionality. For detailed information on installing Supervisor, see the Askia Help Centre article install AskiaField (workstation); note that you should already have installed CCA, as that module is required in order for the Supervisor module to function. 

There is an easy-to-install version of Supervisor available, called Supervisor Click & Go, which provides all of the functionality with no set-up required by the person installing it.

When using Askia for web surveys, we usually use the Survey Position or "Slots" licensing model. This relates to the number of surveys that can be live at any one time. Once a survey is closed, a survey position/slot becomes available again for another survey to go live. A good analogy is a taxi company that has 10 cabs - those 10 cabs can provide a maximum of 10 journeys - as soon as a cab completes one journey, it can be used to provide another journey. 

The Tab (table) definition includes the content and layout of your results tables (including all the questions in the rows, columns and edges, plus the sub-populations, the universe, weighting, charts, calculations and settings).

A Tag is a marker allocated to a question or a response. Smart use of these tags can be used in scripts for automated analysis purposes or summary results per interview.

Companies within the Market Research industry use many different tools to ensure the integrity of the data that has been gathered. Whether considering random data generation, test data, the first few respondents of the live data or even the final data, it is good practice to check the quality of the data.

In order to assist with this requirement Askia has created much functionality in AskiaTools that allows you to run verification scripts against your data.

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and these should be followed when providing web surveys to visually impaired respondents.  

Within Askia, we decided to focus on the main recommendations of WCAG and provide you with an easy implementation with some of our ADCs and one of our ADPs, and focusing on:

• Font Contrast
• Simplifying the survey content
• Making use of the aria-label attribute

Lots of details in this blog article.

Web services are a way of allowing disparate systems to share information, make enquiries and get responses over the internet. By tapping into these services, survey programmers can provide functionality that would have taken many hours or days to set up. Whether displaying extra information about the subject matter being gathered in the survey (e.g. accessing schedule data for TV and Radio listings), or finding items of interest in the locale of the respondent (e.g. local weather, last local election result, affluence of the borough, distance from a train station, etc ) – the possibilities are growing everyday. 

Here is a blog post with more information and a great example/demo.

WebProd is an administrative module that handles CAWI (Web) interviews. It maintains a constant connection to CCA, immediately sending all data it receives back to CCA. Typically, only one instance of WebProd needs to be run. WebProd can be run on the same machine as CCA, or on a separate machine.

A weighting is an adjustment calculated by iteration to correct the distortion sample in relation to the target population. More details here.

X is the coordinate value on the horizontal axis (e.g. for geolocation or screen resolution).

On a chart, a coordinate grid has two perpendicular lines, or axes. The horizontal axis is called the X-axis. The point where the X-axis and Y-axis intersect is called the origin.

Y is the coordinate value on the vertical axis (e.g. for geolocation or screen resolution).

On a chart, a coordinate grid has two perpendicular lines, or axes. The vertical axis is called the Y-axis. The point where the X-axis and Y-axis intersect is called the origin.

A Z-score is one of the table statistics in Askia that describes the position of a raw score in terms of its distance from the mean, when measured in standard deviation units. The z-score is positive if the value lies above the mean, and negative if it lies below the mean.

It is also known as a standard score, because it allows comparison of scores on different kinds of variables by standardizing the distribution.