Hi everyone,

I hope someone can solve my doubts about my problem. I recently change the answer options of several questions in my active survey. This survey had over 100 responses. My expectation was that, when exporting the results, the new values would replace the old ones also for the 'old' responses (that is, those collected before I changed the values). However, this is not happening.
Is there a way to force Limesurvey to change the values? I did not change a thing of the structure or type of the questions, so there should be a way for the platform to refresh the responses, right?

Thanks for your help!
Anna.

Unfortunately, no, once the data is recorded it cannot be changed unless you edit the responses manually.

Thanks for your reply!
How do I edit the responses manually, then? Can it be done in the LS database, so they will be stored with the new values? Or you mean changing them outside LS (e.g. Excel, R...).

Anna.

When viewing the responses, you should have an option to edit them - click on the pencil icon.

Hi,
I'd always recommend to change later in EXCEL or whatever.
Here you can use a formula or a macro or even just "find/replace".

If you do it in LimeSurvey you have to edit each respondent one by one.

Joffm

nins10 wrote: My expectation was that, when exporting the results, the new values would replace the old ones also for the 'old' responses (that is, those collected before I changed the values).

I dont' understand,


Sample :
Before updating
A: Answer A
B: Answer B
C: Answer C

You update
A: this is the answer A
B: this is the answer B
C: this is the answer C

Then : when you export you have the "This is the answer …" for ALL response. Even previous one.

BUT , if you do

Before updating
A1: Answer 1
A2: Answer 2
A3: Answer 3

Then : previous response are A,B,C : LimeSurvey CAN NOT KNOW what you want

I did this:

Sample :
Before updating
A: Answer A
B: Answer B
C: Answer C

You update
A: this is the answer A
B: this is the answer B
C: this is the answer C

(actually changed from "01BEF" to "1")

When I download the responses, I still get the before updating answers ("Answer A").

If you found a way to get the "this is the answer A" when downloading the results, could you please share how you did it?

Thanks!

Thanks!

nins10 wrote: When I download the responses, I still get the before updating answers ("Answer A").

Really strange !!! Caching issue maybe ?

nins10 wrote: If you found a way to get the "this is the answer A" when downloading the results, could you please share how you did it?

I don't found a way : i don't have to search. It was the default behaviour ...

I find it odd too! Maybe different versions of LS? @tpartner here said it was the normal behaviour...

(actually changed from "01BEF" to "1")

???
What was "01BEF", what is "1"?
What really did you change?
The answer code or the answer text?

I should say, you changed the answer codes, because changing the answer text doesn't really matter in the export.
You do not need this for your analysis.

tpartner told that you might change the answer text, BUT NOT the answer code.

Joffm

Sorry I did not make myself clear. I changed the answer codes, not the answer text, as answer codes are, as you said, the only thing that matters in the analysis. I will work with Excel to recode these values.

Thank you all for your help!