Return to the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test page
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MICHIGAN ALCOHOL SCREENING TEST (MAST) - original
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Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Date: 02-04-2013
last updated: 10-09-2019 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 10-09-2019 Millisecond Software
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements the original Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) with 25 YES/NO questions* for a
self-assessment of social and vocational issues related to heavy drinking as published in:
It was published by:
Selzer, M.L. (1971). The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test: The quest for a new diagnostic instrument.
Am J Psychiatry, 127, 1653-1658.
* The wording for question 1, 3, 11, 12 was slightly modified for this script
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OVERVIEW
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Questionnaire with 25 binary yes-no questions.
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 2 minutes to complete
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DATA FILE INFORMATION
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The default data stored in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'mast.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
The raw questionnaire data are saved under "MAST.iqdat"
numeric scores are saved in values.q1-values.q22 in MAST_summary.iqdat
date, time: date and time script was run with the current group/subjectnumber
subject, group, session: with the current subject/groupnumber/session id
build: the Inquisit build
q*_response: response given (in assigned values)
Scale: yes - no
(Note: the numeric responses are stored in the summary data file,
responses can be weighted, see section Editable Parameters)
q*_latency: how much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveypage with this particular
question (the last time this particular surveypage was visited)
(2) Summary data file: 'mast_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android)
script.startdate: date script was run
script.starttime: time script was started
script.subjectid: assigned subject id number
script.groupid: assigned group id number
script.sessionid: assigned session id number
script.elapsedtime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script
script.completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted);
1 = script was completed (all conditions run)
Summarydata for each participant: file saves the scores for the Total Score as well as the scores for individual items
(responses are reversed scored were appropriate)
expressions.totalscore: sum of all responses (The higher, the higher the 'alcoholic' response pattern)
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SCORING
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T alcoholic responses to the different questions are weighted, with the least discriminatory alcoholic
responses receiving a 1, more serious discriminatory responses receiving a 2, and diagnostic responses
receiving a 5
Go to "Editable Parameters" to check/edit the default scoring for this questionnaire
Interpretation (Selzer, 1971)
* Totalscore <= 3: nonalcoholic
* Totalscore = 4 : suggestive of alcoholism
* Totalscore > 4: alcoholism
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EDITABLE CODE
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check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc.
Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code
to further customize your experiment.
The parameters you can change are:
q1maxscore....q25maxscore: the (maximum) score for the alcoholic response