In this tutorial, you will learn how to upload survey data, create and refine a codebook for easy navigation and reporting, and share your databases with other users.
Step 1 | How to upload your database;
Step 2 | How to organize your data;
Step 3 | How to share a database with other users.
Step 1 | How to upload your data
First, you'll need to create a folder to store your database and other relevant materials in.
Go to My Space and click on the '+' icon.
You can select 'Folder' and name it accordingly. To open your folder double click on it.
Once you are in your new folder, click on the create '+' icon again, but this time select Database.
Enter a database name, we recommend the subject and fieldwork period.
Click the Choose a file button and select your raw data file.
Click Upload.
If you can't find the database creation icon, you may lack the 'Database Creator' role. Contact your system supervisor or client services for the necessary access.
Supported File Formats
DataTile supports the following formats of data files:
SPSS | *.sav, *.zsav |
Excel | *.xlsx, *.xls (note that support of XLS will be ceased in the future) |
Text formats | *.csv, *.tsv |
Parquet | In development and will be available soon |
IBM360 | Legacy format that is mostly used for big syndicated databases |
triple-s | We have discontinued support for triple-s format due to their rarity and unwieldiness. If you require assistance, please reach out to our support team |
You can supplement your data with a codebook (data map) to refine its schema, and provide additional information about the data, including variable types, labels, data mapping, etc.
Compress your data using ZIP before uploading. Certain formats, such as CSV, can achieve significant size reductions of up to 10 times or more. By zipping your data files, you'll experience faster upload speeds and circumvent file size restrictions.
Step 2 | How to organize your data
Once you have uploaded your survey data, it's important to organize the questions (variables) and answers (categories/options) to ensure ease of use and navigation. This can be done by sorting them into folders, trimming titles, grouping questions or combining them to form new questions. This is all done within the Meta-Editor.
In My Space, open your database by double-clicking on it;
Then, click on the Project settings ('cog') icon to open the Meta-Editor.
Any edits you make in the Meta-Editor won’t alter the original raw file, but instead, enhance it and make it more user-friendly.
Trim and shorten titles
When raw data is first uploaded the labels of questions can look long and look messy. The trim function allows you to shorten these labels in bulk rather than editing each one manually, however, they all must have matching words or characters that you want to remove. Here is an example of labels before using trim:
Find the questions that you want to trim and select them;
Click the trim icon
;In the pop-up box, the common text that can be trimmed is highlighted in red. You can choose to trim the prefix or suffix of the labels;
Click OK.
If you skip this step, you will still be able to trim the labels directly in the crosstab later. However, this action will only apply to a single query.
Create folders
For ease of use, we recommend sorting variables into folders. Typically, these include a demographics folder, a main thematic folder, and folders for service variables. This way, you won't need to scroll through the entire list to find the variables you need.
Select the relevant variables. Search for these using the search box by the variable code (e.g. ST_) or the beginning of the question.
Click the ‘Create folder’ icon
in the toolbar. In the pop-up box, enter a subfolder name and click Create.
Re-code answer options
When working with scale questions, it is useful to combine some of these answer options e.g. into Top-2 or Bottom-2.
Select all of the variables that need to be re-coded and click the 'Group' icon
;
Grouping questions is a time-saving feature when managing multiple questions with identical answers and requiring the same adjustments. Any changes made to one question in the group will be automatically applied to the others.
Select any variable in the group to see its categories;
Make any adjustments. For example, select the Top-2 scores - ‘9’ and ‘10 - and click on the ‘OR’ icon
. This will create a new answer option for all grouped variables of people who answered 'Yes' to either of these questions. Click the 'edit' icon
to change the title to Top 2, or Promoters, then Save.Repeat for Bottom 2 and Detractors. Now all changes are applied to all variables in the group.
Multiple-response questions (MR-set)
Multiple-response questions are those that allow more than one answer per respondent and are coded as individual responses in your database.
In our database, there are five ‘unaided awareness’ brands that people answered ‘yes’ to knowing. They all have the same variable code UA_[1-5] (same question), showing that they can all be pulled into one MR-set.
Select each question and click the ‘Declare multi-response set’ icon
. The following pop-up box will appear:
Give the multiple-response set a descriptive name.
Choose ‘Checked’;
Tick the box on the bottom to ensure that any variables that have the name ‘UA_’ will be automatically added to the MR-set when future waves are uploaded;
Click Create.
Once you have created an MR-set, the original variables will be automatically hidden so you can't see them in the list. To unhide these variables select them in Meta-Editor, open More actions → Change visibility of selected → Turn on.
Step 3 | Share a database with other users
To ‘invite’ a user/collaborator to a database, select the entity within My Space and click the Share icon.
In the pop-up window type in the user(s) email address and choose their rights (whether they can view, edit or share). If they don’t have a DataTile account they will be given a link to create one.
View - they can run crosstabs, create charts, and access interactive dashboards.
Share - they can run crosstabs, create charts, and share this data with other users.
Edit - they can view, share, and access database settings (e.g. the Meta-Editor) or dashboard widgets and controls. You should be cautious about who you give editing rights to as they have full control over your database.
The invitee will receive an email with a link to access the shared entity, once they click the link they will be redirected to DataTile where they can either log in or create an account. The shared entity will appear in the ‘Shared with me’ folder in My Space.