US3735505A

US3735505A - Response card and qualitative response analyzer and method

Info

Publication number: US3735505A
Application number: US00139673A
Authority: US
Inventors: C Stein
Original assignee: INSTRUCTIONAL IND Inc
Current assignee: INSTRUCTIONAL IND Inc
Priority date: 1971-05-03
Filing date: 1971-05-03
Publication date: 1973-05-29
Anticipated expiration: 1990-05-29

Abstract

A response processing system and method are disclosed wherein responses to prepared questions are made by marking appropriate areas on a card. The card is then fed to a reader/processor where a unique character substitution is made. The reader/processor prints out, via a conventional teletypewriter, the nature of the response of each person answering the questions. The substitution of a unique character enables one viewing the print-out to obtain a ''''feel'''' for the nature of the responses to each question by each person without using a computer to evaluate the results. In addition, each card bears an identification number, marked by the respondent, utilizing a bi-quinary code. The identification number in this form enables the response information to be fed to a computer for quantitative analysis.

Description

United States Patent 91 Stein [451 May 29, 1973 [75] Inventor: Charles R. Stein, Schenectady, NY.

[73] Assignee: Instructional Industries, Inc., Ballston Lake, NY.

[22] Filed: May 3, 1971 [21] 'Appl.No.: 139,673

[52] US. Cl ..35/48 [51] Int. Cl. ..G09b 7/00 [58] Field of Search ..35/48, 11; 235/61.9 R, 61.6 E

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,487,561 1/1970 Azure, Jr. 'et a1 ..35/48 B 3,266,174 8/1966 Bechtol et a1. ..35/1l 3,251,142 5/1966 .lasbutis ..35/11 3,186,110 6/1965 Smyth ..35/ll 3,212,203 10/1965 Atkinson ..35/48 B 2,924,895 2/1960 Bachi ..35/24 R O O O O 0 O O O O I l I l l l l 2 O O O Primary Examiner--Lawrence Charles Assistant Examiner-J. H. Wolff Attorney-Richard R. Brainard, Paul A. Frank, Charles T. Watts, Paul F. Wille, Frank L. Neuhauser, Oscar B. Waddell and Joseph B. Forman [5 7] ABSTRACT A response processing system and method aredisclosed wherein responses to prepared questions are made by marking appropriate areas on a card. The card is then fed to a reader/processor where a unique character substitution is made. The reader/processor prints out, via a conventional teletypewriter, the nature of the response of each person answering the questions. The substitution of a unique character enables one viewing the print-out to obtain a feel for the nature of the responses to each question by each person without using a computer to evaluate the results. In addition, each card bears an identification number, marked by the respondent, utilizing a bi-quinary code. The identification number in this form enables the response information to be fed to a computer for quantitative analysis.

14 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures l234567890l234567890|2345 |2345l2345l2345l2345|2345 QQQQQQQNMQQQQQQ ooooooooo 9 54-32 momma/cameo 2 545323 456 zsmooooooooooozwoooomo 234QQQQQQQQQOQ22QQQOQQQQQ 2 zssoooommomozoomoooo 7 432 I smomooooozoooomoo 4 moooooooomoooomooooo 345 22345 moooooooooomm RESPONSE CARD AND QUALITATIVE RESPONSE ANALYZER AND METHOD This invention relates to response processing systerns, as may be used in the field of education, and in the information, enabling one to readily obtain an understanding of the nature of the responses.

The use of the multiple choice question has enableseducators to give and grade larger, more comprehensive tests and more of such tests. By having the student mark particular locations on an answer card or sheet, the reading, scoring and grading of such answer cards can be, and has been, done by machine.

While automatic grading and scoring is of great assistance to a teacher, a large amount of the information obtainable from the students answers is left unused. That is, a composite of the students answers also provides valuable information as to patterns or trends of the class as a whole.

In the prior art there are also available machines that go beyond merely scoring and grading. Some also provide a composite print-out showing whether a question was answered correctly or incorrectly and, if incorrectly, the nature of the error. This type of print-out, however, presents the teacher with a dense block of information that must be closely scrutinized to obtain the desired information. The truly affluent school may have access to a computer which will quantitatively analyze the information for the teacher.

