design database table for survey form

[darkestsky]

I have to design a database table for survey form which has 10 Q and corresponding answers (as radio button options + comment text)

keeping into mind the no of times code would need db connection for insert time and retrieval time, i have 2 options.
HI,

This is a very common practice but I am looking for a robust and tested solution for designing db table for a survey form which has 10 Q , 4 radio buttons each for an answer and one text area for comment.

i have 2 options (i think..)

1) i create a table of 30 columns; 10 for Q, 10 for A, 10 for comment text but this will take too much of code rewriting . This is good for one time db connection required for insert data.

2) i create a transaction table of 3 columns; 1 for Qid, 1 for Ans, 1 for Anstext.
another master table to store Qid, Qtext. where Qid acts as forign key in transaction table. This requires less coding (speaking in terms of prepare statement in java) . But to insert a record one by one for each Q, it requires db connection 10 times which can make the application slow.

I hope i could clear the situation to some extent.
please let me know if it made ne sense.

Thanks

[mohit]

Why not creat a single table with three columns
1. Question -> Contains
2. Choices -> Comma seperated list of choices
3. Correct -> Correct choice

Using above simple design you can make your application more expandable, for e.g. you can make number of choices vary and can include true, false type of questions.

Hope it will help.

Regards,
Mohit