RDC: Continuing a Partial Survey

In Illume surveys, whether completed via the web or on RDC, every time the Interviewer hits the “Next” button the data are stored.  On the web, the data are stored by being sent immediately to the server.  In RDC, the data are stored on the local device.  Because the data are stored as you move along in the interview, if you need to leave the survey, or accidentally close out the survey, it will be saved in “In Progress” completion state.   Surveys in this state can be resumed later, right at the point you left off. Partial survey sessions that were started offline and have been synched can be continued online.  Partial online surveys can be completed offline.

If the data have been synchronized, you can continue right where you left off on ANY device. If data has not been synchronized, you MUST continue where you left off on the SAME device.  Otherwise, you will run into the issues with multiple tablets accessing the same survey, with the risk of sessions being overwritten in the database.

There are two ways to resume the partially completed survey from the RDC device:

1. Participants Button Method:

• Click on the Participants button
• Locate the survey that has the In Progress status and click Collect Data

2. Collect Data Method:

• Click on the “Collect Data…” button
• Enter the Study ID for the survey that is In Progress/Partial to resume

When the Survey begins the Resume Page will open with the choices of Restore or Start Over with the survey. Both choices may not be available if they have been disabled by the Survey Programmer.  The wording may also different than as shown below due to changes made by the programmer.

While out in the field collecting data, changes may be made to the content of the surveys.  When these changes are made, a new “version” of the survey is created (Illume numbers the versions starting at 1 and increasing sequentially with each new version).  Interviewers can obtain the new version of a survey by Synchronizing their devices (see section on Synchronizing).

Interviews started in one version will always resume in the new version.  If “major” changes were made to the survey (major changes include adding or moving a question or changing survey logic), the interview will resume at the start of the survey.  If only “minor” changes were made to the survey (minor changes include correcting text content), then the interview will resume at the point at which you left off in the interview.

To resume a synced partial session while online, simply navigate to the survey URL and enter the authentication credentials on the login page.  You will reach the same “Resume/Restore” page.