Testing/Running the Survey Locally
Top  Previous  Next

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

First, your project is checked for errors.
 
Note: When testing your study, the first "test" respondent will always receive internal respondent number "1". Randomizations are seeded by respondent number. To see different randomizations and conjoint designs, you must take a few surveys.

Caution: We do not recommend using Local Test 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.

Test Survey Locally  
Click this to test/run your survey using the Local Test Server.  

Test Survey Locally with Options...  
Click this to test/run your survey, but with the ability to Skip to Question, Show Question Names, Show Variable Names, Use a Specific Internal Respondent Number, Remove all Skip Logic, or Remove Randomization.  

   Admin Module...
Click this to run your Admin Module, to view, accumulate or tabulate results for your test study running on your Local Test Server.  
 
Download Data  
Click this to download data for your test study running on your Local Test Server.  

Reset  
Click this to Reset your test study. Reset means deleting all data and resetting all passwords and quotas for your test survey!  

   Settings...
Accesses the Local Test Server 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 Test Server is started and stopped.  
     
Acknowledgment and Warning

The Local Test 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 Test 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.


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 Test Server to work. Contact your IT department for help.