PharmaSUG 2012 - Paper HO01 Multiple Techniques for Scoring Quality of Life Questionnaires

In the clinical trials computing environment, data sets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. From laboratory data to electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, transforming raw data to analysis-ready SAS ® data sets is often complicated. New challenges arise when we receive data collected from quality of life (QOL) questionnaires. With these data we often compute scores that measure underlying scales – such as mental or social well-being. There are many different types of questionnaires, and it is advantageous to have an arsenal of programming tools when calculating the appropriate scores. In this article, we present a mock questionnaire and common techniques to achieve appropriate calculations. Depending on the input data structure, we illustrate how to calculate scores using various techniques including ARRAY processing, PROC SQL, and simple SAS functions. The techniques we present offer a good overview of basic data step programming and SAS procedures that will educate SAS users at all levels.