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Keypoint 2 gives you a complete set of tools for creating and distributing questionnaires, then analysing the results. Its main strengths lie in the quality and simplicity of its analysis tools, but it would benefit from more flexible design features.
Questionnaires can be distributed by email, published to a website, or printed as paper documents. All questionnaires are designed in the same way using KeyPoint's layout tools.
There's also a Questionnaire Design wizard for less-experienced users. In previous versions of KeyPoint, the questionnaire design tools have been one of its weakest points and this is still true. Adding questions to a form without the Questionnaire Design Wizard is confusing and this process isn't covered well in the online help.
Once a questionnaire layout is complete, a replica of the design is stored in an adjacent tabbed screen. This is used to enter survey responses, providing a simple means of inputting data. However, there's no support for OCR tools within KeyPoint, so all paper-based responses have to be manually entered. Data is stored in a proprietary format, but can also be exported in CSV format, for analysis in a spreadsheet.
Email and web-based questionnaires provide more automated means of gathering survey results. The basic process of converting a survey to one of these formats is straightforward, but distributing an electronic questionnaire is more complex. Email surveys support MAPI and POP3 accounts, but there's no support for HTML mail. A survey must be configured for either MAPI or POP3, so you can't address both in the same questionnaire.
To host a web-based survey requires additional Perl scripting, which isn't a feature of the KeyPoint product itself. However, Cambridge Software Publishing offers an additional service, Surveyserver.net, which provides questionnaire hosting.
KeyPoint has a powerful set of analysis tools, which enable you to quickly generate topline results and view statistics from a survey. These range from basics to more complex calculations including standard deviation.
All results are shown in a tabbed window alongside the questionnaire and response entry screens within KeyPoint, making it easy to monitor changes as data is input. However, KeyPoint's interface lets it down in places. For example, navigating around topline results to gain an overview is awkward.
KeyPoint is available either as a single user product, reviewed here, or as a three-user version (£1,995 ex. VAT). Extra users cost £395.99 (ex. VAT) each.
Improvements to the administration of email and web-based surveys make this version of KeyPoint more robust than its predecessor. However, the addition of support for OCR tools would help to simplify data entry.
Contact
Cambridge Software Publishing: 124 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0ZS
Tel 01223 425558, Fax 01223 425349
www.camsp.com/keypoint/
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