Recording the Whole Interview

Snap’s Support for Recording the Whole Interview feature allows the researcher to record the whole of a Snap Mobile Anywhere interview – with up to one hour recording time. This can therefore include the questions being asked as well as the spoken response itself . Once synchronized, you can download the audio file attachments from WebHost. The files will be tagged with a unique id representing the interview and the question number.

Background

Snap Mobile Anywhere, now allows you to record the whole interview. The option to include a Recording variable can be found in the Paradata settings of Questionnaire Properties.

This worksheet explains how to do this and contains some notes on privacy considerations at the end.

Please note: this feature is available for Snap Mobile Anywhere surveys only.

Summary of steps

Step 1: Include the Recording Paradata variable
Step 2: Upload to Snap WebHost
Step 3: Test the survey in Snap Mobile Anywhere
Step 4: Download the attached files.

Step 1: Include the Recording Paradata variable

1. Open your Mobile (Tablet/Kiosk/Laptop/Smartphone) edition of the questionnaire.
2. Click the Questionnaire Properties icon and scroll down to Paradata in the Section on the left hand side of the dialog.
3. Choose Recording from the list of System Variables and check the Use in survey box. If you wish to start recording automatically without having to press a button, check the Auto Record box.
   
4. Click OK.
5. Select File and Publish the survey.

Step 2: Upload to Snap WebHost

1. Log in to Snap WebHost using your assigned researcher account and upload the survey as normal using the Upload a new survey link.
2. Click on the name of the uploaded survey and in Summary Tab select Start questionnaire now.

Step 3: Test the survey in Snap Mobile Anywhere

1. Open Snap Mobile Anywhere on your device.
2. Log in using your assigned researcher account.
3. Open the survey you have added the Recording variable to.
4. Press the red record button located at the top right of the survey. If you selected Auto Record in the Paradata section of Questionnaire Properties (Step 1) the survey will automatically begin recording as soon as the survey loads. The recording is only stopped when the survey is submitted and then restarts again when the next survey is loaded.
   
5. Read out the first question and answer choices. Continue through the survey.
6. Click Submit to end the interview and stop recording.
7. When the device syncs the response will be uploaded along with the associated recording, to Snap WebHost.

Step 4: Download the attached files

1. Log into Snap WebHost and select the survey containing the recording.
2. Click the Download attachments link in the Interviews section of the Summary Tab.
   

   A window opens presenting a table with columns for the ID of the case with the attached file and the question with file attachment response.

   

• Click a ref: number to download a single file (one response to one question).
• Click an AttachIt ID number to download all attachments for a single response.
• Click Download All to download all attached files for the survey.

The files will be downloaded to a zip file. They are named according to the ref number. For example, a file attached to the first response collected will have a filename of 0000000001 (plus extension). Once you have downloaded the Snap data responses you can use the reference number to identify the associated file.

The file’s reference number will be recorded in the Paradata variable added in Step 1.

Note: As well as providing your participants with the privacy information that you would provide for any other survey, you should ensure that your participants are aware that their responses to the interview or a particular question are being recorded, and that you have a basis for recording their response, such as their consent. For example, you can Create a Multi Choice style consent question:

1. Open your survey in the Questionnaire Window and Design Mode .
2. Click into the first title or question field at the top of your questionnaire.
3. Click to create a new question.
4. Select the dropdown list on the toolbar where it says Single Choice and change it to Multi Choice. The shape of the response boxes changes from a radio button to a square.
5. Click on the field below and Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [B] to insert a page break above your new question (alternatively click the right–hand button on the mouse and select Break and Page Break.
6. In the area marked Click here for text enter your consent request text.
   

Where you have enabled the recording feature, a red button appears at the top right of the screen to indicate that recording is in progress and what is it that is being recorded.

This feature works best in surveys in the field where an individual interviewer is interacting with the participant, as opposed to kiosk surveys. If the feature is enabled for a kiosk survey you would need to make it very clear to participants that their audio is being recorded.

Conclusion

This worksheet has described how to add a recording variable to a questionnaire to enable a whole interview to be recorded.

If you want to record one question at a time, see the ‘Capture audio responses to survey questions’ worksheet.

If there is a topic you would like a worksheet on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com.