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Attaching sublists to conditions before each run

Coati — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 03:15:57 GMT

Dear all,

I'm relatively new to Inquisit and facing my first big problem. My experiment is designed as follows:

There are six conditions in which subjects should rate specific words differently.

e.g
"Would you consider yourself as [b]aggressive[/b]?"
Would you consider your friend as [b]aspiring[/b]?"
"Would your friend consider you as [b]neurotic[/b]?"
...

The 96 words that should be rated are organized in six sublists, each containing 16 words.

This is how it looks so far:

[i]The element sublist refers to the specific list containing 16 words, the element cond... refers to the question in the specific condition.[/i]

<trial condSlfSlf>
/stimulusframes = [1=condSlfSlf; 1=sublist1]
/validresponse = ("a", "l")
/pretrialpause = 500
</trial>

<trial condSlfFri>
/stimulusframes = [1=condSlfFri; 1=sublist2]
/validresponse = ("a", "l")
/pretrialpause = 500
</trial>

<trial condFriSlf>
/stimulusframes = [1=condFriSlf; 1=sublist3]
/validresponse = ("a", "l")
/pretrialpause = 500
</trial>
...

Now every subject should rate all 96 words, 16 words (one sublist) in each condition.

A block could look like this:

<block 1>
/ trials = [1-96 = noreplace(condSlfSlf,condSlfFri,condFriSlf,...)]
</block>

So here is my problem: The assignment of the six sublists to the six conditions should differ from subject to subject. For example the first one should rate words of the [b]first sublist[/b] in the [b]first condition[/b], the second one should rate should rate words of the [b]second sublist[/b] in the [b]first condition[/b],... I have no clue how to assign sublists randomly to conditions before each run starts. I thought of scripting trials and blocks for each possible combination of sublists and conditions but 720 different combinations seem to be way too much to script. Is there a more suitable way to do this?

I hope my explanation is comprehensible and someone knows a simple solution for my problem. If you need further information, just ask and I will try to explain the experiment more precisely.

Thanks a lot!

Jakob.

RE: Attaching sublists to conditions before each run

Coati — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 03:15:57 GMT

Thanks a lot, that sounds very helpful!

RE: Attaching sublists to conditions before each run

Dave — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 08:49:20 GMT

You have several options:

#1: You can use the <variables> element to substitute <item> elements based on assigned condition:

<block myblock>
/ trials = [1-8 = noreplace(a_trial,b_trial)]
</block>

<variables>
/ group = (1 of 2) (aitems=sublist_1; bitems = sublist_2)
/ group = (2 of 2) (aitems=sublist_2; bitems = sublist_1)
/ groupassignment = groupnumber
</variables>

<trial a_trial>
/ stimulusframes = [1=a]
/ validresponse = (57)
</trial>

<trial b_trial>
/ stimulusframes = [1=b]
/ validresponse = (57)
</trial>

<text a>
/ items = aitems
/ txcolor = red
</text>

<text b>
/ items = bitems
/ txcolor = green
</text>

<item sublist_1>
/ 1 = "sublist_1 item_1"
/ 2 = "sublist_1 item_2"
/ 3 = "sublist_1 item_3"
/ 4 = "sublist_1 item_4"
</item>

<item sublist_2>
/ 1 = "sublist_2 item_1"
/ 2 = "sublist_2 item_2"
/ 3 = "sublist_2 item_3"
/ 4 = "sublist_2 item_4"
</item>

In the 1st condition, sublist_1 is assigned to <text a> (green), sublist_2 is assigned to <text b> (red). The 2nd condition reverses that assignment. Enter an odd group number to run the 1st condition, provide an even group number to run the 2nd one. You can extend this to as many different conditions / assignments / mappings of sublists to conditions as you need.

#2: You can alternatively use conditional <include> elements to achieve much the same thing, i.e., pull in different sets of items based on condition. See e.g. https://www.millisecond.com/forums/Topic15639.aspx for an example along those lines.