Brand Association Reaction Time Task

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Credits:
Millisecond thanks E. Hwang for collaborating on this script!

Created: January 04, 2015

Last Modified: January 02, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a sample Brand Associations Reaction Time Task similarly to the one described by Till et al (2011).

Note: This template works with a reduced number of brands (N = 3) and a reduced number of associations (N = 9) To add brand names and associations: go to section Editable Stimuli below and follow instructions.

References

Till, B.D., Baack, D. & Waterman, B. (2011). Strategic brand associations maps: developing brand insight. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 20, 92-100.

Duration

2 minutes

Description

Participants view brand names (e.g. Mercedes) and shortly thereafter are presented a possible association with that brand (e.g. expensive). They are asked to decide as fast as possible whether the association belongs to the brand (yes) or not (no).

The assignment of yes/no to left and right response button is counterbalanced by assigned groupnumber odd groupnumbers -> yes/left vs. no/right even groupnumbers -> yes/right vs. no/left

Procedure

This sample script is set up to test 3 brands with 9 possible associations.
Till et al (2011) recommend 4-6 brands with 60-80 associations in order to create brand association maps.

• 1 Practice Block of 8 trials (2 practice brands x 4 associations)
• 1 Experimental Block of 27 trials (3 brands x 9 associations)
- brands are tested in a mixed format, order of brands is randomly selected
- order of associations within the brands is randomly selected

Trial Sequence:
Brand Name (default: 750ms) -> Association Word (until response)

to add brand names and associations: go to section Editable Stimuli and follow instructions.

Stimuli

example stimuli provided for 3 car brands together with 9 possible associations.
These stimuli are only meant as examples not as stimuli for an actual test.

Word Stimuli are presented in Arial font on a black background.
Brand names are presented in blue and Associations in white.
Sizing of stimuli can be adjusted via Editable Values.

Instructions

Instructions are not original can easily be edited under section Editable Instructions.

Summary Data

File Name: brandassociationreactiontimetask_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed

Raw Data

File Name: brandassociationreactiontimetask_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
blockcode The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
blocknum The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialcode The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run
even those that do not store data to the data file.
brand The current brand tested
association The current association tested
response The participant's response (scancode of response button)
18 = E (left)
23 = I (right)
responseCategory Response key 'interpretation'
'yes' (affirmative relationship of current brand with tested association)
'no' (no relationshipt of current brand with tested association)
latency The response latency (in ms), measured from onset of associations

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Response Keys
responseKeyLeft The left response button "E"
responseKeyRight The right response button
the assignment of 'yes'/'no' buttons to left and right response keys
is counterbalanced by groupnumber
odd groupnumbers = YES on the left/ NO on the right
even groupnumbers = NO on the left/ YES on the right
"I"
Timing Parameters
brandDuration The presentation duration (in ms) of the brand name at the beginning of a trial 750
iti Intertrialinterval in ms 500
getReadyDuration Duration (in ms) of the get-ready-trial 3000
Sizing Parameters
brandNameSize The font height of the brand name in canvas size percentages 12%
associationSize The font height of the association name in canvas size percentages 8%
Position Coordinates
leftX The assigned x-coordinate of the left response label (either yes or no depending on groupnumber)8%
rightX The assigned x-coordinate of the right response label (either yes or no depending on groupnumber)92%