Upload excel raw data (delete, edit, or add interviews)

Note: This feature is only available for users with a Expert license

The “upload raw data” feature in Survey > Analyze tab allows to:

1. Delete interviews
2. Edit existing interviews
3. Create new interviews

This article explains how to use this feature for each of the scenarios.

Guiding rules for all scenarios

Feature can be found on Survey > Analyze tab:

Best practices

1. Always save backup excel raw data file. If anything goes wrong, you can reupload your original raw data if needed. To create backup, download the raw data excel file and keep it untouched.
2. Always put in the upload file only columns and rows that you want to add/update/delete instead of the entire dataset. This will prevent errors and long loading times.

How uploading raw data works

1. The feature is based on the Excel file upload. Excel file can be a modification of a downloaded raw data export file, or created from scratch.
2. The first header row in the upload Excel file must contain column names that are an exact match with the variable names within the survey.
3. All values present in matching columns will be uploaded to current or new interviews (excluding system and member variable columns that cannot be edited this way, see detailed information in Limitations section)
4. The variable values have to be of the same data type that are used in the survey:
   – Excel data format must match survey variable format, e.g. Number.
   – Only values are supported, labels (texts) are not.
   
5. The Interview Id column determines the behavior of the each table row uploaded:

Below you will find video recordings of common use cases involving uploading raw data.

Use cases

1. Delete interviews

If you want to delete a specific set of interviews, uploading a raw data file can be an effective way to achieve this.

For this purpose, you (at least) need the following column titles:

If you delete rows (interviews) from the Excel file, those interviews will not be deleted.

2. Edit existing interviews

There are multiple scenarios in which it is valuable to update existing interviews during or after data collection. It could simply be to correct incorrect data (See A), or to add additional variables to your dataset which can be used in the analysis of the survey (See B).

A. Modify existing data

B. Add additional variables and data

3. Create new interviews

It is also possible to create new interviews. This can be valuable in case you want to enrich an existing survey with data from a similar survey, bundle data of multiple surveys in a master survey, or add data that was collected externally from Survalyzer to a survey. To create new interviews, the Interview Id column should not contain any values.

Limitations

1. File type: only Excel files (.xlsx) are supported.
2. Limits and timeouts: the maximum number of interviews that can be created at once is 40.000. Also note that a high number of columns can impact the loading times and result in a timeout. You can also split the file in multiple files and remove all columns/rows that you don’t need.
3. Missings and N/A handling: Excel allows either #N/A as input (respondent selected the N/A option) or an empty cell (Respondent saw question, but did not respond, Respondent did not see question because of filter conditions, Respondent did not see the question because of a drop out). 8888888 as used in SPSS are not supported.
4. Accepted variable types: all Question, Custom and URL variables can be updated using the Raw Data upload option. Also the following system variables: Interview State, Interview Start Date, Interview End Date (duration is based on Start/End), Interview Language, Interview Mode, Ip Address.
5. Variables that can not be changed: Url Forwarding, Mailing Date, Interview Link, Interview Id, Survey Version, Browser Language, Browser Name, Browser Version, Browser Window Size, Encoding, Operating System Name, Operating System Version, Referer, Screen Colors, Screen Resolution, Device Pixel Ratio, Timezone Offset, Distributor Id, Quota Cells, trapCondition, trapConditionPercent, speeder, speederPercent, straightLiner, straightLinerPercent, badOpenEnd, badOpenEndPercent, qualityTotalPercent.
6. Updating member variables: You cannot update member variables with raw data import, for that you need to update members directly in the sample. For updating member variables we recommend to follow this page.

Troubleshooting

There are scenarios in which you might encounter challenges in updating (part of) your dataset. Below you will find information that will help you to troubleshoot in case anything goes wrong.

Upload analysis report says that some of the rows fill be ignored

When you upload a file, before the import will be executed you will see an overview of what rows (interviews) will be ignored:

When you download the report you will receive an overview of the Issue Type, which rows were ignored and also the cells/values that caused the issue will be highlighted in yellow:

In this example the following issues occur:

1. EndDateMustBeAfterStart: This interview has a Start date that is after the end date, this is not possible.
2. InvalidValueForType: For the NPS question, the expected data type in an integer number, the word “Test” is of the data type string, which results a mismatch in the data type.
3. InvalidVariableValue: For the NPS question, the expected data type is an integer number, and the values range from 0-10. The value 11 is of the correct data type, but the value is not accepted because it is not in the expected range.
4. InvalidInterviewId: This means the Inteview ID is either incorrectly formatted, or is not present in the current dataset.

Data is not updated after completing the process

If your raw data is not updating after your raw data import, even though rows are not ignored, you are most likely trying to update system or member variable that cannot be updated this way. See Limitations section above.

Nothing happens when I upload the file, or “import” button is disabled

The analysis of the file starts automatically when you select/drop a file. If nothing happens please see the limits and timeouts above.