Hello Kristin,

I can understand why you might want this functionality but before we would wish to implement this there are a few considerations.

Based on what you have described we would probably suggest arranging your coding tool a bit differently. If you have a code called 'study type' with a number of child codes below it, each representing a study type, then the top code is like a question. Perhaps your top code could be worded something like 'What is the study type'. The reviewer would then only need to select one (or more) of the child codes. There wouldn't be a need to select/check the parent code as it is just a question.

Your second example could be handled the same way. There could be a question called 'What is the publication type' and the child codes could be the different publication types (such as 'journal articles'). If you are then trying to collect data on whether the study or paper is 'empirical' or 'non-empirical', that could be handled in a second question. We would recommend not having too many multiple levels of hierarchy (nesting your codes) as generating reports and comparisons becomes more cumbersome. Having it set up as a series of questions with possible answers removes the need to be ticking the parent code.

A final consideration is that having the system automatically checking codes based on other codes that the user selected is quite different from how the system presently works. It would required a new type of 'code type' which may not be a problem. The bigger danger is that the user may not understand the implications of this code type and be confused as to why codes are being selected when they never selected them.

If is quite possible that I am not appreciating the requirements that you have described so please feel free to response to this thread.

Best regards,

Jeff