In general, however, the need exists for a low cost processing facility that will provide the teacher with a qualitative analysis of the students responses. Further, it would be desirable to have such a facility capable of tying in with a computer for quantitative analysis should the need or opportunity arise.

A similar need exists in other areas utilizing multiple 4 choice questions as well; as, for example, in opinion polls.

In general, the need exists wherever it is desired to determine trends or patterns in a number of responses to a large number of questions without utilizing a computer.

In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a means for producing a qualitative analysis of response data.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a response qualitative analysis system capable of being directly coupled to a computer.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a response analysis system in which a composite printout of the responses provides a visually significant pattern.

The foregoing objects are achieved in the present invention in which the response analysis system substitutes a unique symbol for a particular response. A composite print-out of the responses by way of a conventional teletypewriter then produces a visually significant pattern that reveals, qualitatively, the nature of the responses. In addition, a unique identification, endorsed on each card, enables direct coupling of the response analysis system to a computer for quantitative analysis, if desired.

A more complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating the present invention.

Hg. 2 illustrates a print-out in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates the response cards utilized in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate print-outs of poll information in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a functional logic circuit for use in the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates the wrong answer logic circuit of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates the functional logic utilized to produce the pattern of FIG. 5.

FIG. 10 illustrates the functional logic utilized to produce the pattern of FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a flow diagram representing the steps taken in carrying out the present invention to provide a pattern display in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. To continue the example of the utilization of the present invention in the field of education, each student taking an examination fills out a suitable card having numbered spaces provided for an answer to each question, with each row on the answer card assigned to one question and each column on the card assigned to one of the possible answers to the multiple choice question. Each card is preferably also provided with a number of rows set aside for student identification. The student then marks one or more columns in each row in accordance with his identification number. By the utilization of a bi-quinary coding system, the numbers zero through nine can be utilized in the student identification number.

After the student has filled out the identification portion of the card and completed the answer portion of the card, the cards from the students taking the examination are then collected and inserted into the reader/- processor or response analyzer of the present invention. As each card is read, the identification portion is separately printed out on a conventional teletypewriter. The answers of the particular student are then printed out in the same row as the identification number. Each response of the student is examined to determine whether or not the response corresponds to the correct answer to the question. If an incorrect answer is marked, an appropriate signal is sent to the teletype writer so that the answer given by the student is printed. If the response by the student is correct, the response analyzer then substitutes a unique character for the correct answer and instructs the teletypewriter to print this unique character.

The unique character substituted by the response analyzer of the present invention is preferably of a visually innocuous or insignificant nature. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the correct response by the student has substituted therefor the asterisk character FIG. 2 illustrates a typical print-out obtained by the use of the present invention. Row 00000 gives the number for each question. Row 00001 represents the correct answer for each question. The succeeding rows represent the responses of a class of students to the 25 questions given. As can be seen by inspection of FIG. 2, the substitution of a unique character, in this case an asterisk, renders the response pattern of the class as a whole readily apparent without the need for external computer processing. A teacher inspecting a print-out such as illustrated in FIG. 2 can readily see that questions 1-3 and 16 were the most difficult, in addition to an indication of how each individual student answered each question. Thus, by reducing the visual significance of the character printed out for a correct answer, the teacher readily obtains a qualitative analysis of or feel" for the nature of the responses of the student. Further, since the student identification number is also printed out, the performance of each individual student can also be readily determined.

The use of a student identification number serves several useful purposes. If additional analysis of the responses of the students is desired, the student identification number is used as a line identification number in a digital computer. The initial identification number, while illustrated as comprising five digits, may be expanded or reduced as desired. For example, utilizing the five digits illustrated almost 100,000 students can have their answers to various tests analyzed by a computer. Further, if desired, a portion of the identification number can be set aside to identify the school and/or date on which the particular examination is given; that is, the identification number need not identify only the student. By virtue of the bi-quinary encoding of the presentinvention, the identification information is expanded by a factor of for each row on the answer card set aside for identification.

