This article provides comprehensive information about participant variables in EFS, including their types, properties, and management. It covers the standard variables, creating new variables, and best practices for handling participant data.
| Switch to the Participant Administration → Participant variables menu. You will find an overview table listing the existing participant variables. You will also be allowed to create new participant variables. |
Table Overview of the Participant Variables
The table contains the following information for each variable:
- Order: The order of the variables, which is defined via the Arrow icons in the “Move” column, is used both for the entry and search forms of the participant administration and for the export data records.
- Internal label: The actual name of the variable. In the format #internal_label#, this is used as a wildcard in the questionnaire and e-mails. All the participant variables begin with the prefix “u_” so that they can be unambiguously identified, for example, during filtering.
- Label: The field does not have multilingual capability. For projects with international staff, you should therefore choose a name that can be understood by all of those involved.
- Type: The available display types are “Text field”, “Checkbox”, “Select box” and “Radio buttons”. For variables of the “Select box” or “Radio buttons” type, you can specify answer options that can be selected via select boxes in participant administration. In the case of “u_gender”, for example, you can choose between “Male”, “Female” and “Not entered”.
- Properties: This column indicates whether a variable is visible in participant administration, can be filled with data, if new characteristics can be created by import, or if serves as the language variable.
The following editing options can be used:
- Using the Arrow icons in the “Move” column you can change the order of the participant variables both in the entry and search form of the participant administration and in the export data records. Particularly in projects with large numbers of variables, this facilitates operating in the participant administration and working with the exported data.
- Clicking on the internal label or the Edit icon will open the dialog in which the respective variable is configured.
- User-defined variables can be deleted by clicking on the familiar Delete icon.
Overview of the standard variables of participant administration
The following table lists all defaulted participant variables. The list also contains the project types for which each variable can be used (PE: Personalized project, ES: Employee survey, MSF: Multi-source feedback).
| Label | Variable name | Project type | Data type | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| User ID: Unique User ID | uid | PE, ES | int | 11 placesThreshold values:2147483648 bis 214748364 |
| Personnel number | u_account | MSF | ||
| First name | u_firstname | PE, ES, MSF | varchar | 255 |
| Name | u_name | PE, ES, MSF | varchar | 255 |
| u_email | PE, ES, MSF | varchar | 255 | |
| Password (unencrypted) | u_passwd | PE, ES, MSF | varchar | 255 |
| Initial password | u_initial_passwd | MSF | ||
| Title | u_title | PE, ES | varchar | 255 |
| Gender | u_gender | PE, ES, MSF | tinyint | 1 |
| Group | u_group | PE, ES | int | 11 (see above) |
| Organizational unit | u_unit | MSF | int | |
| Language version | u_language | PE, ES, MSF | int | 11 (see above) |
| Date of creation: Date and time of creation of the participant record | c_date, MSF: cr_date | PE, ES, MSF | timesta mp | |
| Date of change | m_date, MSF: mod_date | PE, ES, MSF | timesta mp | |
| Mobile numberThe mobile phone numbers of sender and receiving participants must be formatted according to international formatting rules:A total of seventy digitsTwo zeros at the startCountry prefixThe number itself | u_mobile | PE, ES | varchar | 70 |
| Offline version | u_offline | ES | ||
| Analytics role (This variable is used for mapping participants to Data Voyager roles)Default answer options:0 = not specified1 = Reader2 = Analyst3 = Administrator | u_analytics_role | PE | int | |
| Reminder date (This variable is not visible in the overview, but can be imported or exported.) | internal: date_of_remind / external: dateofremind | PE, ES | timestamp | |
| Expiry date (This variable is not visible in the overview, but can be imported or exported.) | internal: date_of_expire / external: dateofexpire | PE, ES | timestamp | |
| Time zone | u_timezone | PE, ES, MSF | timestamp |
Creating new variables
Click on the Create variable button. The following details are required:
- Internal label: This is used within EFS to label the variable.
- You may use up to 62 characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9).
- Only letters and numbers (i.e. ASCII characters) may be used; special characters or Japanese kanji, for example, are not allowed. The underscore character (_) can also be used.
- The prefix “u_” will be attached automatically.
- The internal label cannot be subsequently changed.
- Label: The field does not have multilingual capability. For projects with international staff, you should therefore choose a name that can be understood by all of those involved.
- Label: The field does not have multilingual capability. For projects with international staff, you should therefore choose a name that can be understood by all of those involved.
- Type: The available display types are “Text field”, “Checkbox”, “Select box” and “Radio buttons”. For variables of the “Select box” or “Radio buttons” type, you can specify answer options that can be selected via select boxes in participant administration. In the case of “u_gender”, for example, you can choose between “Male”, “Female” and “Not entered”.
- Allow editing of the content of a variable: The content of a variable for which editing is allowed can be changed via participant administration. If a variable has not been released, you cannot change the corresponding participant data in participant administration.
- Show the content of a variable in participant administration: A variable for which the corresponding option is enabled is displayed in participant administration.
Confirm by clicking on Save.
- Data from participant import can be used to expand the characteristics of this variable: This function is available for “radio buttons” and “selectbox” fields. If it has been activated and data are imported that do not correspond to codes of an existing characteristic, this will result in the following:
- Numerical values that do not correspond to any existing code are interpreted as new codes. Required characteristics are automatically generated, using the numerical value as a label.
