Unknown choice seen in downloaded file after adding new options to an existing variable

shizalish · December 5, 2019, 8:23am

Hi,

I added more options to a variable and deployed the form. Upon doing so, I have a strange option in my downloaded report, namely client_partiic. This option was not added by me and is showing for 70% of my data now (including old data too). Please suggest how can I resolve this issue?

Kal_Lam · December 5, 2019, 8:42am

Hi @shizalish,

In some cases the error you are facing might be due to some typo errors as shown in the image below:

Here you will notice a typo error of Yes which actually should be No.

Please check out if this has happened if your survey form.

GOOD DAY!

shizalish · December 5, 2019, 9:07am

Thanks for the feedback! This is not a free text question and currently the old data is showing this unknown option too. Also, I would like to add that this option is not listed as a choice for the question, but it shows in the report

Kal_Lam · December 5, 2019, 9:40am

Hi @shizalish,

Is it OK if you could show the screenshot of your issue?

GOOD DAY!

shizalish · December 5, 2019, 11:52am

Sharing two screenshot as follows:

Screenshot of the question with the options in the form
Screenshot of ALL the options showing in the downloaded file from KoBo

Thanks!

Kal_Lam · December 5, 2019, 4:17pm

Hi @shizalish,

We are still not able to see your screenshot. Could you upload them?

GOOD DAY!

shizalish · December 6, 2019, 4:31am

Apologies, sharing them now!

Kal_Lam · December 6, 2019, 5:16am

Hi @shizalish,

Would you mind providing me your KoBoToolbox user name and the project name in a private message so that i could have a look at my end to figure it out for you.

GOOD DAY!

shizalish · December 6, 2019, 6:07am

Just shared that with you! Thanks

Kal_Lam · December 6, 2019, 8:09am

Hi @shizalish,

Seems like you have re-deployed your survey form 84 times. Please see the image below:

Though your current survey form (questionnaire) does not have the miss-matched code at the moment, it should have been uploaded at some point of time during one of the re-deployments you have made in the past. Thus this is the reason why it is still here. Maybe you could try it out yourself in a demo survey project.

Thus as a workaround i would advise you to track your re-deployed forms (questionnaire) and see on where you have used the miss-matched code. You could then make changes in the dataset (while cleaning your data).

GOOD DAY!

shizalish · December 10, 2019, 6:11am

Thanks! I downloaded a file containing all deployed versions of the form, however the subsequent columns (in IW, IY and JM) do not have any data. The first column for this variable (column L) is the only column with information.

As a result, I still cannot seem to understand why we have this variable showing in the data set.

shizalish · December 17, 2019, 6:04am

Hi,

Would appreciate your assistance on this issue as our data collection is being compromised.

Thanks,
Shiza

shizalish · December 18, 2019, 6:34am

Hi,

I posted about this earlier and I am still struggling with the same issue. I changed the options of a single-select question in my form more than a month ago approximately. Ever since I can see a strange variable in my excel file downloaded from KoBo. I would really appreciate further assistance on the matter.

Thank you!

stephanealoo · December 18, 2019, 4:54pm

Hi @shizalish
This is the potential logic to your issue

Normally if you edit a form by deleting questions, the deleted questions will be stored as variables from previous versions of the form.
2, When you choose include field from all the XX deployed versions, all the variables you had ever created and deleted will appear as columns regardless of whether they have data or not.

As it is, the issue would be whether you need to get the previous versions or not. Unfortunately there is no way to select which previous versions and variables should be excluded.

Stephane

shizalish · December 23, 2019, 5:30am

Hi,

Addressing your concerns in the order in which they were received:

An existing question was not deleted, but more options were added to a question. Yet, I am unable to see the question in the form
I have tried using this option while downloading a report, but all the other versions of the same question appear as blank, so I cannot retrieve the previous data from there

Best,
Shiza

stephanealoo · December 30, 2019, 4:03pm

Hi
Could you send us the XLS version you have currently and the one from the previous version. I need to understand that when you added responses what changes occurred on the labels

Stephane

shizalish · January 2, 2020, 3:15am

Hi Stephane,

I had to remove a lot of the other variables because the file was to big to share even on google sheets. Additionally, I have de-identified the data as well. I have shared a screenshot of the question in its current form with the additional options added and how it shows in the report currently in an Excel filter to give you an overview.

Please find data in its current form below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/106vr1F9tYubrCs81uluQsbToYiLOmEZn/view?usp=sharing

Please find data from an old report below:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YFthJtYXMnXbOvQCxY1xNwWGWWZt3r0U

Please note I have highlighted the column with the variable in question.

Thanks,
Shiza