How to Upload a Triple-S File (Normal Import)?

Forsta Visualizations supports the data import format Triple-S. Triple-S is a market research standard for transferring data and meta-data between different types of software and applications.

The same features and logic are applied to the imported Triple-S data as are currently applied to SPSS (.sav) imports. This means that both the Meta-data Transformation Module and the automated/scheduled data imports also support the Triple-S format.

File requirements:

1. The Triple-S import requires two files, a XML file with meta data and a ASC file with case data, the files need to be compressed to one zip file (.rar is not supported).

2. The data file must be of “Fixed width”, Triple-s files in CSV format is not supported

3. Multiple choice questions can either be binary or categorical in the imported file, Forsta Visualizations can handle both formats

4. If the imported Triple-S file contains multiple languages the first language in the file will be used in Forsta Visualizations

5. In the Triple-S standard a third file showing hierarchical structure between groups exist, this file is not supported, instead the hierarchical structure is defined within Forsta Visualizations itself

6. In the Triple-S standard the values (answer alternative codes) can be alphanumeric, Forsta Visualizations only supports numeric values

7. All case data in categorical variables that have no corresponding value labels in the meta data will automatically be deleted during import and not considered in any calculations

8. Value labels must be unique within each variable. In the Triple-S standard duplicates are allowed but it is not supported by Forsta Visualizations If the imported file contains duplicates the text can be corrected by using the existing Meta-data Transformation Tool

9. All variable texts, value label texts and variable type (Single choice, Multiple choice, Numeric and String) are picked from the imported XML file-Text can be updated within Forsta Visualizations Question type cannot be updated within Forsta Visualizations

10. All values/value labels in the XML files will be imported to Forsta Visualizations, even the standard codes like 99999998 and 99999999 which are used as Missing values in Triple-S standard.-On the import screen the user can select to exclude those variables in the import to get correct base sizes in the calculations if those values should not be considered.

In addition to the above requirements the imported file must contain three standards variables Respondent ID, Response date and Weight.

1. A unique respondent ID (a Numeric variable with the Name “RespondentID”)

2. A response date (a Date/Time variable with the Name “Responsedate”)

3. A respondent weight (a Numeric variable with the Name “Weight”)