SIMPLE SURVEY SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER-ASSISTED INTERVIEWS

摘要

RTI International has recently developed an authoring system called the Simple Survey System (SSS) for generating and administering computer-assisted interviews. The SSS consists of a questionnaire specification language defined in XML (eXtensible Markup Language), a survey engine for presenting the questions on screen and capturing responses, an automated builder that allows a research assistant to rapidly translate questionnaires into XML, plus a collection of supporting tools that facilitate the rapid implementation of computer-assisted interviews. Because of the unusual way XML is used to represent the complete specification of the questionnaire (including the dynamic behavior of the questionnaire) and the powerful, easy-to-use automated builder, survey development using the SSS is quick and economical. The SSS has been used on several computer-assisted interviewing projects at RTI and has proven to be a very robust, cost-effective tool. In this paper, we describe the main features of the SSS and show how it was used very effectively on one project.