Can someone lose data when changing forms?

User Support Data Management
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Hello Everyone…:slight_smile:
I want to ask the question.

is it possible if I have inputted the data and I changed the form in the same project then the data will be lost ?

The variable name of the first form is the same as in the new form. There are additional variables in the new form.

Thank you

2

Hi
No you cannot lose your data when changing the forms. Ideally the system allows you to get all the data from all the versions of your forms when downloading it. So if your first form had fewer variables/questions/columns then the data collected on that will only have responses for these variables with the data collected on the later form definition having data collected based on that form definition.

It should however be very important to maintain the response choices as they were in various definitions e.g. if Yes=2 and No=1 in one question, you should not change it to something like Yes=1 and No=0 since data will have the values meaning totally different things.

Stephane

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thank you for the explanation…:star_struck:

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Hello @stephanealoo,
Could you add the following information, please:

  1. How are the choices labels managed for different versions? For example, if a choice option was available before, but was later totally deleted? (or only the label was changed later)
  2. How are the variable labels managed for different versions? E.g. if a label of a given variable was changed in the last version before export?
  3. What will happen if the type is changed before export? (Do we get 2 different columns? Which type meta-information is exported, e.g. for SPSS and Excel?)
    Thanks and best regards

What do we get for the previous submitted data on export?

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Hi @wroos
Thanks for this. The scenarios you have presented requires some digging by actually testing and seeing the behavior. I would need to look at this and then respond to you at a much later time; probably tomorrow. In the meantime, I will leave this open in case any user has had any experience with the same.

Stephane

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