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In order facilitate the coding process, we have designed and developed survey engine software that has proven quite useful. The software application contains most of the basic features of a standard, off-the-shelf survey engine, but has been customized to our particular needs. Coders enter data in what is essentially a web survey. Particular answers branch to applicable (or skip around non-applicable) follow-up questions and users may navigate the survey in any order.
If coders are coding a constitutional event that amounts to only a small amendment of an existing constitution, they may use an “import” feature that allows to import the answers from an existing event and modify them accordingly.
One of the unique features of the survey engine is its reconciliation capability. During reconciliation, a PI or reconciler reviews the answers of multiple coders of a single constitutional event and produces a “final” row of data for an observation. Typically (although not necessarily), the PI or reconciler accepts those answers for which coders agree. For discrepant answers, the PI is provided with the answers of the multiple coders, their comments, and their references to the section of the constitution that served as the source of their answer. With this information (accompanied by his own review of the constitutional document), the PI renders a final judgment for each discrepant answer. The software application turns this crucial process into a convenient, reliable method for producing a final set of data from multiple codings.
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