I have a questionaire with a text-element and the questions, but the text (the task definition) does not appear on the page.

Question

I have created a text element for the task definition which does not appear on the page with the questions.

My online study consists of many questionnaires. Each questionnaire has a text element (the task definition) and the questions and both appear normally on the same page.

Only only of the questionnaires has this problem: the text element does't appear on the page with the questions. All the settings are the same...

I don't know why...

I am looking forward hearing from you!

Kind regards

Comments

Are you sure you put the Text Element on the page above the question?

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yes, I've done it for all my questionnaires. First the text element and then the questions...

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What exactly does the debug information tell you on that page?
https://www.soscisurvey.de/help/doku.php/en:create:debugging

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there is no debug information... everything seems correct on the plattform. When I click on the button to see the whole questionnare there is no text element.

I do not know if that's possible but I could send you screenshot if you give me an email-adress.

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> there is no debug information

There always is. You just have to run the questionnaire in debug mode and open the panel on the upper right (see the manual I linked, above).

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You are right. I am sorry!

The debug information tells me:

[Information]    Interview started (new case no. 7679)
[Information]    Questionnaire engl_01 from project SMASS will be used
[Processing]    Create page 6 in questionnaire engl_01
[Content]    Create question F201
[Content]    Create question F202

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Thanks. What ID does your text element have?

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F201 - that is the text element which doesn't appear on the page.

I hope I didn't missunderstand it.

Answer 1

F201 - that is the text element which doesn't appear on the page.

Well, SoSci Survey seems to think that it shows the text element.

If you don't see it, here are some possible reasons:

• You're using different languages and F201 does not have a translation for the interview's language
• You're using HTML code (anywhere) on page 6, and that is broken (such as a missing quotation mark), causing the text element not to show up.

If this does not solve the problem, please kindly create and post a pretest URL directly (!) to page 6 or create an additional questionnaire in your survey project with just F201 and F202 and post a link to this questionnaire as comment to my response.

Comments

can I also send you the link for the whole questionnaire (https://www.soscisurvey.de/SMASS/?q=engl_01)?

That is the first item of the questionnaire:

Is she/he now able to talk using short phrases or sentences?

That's the text I need to appear before the questions:

A few questions ask about several related types of behavior. Please answer each question by selecting yes or no. 
Please answer yes, if a described behavior has ever occurred. Although you may be uncertain about whether some behaviors were present or not, please answer yes or no to every question on the basis of what you think.

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Please create a pretest-link (preferably with debug options) directly to the respective page. Thank you.

Also, it seems you're asking for the exact date of birth. Is that clarified with the university privacy officer? It seems you might collect person-related data according to GDPR.

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here the link: https://www.soscisurvey.de/SMASS/?act=l78tjybqayU1YwgxHyEoivOf

I am conducting a study on the similarities and differences between autism and selective mutism. I need person-related data. We have filed an ethics application which has been approved. We also ask the participants for their concent before the actual study...

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Please see this answer: https://support.soscisurvey.de/?qa=58580/have-questionaire-with-element-questions-definition-appear&show=58664#a58664

Answer 2

here the link

Thank you. As I expected, you use the translation feature. Your base language is German, and you have an English translation. And we're looking at the English version of the questionnaire.

However, you only stored an (English) text in the German translation of F201, but no text (only a blank line) in this element's English translation (as I wrote in my comment earlier).

You should not store English texts in the German version, this will cause issues now and then, and will make it very hard to track down methodological issues.

I need person-related data.

That's okay, but than you MUST NOT use www.soscisurvey.de. That server does explicitly not allow collecting person-related data, see https://www.soscisurvey.de/help/doku.php/en:general:dsgvo and https://www.soscisurvey.de/en/academic

Comments

Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. I am not the one who created the survey, but I think they created separate text elements for the english and german version.

Could you please tell me step by step what I have to do to solve the problem?

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Please use the following instructions to familiarize yourself with the function for multilingual questionnaires: https://www.soscisurvey.de/help/doku.php/en:create:multilang

You will find a language switch next to each text element of your questionnaire.

And please take my notes about GDPR seriously. Thank you.

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The instructions on that page show how to translate a questionnaire by using:
language versions → help for translation

In our study we didn't translate via help for translation. We created new text elements in english for the english version. For example F001 and F201 are two sepate text elements, the first one is in german and the second one in english. Both of them consist of the same text in different languages.

Moreover, I dont see a language switch next to each text element.

I am also wondering why this page is the only one with a problem regarding the task definition. The english version of our study cosists of many questionnaires. With the other questionnaires/pages there isn't a problem.

Regarding your notes about GDPR, of cource, I am taking it seriously. I just wanted to solve the main problem first.

If I am not missunderstanding anything we need the Pro-Server s2survey.net in order to be allowed to collect personal data, even if we have an data processing agreement and the collection of personal data is clarified with the university privacy officer.  - Is that right?

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> Moreover, I dont see a language switch next to each text element.

You should. If you're unsure, please post a screenshot from editing the text element.

> I am also wondering why this page is the only one with a problem regarding the task definition.

The other texts have translations stored.

> even if we have an data processing agreement

You won't have a DPA agreement for www.soscisurvey.de that allows for anything but contact data. Because we do not agree to any such agreements, because the server is not suited for working with personal data beyond (separate) contact data. It's mostly about user rights and backup retainment.

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Thank you very much!

I think I found the language swith, but there isn't a translation in any of the task definitions, even in the working ones.

I can't send you a screenshot/i can't paste a screenshot in the comment section.

Regarding the personal data issue, we need the Pro-Server s2survey.net if we want to collect personal data, right? There isn't anything else we can do or need. Please I need a confimation from you so I can discuss the issue with my suppervisor.

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> but there isn't a translation in any of the task definitions, even in the working ones.

The other possibility is that the other texts have no content at all. F201 is a formatted text, and if you click the HTML switch (last symbol on the formatting bar) you'll see that it has this content:

<p><br /></p>

This is a blank line, and from a technical point of view, it is not nothing. Therefore, SoSci Survey cannot simply use the main version of the text.

Maybe, you selected another formatting for the other texts, making it harder to accidently have content.

As I wrote above: It's not a good idea to put English texts where SoSci Survey expects German texts. In some instances, SoSci Survey will handle that (for example use the text from the main language, when the field for the translation is completely empty), but its not the intended usage, and can cause problems, as you're experiencing.

Usually, if you have a German and an English version of  a text, you should put them into the same element in the different translations of the element. SoSci Survey can then use the "right" translation when creating the questionnaire.

> Regarding the personal data issue, we need the Pro-Server s2survey.net if we want to collect personal data, right? There isn't anything else we can do ...

Since the DSGVO/GDPR, handling personal data has become costly. There is no option to use www.soscisurvey.de to collect personal data, except contact data that is completely separated from the collected data. The manual https://www.soscisurvey.de/help/doku.php/en:general:dsgvo and our website are quite clear on that.

An alterantive to using our Pro-Server is using a local university server: https://www.soscisurvey.de/de/campus

> ... or need.

Working with personal data needs a lot more. Please contact your local DPO for details. There are documentation oblications, information obligations, and technical and organizational measures.

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thank you very much for your help and sorry for asking so many questions.

Regarding the personal data I am going to contact my supervisor and the DPO of our university. Thanks again!