Capturing Data From CheckBoxes (Optical Mark Recognition)

The time-honored format for educational testing and survey/opinion research is the multiple choice question with checkboxes. Form fillers simply fill in the box or apply an X next to the answer that represents the correct answer. A capture system applies a template, giving a value to each mark.  This is commonly called Optical Mark Recognition, or OMR.

Datacap forms processing technology has been delivering capture solutions for automating data collection from surveys, questionnaires, tests, tax returns, evaluations and other forms. Checkboxes can also be used on Smart Separator sheets, where the scanning operator pre-sorts documents and checks off the document type on a cover sheet for recognition by Taskmaster.

Accurate Checkbox Reading Requires Flexibility

While reading checkboxes on a page may seem like the easiest of all types of recognition, accurate OMR has many nuances both in recognition and in what to do with the recognition results. Demanding organizations require a flexible solution that can accommodate the subtleties.

A Good Verification Panel is Essential For Accuracy

One of the tricky aspects of OMR is determining whether the bubble, box or circle is actually filled in. Some form fillers may just draw a line across a series of boxes to indicate that they are selecting all boxes - but the line may wander in and out of individual boxes. A zealous form filler might use bold check marks and spill over into an adjoining box. Some uncertain form fillers, may select one box, then cross out the box and select another. Good OMR recognition must flag these instances as "uncertain" so that a user can decide what is happening.

OMR Variations Abound

Most multiple-choice fields only allow a single response. Some, however, allow you to select more than one valid response. These are known as "multi-punch" fields. With multi-punch the underlying recognition is exactly the same as for "single-punch", but the display and export mapping must be adjusted to provide multiple values for a single field. 

Datacap Taskmaster is uniquely positioned to deliver the flexibility required to deliver high quality OMR results.  Users can choose from best-of-breed OMR recognition engines and Taskmaster’s full featured Verify screens make it easy to zoom in and determine the correct data from possibly ambiguous results.