Translating "absent species" to "ZEROs" in the data - Survey123

Question

Hi there,

I have created a survey to count different species of fish at three stations within one particular site. It is important to record if a particular station had zero species and to reflect that in the output data table. When I plot the data, I want to be able to see that "ZERO" species were "present" on a particular date. Similarly, if I plot the presence of individual species, I want to be able to see if that specific species was "zero" for that particular date as well.

Can you suggest the best way for me to achieve this?

Thanks in advance!

RobertAnderson3 · Answer

I'm thinking nested repeats then maybe?

Or since it's 3 stations at each site, have a repeat section for each. If there are always the same types of fish you could maybe pre-set the repeat-count and have the species calculated, you'll need to cycle through all the repeats for it to load. And then it will have the zero in there. Or maybe a select_one that you can set as 'present' or 'absent' and calculate it based on 'count > 0' type thing. But if you only want to record the certain species you see, it's a little different, recording data that's not there can be hard.

That's where you'd need to start looking at reporting and summaries after the fact I think.

MonicaAlmeida1 · Answer

I am glad you asked those questions, @RobertAnderson3!

The survey is set up in repeats. In one form, you pick one location and one site. For each site, there will be three stations. At each station, you record the count of each fish species you observe. If you observe four different species, you should record each species and its count separately. Once you have recorded all the species at a station, you can click the plus button to add another station, and continue entering the species and counts. Sometimes a station doesn't have any fish, so I would like to have an option to add  "zero" or "absent" and that it would automagically translate to the the data.

Does that make sense?

I hope this helps.

Thanks for your quick reply!

RobertAnderson3 · Answer

It would depend on how you have your form set up, but my initial thought is using another field with a calculate to determine if the value is zero.

Is it set up in repeats? One station per form? One fish type per form? Is there one question to pick the type of fish, and another to say how many were seen?

Would you be looking for a specific type of fish at that time, or is this reviewing data after the fact, as that might not be a survey question but more of the analytics after.

Sorry for so many questions! Knowing the structure and goals helps to figure these things out a little clearer!