Choices – Basic Quick Guide

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Contents Page
Getting Started 3
Selecting a survey 4
Building a crosstab 5
Selecting multiple variables 6
Multiple bases 7
Changing the display 8
Searching for variables within a survey 10
Understanding your crosstab 16
Exporting your work 17
Creating graphs 18
Saving your work 22
Starting a new analysis 23
Coding variables together - Speed Coding 24
Saving Definitions 30
Factoring 32
Icons reference guide 34
Getting started
If you have no default survey
set in Choices, or you wish to
work with a different survey,
you will need to start by
creating a new document.

You can start a brand new document by clicking on “Create New”. This will
start the first crosstab of the document.

You can also begin a new analysis by clicking on the icon and selecting
“New”.

If you want to work with your default survey, you can get started right away
with building a crosstab.
Selecting a survey
Select the survey you wish to work
with from the list by highlighting it, and
then click on Finish.

You can filter the list by typing a search

term in the Survey Filter box and
clicking Search. This will filter the list of
surveys and display only those where
the keyword appears in the title.

In this screen, you can also specify a

default survey, which means the
selected survey will automatically open
whenever you start Choices. To do
this, highlight the desired survey and
click on Set Default.
Building a crosstab
You can browse the dictionary by opening the categories. Click on the ‘+’ next to a category
to open it, and continue through sub-categories until you reach the answer level.

You can then drag

the desired variable
to the preferred area
(ie ‘Add to Base’,
‘Add to Columns’ or
‘Add To Rows’).

If you prefer, you can

right click on the
variable and use the
menu to add it to
columns/ rows/base.
Selecting multiple variables

To select multiple
variables to drag
across at once, use

}
the Shift and/or Ctrl
keys to make your
selections (all
selected criteria will
be highlighted in
yellow).

You can then drag

these together to
your columns or
rows.
Multiple bases
It is possible to select
more than one base.

If multiple bases have

been selected, the total
number of bases will be
indicated in parentheses.

You can change the base

by using the Change Base
icon.

The base currently being

viewed is displayed at the
bottom of the screen. You
can also use the arrows to
toggle between bases.
Changing the display
To see more of the
Crosstab, you can hide the
Dictionary window by
clicking the pin at the top of
the page. To unhide it, click
on the appropriate tab
which will appear on the far
right of the screen, and
click on the pin again.

To see more of the

Dictionary, you can hide
the Definitions window in
the same way. This will
expand the Dictionary
window downwards.
Changing the variable labels

You can also

change the
appearance of
the variable
labels in the
Nothing selected With Question selected labels menu on
the ribbon.
Use the Reverse
With Subject & Question selection to list the
selected Answer first
Searching for variables within a survey (1)

In order to search
for variables
within a survey,
you need to click
on the Search tab
at the bottom of
the left-hand
window.
Searching for variables within a survey (2)
There are two ways to search for variables.

Enter the search term you would like to search for

into the box, and then select the search type.

1) QUESTION LEVEL SEARCH

This search is the default search. It will return all

variables where the search term appears, alongside
all other answers to the same question.

This search is used when you want to see the

searched-for variable in context with all other
answers.
Searching for variables within a survey (3)

2) ANSWER LEVEL SEARCH

This is a more specific search which will only return

variables where the search term appears.

This can be used when you are looking for a

specific variable and nothing else.
Searching for variables within a survey (4)
BROADENING YOUR SEARCH

The default matching criteria is ‘Same word only’. This will

search for exact matches for the search term only.

You can switch to ‘Partial word’ or ‘Same and similar

words’.

Partial word allows you to search for part of a word, as

shown.

Same and similar words will include non-exact matches.

Adding search results to your crosstab

Once you have found what you are looking for, you can add
these variables by highlighting them and dragging them
into your columns, rows or bases in the same way as from
the Dictionary tab.
Tagged search (TGI Clickstream surveys only) (1)

To enable quicker searches, each website in the

Clickstream dataset has been assigned a tag.

To search for a brand in only the categories you are

interested in, click on the tag button.

Use the tickboxes to select the category, or sub-category

you wish to search, and click OK.
Tagged search (TGI Clickstream surveys only) (2)

When tags are set, the tag button will be green.

