How to Reuse Code Frames in Q – Q Help

Coding open-ended and ‘other/specify’ responses can often be a tedious task for market researchers. In this post, we will instead show you how to reuse and share code frames between coding questions in Q.

In quantitative surveys, you often need to ask open-ended questions to garner further insights beyond the predetermined list of options. We cover the topic of coding in Q using various open-ended question formats and a new code frame. See:

However, there are also a number of different ways in Q to copy and share code frames between questions. Q automatically stores each response you code in the background as an instruction associated with that specific code option, including whether it is a single or multiple response. This creates the potential for auto-coding when responses match the rules exactly.

The examples below are from a survey on technology brands. We have already coded an open-ended text question on preferred tech brands as a multiple-response question. However, we also have a ‘top of mind’ awareness question (‘What tech brands are you aware of?’) in our data set, which hasn’t been coded yet. We will outline the various options in place for sharing and copying code frames in Q.

This article is broken into the following sections:

Reuse by Sharing Code Frame
Reuse by Copying Code Frame
Import and Export Code Frame files
Import and Export Category Names

Requirements

A text variable in your data set
An already categorized text variable, which typically contains "- Categorized" in its name.

Method

Reuse by Sharing Code Frame

The most efficient way to minimize having to repeat your coding is to share code frames with an already coded question in the same project, which includes coding rules. You can find this option by:

Right-click the text question you wish to code and select Insert Variable(s) > Code Text > Reuse by Sharing Code Frame.
Select the question that has the code frame you want to share, in this case, ‘Q3 – Preferred Tech Brands’.

As you are sharing your code frame, it means whenever you add codes and associated coding rules, this will apply to any questions that share this code frame. When I apply Q3’s code frame to my next text variable, the coding rules match the text responses in this question perfectly, so Q automatically codes everything.

Similarly, you can auto-code any copies of text variables included in the coding process if you share the appropriate code frame with it.

Reuse by Copying Code Frame

If you wish to copy the code frame, rather than any coding rules, and code afresh, then a second option is available. Select the question you wish to code via:

Right-click the text variable you want to code and select Insert Variable(s) > Code Text > Reuse by Copying Code Frame.
Select the question that has the code frame you want to copy.

Unlike the first option of sharing code frames, in this instance, there will be no auto-coding, and any new codes added will not be shared with the original or any other coded question that uses the same code frame.

Import and Export Code Frame files

If you have already coded a similar question in another project, and wish to reuse its code frame and coding rules, you can simply go to the bottom of the coding screen of the question you want to copy the code frame from and export the code frame (*.QCodes). Once you have created the file, you can then import the code frame into the question of the text variable you wish to code.

Right-click the already coded variable and select Edit Code Frame.
Click the Export button at the bottom of the interface to create a file of the existing code frame (*.QCodes) that can then be imported into another question.
Save the .QCodes file.
Go to the text variable that you wish to code (whether in a different project or the same one).
Right-click and select Insert Variable(s) > Code Text > New Code Frame > Manual Categorization > and select Mutually Exclusive Categories or Multiple Overlapping Categories. Note that this selection will need to match the method used to code the original text variable file that was used to create the QCodes file.
At the bottom of the coding window, click Import.
Select the QCodes file that was saved at Step 3.

Q will then add the code frame options and the rules associated with them to this new question. The advantage of this option is that you can import the code frame of a question from a different Q project.

Import and Export Category Names

A further option is to manually copy an existing code frame list over to a new question without including existing coding rules. Simply open the coding screen of the coded question you want to copy your code frame from in the Variables and Questions tab by right-clicking and choosing Edit Code Frame. Next, right-click the code frame box on the right and select the Import/Export Category Names option. This will bring up a list of the code frame, which you can then highlight and copy using CTRL + C.

Now go to the open-ended question you wish to code via:

Right-click the text variable and select Insert Variable(s) > Code Text > New Code Frame > Manual Categorization.
Select Mutually Exclusive Categories or Multiple Overlapping Categories, depending on the code frame structure you want to use.
Right-click in the pane on the right, and select the Import/Export Category Names option.
Paste in the code frames using CTRL + V.
If desired, you can first edit this code frame in any text editor by adding and/or removing extra categories before clicking OK.