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Defining fields

Defining the answer or response fields within your form helps us create an accurate template of the form.

Drawing, moving, and resizing boxes

Draw a box around each individual response field by clicking and dragging the cursor. Boxes should be large enough to capture the entire area in which a response may be written.

Each box should contain only one response. For two-part questions, draw a box around each part and define each field separately using the Tool Box.

Move an existing box by clicking in the middle and dragging.

Resize an existing box by clicking on the edges or corners and dragging in or out.

Defining field values in Tool Box

“Defining fields” is basically telling us what kind of information your form contains.

Here’s an overview of the process:

  1. Draw a box around a response field.
  2. Define the field using the Tool Box.
  3. For two-part questions, draw a box around each part and define it separately in the Tool Box.
  4. Use the “tab” button to move to the next section of the Tool Box.
  5. Your information is automatically saved as you go.
  6. Repeat the process on every page, being careful to not skip any questions.
  7. Go back and edit a field at any time by clicking on the box.

Name this field:
Give the field a short, relevant name. Field names will be used as row headings in your final table of results. It is helpful to use both the question number and a one- or two-word description (e.g., “1-name” or “5b-eye color).

What kind of data is this?

  • Text – text only
  • Number – numbers and symbols only
  • Select-one – multiple choice question with only one possible answer
  • Select-many – multiple choice question with many possible answers

Possible Values
If you enter “select-one” or “select-many,” be sure to enter all possible values, or answers. You do not need to enter the value exactly as it is on your form. In fact, in most cases it is much better to abbreviate. Just be sure to choose a description that will be relevant when it comes to working with your results and that will make sense to our data entry workers.

Here’s how this might look:

An important note on defining fields
We rely solely on the accuracy of this template to transcribe your data and provide high-quality results. So, the results are only as good as the information you provide. For example, if you don’t specify all the possible values in a given field, the field will be marked “–impossible–” and the results will be incomplete.

Using Advanced features in Toolbox

Black this out
If you do not want certain information to be visible to our data entry workers, or included in your results, you may black out the field. Draw a box around the field as you did with the others and click in the Black this out box. (Read more about Privacy)

Special Instructions
There may be cases when you need to provide special instructions to our data workers for how to interpret response fields in special or unusual cases. This might range from how to interpret handwriting to how to handle uncertain, vague, or mixed responses. This is only necessary for special situations; you do not need to fill out Special Instructions for every response field.

Copy field
If you have multiple identical fields on a page (e.g. a lot of multiple choice questions where all the answer options are the same), you can copy the field (and move/resize as needed) so that you don’t need to start from scratch on every question.

Split
Use this feature if your form contains a table (a grid of boxes with equal width and height).

  1. Draw a box around the entire table.
  2. Identify the number of rows and columns.
  3. The large box you drew will be automatically divided into separate fields. Define and size each field separately.

Table

Please see longer instructions here.

 

An important note about privacy

Real, human data entry workers do the behind-the-scenes processing of your Captricity job. Each handwritten answer or response field is converted to an individual image (see below), and workers see hundreds of different images for the same field at the same time.

We call this a “shredding” effect. Because of this effect, workers see only the data within individual field boxes and very little adjacent data.

If your form contains sensitive or confidential information that cannot be displayed to anyone, use the “black out” feature explained above. Doing so will prevent anyone from viewing this information, and this information will also not be included in your results.

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