Millisecond Forums

Here's something from my box o' tricks (may not be suitable for every possible situation): Customize the FirefoxPortable package available from portableapps.com by including the desired FF Inquisit plugin version and setting the start page to the experiment's launch page. Have subjects download and run your customised browser package to complete the study. Once they're done, they may simply delete the folder -- no traces left on their systems.

Regards,

~Dave

I have the same problem as Max - very low response rate due to the plug-in. Questions to your suggestion above:

- what does customizing the FF Portable package imply for a non-IT-specialist? I am still extremely proud I managed to link the 3 parts of my survey and capture query parameters, meaning my IT knowledge is basically inexistent. 

- the subjects would then have to download the customised browser - isn't this then the same treshhold for them as before, just that now the downloaded stuff is easier to delete?

Many thanks for your great support!

Sylviane

It's not hard, but since you claim "inexistent IZ knowledge", you might want to ask someone more knowledgeable for help.

That depends on your subjects and what they perceive as trustworthy, I would argue.

This post goes back some time but I am having the same problem.  I have set up a web survey in Qualtrics that then redirects to Inquisit (age IAT).  Participants are being recruited by Qualtrics Panel Service and, like the Inquisit clients above, I am seeing a very low response rate due to reluctance to want to download the plug-in file.

I have a 65% overall response rate to people STARTING the survey.  But of the 359 survey STARTS, only 72 have been willing to download the plugin and provide a "good complete".  I have made it as transparent and simple as possible by stating upfront that a plugin in download is required and also providing participants with a "smart download link" that recognizes OS, browser and other setting s and auto-installs the plug in.  Even so, a response rate of 72/359 (about 20%) is pretty poor in my opinion.  I did not realize that it would be this difficult.

Has anyone else been through this and do you have any tips that might help me out?

Thanks
Mike

Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this issue?  If you have any advice you could offer based on my previous post would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mike

I have been having a big problem with this on Mturk as well. Lots of violations sent to Amazon about me as it violates the TOS apparently. I also have lots of participants who have problems with the software and now a lot of data is just not being uploaded. Has anyone had problems with that? These are workers I am sure did the work but then there is no data file for them uploaded.

Hey Nashby,
From my experience this year using Inquisit Web with a 3rd party provider (Qualtrics), the biggest problem was that the vast majority (80%+) of those recruited did not agree to download the Inquisit plugin.  This is Inquisit;s take on the issue on their site:

Precision timing over the web

When a participant browses to the experiment launch page and clicks "Start", the Inquisit 4 engine is downloaded and runs locally on the participant's machine, where it has access to the high-performance native system components required to    achieve millisecond precision timing. In fact, Inquisit 4 Web uses exactly the same powerful and fast engine that Inquisit 4 Lab uses. The engine is just over 1 MB, so it take just a few seconds to download. We've wrapped the engine in several web technologies that provide a smooth download experience across a wide variety of web browsers.

In my opinion that is a one-sided description of a best case scenario that ignores previously reported issues on this forum about participants not being comfortable downloading files from the internet that they may not understand why they need.  Of course to the average person, they don't know that the file is required for the reasons stated above and they're most likely concerned about viruses, trojans, etc.  I'm not saying that the Inquisit files are untrustworthy, I'm simply saying that Inquisit do not mention to potential clients (like me) that these issues are known to exist.  I only found out that others, like you and Max, and Sylviane, and probably more, were having the same problem as me after I paid $400 for a 2-month web license!  Also the download required for Inquisist 4 is around 4MB not 1MB as reported on the web product FAQ. 

Inquisit Team - if you're reading this - please don't get defensive but just hear the views of your customers.  This is a real methodological issue with web licensing that needs to be addressed.  Unfortunately I do not have the expertise to provide a suggested solution, but just know that it does effect the user experience for both participants and your clients who shell out the high costs of purchasing your licensed products.  Your description of the process in your sales page does not accurately reflect the real world experience of your customers!

Mike