FIG. 3 illustrates a pair of response cards utilized in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Card 31 represents a student or response card and card 32 illustrates a teacher or master card. Student card 31 has the first five rows 33 thereof set aside for the identification number previously described. The sixth row 34 has the spaces thereof completely filled so as to register a space on the teletypewriter utilized in printing out the students responses. This is merely a convenience to visually separate the identification and response portions of the print-out. The remainder of student card 31 is illustrated as comprising 30 rows of answer spaces five columns wide.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, each answer comprises a single mark such as mark 36 in any given row. While the bi-quinary encoding utilized in the identification portion of response card 31 could be utilized in the response section, filling in more than one mark in the response section would probably be too burdensome for a student under the stress of an examination.

Teacher card 32 may actually be considered the memory of the response analyzer in that the card has marked thereon the proper answers to the questions for comparison with the responses of the student. The portion of card 32 corresponding to the identification portion of card 31 may be either completely filled in as shown or left blank. Indicia marks 35 on both

cards

31 and 32 provide internal synchronization in the card reader.

Synchronization marks as such are well known in the art and form no part of the present invention. Card 32 has a single indicia 37 in each row to provide an indication of the proper answer for the question corresponding to that particular row.

The first two rows of FIG. 2 can be readily obtained by having the reader/analyzer of the present invention read two appropriately marked cards to establish the number of each question and the proper answer therefore. Each student card 31 is then compared with master card 32 and the appropriate character typed by a conventional teletypewriter. Conventional grading and scoring may also be done by suitable equipment connected to the card reading mechanism. The display of the present invention is intended to be used instead of or as a complement to the conventional grading and scoring systems of the prior art.

The advantages of the present invention may be readily appreciated by envisioning FIG. 2 as a print-out of all of the answers rather than only of the incorrect answers. One would be faced with a 12 X 25 character matrix of no apparent meaning to the viewer.

In the prior art some limited processing is utilized to indicate whether or not an answer is correct or, if the answer is incorrect, the nature of the error. However, substituting just any other number or letter for the answers given by the student does not remedy the difficulty that one is faced with: an extremely dense array of information, requiring careful scrutinization in order to elicit information. However, by utilizing the unique character substitution of the present invention, the print-out of the responses by the class takes on visual significance; that is, a pattern is formed that readily provides the viewer with a qualitative analysis of the students responses.

As indicated above, the character substitution of the present invention may be utilized in areas other than test results. For example, in public opinion polls responses 1-5 may be utilized to indicate opinions of very much against to very much in favor. For this type of response a master or teacher card is not utilized, but rather the responses on card 31 are read directly. If desired, the identification portion of card 31 may be omitted to provide anonymity for the person responding to the poll or may be included so as to identify the date and location of the taking of the poll.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a direct printout from an opinion response card. Other than a number of ones in the upper'and lower left hand corners and several fours in the lower right hand corner, no particular pattern is discernible in the responses.

FIG. 5 illustrates one form of character substitution in which three readily distinguishable numerical characters are utilized to provide an all-numerical character substitution. The display of FIG. 5 is obtained by rewriting all ones and twos as ones and fours and fives as zeros. The display of FIG. 5 provides a better indication of a possible pattern in the responses illustrated in FIG. 4.

However, the display of FIG. 6, wherein two nonalpha-numerical characters are used, provides the most clear indication of a preference pattern from which it may be said, assuming 1" indicates favor, that the first four propositions are widely favored, the last four statements or questions are not and that the fifth and sixth statements are generally favored. As can be readily seen from FIG. 6, the unique character substitution of the present invention provides a qualitative analysis that is immediately evident upon merely looking at the display and provides this analysis without the use of external computer means.

An example of suitable logic circuitry for carrying out the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 7. Generally, FIG. 7 illustrates a portion of the comparison circuitry whereby the answers on the master card and the responses on the response card are compared. The grading and scoring apparatus that would also be connected to the inputs of the logic circuitry illustrated in FIG. 7 has not been shown since such circuitry is well known in the art and forms no part of the present invention. An example of a suitable card reading, grading and scoring mechanism is the Automata 450 Test Scorer wherein each response card is optically read and the responses compared to the answers on a master card. For each incorrect response, the correct answer is marked on the response card and a mark is made in the margins of the card. The totals of the number of correct and incorrect responses are also printed on the response card. When utilizing the present invention in conjunction with a grading and scoring mechanism, certain elements may be shared by the response analyzer and the grading and scoring mechanism. For example, an optical card reader can supply signals to both the analyzer and the grading and scoring mechanism.