The results returned will only display the tagged categories. In

this example, only results for ‘virgin’ tagged in the ‘services’
category are displayed. There are no results for other
categories, for example travel.

You have the option to use the AND and OR commands here.

AND searches for search term AND tag together

(eg anything matching ‘virgin’ and ‘services’ tags)

OR searches for the search term OR the tag

(eg anything matching ‘virgin’ or ‘services’ tags)
Understanding your crosstab
Total / Total
Sample All individuals in Base that completed the survey (if no
base is selected, the data displayed will be for the total survey
respondents – in this case all Adults)
(000) Total population (weighted) of base (Adults)

Total / All Men

Sample All Men in base (Adults) that completed the survey
(000) Total population (weighted) that are Men

Adidas / All Men

Sample All males who wear Adidas trainers who completed
the survey (1,619)
(000) Total weighted population (in thousands) of male
Adidas trainer wearers(4,994,000)
vert% 20.6% of all Men wear Adidas trainers (read down,
then across)
horz% 63% of trainer wearers are Men (read across, then
up)
Index Men are 29% more likely to wear Adidas trainers
than average of base (Adults)
Bases Males who wear Adidas trainers make up 10% of
the base (Adults)
Exporting your work
You can export your crosstab to Excel,
by clicking on the Export to Excel button
(which is found on the Report tab).

A fully-formatted spreadsheet containing

all the same information as in your
crosstab will automatically be exported to
Excel.

NB: If you have added bases to your

crosstab, the sheet labelled Base 1 will
display results for the total sample,
subsequent sheets will display the
results for the bases selected.
Creating graphs within Choices (1)
You can create a chart of
your results using the
Create Graph icon .

Start by highlighting the

cells you wish to create a
chart from. Then click on
the Create Chart icon.

This dialog box will then be displayed. Select which element

you wish to use to create the chart and click Apply.
Creating graphs within Choices (2)
The software will generate
a chart based on the
selected criteria, and you
will be taken to the Graph
tab.

The icons allow you to

toggle between 2D and 3D
charts, flip the axes, switch
the value labels and legend
on and off and change the
chart style.

The chart can then be

exported to PowerPoint as
an image, or as an image
file.
Creating graphs for Excel export (1)
It is also possible to
create charts for export
to Excel, by using the
Excel icon.

This dialog box will allow you to

select the criteria you want to
include in the chart, and the type of
chart you wish to create.

Click on OK to proceed.
Creating charts for Excel export (2)

Your chart will then

be created in an
Excel spreadsheet,
alongside a table of
the data included.
 Saving your work
You can save your work by clicking
the Save or Save As icons (which are
found on the ‘Home’ tab).

Saved reports can be saved to a folder called ‘specs’ within the Choices setup, although it is possible to
save to a different location by choosing Save As, and then browsing to a new location.

Saved documents can be passed to other Choices users and, providing they have the same survey
installed, they will be able to open the analysis on their computer.

You can also save and open previously saved work via the icon.
Starting a new analysis
When you are ready to start a new analysis, you have the option to start a totally new document or to
add a new crosstab to your open document.

To add more crosstabs to the open document using the same survey, click
on the Crosstab Report button.

To add more crosstabs using a different survey, click on the drop-down

menu under ‘Create New’, and select ‘Crosstab Analysis’. You will then need
to select your survey.
You can then view all of the crosstabs in your document by switching to the
Document tab.

You can rename any of the crosstabs in the document by right-clicking on

the title and selecting Rename (the default name is the survey title).

To begin a completely new document with a single crosstab, go to the drop-

down menu under ‘Create New’ and select ‘Document’.
Coding variables together – Speed Coding (1)
It is possible to quickly code variables together, using the right-click options in the dictionary window.

For example, to code Men aged 15-24, you would start by inserting Men into your report. To add Age 15-24 to this,
simply drag it from the Dictionary to your selected Men variable.

A drop-down list will appear when you

let go of the mouse. Select which
operator you wish to use to join your
variables (in this case AND), and the
variables will be combined.

When items are combined, they will be

labelled as ‘Untitled’.

