Creating quotas

Quotas can be programmed using one of two different methods. Quotas can be programmed directly within a question by including the quotas: y tag, or as a separate variable using type: quotas. Setting a quota directly in the question is very useful if the question options are the same as the quota groups you need to create and the same conditions can apply. If there is a new list or different conditions driving what quota group(s) should be assigned, using a separate variable is the better choice. Below are examples of both quota creation methods, along with some additional details to consider when creating quotas.

'quotas' tag

The quotas tag can be used on any radio, pulldown, or checkbox question and can accept 'y' (yes) and 'n' (no) inputs, specified option IDs, or conditional statements. It tells the system to automatically create a quota variable and attach it to the question. The quota variable is named QX_QUOTA, where X is the ID of the question using the quotas tag. When the quotas tag is used on a checkbox question and more than one quota group can be assigned, the QX_QUOTA variable will default to the same maximum allowable number as the question upon which it is based.

Starting in r8, if a term: y decorator is added next to an option, and the question includes the quotas tag, that non-qualifying option will automatically be excluded from the quota groups created for the question.

Basic

In the example below, Q1, a radio question, will create the single-select Q1_QUOTA variable, and Q2, a checkbox question, will create a multi-select Q2_QUOTA variable.

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
quotas: y
1. Male
2. Female

2. Which of these pets do you have at home?
type: checkbox
quotas: y
1. Cat
2. Dog
3. Fish
4. Bird

Adding quota text

The quota variable's description text will be the question text with 'Quota for' prepended to it. To create a custom description, use the oqtext tag. In the example below, we have adjusted the text to say "QUOTA | GENDER."

Example	Resulting Topline tile
1. What is your gender? type: radio oqtext: QUOTA | Gender quotas: y 1. Male 2. Female

Including or excluding options 

In addition to the 'y' or 'n' inputs, the quotas tag also accepts numerical values and ranges, which correspond to option IDs for the question to which the quotas tag is applied. The specified range/option IDs must be wrapped in square brackets - '[ ]' - following the rules for including or excluding options. Consider the following example:

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
quotas: y
1. Male
2. Female
98. Prefer not to answer

Suppose a researcher does not want to create a quota bucket for the "Prefer not to answer" group. This might be because the group eventually terminates or for purposes related to representative sampling. To avoid creating a quota bucket for this group, specify the option IDs in the quotas tag which should have quota buckets.

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
quotas: [1,2]
1. Male
2. Female
98. Prefer not to answer

In the system-generated quota Q1_QUOTA, there will be no '98. Prefer not to answer' bucket.

This technique may also be applied using ranges in the event that there is a longer list of option IDs. A common occurrence of such a case might be an age question. Imagine that under 18 respondents and those who are 65 and older are not allowed to take the survey and they terminate. In this circumstance, there would be no reason to create quota buckets for these groups. The range is written by indicating the lowest qualifying option ID first, e.g. 2, followed by two decimals, followed by the highest qualifying option ID, e.g., 10. As mentioned above, you must wrap the range in square brackets '[ ]'.

1. What is your age?
type: radio
quotas: [2..10]
1. <18
2. 19-24
3. 25-29
4. 30-34
5. 35-39
6. 40-44
7. 45-49
8. 50-54
9. 55-59
10. 60-64
11. 65+
98. Prefer not to answer 

Exclusionary syntax also will work as an input to the quotas tag. The previous example could have also been written as:

1. What is your age?
type: radio
quotas: -[1,11,98]
1. <18
2. 19-24
3. 25-29
4. 30-34
5. 35-39
6. 40-44
7. 45-49
8. 50-54
9. 55-59
10. 60-64
11. 65+
98. Prefer not to answer 

Conditional input

The third type of input that the quotas tag will accept are conditional ranges. The condition is defined within brackets with an "if statement" that tests the condition against each option ID for the question to which it is applied. As such, it would be possible to rewrite the previous gender question, wherein code '98' is excluded from Q1_QUOTA, like this:

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
quotas: [ if [id]<10 ]
1. Male
2. Female
98. Prefer not to answer

Options '1' and '2' meet the condition (being less than 10), whereas option '98' does not.

Quota chapter

Quota variables generated by using quotas: y on a question appear in the Quota variables sub-chapter of the Appendix chapter. To make a quota generated by quotas: y appear in a different place in the Reporting field tree, use the quotachapter tag and specify the desired label of the chapter where the quota should appear (e.g., 'X'). Additionally, make sure the chapter is defined in the survey source. Read more about the define chapters widget here.

define chapters
X. Another Chapter

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
oqtext: QUOTA | Gender
quotas: y
quotachapter: X
1. Male
2. Female

Creating quotas and click balance quotas together

Starting in r8, the quotas tag can be applied to a question alongside the click balance quotas tag (alias cbq) to simultaneously create a quota variable and a click balance quota variable from the same question. In the following example, QINCOME will generate both a quota variable of QINCOME_QUOTA and a click balance quota of QINCOME_CBQ. By default, quotas will appear in the Quota variables chapter in the Reporting Field Tree, with CBQs appearing in the Click Balance Quotas sub-chapter, unless otherwise assigned to another chapter.

INCOME. Which of the following categories best represents your annual household income (before taxes)?
type: radio
cbq: y
quotas: y
1. Less than $25,000
2. $25,000 - $49,999
3. $50,000 - $74,999
4. $75,000 - $99,999
5. $100,000 - $149,999
6. $150,000 - $199,999
7. $200,000 or more

'type: quotas'

When quota groups do not match the options of a single question, or have dependencies on factors other than a single question, a stand-alone variable should be created to manage them. In the example below, QGENDERAGE is a single-select, standalone quota variable whose options are selected based on the conditions defined on each option. In this case, each option is derived from a combination of options from Q1 and Q2. 

Unless otherwise specified, type: quotas variables default to using selectby: condition.

1. What is your gender?
type: radio
1. Male
2. Female

2. Which of these includes your age group?
type: radio
1. 18-29
2. 30-39
3. 40-49
4. 50-59
5. 60 or older

GENDERAGE. Gender quota
type: quotas 
11. Male 18-49 { if anyChecked($Q1,1) and anyChecked($Q2,1,2,3) }
12. Male 50 or older { if anyChecked($Q1,1) and anyChecked($Q2,4,5) }
21. Female 18-49 { if anyChecked($Q1,2) and anyChecked($Q2,1,2,3) }
22. Female 50 or older { if anyChecked($Q1,2) and anyChecked($Q2,4,5) }

For more information about quota type variables, see Common quota tags.