RE: Black screens during dat collection (web version)

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RE: Black screens during dat collection (web version)

Black screens during dat collection (web version)

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Gutnre	Gutnre posted 11 Years Ago HOT Topic Details Share Topic
Group: Forum Members Posts: 29, Visits: 27	Today, during my first day of data-colleciton using inquisit 4 webversion in schools, we encountered a problem. My experiment is a batch of 20 different scripts, some containing questionnaires, some containing for instance images etc. All students get the same script. Computerscreens went black during data-collection, which could only be "solved" by pressing control+q to go to the next part. This always happened at the beginning of the batch, but in different scripts (sometimes during the first experiment, sometimes second, sometimes third, but always within the first 10 minutes). The first scripts all only contain questionnaires. Does anyone have an idea what the cause may be?
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Dave	Dave posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Administrators Posts: 13K, Visits: 108K	Sounds like the systems' screen saver or power saving settings turned off their monitors. Doesn't sound like something that Inquisit would do or cause directly.
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Gutnre	Gutnre posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 29, Visits: 27	Wasn't screensaver or anything (it was right in the middle of a questionnaire, so they were just busy on the computers, that couldn't have been it). I heared from my students that the screens weren't always all black, sometimes the answer categories would still be visible in white (but not the question itself). It is supposed to be all black on white background. I went back to a second school friday and did not have the problem there, so could be a problem with the computers. School hadn't encountered anything like this before though. I would still like to know what it could be, in order to prevent problems on other schools.
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Dave	Dave posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Administrators Posts: 13K, Visits: 108K	> I heared from my students that the screens weren't always all black, sometimes the answer categories would still be visible in white (but not the question itself). For certain survey question formats, only black text on lighter (e.g. white) background is fully supported. Some of the common controls don't support changing text color. Sounds like that may be it. To illustrate compare <defaults> / txcolor = (white) </defaults> <expt> / blocks = [1=b1] </expt> <block b1> / screencolor = (black) / trials = [1=p1] </block> <surveypage p1> / caption = "Page" / questions = [1=q1] / showpagenumbers = false </surveypage> <checkboxes q1> / caption = "Question" / options = ("Option A", "Option B", "Option C") </checkboxes> vs. <defaults> / txcolor = (black) </defaults> <expt> / blocks = [1=b1] </expt> <block b1> / screencolor = (white) / trials = [1=p1] </block> <surveypage p1> / caption = "Page" / questions = [1=q1] / showpagenumbers = false </surveypage> <checkboxes q1> / caption = "Question" / options = ("Option A", "Option B", "Option C") </checkboxes> vs. <defaults> / txcolor = (white) </defaults> <expt> / blocks = [1=b1] </expt> <block b1> / screencolor = (grey) / trials = [1=p1] </block> <surveypage p1> / caption = "Page" / questions = [1=q1] / showpagenumbers = false </surveypage> <checkboxes q1> / caption = "Question" / options = ("Option A", "Option B", "Option C") </checkboxes> Screenshots comparing the results are attached. Attachments example.png (153 views, 8.00 KB) Edited 11 Years Ago by Dave
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Gutnre	Gutnre posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 29, Visits: 27	Thanks for your response. If I understand correctly, you imply that it may be due to problems with changing colour. however, I only use plain black text on white background (i.e., default setting), I don't change this anywhere. So I think this is probably not it, what do you think? Moreover, I think it is still odd that the black screen thing seems to happen at sort of random moments.
	Reply Like 22
Dave	Dave posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Administrators Posts: 13K, Visits: 108K	> I only use plain black text on white background (i.e., default setting), I don't change this anywhere. I misunderstood parts of your previous post, then. Sorry about that. > I think it is still odd that the black screen thing seems to happen at sort of random moments. Yes, it is odd. But since it doesn't appear to be systematic in any way (as you say, it happens at sort of random moments), it's virtually impossible to tell what may be going on. Personally, I've never seen anything like this happen and I have not heard any similar reports from others either. If you happen to come across any additional info re. the specific circumstances, please share them here. Then, perhaps, we'll be able to narrow in on the cause(s).
	Reply Like 22
Gutnre	Gutnre posted 11 Years Ago ANSWER Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 29, Visits: 27	Ok, I will inform my students that they have to write down really carefully what happens and when, see if we can figure out what is happening.
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