Using XML as a (read-only) human-readable data source for survey questions
Research or marketing research questionnaires generally consist of questions in the following form:
INTRO: Please indicate how much you agree with the following statements ...
OPTIONS: very - rather - so-so - rather not - not at all
ITEM 1: I love Coca-Cola
...
ITEM n: ...
Let all things SCALE. One scale consists of several elements, has an introduction, and has a certain number of options. The database contains tables "intro", "option", "items" and "scale" with the required foreign keys. With the appropriate queries, I select this information and insert it as a form to display the questionnaire scale.
This is fine as long as there is no third party technology that needs to edit these scales. I recently came across an alternative approach. I thought it would be possible to use XML files for scales containing all the data mentioned above, including translations.
I know that XML is a transport, not a data store. I know the XML query is not as easy as using SQL for the database ... but what about a third party? Should I better develop a backend for them where they can edit questions? How do you feel about this? Perhaps you know an alternative third way to store questions (scales) for surveys?
SUMMARY SO FAR : ok, it seems the editing interface is the best solution. Can anyone write something about the speed issue regarding XML ...
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The best way would be to create this simple server for non-technical third parties.
Non-technical users are likely to have trouble editing the XML file and how can you check if it was formatted correctly after editing them? Your software will have to validate the input and spit out meaningful error messages, which means you'll write a rudimentary end anyway.
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In terms of presentation, XSLT (XML Style Sheets for Transformation) can transform a document into a "presentable" interface. However, you still need a mechanism to collect and store the results. But if in XML you can put almost any imaginary interface in front of it, even without using XSL.
One of the advantages of the XML approach over a relational database is the built-in mutability that you can offer. I have created several such systems, and have come up with a sensible database structure that can also cope with the variability of the survey structure, and the data is rigid.
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If you want this in XML, I suggest you take a look at the Interactive Schema Interpreter ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/interactive/ ).