Millisecond Forums

Hi Dave and Sean.

I am having trouble with a batch file that uses the subjects and sessions attributes. I am uploading some files that I am using just to test out the process. I am using Inquisit 7.

We are going to be testing participants remotely using Inquisit Web. Each participant will complete three tests total, with each test being completed on a different session on a different day. Due to constraints of our testing scenario, we will be using one general link for all participants and subject ID will be user entered.

We want to counterbalance the order of the three tests across participants. For the sake of this demo I made for myself, I only have two test orders:

Odd numbered subject IDs would complete Test A at Session 1, Test B at Session 2, and Test C at Session 3.
Even numbered subject IDs would complete Test C at Session 1, Test A at Session 2, and Test B at Session 3.

I thought I had programmed this correctly in the attached files. I have one batch file that should select the appropriate test based on the subject ID and session ID, and then three individual test files.

This is working as intended for subject IDs 1 and 2 at session IDs 1, 2, and 3. But it does not work for subject IDs greater than 2 or session IDs greater than 3; in those cases, Inquisit just says "The session is complete" without running a test. I can't figure out why this batch file is not acknowledging the modulus number in the subject ID and session ID attributes.

I have read a few similar topics on the forums, and I have also tried a batch nesting method, but I am at a loss. Can you help me find my error or offer a different strategy? Please let me know if you need me to explain anything better.

Best wishes.

     ~Craig

+x

 

CraigM - 9/18/2025

Hi Dave and Sean.

I am having trouble with a batch file that uses the subjects and sessions attributes. I am uploading some files that I am using just to test out the process. I am using Inquisit 7.

We are going to be testing participants remotely using Inquisit Web. Each participant will complete three tests total, with each test being completed on a different session on a different day. Due to constraints of our testing scenario, we will be using one general link for all participants and subject ID will be user entered.

We want to counterbalance the order of the three tests across participants. For the sake of this demo I made for myself, I only have two test orders:

Odd numbered subject IDs would complete Test A at Session 1, Test B at Session 2, and Test C at Session 3.
Even numbered subject IDs would complete Test C at Session 1, Test A at Session 2, and Test B at Session 3.

I thought I had programmed this correctly in the attached files. I have one batch file that should select the appropriate test based on the subject ID and session ID, and then three individual test files.

This is working as intended for subject IDs 1 and 2 at session IDs 1, 2, and 3. But it does not work for subject IDs greater than 2 or session IDs greater than 3; in those cases, Inquisit just says "The session is complete" without running a test. I can't figure out why this batch file is not acknowledging the modulus number in the subject ID and session ID attributes.

I have read a few similar topics on the forums, and I have also tried a batch nesting method, but I am at a loss. Can you help me find my error or offer a different strategy? Please let me know if you need me to explain anything better.

Best wishes.

     ~Craig

Assignment by subject ID is strongly discouraged and not really supported anymore. Reason being that subject IDs in the web context typically aren't numerical, which researhers tend to overlook, and then run into problems when they deploy their tasks online. In other words: In practice assignment by subject ID causes more issues than it solves.

Why can't you assign by group number, which was introduced exactly for this purpose?