[Rollercoasterider]

I would like some feedback and assistance with creating advanced questions for my MLC Survey. Since it's created by me alone rather than a fancy-schmancy peer-reviewed team, it's obviously not scientific, but I'd like it to be as credible as I can make it. So I'm really looking for advice from those who may know how to word the questions properly and include enough questions.
I've found a plugin for surveys that may work. Unlike the others I've seen, it's a one time purchase rather than a monthly subscription and the price is amazing! It has the typical 30 day money back guarantee, so I don't want to purchase it yet--while I'm busy with the move and trying to find temporary housing while we're in transition. But I'd like to get started thinking about some advanced questions.
Bailmor: I did check out survey monkey. The free version only offers 10 fields/questions and the next level is $204 a year and still quite limited in features.
So I've been keeping some ideas in an excel file and I'll try and paste them here with explanations. A lot of the questions need to be conditional. I'm hoping I can also have an either/or option such as Date of Divorce OR NA. I want all fields other than additional comments and contact info (which is not in the present form) to be required.
Section Heading: Questions Regarding Children
How many children do you have with your MLCer?
This question will have a None option and a list of numbers. If None is selected, none of the remaining questions in this section will appear.
The next question will automatically populate with a row for each child, or it will create a new identical question for each child—depending on the features available. It will ask for the date of birth and gender for each child.
The next question may not be necessary if I can create an excel formula to extract the same information from the data given in the above question.

We have 1 or more children who are: (Check all that apply) Minor Children: 0 -7 Minor Children: 8-13 Minor Children: 13-17 Young Adult Chuldren (High School Sr. and College Age): 18 -24 Adult Children: 25+ Next is a conditional question. The answer list will only appear if physical custody is not shared and your MLCer does not live at home. Who has custody? I (the LBS) have physical custody My MLCer has physical Custody Custody is shared and relatively even My MLCer still lives at home If the first or second are selected, the conditional questions show up. How often do you or your MLCer visit the children? Daily unless atypical circumstances prevent it 4-6 times a week 3 times a week Twice a week Once a week Every other week Once a Month and an extended visit during the Summer or some holidays Once a Month Every few months and an extended visit during the Summer or some holidays Every few months They have an extended visit during the Summer or some holidays Rarely Never Between physical contact there is other contact (phone, email, text…) Regularly Occasionally Rarely Not at all Should I include a comment that if the MLCer is a multiple returner, answer only for those periods the MLCer is not home? Here’s a different form of the custody question. I wrote each of these different questions at different times. One may be better or maybe combining pieces of each would be best. This does include a question for adult children—which hopefully I can make conditional based on previous answers, but I don’t know if one question can have multiple conditions in the available features. So for the non-minor children, this is about living arrangements and it’s more about custody for the minor children. Adult with MLCer with LBS with both parents Not Home University Minor: Custody Questions LBS is custodial parent, MLCer abandoned kids LBS is custodial parent, Infrequent Visitation  contact through phone, Internet (possible geographic distance) LBS is custodial parent, some visitation  2-3 times per month (possibly other contact between visits) LBS is custodial parent, regular visitation  Once a week or more LBS has primary joint custody MLCer is custodial parent, no or almost no visitation MLCer is custodial parent, some visitation MLCer is custodial parent, regular visitation MLCer has primary joint custody Children are split between the parents  ( 1 or more lives with the MLCer, 1 or more lives with the LBS)  Please give details in the comments box at the end of the survey. All those above are for Biological/Adopted Children of the MLCer and LBS. I haven’t gotten very far for step children, but here is a list. Minor Step: MLCer's Biological/Adopted Children MLCer was the main custodial parent MLCer shared custody (or it changed a few times) MLCer was the only active parent MLCer was not the main custodial parent MLCer was not an active parent--little to no contact I may add a condition to that to ask more questions if there was little to no contact—such as was it due to the other parent keeping the child from the MLCer (pre-MLC)? Okay, off the parenting issue and to employment. I just thought of this today, so it’s not advanced. Does it need to be? Employment My MLCer's main job was as a stay at home parent. My MLCer had a professional career-track job. My MLCer had a steady but non-career-track job. My MLCer had a multiple jobs or careers over the years and did not really find his or her footing toward stability or success. My MLCer was self-employed and the business was going well. My MLCer was self-employed and the business has been rough. My MLCer and I ran a business together and the business has been going well. My MLCer and I ran a business together and the business has been rough. As I think about it, yes it needs to be more advanced. An MLCer may have just lost a good career-track job or something. So help formulating that sort of question or a section for that would be great. I realized framed that question in the past tense, but it could be present, so I need to show if it’s only the past and that has changed or if it is still ongoing. I may be able to make that conditional. It also seems important to include a portion of career-change; has the MLCer decided made a drastic career change—going back to school and a completely new field. These same questions should be asked regarding the LBS. Does that mean I would ask them twice, or have a section within each for the MLCer and the LBS—would that be possible with conditional questions? Hmmm, things to think about. I also think it might be good to create an update survey for people who have completed the survey to update information—such as if their spouse moves out, files for separation or divorce or a divorce is finalized. I don’t know about including changes rather than updates—like switching contact styles—other than for previously at home MLCers, or a low/high energy designation of the LBS couldn’t tell before. That might just be too complex for coding—at least at this stage. But such a form would include several of the date fields from the original for matching with the original entry—and then I could just manually change the updated fields. So let me know if you have suggestions or more ideas for making it more credible. I may or may not respond regularly since we’re trying to move and that’s going to be a priority for a while, but I will add suggestions to my notes file.

