Reply IQ FAQ

Hardware

When would I select the Reply IQ over the Standard Reply?

When your application requires multi-digit entry, and/or you are looking to provide a higher level of feedback to the participants, such as whether their answer was correct/incorrect.

How is the individual LCD screen used?

The LCD screen is used to display prompts (Respond 1-5, ID, etc.), question/portion of question as set-up in the software for display, feedback to the participants (correct/incorrect, score, etc.) or a message to all or an individual keypad.

How many characters can be displayed on the LCD?

Five lines of 20 characters can be displayed in standalone mode, 7 lines of 20 characters are available in their standard polling mode. The display is not designed to scroll text.

How do you turn on the keypad?

Simply press any key on the keypad to turn on the unit. It is a good habit to always use the enter key when turning on the keypad.

What type of batteries do the keypads use and how long do they last?

Each keypad uses 3 AAA batteries. Batteries are expected to last approximately 50-150 hours, depending on usage. Keypads can use either standard alkaline batteries or NiMH rechargeable batteries. If you order a recharging rack with your initial order, rechargeable batteries are included. You must never place keypads with standard alkaline batteries into the charging rack. It may damage the batteries and voids warranty on the keypad.

How can you tell when the battery is getting low?

There is a battery indicator on the keypad LCD. Also, you can turn on the keypad and read battery life through our wInquiry software's System Diagnostics.

Do you have to be in "line of sight" in order to make the keypad's data collect?

No - the keypads communicate via radio frequency. The spread-spectrum radio circuitry and proprietary response verification protocol integral to the patent pending design provides a high degree of signal security.

How far will the keypad communicate with the base station?

The base station will communicate with a keypad that is within 500 feet.

What is the maximum number of keypads that the base station will communicate with?

The base station comes standard to operate with 300 keypads. It can be expanded in increments of 300 to communicate with a maximum of 1500 keypads.

How many ports can be used?

Up to 15 ports, serial or Ethernet, may be used.

How does the base station communicate with the computer?

You can set the base station to communicate via RS-232 serial port, or via Ethernet connection.

How fast do the keypads communicate responses?

The speed of collection is based on how many keypads you are talking to. You can talk to 100 keypads in approx. one second. It takes approximately nine seconds to talk to 1500 keypads. Certain software features may take much longer, such individual name or score display, due to the communication protocol to talk to individual keypads.

Warranty?

One year parts and labor warranty.

Can we operate two systems in rooms beside one another?

Yes, it is important to have the two systems on separate channels so that you do not get "cross-talk" between the two rooms. For the Americas System, there are 15 channels available. For the 43K international system, there are 4 channels available.

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wInquiry Software Related Questions

What are the most popular applications for this system?

wInquiry is used for many applications - some of the more popular ones include: opinion polls, voting, surveys, market research, focus groups, classroom management, group testing, game shows, strategic planning and trade show exhibits.

What type of groups are most often using it?

ARS is used by almost any industry you can name. It is flexible to allow questions of your own choosing, so any topic can be covered. It is most often used in the pharmaceutical, automotive, continuing medical education and financial industries.

Is the data saved throughout?

Yes, data is saved throughout after each question and can be reported in a variety of ways.

How long does it take for the data to be processed?

The data is processed immediately and is available for graph and printed reports.

What about the software license? Do I have to renew every year?

The software license does not need to be renewed each year. Our software uses a software key/hasp as a copy protection device. We feel that with the key, we can provide our clients the greatest level of flexibility to install the software onto multiple machines. We can provide a password to run a session in case of emergency/lost key.

Are we restricted to using the system on one computer?

With each copy of the software, you can use it on one computer at a time; however, you can install it on as many computers as you would like for question/qbase development and reporting.

What are the computer requirements?

IBM-PC/Compatible with Windows 2000, NT, XP Pro, 98, or 95, 80486 CPU or better, an accelerated SVGA/XVGA video adapter with appropriate Windows drivers, parallel or USB port for software security key and serial or Ethernet port for connection of base station. Winquiry software works in both single and dual screen (extended desktop) modes. For maximum flexibility of operation, we recommend using Windows XP Pro with extended desktop using an XVGA video adapter and Celeron 400+ Mhz processor.

What about training/support?

We can provide telephone or e-mail technical support at no additional cost. There is a daily charge for on-site technical support. If you need after hours technical support, you can call our office and leave a message in our emergency voice mail. That voice mail box rings three executives to ensure someone can get the message and get back with our customers. Typical response time is less than 20 minutes. If you do not receive a call back in that timeframe. Call again, something happened to your message, or you neglected to leave a complete number where you can be reached. Be sure to include your area code.

