Multiple Forms

[Stephen Hard]

I am developing a survey to be administered online. There are way too many controls to fit on a single form, so I created multiple forms each associated with part of the survey. The problem is that when I move from form to form the entered data is sent to a new record. How can I associate the forms to keep entering data into fields of the same record rather than moving to a new record?

Thanks for your help!

 

[WayneRyan]

Stephen,

If there are too many controls to fit on the screen, then your
table design is probably not efficient.

Here's a thread from this forum that might help:

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk...eadid=38435&highlight=survey+or+questionairre

Wayne

 

[Stephen Hard]

Wayne,

Thanks for the lead. I do not think there is much I can do about my table design. There is a field for the answer to every question. There are about sixty questions. Most of these require the selection of one out of five possible answers (a Likert scale). So I have sixty option groups each with five buttons. Then, of course, the forms also have all the labels that contain the wording for the questions. I investigated changing the form length without success. I am open to any suggestions.

Stephen

 

[Pat Hartman]

If you change your table design to normalize it, you can make a continuous form because each question will be a separate record.

 

[JonatABS]

explain normalization

Alot of ppl on here use terms such as Normalization and alot of other terms that some people dont know.

WHAT on earth is Normalization.

 

[Stephen Hard]

Not only do I not know what "normalization" refers to, what is a ppl? Also, it seems to me that the type of table I need for my data entry requires a one to many relationship (each question [field] entering data into a large number of records). I do not understand how each question can be a record and still provide access to individual responses. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Stephen

 

[Pat Hartman]

This thread has a good sample of the table structure and some Q&A that might also be troubling you. Just search for survey in the archives to bring up more discussions.

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33424&highlight=survey

I cannot encourage you enough to use a normalized table structure. If you flatten it out as if it were a spreadsheet, you'll need to write lots of code to get any statistics out of it whereas by using a normalized table structure, you'll be able to use simple queries that you can build with the query builder.

If you have not encountered the term "normalized", you have never read any material on database design. Start with these articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q288/9/49.ASP

http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/genaccess/databasenorm.html

 

[Stephen Hard]

Thanks Pat for the information. The first link is not working. The other two helped me to understand relational and flat file databases, but did not solve my problem. The problem I have is that every bit of data to be entered is unique. I could arbitrarily break the one table into several and then create links, but that sounds like more work rather than less. As far as the statistical analysis is concerned, I will not be using Access for that, but exporting the data to SPSS. This is very easy to do with a flat file architecture, another reason not to normalize the table. I chose Access for the projects I am currently working on because it enables me to create the user interface I need. Perhaps I should be using something else. All help is appreciated.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I fixed the link so you can see what the table structure should be. Take a look at it and see if it rings any bells.

Going back to your original question. If there are too many fields for a single form, there are too many fields for a single tablle.

I'm sure that if you take the time to understand the example I pointed you to, you will be able to apply it to your situation.

PS, I have a sample survey db that I can send to you. It is too large to post here. Send me an email with the words "Send Survey Sample DB" in the subject. I delete email from people I don't know without opening it, so don't forget the subject line.

 

[Stephen Hard]

The corrected link was extremely helpful.