Millisecond Forums

Web subject numbers not sequential

https://forums.millisecond.com/Topic29429.aspx

By KatrinaMcDonough - 7/16/2020

Hello, 

I have an online study and I chose the subject numbers to be sequential but there are many missing numbers, could you help with this?
I have six datasets but the subject numbers are 2, 5, 29, 31, 38 and 45.
It is very important that they are sequential (e.g. 1, 2, 3) because I have a counterbalancing script based on odd or even subject number.
My study is : https://mili2nd.eu/artb

Thanks,
Katrina
By Dave - 7/16/2020

KatrinaMcDonough - 7/16/2020
Hello, 

I have an online study and I chose the subject numbers to be sequential but there are many missing numbers, could you help with this?
I have six datasets but the subject numbers are 2, 5, 29, 31, 38 and 45.
It is very important that they are sequential (e.g. 1, 2, 3) because I have a counterbalancing script based on odd or even subject number.
My study is : https://mili2nd.eu/artb

Thanks,
Katrina

Whenever somebody opens or refreshes the start page, the sequential subject number generator ticks forward and that person consumes a subject number -- regardless of whether that person ends up actually starting the experiment or not. That is the normal and expected behavior and would be the reason for any gaps you're seeing.
By KatrinaMcDonough - 7/20/2020

Dave - 7/16/2020
KatrinaMcDonough - 7/16/2020
Hello, 

I have an online study and I chose the subject numbers to be sequential but there are many missing numbers, could you help with this?
I have six datasets but the subject numbers are 2, 5, 29, 31, 38 and 45.
It is very important that they are sequential (e.g. 1, 2, 3) because I have a counterbalancing script based on odd or even subject number.
My study is : https://mili2nd.eu/artb

Thanks,
Katrina

Whenever somebody opens or refreshes the start page, the sequential subject number generator ticks forward and that person consumes a subject number -- regardless of whether that person ends up actually starting the experiment or not. That is the normal and expected behavior and would be the reason for any gaps you're seeing.

That's for you reply. This makes sense for the subject numbers of the study mentioned above, however, I just did a triak run of a new expt and the first subject has the number: 719610845.
Study: https://mili2nd.eu/7ytb
By Dave - 7/20/2020

KatrinaMcDonough - 7/20/2020
Dave - 7/16/2020
KatrinaMcDonough - 7/16/2020
Hello, 

I have an online study and I chose the subject numbers to be sequential but there are many missing numbers, could you help with this?
I have six datasets but the subject numbers are 2, 5, 29, 31, 38 and 45.
It is very important that they are sequential (e.g. 1, 2, 3) because I have a counterbalancing script based on odd or even subject number.
My study is : https://mili2nd.eu/artb

Thanks,
Katrina

Whenever somebody opens or refreshes the start page, the sequential subject number generator ticks forward and that person consumes a subject number -- regardless of whether that person ends up actually starting the experiment or not. That is the normal and expected behavior and would be the reason for any gaps you're seeing.

That's for you reply. This makes sense for the subject numbers of the study mentioned above, however, I just did a triak run of a new expt and the first subject has the number: 719610845.
Study: https://mili2nd.eu/7ytb

If you had previously set the subject IDs to random generation and then switch that to sequential, the numbers will count up sequentially from the last random number generated, which is typically large. I've verified that the progression of the IDs for your experiment is sequential, i.e. 719610845 -> 719610846 -> 719610847 -> 719610848 -> 719610849 and so forth.
By KatrinaMcDonough - 7/20/2020

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly, I understand now.