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User Guide Overview

This user guide provides detailed instructions for working with each component of the Askalot platform. The guide is organized by workflow stage, from questionnaire design through data analysis.

Guide Contents

Creating Surveys with Armiger

Creating Surveys covers the complete process of questionnaire authoring:

  • QML syntax and structure
  • Question types and input controls
  • Preconditions and postconditions
  • Variables and code blocks
  • AI-assisted generation
  • SMT validation and debugging
  • Flow visualization

Armiger provides a browser-based development environment with syntax highlighting, real-time validation, and interactive diagram generation.

Designing Campaigns with Targetor

Campaign Management explains campaign orchestration and audience management:

  • Target User Management: Import and manage respondent databases
  • Projects: Organize questionnaires into logical projects
  • Questionnaires: Upload and version QML files
  • Campaigns: Configure demographic targeting, launch schedules, and track progress

Targetor enables representative sampling by targeting specific demographic profiles and monitoring real-time completion rates across segments.

Executing Surveys with SirWay

Survey Execution covers the respondent experience and survey administration:

  • Dynamic question flow with lazy evaluation
  • Precondition evaluation and adaptive navigation
  • Progress tracking and flow visualization
  • Field Interview Mode for assisted interviews

SirWay supports two execution modes:

  1. Direct Mode: Respondents complete surveys independently via unique links
  2. Field Interview Mode: Trained interviewers conduct interviews and enter responses on behalf of respondents

Field Interview Mode is valuable for:

  • In-person interviews where the interviewer operates the interface
  • Phone surveys where the operator enters responses while questioning
  • Populations with limited digital literacy
  • Situations requiring clarification or translation

Both modes benefit from SirWay's contradiction-free guarantee and dynamic flow control.

Analyzing Data with Balansor

Data Analysis covers post-collection processing:

  • Response distribution analysis
  • Data cleaning and quality checks
  • Post-stratification and demographic rebalancing
  • Statistical adjustment and weighting
  • Multi-format export (CSV, SPSS, R)
  • Summary statistics and reporting

Balansor ensures that survey results are statistically representative and ready for analysis by correcting sampling bias through post-stratification techniques.

AI-Assisted Features

The platform includes AI-assisted capabilities across the workflow. See the dedicated AI Assisted Features section for details:

Organization-Based Data Sharing

Organization-Based Data Sharing explains how Askalot handles data visibility based on your organization's sharing mode:

  • Non-private organizations (default): Users have isolated access to their own QML files and respondents
  • Private organizations: QML files and respondents are shared among all organization members
  • Project ownership controls access to questionnaires and campaigns
  • Practical examples for collaborative teams and independent research units

Understanding your organization's sharing mode helps you work effectively within your environment's data model.

Workflow Summary

The typical workflow progresses through these stages:

  1. Design → Create questionnaire in Armiger with QML and SMT validation
  2. Campaign → Upload questionnaire to Targetor, import users, configure demographics
  3. Execute → Respondents (or interviewers) complete surveys in SirWay with dynamic flow
  4. Analyze → Process responses in Balansor with statistical correction and export

Each guide section provides detailed instructions, examples, and best practices for its respective stage.

AI Assistance: The Campaign Wizard and Chat Interface can guide you through these stages conversationally, handling complex operations and providing recommendations at each step.

Getting Started

If you're new to Askalot, we recommend:

  1. Start with Quick Start Guide for a complete workflow walkthrough
  2. Follow Creating Surveys to learn QML syntax
  3. Reference Theory for mathematical foundations

For specific tasks, navigate directly to the relevant guide section above.