Specifically, master card 32 is scanned, for example, by a plurality of photocells l1, 12, 13, 14 and 15 to determ ine the location of the correct answer illustrated as a mark in the 2 region adjacent photocell 12. All of the regions in a particular row are scanned simultaneously by photocells 11-15. The responses marked by a student on response card 31 are scanned a row at a time by

photocells

21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. The outputs from these photocellsv are fed as one input to correct answer determining circuit 70. The output of photocells 11-15 serve as the other input to correct answer determining circuit 70. This circuit contains a plurality of AND

gates

71, 72, 73, 74, 75 each coupled to corresponding photocells of the master and response readout mechanism. The outputs of AND gates 71 through 75'are coupled as inputs to OR gate 76. The output of OR gate 76 is connected as one input to AND gate 81. The other input to AND gate 81 is derived from OR gate 82 and n-stage counter 83 by way of switch 84. Photocells 11-15 are also connected as inputs to OR gate 82. The output from n-stage counter 83 is also coupled to inverting amplifier 88 which has its output connected to AND

gates

94, 95, 96, 97 and 98. The outputs of AND gates 94-98 serve as the activating inputs to encoder 99. The output of AND gate 81 is coupled to inverting amplifier 85 and, via AND gate 89, to encoder 86. The output of inverting amplifier 85 is connected to control input 87 of AND gate 90. The outputs of AND gates 90 are coupled to wrong answer logic circuit 91. The outputs of logic circuit 91 are coupled as inputs to AND gate 89 via an inverter and to encoders 92 and 93. The outputs of

encoders

86, 92, 93 and 99 serve as inputs to teletype mechanism 100, which contains print-out portion 101 and tape punch portions 102.

The overall operation of the present invention is as follows: Assuming a master card such as card 32 has been inserted to be scanned by photocells 11-15 and a response card such as card 31 has been inserted to be scanned by photocells 21-25, the logic circuitry of FIG. 7 is first activated so as to print out the identification portion of card 31. This is accomplished by having the output of n-stage counter 83 low so as to block AND gate 81. The low state of the output of n-stage counter 83 is transformed to a high input by inverter 88 which in turn opens AND gates 94-98. As the first rows of response card 31 are scanned by photocells 21-25 the signals produced by photocells 21-25 are coupled by way of AND gates 94-98 respectively to encoder 99 where, due to the bi-quinary encoding of the identification portion of card 31, the characters 0-9 are encoded and sent as an input to teletypewriter 100 where they are printed out as the initial portion of the row of type set aside for that particular answer card.

In FIG. 3 response card 31 is shown as having an identification portion 33 bearing the identification 12345. Following the identification portion all of the response regions are filled in so as to provide a space to separate the identification portion from the response portion from the print-out. The simultaneous presence of an input at all of photocells 21-25 is interpreted by encoder 99 as a space signal which is then sent to teletype mechanism 109.

During this time, counter 83 has been counting the number of rows read out, which may be any arbitrarily chosen number. However, continuing the example illustrated in FIG. 3, after counter 83 has counted six rows the output thereof goes high opening AND gate 81 and, by way of inverting amplifier 88, closing AND gates 94-98. At this time, the bi-quinary coding utilized for the identification portion of the answer card will now be interpreted as an incorrect answer by the answer checking circuitry.

The answer checking circuitry generally comprises a logic circuit for determining if the correct answer has been given and another logic circuit to determine if an incorrect answer has been given. Logic circuit provides the function of determining whether or not the correct answer has been given by comparing the responses on card 31 with the answers marked on master card 32.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, answer 2 has been selected on both the master card and the response card. Photocell 12 provides one input signal to AND gate 72 and photocell 22 provides the other. The simultaneous presence of a signal from both photocells l2 and 22 opens AND gate 72 which produces an output signal that is coupled by way of OR gate 76 to AND gate 81. An output from AND gate 81 activates asterisk encoder 86 and, by way of inverter 85 closes AND gate 90. Encoder 86 produces the proper code for teletype mechanism 100 to produce an asterisk and, for each correct answer, an asterisk is produced in the row assigned to that particular response card. The absence of an output from logic circuit 91 opens AND gate 89 by way of an inverting amplifier, passing the signal from I AND gate 81 to encoder 86.

