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 Managing survey quotas.
Quotas are controls that limit how many respondents in particular groups are allowed to take a survey. The IntelliSurvey platform provides sophisticated tools to create and monitor quotas, as well as alter quota targets at any time during fielding. Additionally, quota management access can be granted to a user for a specific survey with explicit rights and limitations to uphold high standards of data privacy.
This article provides an overview of the Quotas applet group. There are suggested links at the bottom of the article to continue your learning.
Overview
The Quotas and Audience Quotas applets can be found within the Field > Quotas group in the left menu. You can navigate directly to either applet, or you can click on the main Quotas applet group button and be sent directly to the Quotas page.
The Quotas applet is intended for controlling quotas with a fixed target number, e.g., 100, for each quota group option. The software will only consider this number when deciding if a quota has been met. However, quotas in the Audience Quotas applet are controlled by a calculated maximum quota. Here, the user inputs a total target number, and the software automatically assigns percentages to each quota group option, distributing the total target N accordingly across the quota groups. The software will consider both the quota's target and the permitted variance when determining if a quota has been met or not.
Quotas applet
The Quotas applet provides various buttons in the action toolbar at the top. Filtering options are found beneath the action bar, and quotas are displayed in the center, which represent the quotas programmed for the particular study.
Quotas can be downloaded, uploaded, and scheduled for email sends by clicking their respective buttons in the action bar. Additionally, you can view the quota change history by clicking the History button, or refresh the page with the latest data by clicking on the Refresh button.
When viewing the quota change history, you will see a table with all actions listed in reverse chronological order. Click on the Browse Quotas link to go back to the main screen.
Finally, the Quotas applet includes filters for viewing and searching. You can keyword search for specific quotas via the Filter field or apply filters based on survey chapter names to search for quotas.
Audience Quotas applet
The Audience Quotas applet is where we display quotas that are programmed with the audience sheet
tag. These quotas reference system-stored data, such as Census data, that can easily populate the table with the needed quota groups and their respective target information.
Similar to the main Quotas applet, each quota is represented by a table, and each row represents a different quota bucket (group). Individual quota buckets change colors depending on the progress being made against their targets.
In contrast to the Quotas applet, these quotas are allowed to surpass the N displayed for a quota target if there is a value greater than 0% entered in the Variance column. The quota will be considered "full" when the number displayed in the Calculated Quotas column is reached.
Although audience quotas are imagined to work best with quotas used in representative sampling, any quota could potentially be managed here. Quotas that appear here must be programmed with the audience sheet
tag and reference an audience sheet.
Next steps
The IntelliSurvey interface allows users to review and set caps for quotas in multiple ways. The article on Using the Quotas applet covers how to review and set quotas in the Quotas applet and provides an overview of the applet. You can also read about setting quotas in the Quotas tile in the Metrics applet. To learn how to set a quota that involves a combination of targets, percentages, and variance, read this article on Using the Audience Quotas applet.
For Survey Programmers (SPs) working with quotas, there are a few other topics you may wish to learn more about. First, if you are programming in IntelliBuilder mode, read more about creating quotas here (article coming soon).However, if you are (or plan to be) an advanced programmer and program directly in the source code using our SPL, you can learn the basics for creating quotas by reading Creating quotas and quotas tag.
Although most quotas are based on completed respondents, surveys may also require click balance quotas (a.k.a., CBQs), quotas based on all incoming traffic. To learn more about programming this quota type, read Click balance quotas.
Finally, sometimes quotas require that they are constructed from responses to multiple questions instead of just one. This can be achieved by creating a crosslist quota, a quota that is defined by combining the options from two or more lists or questions. Learn how to program and set quotas of this type in Crosslist quotas.
In conclusion
While quotas are very powerful and reasonably easy to use with the Quotas and Audience Quotas applets, there are certain aspects of quotas that must be understood and aligned with all parties involved. Clients may express their needs with different terminology, or may not know how to describe the technical aspects of setting up quotas to meet their needs. Let's be honest, sometimes the need is simply unclear, and that is part of the investigation being done. For that reason, SPs and Project Consultants (PCs) should have a fluid conversation about the overall project strategy and the quotas needed to meet the client's goals. When possible, ensure all quotas are in place before launching the survey. Any issues or complications should be discussed early in the process to ensure smooth fielding, as misunderstandings can often be costly, both in terms of time and money, for everyone involved.
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