The main statistical package that Elemental Data Collection utilizes is SPSS. All members of Elemental Data Collection’s Analytical Department are fully trained in SPSS and all of our data cleaning procedures are completed in SPSS using SPSS syntax programming. By using our advanced Voxco Interviewer software, Elemental Data Collection is able to automatically generate from the CATI/online programming script a SPSS label file – as such, the Analytical Department only needs to clean/summarize the variable and value labels and not copy and paste them from the Word survey document. This automatic process eliminates any room for error for assigning incorrect variable and value labels to a question.
When we create your data file, it will undergo a quality control check by the Analytical Department before it is released. Data validation measures will include cleaning the files to ensure that all skip patterns worked properly and there are no missing or extra data supplied in the final data set. We will ensure that the collected data is cleaned and validated in accordance with industry standards. Data validation measures will be implemented on an on-going basis, as well as upon completion of the data collection period. In addition to SPSS, we can provide data files in other formats include flat ascii with data map, Excel, SAS, Quantum as well as Dapresy data formats.
Crosstab tables are created using WinCross, which is the marketing research industry’s most advanced cross-tabulation software solution. WinCross allows Elemental Data Collection to automatically generate tables using the fully labelled SPSS file, removing any transcribing errors from SPSS/CATI and increasing the speed through which Elemental Data Collection can generate the tables. Unless specified otherwise, our tabulation tables generally include the following:
- Table of contents
- Page numbers
- Base description per table
- Mean, Standard Deviation and Standard Error on continuous and scalar questions
- Top 2 and Bottom 2 boxes where applicable
- Rank order of responses in multiple mention questions
- Multi banner with a recommended limit of 22 banner points per banner
- Weighted and unweighted base sizes
The cross-tabulations can be produced in both Word and Excel.
