Any data that is collected during the MediaLab session is there in the data files you already have.

The "Write Data" function tells MediaLab to record data for that item in the data files.

The "Write Data as Text" option makes it so that MediaLab will write the data to the data file with quotes surrounding it. It will also indicate in the SPSS input file that the variable format is text; otherwise, value formats are recorded as numeric. Missing values for items with the Write as Text field checked will also be treated as text format; otherwise missing data values will be recorded as numeric format.

You may want to consider the essay option for the future if you want to allow for more characters. Be aware that the essay responses are each recorded in their own .txt file separate from the rest of the MediaLab data files.