The Reporting Field Selector is a data filter that appears at the top of the screen in most report types. Used in tandem with the Record Selector, this filter is used to select questions, variables, or other fields to customize reports or examine subsets of data. You can toggle to show or hide the Field Selector by clicking the Filters button at the top-right of the reporting interface.
Tip! While there are slight differences in the implementation of the Field Selector for different reports, much of its functionality is identical for each type. Depending on the applet in which it is used, some fields may not be available. Report-specific changes, when present, are covered on the page for that report type.
Creating a report
In order to create a report, users will need to select which records and fields to use. Once a filter is chosen in the Record Selector, a count appears of the number of records that meet the criteria. Changing the filter causes this count to disappear until the new filter is applied. If need be, multiple filters can be chosen at once (e.g., Completed and Data Cut). To apply configuration options from the Record and Field Selectors, click Apply.
If the report has a Copy button, it will become active when the selections made in the Record or Field Selectors are changed and no longer reflect the most recently applied version. When pressed, Copy reverts the selections/changes to reflect the previously displayed report.
For more on the Record Selector, see Reporting Record Selector.
Select Fields options
The default setting for the Field Selector varies depending on the report. Most default to All Questions.
Clicking the dropdown menu reveals a handful options:
- All Questions: All questions and variables within the Survey fields chapter. This does not include items in Record data or System fields chapters.
- All Questions and Record Data: All questions and variables within Record data, Survey fields, and Appendix chapters.
- By Chapter: All questions and variables within a given chapter.
- By Field Type: All questions and variables organized by their type. This includes most chapters — Managers Only and specific sub-chapters of System fields are excluded.
- All: All fields, all types.
- Closed: All fields with closed-end data.
- Open numeric: All open-end (free response) data with
datatypedefined as numeric. - Open text: All open-end data with non-numeric data types.
- Summary: Fields which display in Summary tiles in the Topline Reports applet such as tables and questions repeated in blocks/loops.
- Individually: Allows users to select questions or variables individually, via a dropdown list.
- Existing Tiles: Only for use in a Topline report; allows the user to apply new record settings to previously-selected fields in the report. Any Gear menu settings that were previously applied to the tiles/fields in the last report will be maintained.
Note: Users should note that CheatSweep fields are only available for users that have been assigned the add-on role of CheatSweep Viewer or have survey roles of Manager, Survey Owner, or Editor. Managers, Survey Owners, and Editors can assign this role to other users as needed.
By Chapter
Surveys of reasonable length are often divided by the survey designer/programmer into chapters. These chapters are one way to filter a report to include only a subset of survey questions and variables. After selecting By Chapter in the Field Selector, an additional pulldown menu appears. From this additional menu, you may select chapters by clicking the chapter name in the menu or by typing the names of the chapters directly into the box. Matching chapters will show in the dropdown. When a chapter is clicked, it is added as a selection to the top of the menu. Only questions within selected chapters will appear in the report. It is possible to continually add chapters as needed.
By Field Type
By Field Type allows you to specify the question type as the filter criteria for the report. The categories shown represent the general question types available in all reports, as well as Summary, which is available for Topline reports only. The Summary type is a reporting aggregate of all of the fields within a table or questions repeated in blocks/loops in a single tile, rather than having a separate tile for each question-cell.
Individually
This option allows you to specify the questions and variables by directly selecting them. The second dropdown menu will display all data fields, organized by chapter, in a hierarchical tree. To select a field, expand the menu or begin typing directly into the box. Fields with matching names will show in the dropdown. When a field is clicked, it is added as a selection to the top of the menu.
The order in which the fields are selected is the same order they will be displayed in the report, but if needed, you can drag and drop the fields to a new position after the selection is made.
Fields can be removed by clicking the x symbol in the right hand side of the field after it is selected.
Dev/Pub and reports
When using the Field Selector, it is important to pay attention to the "Dev"/"Pub" status for the survey you are in. If the survey's latest "Dev" (development) version has not been published, the Dev/Pub toggle will be active. In this case, users may choose whether to run reports on either the Dev or Pub versions of the survey.
Whichever version of the survey is active in the applet will be highlighted in white. In the image below, if the report were to be run as is, it would be run on the Dev version of the report. To run a report on the Pub version, simply click on the Pub half of the toggle.
If the latest Dev version of the survey has been published, a green checkmark will be shown for the Dev/Pub Status icon, and the Dev/Pub toggle will be outlined in light blue (inactive).
Note: The Dev/Pub Status icons are only visible to system roles of Survey Creator+. A survey Manager, regardless of the system role, cannot see the icon, but can see the Dev/Pub toggle button.
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