How many choices are you allowed for each question?

This depends on the type of question you are asking. There are a variety of question types. For standard multiple-choice, timed, wager, or rank poll questions, you can have up to 10 choices. For a team question, you can have up to 20. For a range question, it can be up to 100. For multi-digit and roster (identifying) questions, you can have participants enter a whole number up to 10 digits for entry and processing.

Do I have to use 1, 2, 3 for my responses? Or can I use A-E?

You do need to use numbers. There are no letter keys on the Reply IQ keypad.

How large can my question be? How much can I fit on the screen?

wInquiry provides complete flexibility for you to input text of your own choosing and size. We recommend that you keep your questions as brief as possible and that you do not use smaller than a 16 pt font on the screen, or it will be too hard for the audience to see. 20 pt font or above is most desirable.

What type of countdown clock can I have?

There are a variety of clocks available. The digital countdown is most popular. We also have a clock face, horizontal bars, vertical bars and our non-responding keypad clock (which is best used if you absolutely want to ensure collection from every keypad in the room). All clocks can be sized and colors set. Animation files can be used for the clock as well. When the animation ends, the clock ends. It is not absolutely necessary to show or run a clock. Without the clock, the polling period is controlled by the operator.

Can I play music during the countdown?

Yes, you can play wave or midi files during the countdown clock and have special music effects at different points of the presentation - question display, clock, graph display, and a variety of game results screen.

Can I separate my audience by demographic groups?

Yes, this is a processing we call filtering. Data can be displayed by individual subgroup or in a multiple filter format, grouping together subgroups from a single polled question.

What about reporting?

After the session, you can use the wInquiry's reporting capability to generate and print a variety of reports. Under preferences, you can also set an option to save each image as a jpeg file throughout the interactive session as it advances. The images can be shared in a PowerPoint® or html format after the meeting. An extra utility program (Createppt.exe) is used to facilitate putting the image files into a Power Point presentation.

Does it work with PowerPoint?

IQ keypads do not work directly with PowerPoint; however, a utility is included that allows you to capture PowerPoint slides that can be transferred to wInquiry. If your presentation contains animations that are critical to your presentation, it is best to run PowerPoint separate from wInquiry and switch between the two programs. This can be accomplished on one computer, or running the programs on two separate computers and using a video switcher between the two. Also wInquiry images can be converted to PowerPoint. See Reporting above.

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Decision Builder Software Related Questions

What does Decision Builder do for me that wInquiry doesn't?
Allows you to prioritize up to 20 items. wInquiry can only prioritize up to 10 items with the Rank Poll. Also, wInquiry does not have the capability to allow you to do a cross comparison, or opportunity map, based on two sets of data. You need Decision Builder for that.

How many items can be processed in a list? How long can the items be?
Up to 20 items can be processed. Each item can be up to 256 characters in length; however, you will want to keep these items as short as possible for readability on the screen. The long the item, the smaller the font is that generates the item within the polling process.

Once the list is prioritized, how can the data be displayed?
The items can be displayed it a rank list order, vertical graph or horizontal graph. It the vertical graph format, you need to highlight each bar to see the item description and its ranked score.

What does the number beside the item mean?

This number is a standardized ranking that is generated by the polling process. For Ordinal Rating, this number is based on the sum of all audience responses for the item; for Paired Weighting, it is based on the sum of the number of times the item was chosen. In both cases the value is 'standardized,' meaning that it is adjusted to fit on a scale from 1 to 100, despite the fact that the actual maximum value an item may receive can be more or less than 100, based on the number of participants in the audience and he scale used (in Ordinal Rating) or number of pairs polled (in Paired Weighting).

What information/data appears on the "opportunity map"?

The Opportunity Map graphs the results of two Datasets generated from the same list of items; however, it does so by plotting the location of each item as a data point whose X-coordinate is derived from the ranking by a criterion (importance, satisfaction, etc.), and the Y-coordinate from a second criterion. List items fall into one of four 'quadrants' of the graph.

Data points in the lower left quadrant represent items that were ranked low on both scales, while data points in the upper right quadrant ranked high on both scales. It is the remaining two quadrants, however, that represent the 'opportunity' for effecting change, in that they contain the items that were ranked low on one criterion scale and high on the other.

If someone leaves in the middle of voting, do you lose data?

You do not lose data so to speak, but the program is counting votes each item received, so if they leave in the middle of a polling session, it could skew the data slightly, but no data is really lost.

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