If the response on response card 31 did not correspond to the correct answer on master card 32, then no AND situations would have occurred within correct answer logic 70 and no output would be produced by AND gate 81. In the absence of an output from AND gate 81, the output from inverter 85 is high thereby opening AND gate 90 to couple the output signals from photocells 21-25 to wrong answer logic circuit 91.

Wrong answer logic circuit 9l.determines whether or not a single incorrect answer has been given or whether or not more than one answer has been given. If a single incorrect answer has been given, encoder 92 produces a coded output signal corresponding to the number marked on the response card, including zero for no response. If more than one answer has been given, logic 91 activates encoder 93 to produce a question mark character on teletypewriter 100. AND gate 89 provides an interlocking mechanism between the multiple answer output of logic circuit 91 and right answer encoder 86. Thus, if both the correct and incorrect answer are marked, the asterisk encoder is disabled so that a multiple answer indication is given in the printout.

Since the number of correct responses should well exceed the number of incorrect responses, asterisk encoder 86 is activated for the correct responses. The use of an asterisk provides in the print-out a visually insignificant character such that the print-out contains what appears to the eye to be an asterisk background against which the incorrect answers clearly stand out. The use of a space encoder to separate the identification portion and the response portion of the print-out and the use of a question mark encoder are in the nature of convenience items provided to either enhance the display or to reduce the possibility that the response analyzer of the present invention can be fooled" by an improper response on the part of the person filling out response card 31.

Switch 84 enables the logic circuitry of FIG. 7 to be utilized as a straight print-out mechanism of the information contained in the response cards. With switch 84 opened the input of AND gate 81 connected to switch 84 is always in a low condition thereby blocking any signals from OR gate 76. The low input is converted by inverter 88 to a high input thereby enabling AND gates 94-98. In this configuration the information obtained from the cards by photocells 21-25 will be printed out directly by teletype 100 under the control of encoder 99. Encoder 99, in addition to providing -9 and space codes may also be additionally provided with the necessary error checking apparatus so that only 0-9 and space codes are sent to teletype 100.

In order to increase the flexibility of the present invention, teletype 100 comprises a print-out mechanism 101 and a tape punch 102 for permanently recording the results of the test on perforated tape. The use of tape punch 102 and the bi-quinary coding enables the results of a given examination to be fed directly to a computer.

Encoders

86, 92, 93 and 99 preferably convert the information applied thereto into the ASCII code American Standard Code for Information Interchange). By so doing, the logic circuitry of the present invention can be used with any conventional teletypewriter mechanism without the modification of the teletypewriter and further, by the use of the punched tape, the information provided by the responses can be directly applied to a computer since the information is stored in a standardized format. While the ASCII code forms a part of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, any suitable coding system for storing the information may be utilized. Also, other means for storing the information may be used.

FIG. 8 is a detailed logic diagram of wrong answer logic circuit 91 and some of the circuitry associated therewith. Photocells 21-25 are coupled directly as inputs to OR gate 140 and AND gate 142. The output of OR gate 140 is coupled to inverter 141 which in turn has its output connected to zero encoder 92a. The output of AND gate 142 is connected to space encoder 99a. Interconnecting various combinations of the five output lines from photocells 21-25 are AND gates 111-120. AND gates 111-120 determine whether or not an incorrect, multiple answer has been given. Each of AND gates 111-120 has its output connected as an input to OR gate 121. The output of OR gate 121 is connected to question mark encoder 93 and, by way of inverter 122, to AND gates 131-135. The outputs of AND gates 131-135 are coupled to 1-5 encoder 92b. The other inputs of AND gates 131-135 are connected respectively to photocells 21-25.

The overall operation of the logic circuitry of FIG. 8 is as follows: OR gate 140 has its inputs connected to all of photocells 21-25, therefore a mark in any of the answer regions in a particular row will induce a signal on that line which will pass through OR gate 140 to inverter 141. An input pulse on inverter 141 drives its output low thereby disabling zero encoder 92a. If, however, no answer has been supplied for a particular row, then the output of OR gate 140 is low and the output of inverter 141 is high, thereby actuating zero encoder 92a. The output of zero encoder 92a is coupled to teletypewriter which in turn prints a zero.

