Manipula is a data processing system that can select, convert, rearrange, and sort data. It can combine data, derive new data, sort records, define filters, and perform complex computations. Almost every study you conduct with Blaise will require some use of Manipula. This is because there is usually a need to move and manipulate files of data.

 

Manipula is a fast and powerful tool with specially designed features to support efficient file processing, particularly of Blaise files, but other types as well. Manipula can read data in six types of format and can write data in seven types of format:

 

   - Standard ASCII text files
   - Special Blaise ASCIIRelational text files
   - Special Blaise fixed text files
      (random access files with no end-of-record markers)
   - Special Blaise print text files
     (formatted pages with headers and footers)
   - Blaise data files created by interviewing or data editing (can only be read or written by Blaise)
   - OLEDB Information file (boi file) to access OLE DB data sources.
   - XML file types.

 

Blaise includes advanced capabilities that allow Manipula to read and write directly to many PC databases, both client-server databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server™, and desktop databases such as Microsoft Access. The capability is part of the Blaise Components (the Datalink). The Blaise components are separately licensed.

 

This description of Manipula will address only capabilities in the standard Blaise system. In Manipula, there can be multiple input and output files, and each file might be of a different type of format. Each individual data file needs to have a description of the structure of records in the file so that the data can be read and written. This structure is definesd in Manipula by using a data model description.

 

The figure above shows the types of data that can be read and written by Manipula. For each connection line in the figure, there must be a data model description, represented by a circle in the figure.
more ...  More complete explanations of these formats see the Blaise Help.

 

Flow of data for Manipula: See diagram above.

 

Things You Can Do With Manipula:

 

There are many things you can do with Manipula for both basic and sophisticated needs.

If you have unique identification numbers and associated administrative data, you can initialise a Blaise data set before the survey starts. You can manipulate and reformat the data before initialization.

 

You can read survey data into or out of Blaise, or add data stored on laptops as part of a Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) study to the central database. You might want to do this for a section of the questionnaire or for a subset of forms.

 

You can generate reports on survey progress.

 

You can run an edit check on all forms or a subset of forms in a data file, invoking the RULES sections of the data model. The data may have come from another source, or you may need to apply additional edits or computations after data collection and before a final edit review.

 

If you have already collected some data and find that you need to modify the data model, you can convert the existing data into the new data format. This can be done during development or production.

 

You can export Blaise data to another software package such as SAS or Oracle, or write text files (such as batch files) based on the contents of a Blaise data model.

 

You can derive new fields from the fields in your survey. Some examples are making a new income field by splitting the measured income into a number of classes, or making a new income field by summing all income components.

 

You can sort an ASCII file on certain fields or calculate simple statistics on certain fields depending on the values of the sort fields.

 

You can construct data records from information contained in several different input files into one or more output files. The record construction is based on some common link field or group of common link fields.

Manipula supports XML input and XML output file types based on Blaise XSD schema files.