Skipping within an Experiment

[jennslab]

Under questionnaires, I can insert 10 (RWG) items and then display the first 5 (and then skip the rest with a blank instruction item). Is there a way I can do this at an experimental level instead of questionnaire?

For instance:
Random: Item 1 --> Skip to Questionnaire 1
Random: Item 2 --> Skip to Questionnaire 2
Random: Item 3 --> Skip to Questionnaire 3

Questionnaire 1--> Skip to debrief
Questionnaire 2--> Skip to debrief
Questionnaire 3--> Skip to debrief
Debrief

In the example above, Items are paired with Questionnaires. After the computer randomly selects one Item, the participants also recieves the pairing.

Thanks!

[Trevor Newell]

Definitely. Within your experiment, each 'Item' would be any stimuli that an experiment file can support. All items and questionnaires would include a WGR value of 0, whereas each group would contain a different BGR (randomize between groups) value. By specifying that each 'Item' -> 'Questionnaire' is part of a separate group, you can very easily accomplish the randomization that you require.

At the end of the questionnaire you could skip to the debrief at the end of the experiment file (or just move to it at the end of the questionnaire, so that you don't skip over the remaining experiment groups). The SkipTo function is very powerful within MediaLab. If you have the chance, you may also want to see how excel can be used to create complex skips.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or if I can help in any way.

[jennslab]

Thank you for the response. We are still a little unclear about exactly how we insert the skip after a component of the experiment file.

Specifically, we are tailoring reaction time measures (created in Direct RT) to reflect experimental conditions presented as stimuli in MediaLab. Participants will be randomly assigned to read one of 4 "bios" of a target. After answering a few questions about the target in MediaLab, we want them to complete a version of the Go-No Go Association Task (GNAT). Thus, we are trying to ensure that participants who see bio 1 get the GNAT associated with that bio, participants who see bio 2 get GNAT 2, etc. After completing the relevant GNAT, participants need to skip to the debriefing.

Thus, our question is how would we go about inserting a skip following each version of the GNAT to get participants to the debriefing? For example, is there a certain column in which we would insert a command?

[Trevor Newell]

Ok! So it sounds like you want to have a few items grouped together for each of the four separate bios. Each of the four groups will contain the bio itself, a few questions in MediaLab, a GNAT, and a debriefing.

When starting this task, the easiest way to proceed would be to create the questionnaires needed for each bio, the questionnaires needed for each batch of questions, the GNATs required, and the debriefing (as a separate questionnaire).

You would want to list each group of items one after the other within your questionnaire. For example:
1. Bio_1
2. Questions_1
3. GNAT_1

4. Bio_2
5. Questions_2
6. GNAT_2

7. Bio_3
8. Questions_3
9. GNAT_3

10. Bio_4
11. Questions_4
12. GNAT_4

13. Debriefing

Once you've created this setup, you'll want to assign a BGR value of 1 to items 1, 2, and 3; a BRG value of 2 to items 4, 5, and 6; a BGR value of 3 to items 7, 8, and 9; and a BGR value of 4 to items 10, 11, and 12. The debriefing would require a BGR value of 0. If the GNAT is completed through DirectRT, you would need another item per group after each GNAT that consists of a questionnaire with only one item. Upon the items completion, you could denote that a skip is made to the item name within the debriefing questionnaire.

For example, in a similar thread, a user asked how they could simply skip to an item similar to the debriefing item that you are requiring your users are skipped to. Here's what Blair noted:

At the end of the experiment, you could add a single item questionnaire. You could have the last item in each of the other questionnaires skip to THAT item when they are done. That way your participants see only one of the five questionnaires. The others are all skipped over. Does that make sense?

MediaLab has the ability to skip to items within other questionnaires. Simply place the variable name of the questionnaire item you want to skip to within the first SkipTo column that is presented to you within the MediaLab experiment editor.

Does this make a bit more sense? I can gladly create a mock-up example for you. Are the GNATs going to be completed through DirectRT?

[jennslab]

Thank you for all your help so far, your suggestions on how to assemble the experiment were very informative. I am still having problems with the skip function though, could you please create a mock up for me using the skip function?

What I have tried:
Under Skipto funtion I have entered the questionnaire I would like to skip to demographics.que and demographics. I have also entered the name of the first item in the questionnaire (in this case Int1).
I know that the blank questionnaire with the skipto function runs because it displays the text I entered, but the skip does not.

Can you please attach a mock example?

Thank you!