[forthetrees]

Just a hunch but beware of wording that is emotional or too subjective like the one about employment and "not finding his/her footing or stability." You want it to have validity; it may be better to stick was observable/measurable outcomes.

Hope the move is a breeze.
FTT

[Rollercoasterider]

Just a hunch but beware of wording that is emotional or too subjective like the one about employment and "not finding his/her footing or stability." You want it to have validity; it may be better to stick was observable/measurable outcomes.

Hope the move is a breeze.
FTT

Yeah, good point. That was a brainstsrom add-in. I don't know how to say it really. There may even be a few designations of that. In general I fit it. I had career-track jobs, but not management, and I was never going to be a high flyer in labs. I was stable and it was professional, but lab rattish and the industry was volatile in that it's not unusual for prohjects to be short term or companies to be bought and sold with workers laid off. So as a worker I was stable. Then there is the other end where someone has themself had trouble finding their stability and had trouble holding a job. On paper those can appear similar. But how do I verbialize it for a question and should it be two designations?

[Stillpraying]

Re custody....perhaps include.  LBS has main custody with MLCer having partial custody.  or the reverse.  eg/. My H doesn't visit the kids here but has them one weekend every fortnight.

Another suggestion is to leave local scenarios out such as Senior High school and College.  These terms don't apply in all countries so perhaps just the age will do.
Hope this helps,
SP

[Rollercoasterider]

Re custody....perhaps include.  LBS has main custody with MLCer having partial custody.  or the reverse.  eg/. My H doesn't visit the kids here but has them one weekend every fortnight.

This is there. It's under the question How often do you or your MLCer visit the children?
That's actually in two forms depending on the previous answer, but I couldn't paste it properly, so I combined it for my example here.
If the LBS has main custody it will show How often does your MLCer visit the children?
And if the MLCer has main custody it will show How often do you visit the children?
Then there is a list of frequency options to choose from. Should it read visit the children OR have visitation? The latter may imply better that it may be overnight visits. Or I could include another subquestion that is a radio button: These visits are sometimes or always overnight versus these visits do not (or rarely) include sleep overs.

Another suggestion is to leave local scenarios out such as Senior High school and College.  These terms don't apply in all countries so perhaps just the age will do.

A good point. But I do need to include something for those that are at university and still technically home--but not home at the same time. They may be home during Summers, holiday breaks or weekends. That situation is not uncommon. And, at least in the US, students turn 18--no longer legally children and under standard custody law--before graduating from public school.
Any generic terms out there--ideas?

[BraveNewWorld]

Have you looked at using Google Forms? http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/ - part of Google Drive. I've used it for surveys in organizing youth soccer with parents - if I recall it dumps the data into a Google Spreadsheet for you ( exportable to Excel ). I don't recall any limits. Handy thing.

bnw