Hi Reagan,
1. Yes.
2.Yes, Single ended can be used with gains 8 or less.
3.Yes.
4.Can I know what you are refering to ? to get out of stand-by mode you will have to write PWRCN register, there is no automatic timout mode.
5.Full scale in not needed throught. However chaning the reference at a later point would change the full-scale code. Coefficients has to be recomputed.
Regards,
Murali