Linking back to original survey

Question

I have 2 surveys i need to link together. I link to the 2nd survey, then i need to return to the original survey. Problem is that the "return to" page in the original survey is the linkpage to the 2nd survey. How can i get the 2nd survey to return to the page AFTER the linkpage of the original survey?

Answer 1

You want to branch to another survey and continue from where you've left? I don't remember when it was added but there is a sys_skipto parameter in URL link parameters. Haven't used it, but help file states:
"...If you want to restart an SSI Web questionnaire and skip to ("link to") a specific question name, you can do so by including a "sys_skipto" variable within the URL hyperlink (note: only works for restarts). For example:

https://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/gonzo/cgi-bin/ciwweb.pl?studyname=tep1&panelid=7362836&sys_skipto=Q11

The hyperlink above restarts the tep1 survey and skips respondents directly to Q11.

The most common use for this functionality is for linking multiple surveys (such as multiple conjoint modules) while still maintaining quota control. For example, consider the following study design:

 Study1 (CiW-type survey)  
 · Study2 (CBC survey #1)  
 · Study3 (CBC survey #2)  
 
All respondents start in Study1 and complete Q1-Q10. After Q10, respondents receive either Study2 or Study3, depending on answers within Study1. After completing the CBC section, respondents return to Study1 to complete the survey (Q11-Q20) and be counted toward the quotas that are maintained in Study1.

To do this, a skip pattern is inserted within Study1 that skips respondents from Q10 to one of two Terminate/Link questions placed in Study1. The Terminate/Link questions mark respondents as incomplete, and link them to either Study2 or Study3. Then, at the end of Study2 and Study3, Terminate/Link questions link respondents back to Study1, with sys_skipto=Q11 placed within the URL. Respondents finish Q11-Q20 and reach a Terminate/Link question in Study1 that marks respondents as complete.

Note: if restarting a survey and skipping forward within the questionnaire, make sure not to set passthrough variables to new values. If a passthrough variable has already been stored and is later resubmitted as a different value, the original value is maintained. "

Comments

That link doesn't work for me.

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the link is from the help quote, so it isn't supposed to work :)

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bahadir thanks! :)

Answer 2

Chris, this is what I would do:
- have survey 2 pass a variable into survey 1: status=2 (ie representing the second time we're back in survey 1).
- add pre-skip to beginning of survey 1 that will skip you to the middle of the survey (or wherever you want) when status = 2.
 * Don't forget to add the "status" pass-in variable to survey 1.

To quote some of our south pacific friends, "that ought to work a treat."  Let me know if you don't understand my process.  FYI, I'm on ssi 6.  Not sure if they changed variable passing for those in ssi 7.

Comments

Thanks for the reply.  I tried doing this originally but it seemed to wipe out all the existing data that had been collected already in the first survey.

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I forgot about that... when you change the value of the pass-in variable, it wipes your data. I'll try some things in an hour and a half when I get off work.  
 
You might have to create a 3rd site for the follow up, or pass-in a new, related pwd back into your first survey.  Of course, the data will not include the first half of the survey... you'd have to blend them on the back end.  
 
I notice that when you register for the forums (create an account) then you don't have to reply to spam questions.

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Since we cant re-enter the survey due to data wipes, then here are your immediate options as I see them:
   1.) login to survey 1 and survey 2 with password1A.  Have survey 2 pass the status variable as well as a sister password to your original password... something like password1B.  Blend the data on the back end.
   2.) Same as option 1, but if you dont have too many variables in the first part of survey 1, then pass those variables into survey 2; when you pass from survey 2 back into survey 1, re-enter with the sister password, but pass in all the original values from survey 1 as well.  This way you will not need to blend any data between passwords and just work with the B passwords.
   3.) Break it out into 3 surveys instead of 2.
   4.) Combine both surveys (unless you're bouncing to another vendor and back)
  
 Not sure if any of those options work for you or not, but I know that option 1 can be used to great effect.  Curious as to what you actually end up doing.

Answer 3

Anytime you revisit the same question you will encounter 'limbo' data cleaning.  This is because the software thinks you have re-answered a question and you should have the most recent answer.  There is no way to do reentry in the software as far as I know without this problem.  The best recommendation I have is to split the survey in half.  V8 will allow you to accumulate data from different studies into 1 study and export them.