Special Answers in Exports

This page shows how a choice question's None, Refuse to answer, Don't know, and Other answers are written in each export format. Use it to map an Endatix export onto another tool's dataset or codebook. For how to download an export in the Hub, see Exporting Submissions.

Stored values

SurveyJS stores each special item as a fixed value in the submission. Endatix exports read these values:

Item	Stored value	Question types	Choosing it clears other choices
Other	`other`	Checkbox, tag box, radio group, dropdown, image picker	No
None	`none`	Checkbox, tag box, radio group, dropdown	Yes
Refuse to answer	`refused`	Checkbox, tag box, radio group, dropdown	Yes
Don't know	`dontknow`	Checkbox, tag box, radio group, dropdown	Yes

Select All is never stored: it only ticks the question's other choices, so it has no column or category. A custom choice with isExclusive: true stays an ordinary choice in every export.

note

These are the SurveyJS default values (settings.noneItemValue, settings.refuseItemValue, settings.dontKnowItemValue). Choosing your own export codes for them is tracked in endatix#1544, and storing custom values in endatix#1606.

CSV, JSON, and XLSX

The Submissions formats write one column per flattened key. The key separator is __ unless the export format sets another keySeparator.

The examples use the native column names and values. An export format with the Crunch alias profile, or with -- as its key separator, writes the Crunch shape instead: columns are renamed Q1, Q1_1, and so on, grouped by question, and a single-select cell holds the choice's codebook id, as in csv-shoji, instead of none or refused.

Multi-select (checkbox, tag box)

Each choice and each special item gets its own indicator column, in this order: the question's choices, then Other, then None, Refuse to answer, and Don't know. An indicator is 1 when chosen and 0 when not, and an unanswered question writes 0 in every column.

For a checkbox cb with choices a and b, Other, None, Refuse to answer, and Don't know, a respondent who picks a and Other and types typed gets:

`cb__a`	`cb__b`	`cb__other`	`cb__other_text`	`cb__none`	`cb__refused`	`cb__dontknow`
1	0	1	typed	0	0	0

In the JSON format, the same row is "cb__none": 0, a number, not a boolean. JSON property names are camel-cased, so a key that starts with a capital letter, such as QCb__none, is written as qCb__none.

The question's column holds the stored value: a choice value, other, none, refused, or dontknow. The text typed for Other goes in <question>__other_text, whichever way the form stores it:

Stored by SurveyJS	`rg`	`rg__other_text`
`"rg": "other"` and `"rg-Comment": "x"`	`other`	`x`
`"rg": "x"` (`storeOthersAsComment: false`)	`other`	`x`
`"rg": { "value": "other", "comment": "x" }`	`other`	`x`
`"rg": "none"`	`none`
`"rg": "refused"`	`refused`

Answers kept as stored

Two kinds of question keep the answer in one column as SurveyJS stored it, so a special item appears as its value:

A multi-select that loads its choices from a data list or a URL and has no choices on the form: ["none"].
A question in a dynamic panel without a loop source: pd__0__pdRg is none.

Questions in a dynamic panel with a loop source flatten like top-level questions, one set of columns per loop item, for example loop__nike__loopCb__dontknow.

Codebook

The Codebook format exports the form's codebook JSON. Its choiceCatalogs object lists every select question's choices with a numeric id. Special items follow the question's choices and Other:

"choiceCatalogs": {
  "cb": {
    "multiple": true,
    "otherStorage": "comment",
    "choices": [
      { "value": "a", "id": 1, "text": { "default": "a" } },
      { "value": "b", "id": 2, "text": { "default": "b" } },
      { "value": "other", "id": 3, "kind": "other", "text": { "default": "Other" } },
      { "value": "none", "id": 4, "kind": "none", "exclusive": true, "text": { "default": "None" } },
      { "value": "refused", "id": 5, "kind": "refused", "exclusive": true, "text": { "default": "Refuse to answer" } },
      { "value": "dontknow", "id": 6, "kind": "dontknow", "exclusive": true, "text": { "default": "Don't know" } }
    ]
  }
}

Field	Meaning
`multiple`	`true` for checkbox and tag box, `false` for single-select questions.
`otherStorage`	Where the Other text is: `comment` (a separate comment, the SurveyJS default) or `value` (`storeOthersAsComment: false`, the text replaces `other`). Only on questions with Other.
`id`	The choice's code. It keeps its value after choices are added, removed, or reordered: a new item takes the next free id. A form that removed a choice before this rule existed has its later choices renumbered once, in its next Shoji export.
`kind`	`other`, `none`, `refused`, or `dontknow` for a special item. Absent for an ordinary choice.
`exclusive`	`true` when choosing the item clears the other choices, including a custom `isExclusive` choice.
`text`	The label per locale, from the question's `otherText`, `noneText`, `refuseText`, or `dontKnowText`, or the SurveyJS default label.

Each indicator column in columns names its item with choiceValue and choiceLabel, for example columns["cb__none"].

Crunch Shoji codebook and csv-shoji

A Crunch.io import takes two files: the Codebook (Shoji) metadata and the csv-shoji data. csv-shoji uses -- as its key separator, so cb__none becomes cb--none.

Single-select

A radio group or dropdown is a categorical variable. Its categories are the catalog's choices, with the same ids. Refuse to answer and Don't know are missing categories, so Crunch leaves them out of percentages. None is a valid answer.

For a radio group rg with choices a and b and every special item:

id	name	missing
1	a	false
2	b	false
3	Other	false
4	None	false
5	Refuse to answer	true
6	Don't know	true

csv-shoji writes the category id in the rg column, so a respondent who refused gets 5. An unanswered question writes an empty cell.

Multi-select

A checkbox or tag box is a multiple_response variable with one subvariable per choice and special item, such as cb--none. Every subvariable has the categories not selected (id 0) and selected (id 1), and neither is missing: in a multi-select, Refuse to answer and Don't know are selected or not selected like any other choice. csv-shoji writes 1 or 0.

Other text

<question>--other_text is a separate text variable, named after the question with -- Other.

Category names

Crunch needs unique category names in a variable. When a removed choice and a current one share a label, every one but the newest is named with its value, as in Blue (b).

Forms prepared before special items were exported

A form whose reporting data was prepared before this behavior existed has no special-item columns. Run Rebuild reporting data… once on the form's export panel to add them. The special items take the next free ids after the existing choices.

Exporting Submissions: download exports and set up export formats in the Hub.
Customize Exports: change values with transformers before they are written.

Stored values​

CSV, JSON, and XLSX​

Multi-select (checkbox, tag box)​

Single-select (radio group, dropdown)​

Answers kept as stored​

Codebook​

Crunch Shoji codebook and csv-shoji​

Single-select​

Multi-select​

Other text​

Category names​

Forms prepared before special items were exported​

Related​