I’m experiencing a data issue related to variable renaming

User Support Data Management
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strong text Originally, I used question names like Q8.1, Q8.2, etc. in my form. On June 19, 2025, I updated the form and changed them to Q8_1, Q8_2, replacing the dot . with an underscore _.

After this update:

  • In the KoboToolbox platform, submissions made before June 19 show no data under the new variable names.
  • When exporting to SPSS, the data is split: older responses are under Q8.1, and newer ones are under Q8_1.

For analysis, I would like to consolidate all responses under a single variable (like Q8_1).

Has anyone faced this before? How can I merge these values or export them correctly?

2

Welcome back to the community, @gmr_tegshee! If you rename your questions (variables) and redeploy your form during an ongoing data collection phase, the data for the renamed variables will get stored at the end.

You can quickly test this on a dummy project. We hence always advise to test such actions on a dummy project before implementing it on a live project.

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Thank you so much,