To add the system heading, right click

on the combined variable and select
Generate System Heading.
Alternatively, you can double-click on
the label and type in your own heading.
Coding variables together – Speed Coding (2)

It is possible to code together

multiple items directly from the
dictionary.

Highlight the variables you wish

to code together. Right click,
select where you want to send
the variables, and then select
how you wish to combine them.
Coding variables together – Speed Coding (3)
You can also combine items already
selected by using the merge
function.

Highlight the columns (or rows) you

wish to merge using the shift key,
then right-click. Select Merge, and
then select which logical operator to
use.

If you want to keep your original

selections, select Merge To New.

Once again, this will be labelled as

Untitled unless it is changed
manually.
Coding variables together – Speed Coding (4)

Finally, you can create a new

target from an individual cell or
a group of cells.

Select the cell(s) and right-click.

Select Combine To, choose
where you want to send it, and
then choose a logical operator
(if sending an individual cell, it
does not matter which you
select).

A new target will be created.

Viewing your coding (1)

To view your coding as an

expression, switch to the
Coding tab.
Highlight a variable in the
Coding window in the
middle of the screen. Your
expression will be
displayed in the
Expression window on the
right-hand side.
Viewing your coding (2)
To understand which variables are included in the
coding, you can use ‘Lookup’ button.

A window will then display the full text and logical

operators for each of the items included.

You can also view only parts of the expression by

highlighting the desired keyword(s) before clicking
‘Lookup’.

Alternatively, you can switch to the Coding Tree tab

to review the variables in your expression in a tree
view.
Saving Definitions (1)

You can right click on any cell, or

group of cells, in the crosstab report,
and save them as a definition to use
on future occasions.

Select Add to Definitions User. If

multiple cells are selected, you can
choose to save them as individual
items, or combine them using AND or
OR.

Definitions are saved to and retrieved

from the definitions panel on the left-
hand side of the screen.
Saving Definitions (2)
You can also save items in your
columns/rows as definitions via
the Coding tab .

To save an expression, highlight

it in the coding tab and drag it to
the Definitions panel on the
bottom left of the screen.

To save Definitions on your own

system only, drag to Users.

To share Definitions with other

Choices users in your location,
drag to Common.

Vendor Definitions (if available)

are provided by your data
supplier.
Factoring (1)
When survey questions are not on the survey for the full fieldwork period, it is necessary to apply a factor to
ensure the weighted 000s and vert% figures displayed in Choices reflects a full year of data.

Changes will be indicated by a red exclamation mark next to the question and/or the answer(s).

The date the item was added to the

survey (or modified) will be indicated in
the Changes column.

The fieldwork period for the survey should

be displayed at the bottom of the Choices
screen.

The variables above have been on the survey from April 2011 to December 2011 – nine months or three
quarters.
Factoring (2)
Once you have determined the factor to use, you need to apply it to the variable.

Put the variable in your base/column/row as normal, and then switch to the Coding window.
Select the variable(s) you wish
to factor (you can apply the
same factor to multiple items at
once).

Right click, select Apply Factor

and then choose the
appropriate period.

The new factor will be

displayed, and the weighted
000s figure adjusted.
Icons Reference Guide – Home Tab

Create new analysis Save document as

Create new crosstab report Print

Run trend report Change survey

Create media analysis Configuration settings

Open existing file Help

Save document
Icons Reference Guide – Report Tab

Sort in ascending order Create graph Find word in report

Sort in descending order Create graph in Excel Sample on/off

Change axes Correspondence analysis Weighted on/off

Change base Generate QuadMap Vertical% on/off

Invert selection Highlighting criteria Horizontal% on/off

Hide Cell graph Index on/off

Reset attributes Heat map Base % on/off

Export to Excel Change cell to Bold Time Diary

(selected surveys)
Export to PowerPoint Change cell to Italics
Icons Reference Guide – Coding Tab

Insert logical AND Move up

Insert logical OR Move down

Insert logical XOR Delete

Insert logical NOT Reset

Complex coding functions

Icons Reference Guide – Graph Tab

3D chart Bar graph

2D chart Pie graph

Flip chart axes Line Graph

Show values Export to PowerPoint

Show legend Export image (metafile)

Column graph