CATE is our Client Adjustable Testing Environment, which gives you the power to test the way that works best for you. CATE’s flexibility gives you numerous options to control the way you review your survey instrument, including:
- Change a previous answer without having to back up, allowing you to test multiple paths quickly
- “Branch” your link, allowing you to test complex logic paths more quickly
- View previous answers to keep track of the path you are on and confirm logic
- Skip ahead to later questions in the survey
- Change the language shown to quickly review overlays
- Auto-populate a page with random answers to save time
- View variable values for answer options
With these options, you can ease the burden of testing and reduce the number of times you need to run through your survey to see the different branches.
Setup
CATE has two menus. These can be opened by clicking the blue arrows on the left side of the page and at the top of the page. “Path History” is on the left, and the top of the page is the “Options” menu.
Path History
This shows the questions you have seen so far and the value for every answer option selected, including questions that will not be shown in the live study. As you progress through the survey, you will see your path develop in the menu. You can click the hyperlink in the sidebar at any time, to see both the question and the selected answer in a pop-up window.
Although you won’t be able to make any changes in this window, it is very useful when testing answer-based logic. You no longer need to keep detailed notes of the path, so as not to forget what your previous answers were. For example, if you reach Q20 and the answer options are dependent on what was selected back in Q4, you can look back to Q4 via the Path History menu and it will show your prior selection.
Options
The “Options” menu has three tabs:
- Tools
- My Info
- Text Editor
Tools
This tab includes many tools that will be useful to your testing: Skip to Question, Change Previous Answer, Branch Current Link, Answer the Page, View Reporting Values, Language ID and Randomization.
The first is the Skip to Question tool. It allows you to test survey and logic changes within the survey without needing to go through it entirely. For example, if you need to test something in the demographics section, you can skip ahead without going through the prior questions. From the drop-down, select the question you want to skip to, and then click the “Click to Skip” button.
It is important to note that using this tool may cause errors because of the logic dependencies of some questions. If the logic for questions or sections is dependent on previous questions, these questions either won’t appear, or you may see an error. Be sure to answer all questions needed for the logic to function. For example, if you need to test Q8 and it has show-if logic that is dependent on Q7, you need to go to Q7 first in order to properly reach Q8.
The second tool is the Change Previous Answers tool. With this tool you can change the answer to a question you have already answered. This allows you to test logic without having to go back and forth between questions. To use the tool, select the question to be changed and click on “Click to Change Answer.” The question will appear in a pop-up window, similar to the Path History. However, with this tool you can change the answer. Make the change to the question, and then click “Update.” You will then refresh (F5) the main survey window so that any logic differences associated with the new answer can show.
Please keep in mind that changing the answer to a question will not automatically change the answer to other questions associated with that question. You will need to go to each question individually to change answers. This includes auto-posted variables.
The tool appears as an option after at least one question has been answered.
The third tool is the Branch Current Link (BCL) tool. For surveys with complex logic, it may not be practical or possible to skip around trying to test all paths. This tool allows for a current respondent and path to be replicated. This allows a branch to be tested without having to start another link from the beginning. When the “Create Branch in New Tab” button is clicked, the current test link will be replicated in a new browser tab, with a new unique ID. From that point forward, both links are independent from one another. The replication tool can be used over and over, to create as many different paths as needed, even on the links that were created with the tool
The second button within the BCL is “Create Branch link in clipboard.” This will also replicate the current respondent and path, but the URL will be placed in the clipboard for easy sharing as opposed to opening the link in a new browser tab. When changes to a survey are noted during testing, this link can allow the programmer to quickly locate the spot that is changing in the survey. It can also be used to quickly return to that spot to confirm the changes. Adding an additional column to change logs can significantly cut down on change and verification time with quick and easy link access for each note.
The replicated clipboard link also allows for easy sharing when additional testers are working together to cover alternate paths. You can navigate to a jumping off point where they can continue down a different testing path. They can also create additional branch links from there as needed, using the BCL. The key is that each tester should start with a unique link, so the clipboard button should be clicked for each test link to be shared.
The fourth tool is the Answer the Page tool. With this you have the option to automatically fill-in/complete a given page with one click, saving time where you would otherwise be individually answering multi-part questions. While it’s especially useful on large grids that require a lot of responses, it can be used on most question types, including to randomly populate open-end numeric and text fields. This tool is available per page so that a specific path or logic can still be easily tested, and the feature is best used in cases where a question response won’t impact the path you are testing. When specific responses are required due to logic, these will need to be manually selected. Using the tool takes just a click of a button! The “Answer The Page” button is in the lower left corner of each screen, and clicking this will randomly select responses for the questions on the current page. If you would like to disable the tool on your test link, you can do this in the CATE menu on the Tools tab by clicking Answer Page Button “Turn Off”.
You also have an option to View Reporting Values. This option turns on label values and will allow you to confirm reporting values are correct. It is also useful to show if a question is randomizing.
By default, this is set to “No”, but if you change to “Yes” the reporting values will appear in a blue font that is highlighted orange. This is the value that will appear in the data file. The change to “Yes” will remain in place as you progress from question to question, until you exit the window.
Next is a drop-down option for Language ID. If your study has language overlays, you can select the option from the drop-down to display a different language. This is helpful when testing changes made to multiple languages. Instead of going through the survey multiple times for each language, to get to a specific change you need to test, you only need to go to it once and then change the language option.
Lastly, there is an option for Randomization. You can disable the randomization when testing to see the options without randomization applied.
My Info
The My Info tab displays information about your testing session. Respondent ID is your identifier to help you associate an issue with a specific testing session. Unique ID does the same.
We often create different links for different purposes, such as for different sample providers, which is determined by the List ID (L=# in the link), or for different languages (Lng=# in the link). These details can also be found in the My Info tab.
Text Editor
More information about the text editor can be found here. This tool is available upon request, so please reach out to your Project Manager to see if the Text Editor is a good fit for your study!
Miscellaneous
There is an option in the upper right corner of the screen to Remove CATE, and this will turn off CATE for testing. This can be helpful for longer, logic heavy surveys as CATE needs to process additional information from the testing path. In some cases, this can help speed up the time it takes to process each page as you test.
There are also hyperlinks in the upper right corner of the screen, which you can use to submit feedback for either your survey or CATE. Click the link you need, and an email will pop up with the appropriate email addresses