AND gate 142, on the other hand, senses whether or not a signal is produced by all of photocells 21-25. If this is the case then an output is obtained from AND gate 142 which in turn activates space encoder 99a. It will be recalled from the description of FIG. 7 that a space is utilized to isolate the identification and response portions of the print-out.

Assuming a single incorrect answer has been given, for example, answer 3 is chosen when the correct answer is 2, then an output pulse from OR gate disables zero encoder 92a. The lack of a signal on the remainder of the lines prevents AND gate 142 from activating space encoder 9911. Since a single incorrect response has been given, there are no AND situations detected by AND gates 11-120. Therefore the output of OR gate 121 is low and question mark encoder 93 is not activated. The low output from OR gate 121 is converted to a high output by inverter 122 thereby enabling AND gates 131-135. The signal from photocell 23 is coupled by AND gate 133 to 1-5 encoder 92b. Encoder 92b in turn produces the correct code for teletypewriter 100 to type the number 3 in the print-out of the answer to that particular question.

If, however, both

answers

2 and 3 are chosen, and 2 is the correct answer, then multiple answer encoder 93 will be activated so that teletypewriter 100 types a question mark as the answer to that particular question. This is accomplished in the following manner: AND gate 112 senses the simultaneous presence of answers on

spaces

2 and 3 and produces an output pulse. The output pulse from AND gate 112 is coupled by way of OR gate 121 to question mark encoder 93. The output of OR gate 121 also closes AND gates 131-135 by way of inverter 122. Thus for a multiple answer response, even though one answer is correct, the system types a question mark in the print-out. The use of a question mark is an arbitrary although fitting character for this particular response. Any suitable character may be used instead. The question mark is chosen since it is a more visually significant character than the asterisk and will stand out in the print-out as an erroneous answer. An interlocking mechanism (not shown) prevents an output from OR gate 121 when there is an output signal from AND gate 142.

Thus, by substituting a unique character for correct answers, the teacher may readily determine in a qualitative fashion what the performance of a class or an individual student relative to the class is on a particular examination. The term visually insignificant should be understood to mean that type of character which does not catch the eye when viewing a display of all of the answers as a whole. In other words, it is the attempt of the present invention to generate something in the nature of a picture by the answers given to a set of questions. By viewing the answers as a whole, one obtains a qualitative analysis of the responses.

While a blank space could be substituted for a correct answer, this is not preferred since a blank space, being nothing, is indefinite. Further, where, as in FIG. 2, the number of correct answers greatly exceeds the number of incorrect answers, the use of a blank space would tend to destroy the pattern established in the eye by the ordered rows and columns of asterisks. Further, although any symbol may be used, standard typewriter characters are preferred for ease in implementing the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates the use of the present invention in qualitatively analyzing the results of a poll in which the responses are not compared to a master but the results are merely printed out after the substitution of one or more unique characters. Specifically, in FIG. 9 photocells 21-25 are coupled to encoder 150 in such a manner that the preference indicated on the response card is not printed out directly as a matrix of numbers but rather a numerical substitution is made so that a pattem is obtained. Specifically,

photocells

21 and 22, which may sense the mark on a particular row indicating a positive response to a statement or question, are coupled by OR gate 151 to the numeral one encoding portion of encoder 150. Photocell 23 is directly connected to the numeral three portion of encoder 150. Photocells 24 and 25 are coupled by way of OR gate 152 to the zero encoding portion of encoder 150.

In operation, the embodiment of FIG. 9 directly prints out, with character substitution, the results indicated on each response card. The use of a l, 3 and is arbitrary and is merely to obtain three readily distinguishable characters so that the composite print-out produces a pattern. The embodiment of FIG. 9 could be combined with that of FIG. 7 so that either function is obtained by the use of appropriate selection switches. For example, when switch 84 is open another switch could simultaneously activate encoder 150 rather than encoder 99 so that a poll print-out is obtained.

In the embodiment of FIG. 10 a poll print-out is also obtained. However, in this embodiment, symbols are substituted rather than numerical characters. Here photocells 21 and 22 are coupled by way of OR gate 161 to the 1 portion of encoder 160. Photocell 23 is directly connected to the hyphen portion of encoder 160 and

photocells

24 and 25 are connected by way of OR gate 162 to the asterisk portion of encoder 160.

