Paradata

Introduction to Paradata

CSPro can automatically collect paradata for your application. Paradata is defined as "data about the process by which the survey data [was] collected." In CSPro this includes information about fields and values entered, error messages encountered, and the state of the data collection device.

The paradata log, with the extension .cslog, is not a typical data file but is instead a SQLite database. Advanced users with an understanding of SQL can query the file from tools outside of CSPro. Alternatively, there is a tool, the Paradata Viewer, which allows you to look at the contents of paradata logs. If you have several paradata logs coming from multiple devices, you can combine these using another tool, the Paradata Concatenator. You can also query the paradata log from within CSPro using the paradata or sqlquery functions. Paradata can be synchronized between devices or servers by using the syncparadata function.

CSPro collects information about many different kinds of events, which are described in more detail in the Paradata Properties page. You may wish to collect information about only a subset of possible events.

Enabling Paradata Collection

To turn on paradata collection, you must:

Open your application and then select Options -> Application Properties. You will then be able to modify the Paradata Properties.
Indicate that you want to collect paradata events and specify any additional options. By default, when creating a new system-controlled data entry application, paradata will be collected, though with a limited set of options.
The action in step #2 only indicates that CSPro may collect paradata. To actually turn on the collection, you must specify a filename for the paradata log when running your application. CSPro may suggest a default filename, which you can modify.

Paradata can be collected for data entry or batch edit applications. The paradata log is flexible and can be used simultaneously by multiple applications or users.

Uses of Paradata

If you conduct a pilot census or survey, you may find it useful to collect paradata on all devices. By analyzing this data, you may be able to improve and streamline operations for the actual census or survey. You can use paradata to answer certain questions about your application, such as:

Which questions in my survey take the longest to collect? Should I to change the wording of the question to make it simpler?
What out-of-range values are interviewers entering? Should these be valid values?
What error messages are being triggered the most frequently?
Where were interviewers located at a given time?
How long did interviewers work?
Which tablets had the best battery life?

This is just a sampling of questions that can be answered based on the events that are stored in the paradata log. In addition to storing previously unavailable data, the paradata log also contains all of the information that was traditionally saved to the listing file, the operator statistics log (.log), and the imputation frequencies listing file.