Data collection and processing

We give our support in implementing various enquiries from the beginning to the end.

When necessary, we design functional indicators for desired contents and we test the functioning of these indicators before making real samples. A new enquiry must always be monitored after the first assessment. We perform a credibility analysis on all the material and – together with you we correct possible abnormalities in the contents of the questions and in the structure of the indicator.

According to your needs you can also order tailored courses on designing indicators and about their usage as well as about the basics of statistical processing.

WELL DESIGNED DIGITAL FORMS

We design respondent-friendly and reliable digital and paper forms for enquiries, exams and assessment bearing in mind the respondent group and the wanted result. In digital forms we design the bundle of indicators from the beginning to the end so that we use the most suitable scale or question type. Our digital form environment makes possible the personalized and sharpened paths where people do not have to answer irrelevant questions and the clarifications are targeted for suitable respondents.

After the planning of forms we make up the digital enquiries and put them in test by experts and often by a small sample equivalent with the target group.

MODERN PAPER ROLLING

Together with the digital data collection we still offer swift and reliable makeup and processing of paper forms e.g. to the needs of entrance examination.

We have the Teleform 10.2 –programme for an efficient data collection. Forms are designed and made with the programme the target being best possible usability and automatic identifiability. The contents can be delivered as a text file.

The outlook of your form is made up according to your wishes but considering at the same time the technical details which require that all fields for identification are on every page of the form.

CEA has a strong experience of small and large data collection. When required we can also take care of data collection as a whole in cooperative projects. By individualized forms we can follow the advancement of the enquiry by respondent and send reminders to those who haven’t answered. This way we get the data as perfect as possible without sending reminders for those who already have answered.

If necessary we include in the data collection also planning of the random sample and the selection of the sample from the object group. In the data collection we plan the necessary parallel groups for intervention studies and make sure that the planned sample size is sufficient for chosen analyze methods  and gives reliable assessment and research data. Taking care of data protection is the basic starting point for all our data collection.

We have two efficient document scanners and their scanning speed is 90 black and white sheets or 50 coloured sheets per minute. The equipment is able to scan also A3-sheets.

The scan settings are optimized by the nature of the data being stored. It may be important that the electronic copy corresponds to the original quality as far as possible. On the other hand, if the form’s answer markings are unclear, it is possible to clarify them by adjusting settings.

If required, It is possible to send to the customer the scanned forms as picture files saved on a CD or DVD. In this case it is not necessary to store the paper forms but they can be destroyed.

The answers are read by the Teleform –programme. Unclear markings are interpreted manually. Answers to open questions are checked and typed clean.

The data is submitted to certain quality control measures that ensure the validity of the answers. The data collected by forms will be saved in a required file format. The options are e.g. Excel, Access, SPSS or similar.

We process several large enquiry- and assessment data materials and are happy to provide support in analyzing and interpretation all enquiries made in cooperation with us. In simplest terms this means scoring crude responses or recoding. If necessary we also check the indicators’ reliability and structure analysis as well as demanding statistical analysis. We give the results of the analysis to our companions as Excel or SPSS –tables or diagrams.

We also report from the beginning to the end. In these cases the results are available in a ready written report, which includes the interpretation of the results and gives –if necessary- recommendations for developmental steps. The accuracy and volume of the reporting are always agreed upon with each partner in the assessment, research and other projects separately.