Duplicate "name" Values in Survey123

[JakobBernhard]

I’m having an issue with a survey I created in Survey123 Connect, and I’m hoping someone here can help me.

In my survey, I have a question where users can choose between options like "Strongly Agree", "Agree", "Disagree", etc. The label values displayed to users are correct, but when I set up the name values in the choices sheet of the XLSForm, I used shortened versions to keep things simple. Unfortunately, this led to me accidentally using the same name for different options. For example, both "Strongly Agree" and "Strongly Disagree" have the same name, which has now caused errors or missing data in the responses. In the list of values(Domain) i can only see that the label of Strongly disagree. It looks to me like both answers from "Strongly agree" and "Strongly disagee" are stored as Strongly disagree

I’ve realize that all name values in the choices list need to be unique, but the problem is that I’ve already collected a fair amount of data, and those responses aren’t correct because of the duplication. I’m not sure how to fix this without losing the data I’ve already gathered.

Questions:

1. Is there any way to fix the duplicate name values without losing the data that has already been collected?
2. What’s the best way to update the XLSForm and maintain consistency in the existing data?

I appreciate any advice or suggestions! Thanks a lot in advance!

[DuncanC]

I don't think you can save those submissions.  Survey123 is only storing the name, it just looks up the corresponding label for display as needed. 

[JenniferAcunto · Accepted solution]

You can simply update your Survey XLS to fix the domains and republish. Your existing data will not be lost. This will ensure your survey works as intended going forward. However, there is no way to determine in your existing data which of the two options users had selected.

[abureaux]

"...accidentally using the same name for different options..."

I highly recommend using the "analyze survey" feature in Connect. It would have warned you about this.

Additionally, I would also recommend ensuring your Connect is up to date. Please be aware that the stand-alone installer does not update itself. However, the Windows Store version of Connect does auto-update.

"Is there any way to fix the duplicate name values without losing the data that has already been collected"

No. There is no way to differentiate between the stored names (as others already stated).

"What’s the best way to update the XLSForm and maintain consistency in the existing data?"

As @JenniferAcunto mentioned. Just make changes in Connect and publish.