Mark-Sense Scanner Work Stations

Two NCS-Pearson OPSCAN-5 mark-sense form scanners and associated workstations are available to qualified projects and users in T658-B. These are not imaging scanners, but high volume data input devices for reading standardized preprinted mark-sense forms such as are commonly used in educational testing and psychological assessment. The established nomenclature in the field for this kind of scanning technology has evolved from “mark-sense scanning” to “optical mark-read scanning”, with the standard acronym “OMR”.

NCS-Pearson merged with SCANTRON and the respective product lines have been merged under the primary corporate name of SCANTRON (http://www.datascan.com.sg/ncs.htm) . Most of the OPSCAN series of scanners are still being made and supported, but our particular OPSCAN-5 model type has been “deprecated”. That is, they are no longer sold, maintenance contracts are no longer available for them, and future software releases will no longer support our current scanner type.

The two existing scanners have the same model type number (OPSCAN-5), but are not identical. One is a “pencil-head” scanner, allowing essentially any reasonable background printing color, but requiring that the marks be made with a #2 graphite pencil. The other is a “red-head” scanner (so-called because it shines red light on the form while scanning). This style of scanner can read any kind of marks made by pencil, pen, or felt-tip marker, except those that are red in color. But the background form printing color must be some shade of pink, salmon, peach, or red. With the two types of scanners, a wide range of form and mark colors can be accommodated. When the proper background form printing colors and marking implements are used, and the marks are properly formed within the appropriate bubbles, these scanners are fast and extremely reliable. Nominal throughput for the OPSCAN-5 scanners is 3600 two-sided pages per hour. Thus 1500 two-sided single sheets or one hundred 30-page (15 physical sheet) data form booklets could easily be processed in a half an hour. Error rates of less than one per million marks are possible if the bubbles have been consistently filled in. Forms with an inappropriate background color or filled in with the wrong kind of marker can still be read by either scanner, but the error rate may be slightly or significantly higher.

Description of the software controlling the scanners

The primary software controlling the use of the two scanners is ScanTools For Windows (SFW). Limited support on our scanner workstations is also offered for an older DOS program called TOOLS, to accommodate some of our very oldest mark sense form types. Lab policy no longer permits scanning form applications to be developed to run under the DOS TOOLS, and this legacy program is expected to be removed in the near future.

Planning to use the scanners

Setting up data flow for a research project data based on mark-sense forms generally has a steep learning curve, requires considerable pre-planning, and is relatively expensive. After the questionnaire content is finalized, several steps must be taken.

1) First you must get the physical form set designed. That is, each page of the questionnaire must be graphically specified by an expert who knows where the bubbles can be located, and how to align the question text with the response zones. Usually the researcher and the designer will iteratively negotiate the esthetics of the desired single- or multiple-page questionnaire. This work is almost always done outside the School of Nursing.
2) Then a unique application program must be written for that questionnaire and page layout. The scanner must be told how to read the bubbles on the form, especially which ones are associated with which question, and what coded values should be associated in the file with each legal bubble-set choice. Also a unique form code number must be built into the form software application by the programmer. It must not duplicate any of the other numbers in use on the scanner. See the Manager of Laboratories for a list of numbers NOT to use. Depending on who does the work, this step and the previous step may be combined (page layout design and application program development). Although it is difficult to predict because of differences in content, it is reasonable to estimate $100-$500 per page (per side) for professional layout and programming.
3) The designed page layout needs to be communicated to a printing shop that is certified to do the precision printing, using the proper print background color palettes. Moderate sized nursing research projects may spend $1000-$10000 up front for printing the full set of forms necessary for the data flow of their project. The cost, although high, will hopefully offset labor costs and data validation costs for other forms of data entry.
4) Finally the custom application program that was written specifically for the form set representing the questionnaire (step 2 above) must be installed on the workstation associated with the appropriate scanner in T658-B. This must be done with the approval and overview of the Manager of the Laboratory to make sure that application programs belonging to other users are not inadvertently damaged or deleted.

A simpler approach

For a short one or two page questionnaire eliciting Likert or dichotomous responses, a much less expensive and time consuming process can be used. Generic forms are available in a standard layout, compatible with a standard generic application program. The researcher would purchase a set of preprinted generic forms, and then carefully over-print (using a photocopier or a computer) the desired questions onto blank lines located next to the active bubbles. The generic form application program would allow the OMR scanner hardware to read the marked bubbles, and store corresponding answer codes in a specified data file. This approach can sometimes put the cost of high quality OMR scanning within the reach of a student or post-doctoral project.