Getting Started with ACA

ACA is software for conducting Adaptive Conjoint Analysis studies over the Internet, over an intranet, or using PC (CAPI-based) data collection. ACA is part of the SSI Web software suite. For more general information about ACA, we suggest that you read the "ACA Technical Paper" available for downloading from our home page at www.sawtoothsoftware.com.

Your license entitles you to free technical support via phone or email. We encourage you to contact us at support@sawtoothsoftware.com or +1-801-477-4700 if you cannot find the answer to your problem or question in this documentation. We are available Mon-Fri, 7:30 am to 5:30 pm Mountain Standard Time. (Note: we provide full technical support for composing and testing your Internet survey on your local PC, and provide written instructions on how to install your questionnaire on your server. We cannot take responsibility for or be expected to provide technical support to debug any customized HTML or JavaScript you may add to your survey. You are also responsible to make sure that Perl is running, a database is available, and that you can run Perl (CGI) scripts on your web server. We can provide some assistance related to SSI Web's use with your server once the fundamental Perl functionality and a database is in place.)

A sample ACA questionnaire (tut2.ssi) and supporting files are available within your installation of SSI Web. You can easily access this example study by clicking Help | Sample Studies. This questionnaire lets you see an example of an ACA survey and investigate how it is set up.

If you know a little HTML (which is not necessary to use ACA), you can employ some "tricks" that will help you customize the look of your survey beyond the standard options provided by the software. By opening the sample study and looking at the settings and text we've used, you can become familiar with some of the possibilities.

Using ACA requires the following skills and knowledge base:

The analyst managing the survey should know the basics of conjoint analysis, including defining attributes and levels properly, correctly phrasing the questionnaire text and response scales, interpreting the conjoint part-worth utilities, and running simulations. It is not necessary to be a statistician to use our software effectively, but knowledge of basic statistics for market research is highly recommended.

The questionnaire is first composed locally on the PC under Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. The individual inputting/formatting the survey should have working knowledge of standard Windows applications such as word processing, Web browsers and/or spreadsheets. Though it is not necessary, some knowledge of HTML is valuable.

For web-based data collection, you may use our survey . You can also host surveys on your own (one must have access to an Internet/intranet server running Perl 5.007 or later, with a database). This can be on your company's own Web server, or your ISP's (Internet Service Provider's) Web server. SSI Web is able to automatically upload the files needed to perform data collection on your server. But, in some cases the user must know how to use FTP software to create directories, upload files to those directories, and set permissions on the files and directories.

To get started, we suggest you view other areas within this online help library, especially:

What is Adaptive Conjoint Analysis?
Basic Overview of ACA
Sections and Flow of an ACA Questionnaire