How Illume Constructs the Data Dictionary
Every Illume survey includes a collection called Root, which contains all of a survey’s items.
Each of the collections within the Root collection can become a Section in the Data Dictionary. When defining a collection, users have the option to check a box to make the collection a section in the data dictionary (see below). By default, collections are not sections in the data dictionary.
If your survey contains collections C1, and C2 under the Root collection, the Data Dictionary will display sections C1 and C2. If C1 contains another collection called C1_Subsection, that sub-collection will not appear in the Data Dictionary. Rather, all of the questions in C1_Subsection will be listed with the items in C1.
This may not always produce the best results. In some cases, a single section of the data dictionary may wind up with hundreds of questions, making it difficult for data analysts to find specific items. Customizing the sections of the Data Dictionary solves this problem.
Customizing the Data Dictionary
Any collection in a survey can appear as a section in the Data Dictionary with a unique name assigned by the designer.
- Double click a collection in the right pane of the Survey Designer to bring up the Collection Editor.
- Check “Make this collection a section in the data dictionary”.
- Type a name in the Section title field.
- Click OK.
To see how this appears in the Data Dictionary, choose Tools / Review Data Dictionary from the Survey Designer menu.
