How do I determine the skip patterns for a questionnaire section?
The first step is to review all of the documentation for the questionnaires. To review skip patterns look at the complete questionnaire specifications. Please note that not all questionnaire items are released due to small sample sizes and confidentiality/sensitivity issues, but all skip pattern integrity was maintained and validated. The significance of a skip pattern depends on the question leading to the skip pattern, the questions within that skip pattern, and the variables you intend to analyze. If you fail to check for skip patterns, you may obtain only a proportion of the population, instead of the entire study population. Check the codebook to determine if a skip pattern affects the variables in your analysis.
