Version Notice: This article covers features in our r9/IS Pro platform. If you're looking for information on this topic related to r8, see Creating a new export.
Exports are survey data files that are downloaded to your computer for use in other software, such as Excel or SPSS. To create a new export, click on Export Survey Data in the Analyze button group, or click on the New Export button while in the Deliverables applet.
Overview
The Exports applet presents a set of options to select the file type, survey fields to include, and respondent records to include. Users can also elect whether to create the export based on the latest published or draft version of the survey. Additional options are available under Advanced Export Options, depending on the file type.
File types
Select which file type to download from the File Type dropdown menu. The following file types are available.
| File Type | Description |
| ASCII Text, Delimited | Creates delimited rows of text in a basic file that can be read as .txt or .csv. |
| ASCII Fixed Field | Works with a map file that describes how many sequential characters from each row are assigned to each field description. |
| Excel 95-2003 | Creates an older Excel-compatible export (.xls) with the associated size constraints of 65k rows by 256 columns. Includes a sheet describing each field. |
| Excel 2007 | Default; creates an Excel-compatible export (.xlsx) with the current size constraints, allowing 1M rows by 16k columns. Includes a sheet describing each field. |
| SPSS Binary Format (.sav) | Creates a proprietary data format for use with IBM's SPSS statistical analysis platform. |
| Triple-S | Saves in a format described as a "survey interchange standard" to allow the sharing of survey data between platforms. |
| Verticalized (Tableau) | Displays responses in a verticalized output with a single column for a question and multiple rows for each respondent record. Only some field types are verticalized (e.g., checkboxes are, whereas radios are not). |
| Quota Panels | Creates an export of the quota totals and caps set in the Quotas applet. This file may be edited and uploaded to the Quotas applet to adjust the caps. |
| Flattened, Delimited | Downloads as a single respondent record with each field showing in the respondent's data set, and all open and closed fields; rendered as a .csv. |
| Verticalized by List (.xlxs) | BETA - Takes a single list from the survey to display vertically ("verticalized") in order to analyze it alongside the list's related survey fields and exports in Excel. |
Selecting fields
Use the Select Fields menu (a.k.a., Field Selector) to specify which fields (variables and/or questions) to include in the export. First, use the Question Set menu to select whether to use the most recent Published Version or Draft Version. The selector will be disabled if the most recent survey version has been published.
Next, select which fields (questions and variables) to include. The following options are available:
- Survey Fields & Record Data – Include all survey fields and record data. Record Data includes basic information about each respondent record, such as status, language, and start/finish timestamps.
- Survey Fields – Include all survey fields, excluding Record Data.
- By Chapter – Select one or more groups of fields (also known as chapters) as defined in the survey programming.
- By Field Type – Include all fields that are of the same type (Closed, Open numeric, Open text, or Summary)
- Individually – Select one more specific fields.
If you select By Chapter, By Field Type, or Individually, an additional dropdown menu will appear with the appropriate options.
Selecting records
Use the Select Records menu (a.k.a., Record Selector) to specify which respondent records to include. The following options are available:
- Completed – Include only records that have a Completed status.
- IDs – Type or copy and paste a list of record IDs into the space provided to only include those records.
- Date/Time – Include/exclude records based on timestamps. A variety of options are available, such as setting a cutoff timestamp or defining a range of dates.
- Data Cut – Include only records that meet the criteria of a data cut. You may select an existing data cut from the Data cut dropdown menu, or create a new one. Create a new data cut by typing an expression in the Expression text field, or click the
Expression Builder button.
Options may be combined as needed. Records must meet the criteria of all selected options to be included in the export.
Advanced options
The Advanced Export Options menu provides additional file formatting options. Click the Advanced Export Options header to display the options list. Which options are available will depend on the selected file type.
The following options are available.
| Advanced Option | Description |
| Compress data file | Exports the file in ZIP format. This helps reduce the file size for very large exports. |
| Show response text for closed end questions | Replaces numeric option codes with the option text. |
| Expand stacked fields | Works with stacked data sets (selected by default). In such cases, proxy variables store data which allows for a neater, more compact data set. Expanding the fields exports data as if the data was not stacked. |
| Include description row (XLSX) | Adds the question text (or description, if available) in the row below the column labels (only valid on Excel exports). |
Within header row field names, replace all _ characters with . |
Replaces underscores in the header row field names with periods. Both characters are editable, allowing for other types of replacements. |
| Include system variables | Includes all fields in the survey which fall into the System fields chapter. Some fields may be excluded if you don't have the necessary permissions to view them. |
| Affix variable label in front of all variable descriptions (recommended for Q) | Adds the question ID to the start of every field, e.g. "Q1. Age" instead of "Age". This option is only available for SPSS Binary Format (.sav) exports. Selecting this option is recommended if the .sav file will be imported into Q Research Software. |
Downloading and saving exports
Once all desired export settings have been selected, click the Next button. The export will begin processing and display a progress bar. Once it is finished, you may download the export by clicking the Download button. Click Edit Export to go back and adjust the export settings.
To save the export, enter a description in the space provided, and click Save Export. This saves it in the Deliverables applet for future use. You can also click the Deliverables button to navigate to the applet.
Response reports vs. Excel exports
Response reports are largely similar to Excel exports, but have some notable differences. Response reports display the data for checkbox questions in a single column. If more than one option was checked, the options are presented as a comma-separated list.
Here is an example of a Response report, downloaded in Excel format, with the checkbox question Q2.
By contrast, Excel exports display the data for checkbox questions in a multi-column format, where each option has its own column. Each column has a value of '1' (selected) or '0' (not selected). The column headers have the option number appended to the question number, such as 'Q2.5' for Q2, option 5.
Here is the same example report, but downloaded as an Excel export.
Additionally, Excel export files include a second tab called "Questions", which maps the question and option IDs to the values displayed in the column headers; Response reports do not have this tab.
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