Change the Text of an Interview Question

Policy Modeling allows you to override the question form that is automatically generated for an attribute.

Tip: You can also set up an interview to phrase questions in the second person (you) instead of the default third person. For more information, see Display Interview Text In Second Person Form.

When you create an attribute, a question form for that attribute is automatically generated by Policy Modeling. Not all question forms generated for an attribute are suitable, however, for the required purpose. In many cases, rather than asking a question in question form, you might want to abbreviate this to a label for the text field. For example, instead of asking "Who is the person?" in question form, it might be better to express this more simply as "Name:"

To override the question text:

1. On the Interview tab, select the input control in the screen list or the screen layout view.
   
2. Click the question text once to enable edit mode.
   
   
   
   
3. Type the new text for the question. Press Enter. The input control in the screen layout view is updated to show the new text.
   
   
   

Tip: Clicking the reset button when the attribute text is in edit mode in the screen layout view enables you to reset the caption to the default question text for the attribute.

General principles to bear in mind when editing question text are:

• use plain language rather than legal language
• use terminology the target audience are familiar with
• do not assume the user is familiar with the source material unless instructed otherwise
• use substitution to make questions easier to understand
• keep questions short
• avoid superfluous phrases like "in respect of" and "in the U.S. or elsewhere"
• simplify questions so that users find it easier to determine what they are being asked (if you can do so without compromising the meaning of the underlying legislation or source rules)