The overall operation of the embodiment of FIG. 10 is similar to that of FIG. 9 in which a print-out of the responses is obtained with the character substitution to provide a pattern indication of the nature of the responses. The embodiment of FIG. 10 is preferred to the embodiment of FIG. 9 when a print-out only is to be obtained since the symbols used in the embodiment of FIG. 10 provide a greater visual distinction between the various responses. However, when the results of the poll are to be further analyzed by a computer, it is sometimes easier to program a computer to' accept numbers for analysis than a variety of symbols which may also be used in the program itself. Thus, the embodiment of FIG. 9 may be preferred where it is desired to perform further analysis by way of a digital computer. In both embodiments the information is stored by tape punch I02 and can be fed directly to a computer by the use of the ASCII code.

There is thus provided by the present invention a means whereby response information can be readily analyzed without the use of expensive, external processing equipment. Further, the analysis is not made at the expense of such external processing where available. In other words, the analysis of the present invention does not preclude detailed quantatative analysis by a computer either at the same time or at some further date. The identification code enables one to readily analyze the response information on a digital computer. The use of the unique character substitution enables one to obtain a qualitative analysis of the response information upon print-out thereof.

Having thus described the invention, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that many modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, although a photocell card reader is illustrated and described in the preferred embodiment, other forms of storing information in cards and/or of reading information from cards can be utilized. Further, although standard typewriter symbols are preferred, other symbols may be utilized to further enhance the visual impact of the printout in accordance with the present invention. Also, the use of the print-out in accordance with the present invention and external processing equipment need not be mutually exclusive. For example, polling questions are sometimes re-phrased and mixed so as to provide a random answering pattern to insure that the reader carefully consider each question rather than just the first and last questions or statements of a group and similarly marking the responses for the entire group of statements. In this case it may be desirable to have external processing equipment reorganize the answers prior to the responses thereto being printed out.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

I. The method of displaying in a pattern the information contained in a plurality of response cards, wherein each card is marked with a plurality of several possible responses, so that the pattern displayed provides a qualitative analysis of said responses, comprising the steps of:

reading each response card to determine the nature of each response on the card;

converting one of said several possible responses to a visually significant character;

converting the remainder of said responses to visually insignificant characters; and

displaying the responses from all the cards as a pattern of visually significant and visually insignificant characters.

2. The method of displaying information as set forth in claim 1, wherein each card contains responses to a plurality of questions calling for an opinion, wherein said converting steps comprise:

converting the responses representing a first opinion to visually insignificant characters; and converting the responses representing another opinion to visually significant characters.

3. The method of displaying information as set forth in claim 1, wherein each card contains responses to a plurality of questions having correct and incorrect answers, and wherein said reading step comprises the steps of comparing the responses with the correct answers, and producing a signal indicative of whether a correct or an incorrect response is given;

said converting steps comprise converting said correct response signals to visually insignificant characters and converting incorrect response signals to visually significant characters.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said characters are selected from the characters of a teletypewriter.

5. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said visually significant characters are selected from the punctuation characters of a teletypewriter.

6. A response analyzing system for providing a qualitative analysis of different types of responses to a plurality of questions comprising a plurality of response cards, each having a matrix of n rows and m columns of response regions, of which n rows are identification rows; response means for reading at least the (n n) rows of each card to determine the nature of each response indicated therein;

converting means for converting at least one'type of response to a coded electrical signal corresponding to a visually insignificant typewriter character; and display means coupled to said converting means for displaying the responses as a pattern of visually significant and visually insignificant characters.

7. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 6 wherein m equals 5, said n rows are marked in a biquinary code, and further comprising:

identification means for sensing the markings of said n rows and producing a coded electrical signal corresponding to one of 10 numerical characters in response to the marking on each row.

8. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 6 wherein:

said display means comprises a teletype mechanism controlled by the coded electrical signal produced by said converting means for printing a pattern of rows and columns, wherein each row corresponds to the responses on a particular card and each column corresponds to the responses to a particular question.

9. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 8 wherein m equals 5, said n rows are marked in a biquinary code, and further comprising:

identification means for sensing the markings of said n rows and producing a coded electrical signal corresponding to one of 10 numerical characters in response to the marking on each row. 10. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said teletype mechanism is coupled to said identification means and prefixes each row with an.

identification of the corresponding card.

