Forum Discussion

LisaSchibley's avatar
LisaSchibley
Qrew Cadet
7 years ago

How to set up my app/tables for a complex survey

Hi all, New to quickbase, though not to databases in general and I want to get started the right way.  My app is a series of four surveys.  Initially, I was assuming I would create each survey ques...
Forms
Tables and fields
QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
QuickBaseCoachD
Qrew Captain
7 years ago
The problem with that approach is that it makes it more difficult to analyze the results by question.

A better approach is to have each question be a child record to the survey and do the data entry in grid edit.

The each discrete Question can be analyzed separately and for example easily ranked up by questions most happy or unhappy.

The low tech way to get the child questions onto the Survey form is to use to create the 4 model Surveys each with its correct master Template questions.  Then use the wizard help to create a button to import those children into the survey.

here is some help on how to do that.

Then you can have 4 different buttons to import the 4 different sets of child records.  

Then have a form rule to control which button to show depending on some drop down field of the survey type.  I also suggest hiding those buttons when there are already child records, so it does not get create automatically.

It would also be possible to come up with a way to have the child records get auto created when the survey is first saved, but that's more advanced stuff. 


  • LisaSchibley's avatar
    LisaSchibley
    Qrew Cadet
    7 years ago
    Thank you so much for your answer.  I think I see what you are saying. At one point you said "here is some help on how to do that" was there a link at that point?   For some reason, I am not seeing it.  Or perhaps I misunderstood?
  • LisaSchibley's avatar
    LisaSchibley
    Qrew Cadet
    7 years ago
    Hi!  I hope I can get a bit more help.   I'm stuck on this part: "data entry in grid edit" These surveys will be sent to our partners to characterize their sites, so I imagined data entry would be into a form that they would have access too via the web. I was happy how I was able to set this fairly complex form up from the initial table I described above but then came across your observation of it being "more difficult to analyze the results by question". If I "have each question be a child record to the survey" will I still be able to create my survey form for my partners?  This is the part I am working to figure out.  Any help or examples you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
  • LisaSchibley's avatar
    LisaSchibley
    Qrew Cadet
    7 years ago
  • QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
    QuickBaseCoachD
    Qrew Captain
    7 years ago
    Well, there is a trade off here.

    If those filling out the survey are not familiar with Quick Base, then a traditional form may be best in your situation. Grid Edit is not as obvious and user friendly as a regular form.

    In addition, it does not sooid like your surveys have a lot of questions. That is also an argument for a traditional form.
  • LisaSchibley's avatar
    LisaSchibley
    Qrew Cadet
    7 years ago
    But if I do a traditional form, what is the best way to create reports where I can filter, sort and create sums and averages for subsets of data, which are the reports that are being requested?
  • QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
    QuickBaseCoachD
    Qrew Captain
    7 years ago
    It depends how you want to slice your data. When you use a traditional form,, then each record is a survey and mot a discrete responses.

    I think that you should just build the traditional form , which is quick to do and enter some test data and see if you can get the reports that you want.

    You will be able to do summary reports which calculate averages of numeric values. If your questions do not have numeric rosiness, then you will need to use a formula for each response choice to convert it to some kind of score.

    It is also possible to create a process to push a button or perhaps on a schedule to copy the individual responses to a new table for more detail flexibility of analysis.
  • LisaSchibley's avatar
    LisaSchibley
    Qrew Cadet
    7 years ago
    That last suggestion sounds really promising for me.  Would you happen to know if a sample app in the library that does something similar? Thank you so much for all your responses.  I really appreciate them.
  • QuickBaseCoachD's avatar
    QuickBaseCoachD
    Qrew Captain
    7 years ago
    I doubt there is an app in the exchange that breaks up a survey into its separate questions. But when you get to that point I can help you slowly on this forum or quickly on a one on one development session

    Mark Shnier
    QuickBaseCoach.com