Rule based systems applied to online surveys[pdf]. P. Urbano and D. Rodrigues. In IADIS WWW/Internet 2008 conference, Frieburg, October, 13rd – 15th 2008. (BibTex, Citeulike)
We describe in this paper De.:Sid, an Intelligent Online Survey program based on rules. We have incorporated three rule knowledge bases in a standard online survey architecture, that are used to control three vital components on a survey: (1) the dependencies between questions and answers, i.e. the structure and survey branching logic, (2) the decision regarding the selection of the next question to be asked and (3) the inconsistency detection between different answers. These rule based components allow us to escape to a predetermined question sequence, achieving flexibility and adaptability to the users answers; not only that, they enhance usability allowing an easy navigation along the different survey questions and the possibility at any moment to backtrack and revise the answers without loosing global coherence, finally there is an explicit treatment of inconsistent situations by exposing and explaining them and inviting the user to revise its answers. De.:Sid benefits from the qualities generally associated with rules: (1) separation from other system elements (database, middleware and web graphical user interfaces) allowing its explicit management, reusability and independent modification, (2) externalization which allows everyone to know and understand the decision making process, and finally (3) to enable easy and quick rule changes tracing the change impact.