- New characteristics are also generated for entries not interpretable as code, such as texts or combinations of letters and numbers. The codes of these characteristics are allocated by the system.
- If the function is not activated, this will result in the following:
- Numerical values that differ from coding are imported but displayed with a question mark prompting you to check and subsequently create the missing characteristic.
- Entries not interpretable as code are set to the default value “0”.
- If the display type of the variable is “Select box” or “Radio buttons”, a table for creating the answer options will be shown.
- The value “0” is treated as a default value. This means, for example, that with “select box” type variables the “Please select” option is preset with this value and this value is assigned to empty cells on import. For that reason when creating answer options similarly use the “0” code only for settings preset as default such as “Please select”.
- Enter the label of the first answer category.
Confirm by clicking on Save.
- Create all other required answer categories.
- Lastly, click on the “Back to Overview” link to return to the overview of participant variables.
- The newly created variable will be listed in the table.
Variable types, encoding, and missing values
The following table lists the different display types with related encodings and missing value definitions. The display type of standard variables cannot be changed.
| Display type | Meaning | Missing values | Export data record | Data type | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text field | input field | Unfilled text fields are filled with “0”. | Text entered into the open entry field | mediumtext | 16,777,215 (2^24 – 1) characters |
| Text Area | text | 65,535 (2^16 – 1) characters | |||
| Checkbox | Used to output information that can be given by answering “Yes” or “No”.Variables of the type “Checkbox” can only assume the values “0” and “1”. Imported values that are not “0” are recoded to “1”. | Variable with codes 0 (disabled) and 1 (enabled) | integer | 11 digits | |
| Select box | Generates a select box in which user-defined answer options can be selected.If a “Selectbox” type variable is created anew, all existing participants are assigned the value “0”. | Select boxes that are set to “Please select” by default will be preset at “0”. This is the case, for example, with the standard variables u_gender, u_language and u_group. | Variable with user-defined codes | integer | 11 digits |
| Radio buttons | Generates a single response list in which user-defined answer options can be selected.If a “radio buttons” type variable is created anew, all existing participants are assigned the value “0”. | Variable with user-defined codes | integer | 11 digits |
If the number of characters is exceeded, everything above it is truncated. When importing, please note that Excel may have a limit on the number of characters per cell.
Please note that participant administration variables of the “text field” type and project variables that refer to text fields are preallocated differently:
- Participant variables that are imported by the project manager and not filled by the participant are set to “0”.
- Project variables that refer to text fields are preallocated
with the value -66 or – 99, depending on whether the participant did not see the question or saw, but did not answer the question.
Recoding the answer categories of participant variables
Please proceed as follows:
- Switch to the Participant variables menu, and click on Edit to open the dialog for the desired variable.
- Change the code.
- Then click on Save.
- Please note that renamings comprising several steps must be performed in individual steps, i.e. if you wish to recode code 1 to code 2 and code 2 to code 3, you must first recode code 2 to code 3 and then code 1 to code 2.
- The recoding dialog will be opened. Here, you must re-confirm the recodings explicitly.
- You can trigger the recoding by clicking on Save.
You can recode answer categories as desired. However, please note the following:
- The recoding may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Therefore, after recoding, you should check all functionalities that depend on the recoded code.
- If participant administration already contains data records, all those in which the code to be recoded appears will be recoded accordingly.
Deleting variables and answer categories
In general, standard variables cannot be deleted. Answer categories and user-defined variables can be deleted. However, this function should be used with care.
Deleting user-defined variables
Please note:
- If participant administration already contains data records, the contents of the respective variable will be irretrievably deleted from all participant records containing the variable.
- If participant administration is still empty, deleting the variable may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on
filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Please check all functionalities to make sure that no dependency has been overlooked.
Deleting answer categories
Please note:
- If participant administration already contains data records, the respective answer category will be recoded to “-77” in all participant records containing the current variable with the code of the answer category.
- If participant administration is still empty, deleting the answer category may have an impact, for example, on import data records that have already been prepared or on filters in the questionnaire that have already been configured. Please check all functionalities that depend on the recoded code.
- Once participant administration contains data, you should avoid deleting variables or answer categories entirely, if possible.
Please be very careful in making use of the possibility to delete variables or answer categories.
Further Information
- It is recommended to use not more than 200 participant variables. First, the overall number of variables is limited (7,000 variables per project). Second, the variable number affects the performance of the project.
- Often you need to be able to select specific participant groups in a targeted manner, e.g. to successively send invitation mails to the various departments of a company or to be able to split according to particular characteristics such as customer type, for expample, in the evaluation process. Consider precisely which subsets you will need in the course of the project and in the evaluation process and how they can be optimally represented in the participant administration. Then create the additional required variables.
FAQ
How many participant variables should I use in a project?
It is recommended to use no more than 200 participant variables per project. This limit helps maintain project performance and stays within the overall limit of 7,000 variables per project.
How can I optimize participant variables for data analysis?
Consider which subsets of data you will need during the project and evaluation process. Create variables that allow you to select specific participant groups, such as departments or customer types, to facilitate targeted analysis and communication.