Method and apparatus for validating a survey database
First Claim
1. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the improvement comprising a survey database checking module for checking the survey database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
- wherein selected checks attempt to identify one or more portions of the survey database that are misrepresentative; and
wherein said database checking module reports the one or more portions of the survey database that are misrepresentative in a number of result caveats.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for validating a survey database, preferably before any user requests are submitted to the survey database. This may be accomplished by analyzing the survey database and identifying those portions of the survey database that are potentially problematic, given the expected user request types. The present invention may then notify the user of any potential problems in the survey database, and/or warn the user to view certain results with caution.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the improvement comprising a survey database checking module for checking the survey database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein selected checks attempt to identify one or more portions of the survey database that are misrepresentative; and wherein said database checking module reports the one or more portions of the survey database that are misrepresentative in a number of result caveats. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the survey database having a number of surveys, each of the surveys having a number of corresponding data elements wherein selected data elements identify a selected one of a number of responses to a corresponding survey question, each of a number of selected surveys having a number of common categories wherein selected categories have a survey question that solicits least two responses from the respondents in each survey, the improvement comprising a database checking module for checking the database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein said database checking module checks the survey database by checking if any of the survey questions have less than a predefined number of a selected response. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the survey database having a number of surveys, each of the surveys having a number of corresponding data elements wherein selected data elements identify a selected one of a number of responses to a corresponding survey question, each of a number of selected surveys having a number of common categories wherein selected categories have a survey question that solicits least two responses from the respondents in each survey, the improvement comprising a database checking module for checking the database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein said database checking module checks the survey database by checking if any of the survey questions have greater than a predefined number of a selected response.
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20. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the survey database having a number of surveys, each of the surveys having a number of corresponding data elements wherein selected data elements identify a selected one of a number of responses to a corresponding survey question, each of a number of selected surveys having a number of common categories wherein selected categories have a survey question that solicits least two responses from the respondents in each survey, the improvement comprising a database checking module for checking the database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein said database checking module checks the survey database by checking if the number of a first response exceeds the number of a second response, be a predetermined amount, for a particular survey question.
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21. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the survey database having a number of surveys, each of the surveys having a number of corresponding data elements wherein selected data elements identify a selected one of a number of responses to a corresponding survey question, each of a number of selected surveys having a number of common categories wherein selected categories have a survey question that solicits least two responses from the respondents in each survey, the improvement comprising a database checking module for checking the database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein said database checking module checks the survey database by checking if a selected survey question has a statistically insignificant number of responses associated therewith in the survey database.
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22. A system for providing a user request to a survey database, wherein in response to the user request, the system accesses the survey database and generates a corresponding result, the survey database having a number of surveys, each of the surveys having a number of corresponding data elements wherein selected data elements identify a selected one of a number of responses to a corresponding survey question, each of a number of selected surveys having a number of common categories wherein selected categories have a survey question that solicits least two responses from the respondents in each survey, the improvement comprising a database checking module for checking the database, wherein said database checking module performs a number of checks on the survey database and provides a number of validation results;
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wherein said database checking module checks the survey database by determining if a selected category does not have a response for selected survey questions that correspond to the selected category.
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23. A method for analyzing a survey database in response to user requests, the method comprising the steps of:
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a. validating the survey database by Performing a number of predetermined checks thereon; b. executing a user request; c. wherein said validating step is performed in response to a survey validation user request; d. wherein said validating step includes the step of executing a number of predefined rules in a rules based expert system; and e. wherein said validating step includes the steps of; f. accessing the survey database via a survey analysis module; g. generating a number of intermediate reports; and h. processing the number of intermediate reports to provide a result. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification