Hello Millisecond Community!

I have been working on creating scripts for the past several months for a large study (my doctoral dissertation).  I will be using the web-based version of Inquisit to collect my data.  As part of the study, I am administering 3 different IATs and multiple surveys.  Thanks to the online forum and help function, I have been able to combine the 3 IATs into one script and have randomized the order in which the IATs appear.  I have lumped the surveys into 2 separate scripts: explicit measures (includes a total of 5 separate surveys) and other surveys (6 separate surveys, including demographics).  I also have an introduction page that I would like for each participant to read and a conclusion page for them to read at the end.  

Here comes the first question (finally!).  I would like to combine all of these scripts, but randomize their order.  Specifically, I want participant 1 of 2 to get the following: intro page, explicit measures, IATs, other surveys, conclusion.  I want participant 2 of 2 to get: intro, IAT, explicit, other surveys, conclusion.  Can this be done while still maintaining the various formats that I have used?  I understand that randomization can be done using the <include> element; however, I would have to use the same <defaults> for everything (which from my understanding would mean that I would lose the <surveypage> features).  I saw there was potential for randomization to be done using the <batch> function with future versions.  Is that now available? 

My second question is this: is it possible to randomize survey pages within the <survey> element for surveys that span multiple pages?  For example, I have 1 survey that is a single page (page 1) and a vignette that spans 3 pages (pages 2,3,4).  I would like to randomize the order in which they are taken.  I am currently using the "noreplace" function for / pages, but I cannot find a way to keep some of the pages together while randomizing.  I would like to do something like the following, but I know this is invalid syntax:

/ page = [1 - 2&3&4 = noreplace(1, 2, 3, 4)]

Help with both of these questions would be greatly appreciated!

-Laura

Hi Laura,

I sounds as if the <batch> element is the way to go for you. The simplest way to approach this is to have each measure in a separate script, then create launch script that contains a different <batch> element for each possible ordering or scripts. You can use the /subjects command on each <batch> to assign a particular order to a particular subject, either randomly or based on the subject id. Inquisit will then select which batch to run for a given subject.

For your second question, you could either split page 1 and 2&3&4 into two separate surveys and randomly vary the order, or you could create branches from 2->3 and 3->4, and define the page command as follows:

/ pages = [1-2 = noreplace(1, 2)]

The survey would then select either page 1 or page 2 to start. If page 1 is selected first, it runs page 2 second, and page 2 will branch to 3 and 3 will branch to 4. If page 2 is selected first, the branching will ensure pages 3 and 4 are run next, after which page 1 will be selected.

Hope this helps,

Sean

Thanks Sean!  It works great now!

-Laura