What are the alphanumeric codes to the left of each item on the FACIT questionnaires? Can I remove them or change the numbering?
The alphanumeric codes are used to uniquely identify individual FACIT items. The advantage of using alphanumeric codes (as opposed to consecutive numbering) is that they allow one to more easily compare common items across questionnaires in the measurement system, and over time as the content and order of questions may change. Any given question will have the same code, regardless of the questionnaire on which it is located. In addition, the FACIT scoring algorithms reference items by their alphanumeric codes, so we encourage collaborators to use the same when naming item variables in their data set. For these reasons, we do not recommend removing or changing the coding system from the forms.
