Changes to participation statistics and system questions

When you import data into the application, participation statistics and system questions may be affected.

Changes to participation statistics

When you import data into a survey, some of the participation statistics are updated when both of the following conditions are true:
  • On the File Upload page, the Mark responses as Complete checkbox is selected.
  • On the Details tab of the survey, the Include in Participation option is set to Yes.

The following statistics are updated.

Participation statistic Change in value
StudiesInvitedTo Increases by 1.
LastInvitationDate If the original status was "reserved," then it is set to either the InvitationDate or the LastInvitationDate, depending on which is higher. Otherwise, no update is required.
StudiesParticipatedIn If the status was "invited" or "reserved," then the value is increased by 1.
LastParticipationDate If the status was "invited" or "reserved," then it is set to the StudyCompleteDate, StartedDate, or LastParticipationDate, depending on which is highest.
StudiesCompleted Increases by 1.
OverallParticipation The StudiesParticipatedIn / StudiesInvitedTo] * 100%. Where StudiesParticipatedIn = Total(incompletes, + completes + disqualifieds + overquotas)

System question updates

When you import data, the following system questions may be updated:
  • InvitationDate
  • StartedDate
  • CompletedDate

Imported values for these system questions must appear in the order that they do in the preceding list. That is, a StartedDate cannot precede an InvitationDate. Likewise, a CompletedDate cannot precede either an InvitationDate or a StartedDate.

Example
Your database contains the following values:
  • InvitationDate: July 2, 2012
  • StartedDate: July 3, 2012

Given these values, a CompletedDate cannot be earlier than July 3, 2012. If you import a CompletedDate with the value July 1, 2012, the application updates the value to July 3, 2012 to reconcile the dates.

System questions are updated if:
  • You do not import a value and the database field is blank.
  • You import a new value into a blank database field.
  • You import a new value into a populated database field.

The following system questions are updated.

System question New value imported? Database record Updated system question
InvitationDate No Blank Set to Today.
Yes Blank Set to the new imported value.
Yes Not Blank Set to the new imported value unless the member's status is Reserved, in which case it is set to Today.
StartedDate No Blank Set to the InvitationDate.
Yes Blank Set to the maximum of the InvitationDate and the new value.
Yes Not Blank Set to the maximum of the InvitationDate and the new value.
CompletedDate No Blank Set to the StartedDate unless the member's status is not Complete, in which case the CompletedDate cannot be set.
Yes Blank Set to the StartedDate unless the member's status is not Complete, in which case the CompletedDate cannot be set.
Yes Not Blank Set to the maximum of the StartedDate and the value included in the import file unless the member's status is not Complete, in which case the CompletedDate cannot be set.