Importing external variables lets you append existing respondent data from outside Discover to your survey records for analysis. This is useful when you already have a database of respondent information and want to avoid asking for the same details again in a survey question.
Note that imported variables are only available in the Analysis area — for example, in crosstabs and segmentation — and cannot be used in the Create area for survey authoring.
Imported data is treated as categorical, meaning all values are bucketed into categories. For example, if values 1, 2, 4, and 1 are imported across four respondents, the two respondents with a value of 1 are grouped together.
For the file to import correctly, follow these rules:
Importing is additive. If a file contains a variable name matching a previously imported variable, the new data is merged with the existing data rather than replacing it. A confirmation dialog appears in this case.
Examples:
The unmatched IDs report shows the number of unmatched IDs found, specifying whether they were in the import file or the survey database.
To resolve, remove unmatched IDs from the import file and reupload. Alternatively, you can proceed without changes. The software will ignore missing IDs in the import file and categorize missing survey record IDs as “Other” in analysis.
If the file cannot be read due to a connection or technical issue, try importing again. If the issue persists, contact our support team.
