# Data Export Formats {#data-export-formats}


MQUAD supports three primary data export formats for downstream analysis in tools like Excel, Stata, or R.


## CSV Format {#csv-format}


- **Delimiter**: Comma (`,`)
- **Text qualifier**: Double quotes (`"`)
- **Header row**: Included by default
- **Encoding**: UTF-8
- **File extension**: `.csv`

Example CSV structure:
```
"respondent_id","submitted_at","q1_name","q2_age","q3_satisfaction"
"R-001","2025-01-15T10:30:00Z","Alice Johnson",34,"Very Satisfied"
```


## Excel Format (.xlsx) {#excel-format-xlsx}


- **Sheets**: Single sheet containing all response data
- **Data types**: Numeric values are stored as numbers; dates as Excel date values
- **Multiple choice**: Multi-select answers are pipe-delimited (`|`)
- **File extension**: `.xlsx`


## JSON Format {#json-format}


- **Structure**: Array of response objects containing headers and the survey data object.
- **Encoding**: UTF-8
- **File extension**: `.json`

Example JSON structure:
```json
[
  {
    "id": "uuid-string",
    "survey_id": "uuid-string",
    "data": {
      "q1_name": "Alice Johnson",
      "q2_age": 34
    },
    "submitted_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"
  }
]
```


## Missing Values Handling {#missing-values-handling}


Missing values are represented as follows in each format:

| Format | Representation |
|--------|----------------|
| **CSV** | Empty cell (,,) |
| **Excel** | Empty cell |
| **JSON** | `null` or excluded from the data object |


## Encoding Notes {#encoding-notes}


All exports use **UTF-8** encoding to ensure compatibility with international character sets. When opening CSV files in older versions of Excel, use the **Import from Text/CSV** wizard and select **65001: Unicode (UTF-8)**.