2 person survey with pre-filled info in places

I've checked out AYS, but it's a lot more complicated than I need. I need 2
people to rank 69 employees on 4 questions, each having a possible 3 answers,
presented as radio buttons.
I created one table called 'Employees' that contains the first and last name
of each employee to be rated, and then a field each for each of the 4
questions. Eventually, this is where I want all the data to end up. Each
possible answer is equivalent to 1, 2, or 3.
Then I created 4 more tables (1 for each question) with 3 fields each with
the answers they are to choose from.
Then I tried to create both a form and a page to allow the two raters to use
to rate the employees. On the page, I have the employee names show up nicely,
but I can't get the radio buttons to work.
On the form, I thought I had the radio buttons working, but the form does
not appear to be linked to the table. I also can't get the employee name on
the page.
I am about to pull my hair out. If anyone can point me in the direction of
what to do, I will be very grateful.
Thanks,
Kim

"kimhelms" wrote in message
...
I've checked out AYS, but it's a lot more complicated than I need. I need
2
people to rank 69 employees on 4 questions, each having a possible 3
answers,
presented as radio buttons.
I created one table called 'Employees' that contains the first and last
name
of each employee to be rated, and then a field each for each of the 4
questions. Eventually, this is where I want all the data to end up. Each
possible answer is equivalent to 1, 2, or 3.

Stop right there. What happens if you need five questions, or if the
questions change next year. You should never have actual data in your table
strucuture, which is whaty you are trying to do.

What you need is to have an Employees table (probably first and last name is
only going to be good enough to uniquely identify each employee if you are
only doing this survey once, and if at the moment you do the survey
everyone's first and last name combination is unique). In addition, you
need a Questions table. You also need several more tables.

Then I created 4 more tables (1 for each question) with 3 fields each with
the answers they are to choose from.

Again, stop. This is wrong. It becomes very hard to query across multiple
tables, and in your case there is no need to do so.

Then I tried to create both a form and a page to allow the two raters to
use
to rate the employees. On the page, I have the employee names show up
nicely,
but I can't get the radio buttons to work.

Let's back up to a workable structu

Employee
EmployeeID
EmployeeFirstName
EmployeeLastName

Survey (this table will allow you to have different sets of questions, for
example in different years)
SurveyID
SurveyName

Questions (each question will be a record in this table, rather than a
separate table)
QuestionID
SurveyID (tells you what survey the question is part of)
QuestionStem

Answers (potential answers to questions)
AnswerID
QuestionID (which question is this a potential answer for)
AnswerText

EmployeeAnswers (answers the surveyors gave to the survey for a particular
person
EmployeeAnswerID
SurveyorID (will be an EmployeeID, but presumes that this is the person
filling out the survey)
EmployeeID (the employee the questions are being answered about)
AnswerDate (in case you're repeating the survey over multiple time periods)
AnswerID (actual answer selected)

Now that you have a table structure, you need forms that allow you to enter
data.

I'd have the top level form unbound, but with comboboxes in it that allow
you to select the surveyor and the employee. You'll need to use code to
retrieve these for the EmployeeAnswers. Inside that, I'd put a form for
Survey and a subform that would use a query as its data source. That query
would join Questions to Answers to EmployeeAnswers. You'll need to change
the join so that you see all records in Questions and just those in Answers
that are related, and then again to see all records in Answers but just the
ones in EmployeeAnswers that are related. I was about to say that you'd
need to use the where clause to only see the records for the EmployeeAnswers
records relating to the Surveyor and the Employee, but I think that will
lead to a frustrated join. You may need to use a subquery in order to get
around this. Do a google on frustrated join and it should get you closer to
the solution.

If it sounds like all this is complicated, what you have chosen to do _is_
complicated. You may find it is quicker and easier to hire someone to do it
for you, or you may find that you can use At Your Survey as is.

HTH;

Amy

WOW!
I'll see what I can do with this info.
Thanks,
Kim

"Amy Blankenship" wrote:


"kimhelms" wrote in message
...
I've checked out AYS, but it's a lot more complicated than I need. I need
2
people to rank 69 employees on 4 questions, each having a possible 3
answers,
presented as radio buttons.
I created one table called 'Employees' that contains the first and last
name
of each employee to be rated, and then a field each for each of the 4
questions. Eventually, this is where I want all the data to end up. Each
possible answer is equivalent to 1, 2, or 3.

Stop right there. What happens if you need five questions, or if the
questions change next year. You should never have actual data in your table
strucuture, which is whaty you are trying to do.

What you need is to have an Employees table (probably first and last name is
only going to be good enough to uniquely identify each employee if you are
only doing this survey once, and if at the moment you do the survey
everyone's first and last name combination is unique). In addition, you
need a Questions table. You also need several more tables.

Then I created 4 more tables (1 for each question) with 3 fields each with
the answers they are to choose from.

Again, stop. This is wrong. It becomes very hard to query across multiple
tables, and in your case there is no need to do so.

Then I tried to create both a form and a page to allow the two raters to
use
to rate the employees. On the page, I have the employee names show up
nicely,
but I can't get the radio buttons to work.

Let's back up to a workable structu

Employee
EmployeeID
EmployeeFirstName
EmployeeLastName

Survey (this table will allow you to have different sets of questions, for
example in different years)
SurveyID
SurveyName

Questions (each question will be a record in this table, rather than a
separate table)
QuestionID
SurveyID (tells you what survey the question is part of)
QuestionStem

Answers (potential answers to questions)
AnswerID
QuestionID (which question is this a potential answer for)
AnswerText

EmployeeAnswers (answers the surveyors gave to the survey for a particular
person
EmployeeAnswerID
SurveyorID (will be an EmployeeID, but presumes that this is the person
filling out the survey)
EmployeeID (the employee the questions are being answered about)
AnswerDate (in case you're repeating the survey over multiple time periods)
AnswerID (actual answer selected)

Now that you have a table structure, you need forms that allow you to enter
data.

I'd have the top level form unbound, but with comboboxes in it that allow
you to select the surveyor and the employee. You'll need to use code to
retrieve these for the EmployeeAnswers. Inside that, I'd put a form for
Survey and a subform that would use a query as its data source. That query
would join Questions to Answers to EmployeeAnswers. You'll need to change
the join so that you see all records in Questions and just those in Answers
that are related, and then again to see all records in Answers but just the
ones in EmployeeAnswers that are related. I was about to say that you'd
need to use the where clause to only see the records for the EmployeeAnswers
records relating to the Surveyor and the Employee, but I think that will
lead to a frustrated join. You may need to use a subquery in order to get
around this. Do a google on frustrated join and it should get you closer to
the solution.

If it sounds like all this is complicated, what you have chosen to do _is_
complicated. You may find it is quicker and easier to hire someone to do it
for you, or you may find that you can use At Your Survey as is.

HTH;

Amy