11. A response analyzer for evaluating a plurality of cards, each card containing responses recorded as marks on the cards, by comparison with a master card marked with the correct responses comprising:

means for reading the marks on said cards and producing signals indicative thereof;

logic means responsive to said signals for determining whether each response is correct;

incorrect response determining means responsive to said signals for determining whether each response is incorrect;

encoding means, coupled to said logic means and said incorrect response determining means, for converting signals indicative of an incorrect response to a coded electrical signal representing the character corresponding to said incorrect response and for converting signals indicative of a correct answer to a coded electrical signal corresponding to a visually insignificant character; and

display means coupled to said encoding means for simultaneously displaying the responses from all of said cards in accordance with said coded electrical signals.

12. A response analyzer as set forth in claim 11 and further comprising:

identification means responsive to said signals for producing a coded electrical signal identifying the card being read.

13. A response analyzer as set forth in claim 12 wherein said display means is also coupled to said identification means for displaying the characters represented by said identifying coded electrical signal.

14. A response analyzer as set forth in claim 13 wherein said display means comprises a teletype mechanism and said coded electrical signals are teletype signals.

t i t t

Claims

1. The method of displaying in a pattern the information contained in a plurality of response cards, wherein each card is marked with a plurality of several possible responses, so that the pattern displayed provides a qualitative analysis of said responses, comprising the steps of: reading each response card to determine the nature of each response on the card; converting one of said several possible responses to a visually significant character; converting the remainder of said responses to visually insignificant characters; and displaying the responses from all the cards as a pattern of visually significant and visually insignificant characters.

2. The method of displaying information as set forth in claim 1, wherein each card contains responses to a plurality of questions calling for an opinion, wherein said converting steps comprise: converting the responses representing a first opinion to visually insignificant characters; and converting the responses representing another opinion to visually significant characters.

3. The method of displaying information as set forth in claim 1, wherein each card contains responses to a plurality of questions having correct and incorrect answers, and wherein said reading step comprises the steps of comparing the responses with the correct answers, and producing a signal indicative of whether a correct or an incorrect response is given; said converting steps comprise converting said correct response signals to visually insignificant characters and converting incorrect response signals to visually significant characters.

6. A response analyzing system for providing a qualitative analysis of different types of responses to a plurality of questions comprising a plurality of response cards, each having a matrix of n rows and m columns of response regions, of which n'' rows are identification rows; response means for reading at least the (n - n'') rows of each card to determine the nature of each response indicated therein; converting means for converting at least one type of response to a coded electrical signal corresponding to a visually insignificant typewriter character; and display means coupled to said converting means for displaying the responses as a pattern of visually significant and visually insignificant characters.

7. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 6 wherein m equals 5, said n'' rows are marked in a bi-quinary code, and further comprising: identification means for sensing the markings of said n'' rows and producing a coded electrical signal corresponding to one of 10 numerical characters in response to the marking on each row.

8. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 6 wherein: said display means comprises a teletype mechanism controlled by the coded electrical signal produced by said converting means for printing a pattern of rows and columns, wherein each row corresponds to the responses on a particular card and each column corresponds to the responses to a particular question.

9. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 8 wherein m equals 5, said n'' rows are marked in a bi-quinary code, and further comprising: identification means for sensing the markings of said n'' rows and producing a coded electrical signal corresponding to one of 10 numerical characters in response to the marking on each row.

10. A response analyzer system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said teletype mechanism is coupled to said identification means and prefixes each row with an identification of the corresponding card.

11. A response analyzer for evaluating a plurality of cards, each card containing responses recorded as marks on the cards, by comparison with a master card marked with the correct responses comprising: means for reading the marks on said cards and producing signals indicative thereof; logic means responsive to said signals for determining whether each response is correct; incorrect response determining means responsive to said signals for determining whether each response is incorrect; encoding means, coupled to said logic means and said incorrect response determining means, for converting signals indicative of an incorrect response to a coded electrical signal representinG the character corresponding to said incorrect response and for converting signals indicative of a correct answer to a coded electrical signal corresponding to a visually insignificant character; and display means coupled to said encoding means for simultaneously displaying the responses from all of said cards in accordance with said coded electrical signals.

12. A response analyzer as set forth in claim 11 and further comprising: identification means responsive to said signals for producing a coded electrical signal identifying the card being read.