Testing/Running the Survey Locally

Once you have composed some questions and specified passwords, you can test/run your questionnaire locally on your PC using the Local Web Server that is installed along with the SSI Web system. Click Test | Run on Local Web Server.... Two things occur:

1. Your project is checked for errors, and a verification report is displayed.

2. The Local Web Server dialog appears:

Note: After you click Upload and then run the survey, you will always receive internal respondent number "a". Randomizations are seeded by respondent number. To see different randomizations and conjoint designs, you must take a few surveys.

Prior to fielding your study using a remote server, it is important that you also test the survey carefully on your remote server, to make sure that everything has been implemented properly for data collection.

   Upload Questionnaire

Click this button to "upload" your questionnaire and related study files/graphics to the directory specified in the Questionnaire Folder Name field inside c:\Documents and Settings\YourUsername\Application Data\Sawtooth Software, Inc\SSI Web\LocalWeb\htdocs on your hard drive. SSI Web automatically copies (uploads) the appropriate files to the correct directory (we follow this process to remind you that when you eventually post the survey over a Web server, that you'll be uploading files to that server). Every time you make a modification to your questionnaire, passwords, or graphics, you should click Upload Questionnaire to update your previous version of the study (just as you would update the files that had changed if you were updating a study on a Web server). If you have uploaded the survey before, you are asked if you would like to overwrite the previous instance of your study. Choose OK to proceed, and the old study is overwritten, resetting the study, and deleting all the previous data.

Notes: SSI Web assumes that all of the graphics used in your questionnaire are located in the graphics directory. SSI Web doesn't automatically "clean up" the htdocs subdirectory after you are finished with a study. You may want to clean the htdocs subdirectory from time to time.

Caution: We do not recommend using Local Web Server for collecting real data. It raises the possibility of accidental data loss. Rather, we recommend you use the SSI Web CAPI interviewing procedure if collecting data locally on your PC.

If you are using the demo version of the software, you are limited to a total of 5 completed records (either qualified or disqualified). The demo software is not to be used for professional research studies.

Run Questionnaire...

Click this to test/run your survey using the Local Web Server.

   Run Admin Module...

Click this to run your Admin Module, to view, accumulate or tabulate results for your study running on your Local Web Server.

   Settings...

Accesses the Local Web Settings dialog, that permits you to define whether the Apache server should start up (and run in the background) when SSI Web is opened and closed when it is closed, or whether the user can control manually when the Local Web Server is started and stopped.

   Close

Closes the Local Web Server dialog

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Acknowledgment and Warning

The Local Web Server included in SSI Web includes software developed by the Apache Group for use in the Apache HTTP server project (http://www.apache.org/).

The Apache Group gives the following disclaimer:

"The Win32 release of Apache should still be considered beta quality code. It does not meet the normal standards of stability and security that Unix releases do. There are numerous known bugs and inconsistencies. There is also a much greater chance of security holes being present in the Win32 version of Apache."

We at Sawtooth Software have spent many hours testing Apache Server code with SSI Web and have seen good stability and performance. Using the Local Web Server within SSI Web is very convenient for testing your survey prior to uploading to a Web server. But, because of this disclaimer, if you plan to use the SSI Web CAPI mode for actual data collection, you must test your study thoroughly to make sure it is executed as you expect and that the data are being stored properly.

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Troubleshooting

If the survey is not working (Login page cannot be found) you may need to adjust the browser settings. In Explorer, select Tools | Internet Options | Connections | LAN Settings. Make sure if you are using a proxy server that you bypass proxy server for local addresses.

Some corporate LANs have network configurations that do not allow a local web server to work. Contact your IT department for help.