Hi all,
sorry if this has already been posted, but I couldn't find any relevant topics. In our recent online studies, we have noticed that the mouse cursor may disappear on survey pages with textboxes when a character is entered into the textbox. Although moving the mouse usually resolves the issue, sometimes the cursor remains gone, meaning participants cannot click on the continue button. Until now, we have solved this issue by including a note that this issue may occur and instructing participants to use the Tab key to switch to the Continue button and the Enter key to continue. However, the issue has now occurred in a textbox which accepts Tab as an input, meaning one cannot switch to the Continue button. This is obviously a problem - although my own testing indicates that the mouse cursor reappears when one blindly moves it over a survey element (the textbox or the continue button), I'm not sure if this is the case on every system and it is also a suboptimal solution for our online studies, where participants may not wait to read workaround instructions and instead drop out.
I'm attaching a script with this issue. I should also note that the mouse cursor seems to disappear consistently for me when I enter a character, but it mostly reappears as soon as it's moved. In about one of five cases up to now, though, the mouse has remained gone until I hit a survey element on the exact same system with the exact same setup. Is this a known issue and is there anything I can do about it? I suppose I could include hidden stimuli that cover the entire screen if it's just a matter of making the mouse hit a stimulus element, but I would prefer not to have to if possible.
Thanks,
AK
Script:
************************************************
EXPERIMENTAL SCRIPT FOR CURRENT STUDY
************************************************
Author: Anand Krishna (krishna[at]psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de)
Last updated: 18-04-2018
*************************************************
Demographics file
*************************************************
############### 1. Instructions ###############
<instruct>
/ font = ("Courier New", -20, 800, 0, 49)
/ inputdevice = keyboard
/ nextkey = (" ")
/ lastlabel = "Press the spacebar to continue"
/ prevlabel = "Press the 't' key to go back"
/ prevkey = ("t")
</instruct>
<page WelcomeInstructions>
Welcome to this experiment.^^
Before you start, please:^^
– switch off phone/e-mail/music & anything else distracting^^
- please have your Prolific ID ready [It can be found in your account info]^^
</page>
############### 2. Blocks ###############
<block begin>
/ preinstructions = (WelcomeInstructions)
/ screencolor = (0, 0, 0)
/ trials = [1 = info_1; 2= info_2; 3 = info_3; 4 = info_4; 5 = loadingwarning]
</block>
############### 3. Questionnaire pages ###############
## age
<surveypage info_1>
/questions = [1=age]
/stimulustimes = [0 = mousegone]
/ showpagenumbers = false
/showquestionnumbers = false
</surveypage>
<textbox age>
/mask = positiveinteger
/ caption = "What is your age:"
/range = (18,50)
</textbox>
<text mousegone>
/items = ("On some systems, the mouse cursor may disappear on this screen.
If it does not reappear when you move the mouse, you can use the Tab key to
select the Finish button and then press Enter to continue.")
/ fontstyle = ("Arial", 1%)
/position = (22%,24%)
/halign = center
/txbgcolor = black
/txcolor = white
</text>
## gender
<surveypage info_2>
/questions = [1= gender]
/ showpagenumbers = false
/showquestionnumbers = false
</surveypage>
<dropdown gender>
/ caption = "What is your gender"
/ options = ("male", "female", "other")
</dropdown>
## country
<surveypage info_3>
/questions = [1=Country]
/ showpagenumbers = false
/showquestionnumbers = false
</surveypage>
<textbox Country>
/ caption = "What is your country of residence"
/ position = (10%,10%)
/ textboxsize = (45, 20)
</textbox>
## Prolific Code
<surveypage info_4>
/questions = [1=ProlificCode]
/ showpagenumbers = false
/showquestionnumbers = false
</surveypage>
<textbox ProlificCode>
/ caption = " Please enter your Prolific ID here
(if you cannot remember it, please quit the experiment now
and retrieve it before continuing). Otherwise you cannot be paid."
/ position = (10%,10%)
/ textboxsize = (45, 20)
/ multiline = true
</textbox>
## Loading Warning
<trial loadingwarning>
/stimulustimes = [0 = loadwarning]
/validresponse = (" ")
/recorddata = false
</trial>
<text loadwarning>
/items = ("Required files for this experiment will now be downloaded. Only files required to execute the experiment will be downloaded. None of these files pose any security risk to your computer.
The experiment may take several minutes to load, please be patient.
Press the SPACE BAR to continue.")
/ fontstyle = ("Arial", 3%)
/valign = bottom
/size = (90%,10%)
/txbgcolor = black
/txcolor = white
</text>
<summarydata>
/ file = "ManikinCompletionTest1.dat"
/columns = [script.startdate, script.starttime, script.subjectid, textbox.ProlificCode.response]
</summarydata>
############### 4. Creating the page ###############
## defaults
<defaults>
/ screencolor = (255, 255, 255)
/ font = ("Arial", -21, 700, 0, 34)
/ txcolor = (255, 255, 255)
/ inputdevice = keyboard
/ validkeys = (" ", "t")
/ halign = center
/ Com1BaudRate =9600
</defaults>
## Experiment: block or
<expt>
/ blocks = [1 = block1]
</expt>
<variables>
/group = (1 of 1) (block1 = begin)
</variables>