Millisecond Forums

Hi Annemarie,

I think the closest thing to a visual analogue scale Inquisit 3 has to offer is the 'slider' question format. You could check out the following sample scripts with the downloadable version of Inquisit 3:

(1) Demographics Survey (http://www.millisecond.com/download/library/v3/demographics/demographics.exp)

(2) NASA Tlx (http://www.millisecond.com/download/library/v3/NASATLX/NASATLX.exp)

Both scripts make use of the slider question format. Try it and see if it fits your particular needs. If it doesn't, there might also be some more inconvenient ways to get Inquisit to present a VAS. So, report back and we'll take it from there.

Best,
~Dave

For anyone who's interested, here's a small sample script that shows how to implement a 'real' VAS with Inquisit 3 (see attached file). Hopefully this will be useful for some.

Regards,
~Dave

Hi Dave,

This is really cool, thank you [:D]!

I just ran it and found out that I need a different one though... I would like to have one that has anchors ranging from e.g., -10 to +10.

I already tried this with making use of the buttonvalue option (short version!):

<likert stimuli>
/ stimulusframes=[1=stimuli]
/ anchors=[1="very negative"; 2="negative"; 3="neutral"; 4="good"; 5="very good"]
/ buttonvalues=[1="a"; 2="b"; 3="c"; 4="d"; 5="e"]
/ position= (50, 80)
</likert>

However, in case I would make use of the buttonvalue option I need a button for each point, in this case 21(=including zero for rating a picture as being neutral) and this will get a little bit weird... Hence, I think a VAS would be better but I have no idea how to adapt your script so I hope you can help me.

Thanks a lot!

Marcella

What you want isn't really a VAS, so you might be better off with a slider. E.g.:

<slider myslider>
/ labels = ("very negative", "negative", "neutral", "good", "very good")
/ range = (-10,10)
/ defaultresponse = 0
/ position = (20%,50%)
/ slidersize = (50%,5%)
</slider>

<surveypage mypage>
/ stimulusframes = [1=mypic]
/ questions = [1=myslider]
</surveypage>

<text mypic>
/ items = ("A","B","C")
/ position = (50%, 30%)
</text>

<block myblock>
/ trials = [1-3=mypage]
</block>

Otherwise you need to either keep fiddling around with the <likert> element or take the VAS sample code as an inspiration to roll your own. You might also want to take a look at the 'Custom Likert Scale' sample script available from the Inquisit 2 (!) sample scripts page for further inspiration.

Regards,

~Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your quick reply! I will try it right now!

Best,

Marcella

Hmm, I changed it slightly since I want to use pictures.. it keeps telling me that the element 'pic' cannot be located.... do you know why?! Thank you!

<slider myslider>
/ labels = ("very negative", "negative", "neutral", "good", "very good")
/ range = (-10,10)
/ defaultresponse = 0
/ position = (20%,50%)
/ slidersize = (50%,5%)
</slider>

<surveypage mypage>
/ stimulusframes = [1=pic]
/ questions = [1=myslider]
</surveypage>

<image pic>
/ items = ("w1.bmp","w3.bmp")
/ position = (50%, 30%)
</image>

<block myblock>
/ trials = [1-2=mypage]
</block>

<expt>
/ preinstructions = (intro)
/ blocks = [1=myblock]
/ postinstructions = (end)
</expt>

/ stimulusframes requires you to use a <picture> element (not <image>).

thanx ( greenhorn question [*-)] )

Hi Dave, I tried your script and found it to be quite what I was looking for. 
There´s just one problem i have. In my experiment participants are asked to rate quite a number of questions and I tried to fill in the questions in the <text question> .

<text question>
/ items = ("I am confident I get the sucess I deserve in life", "Sometimes I feel depressed.", "When I try I generally suceed")
/ position = (50, 25)
/ select = sequence
/ erase = false
</text>

The problem now is that since the questions aren´t of the same length there is always a part of the old question text displayed when the next question is presented. Is there a way to solve this problem or am I supposed to built a new item for each question? And if I have to do so, how do I implement that into the script (blocks, trials, etc.)?

I hope it get´s clear what I mean. 

Best regards, 
Nina