Blair Jarvis, Administrator
Overall, I have been quite impressed with MediaLab. I have only had experience with one other software package for conducting experiments (xxxxxxxxx) and I have to say that MediaLab is a much more sophisticated software package and extremely user friendly.
Celeste Alvaro,
Simon Fraser University
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
I have been able to quickly and easily create a wide variety of priming procedures including IAT and Fazio evaluative priming procedure. My collaborators and I have run about 20 experiments using this paradigm and have obtained not only reliable patterns of moderation, but also substantial correlations (r = .5 range) between evaluative priming procedures and conscious attitude measures and motivation measures. This speaks well of the interface with DirectX in measuring precise presentation and response times. I think that if you are looking to dabble in priming methods, or if you have more complicated measures in mind, this is a great program, low investment in time, high return.
Jamie Barden,
Howard University
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
I think MediaLab is an excellent program for conducting in-person interviews, which is what I do most often. Our lab has successfully conducted over 100 interviews with older adults (60 or more years old) and even those with no experience with computers at all were able to understand the process, enter their answers to a questionnaire of over 200 items and were still cheerful at the end. Creating questionnaires is not difficult, and the program enters and saves the data; no more data entry! And cuts way down on missing data, the bane of survey methodologists everywhere. And the purchase process couldn't be easier; download and go! No waiting for CDs to come in the mail. Best of all, however, is customer support. No automated response system H***. Empirisoft answers even the dumbest questions (like mine) with patience, kindness and humor. They have created additions for special needs, been helpful to my students as well as myself, and are an all around stand-up company. I couldn't be happier with MediaLab, and expect to use it for many years to come.
Aurora Sherman,
Brandeis University
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
MediaLab is the easiest program I have used for questionnaire-based experiments. The experiment editor interface is very intuitive, so it takes very little time for even a beginner to get an experiment up and running. Also, there is less room for user error than in an more complicated interface. MediaLab is also very flexible, even for a beginner. I am often able to select a pre-programmed option that in other programs would require custom programming. Related to this, the data is produced in a format that can immediately be imported and analyzed in SPSS, unlike some other programs. Again, this saves time and reduces the possibility of errors. Finally, the tech support is simply unparalleled. I generally receive helpful responses to my questions within a few hours. In sum, I would recommend MediaLab to anyone doing questionnaire-based experiments!
Amara Brook,
University of Michigan
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
DirectRT is truly an outstanding response time program! It is extremely user friendly, allowing people with little-to-no computer programming knowledge to quickly and easily design their own response time experiments. Other key advantages of the program include permitting multi-level randomization of stimuli, allowing for the presentation of high-end graphics, and writing data on to files that can be easily read by Excel or SPSS. Perhaps most important, the program is very sensitive in its recording of response times, maximizing response time accuracy. For anyone interested in conducting response time experiments, this is the program to use!
Christine Page,
Skidmore College
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
MediaLab and DirectRT are programs that clearly have been designed by a psychologist for psychologists to use. Compared to other similar software I have used, the programs meet all of my needs, from the way trials and questionnaires can be randomized to the type of stimuli that can be presented and the varieties of responses that can be collected. The many facets of the program have on occasion even prompted me to come up with study ideas I might not have otherwise. Also, the customer support that Empirisoft offers is unparalleled. They have without exception responded to my queries promptly and patiently, and do an excellent job of troubleshooting from afar. Furthermore, when DirectRT once did not meet the needs of a study I was designing in terms of the type of responses it would accept, he was able to rewrite the program for me very quickly so that it would. Getting custom-made software was definitely a new experience for me.
Abigail Marsh,
Harvard University
Blair Jarvis, Administrator
I found both programs to be very user friendly and easy to learn. The instruction manuals for both programs were very well written and easy to follow. The examples were helpful to see what the end result would look like, as well as to use for practice in learning the programs. To be honest, I was a little worried when my supervisor asked me to learn the programs, as I did not really have a lot of programming experience. Once I started reading the manuals and trying things out for myself, my worries subsided. And when I needed help with something that I could not figure out myself, Blair Jarvis himself was very helpful. He was very patient with me an explained things very clearly and was able to help me solve any problems, just from my descriptions of what was not working. These were usually little things I had forgotten to do, and so a little reminder was sometimes all that was needed. As well, the fact that the input files are created in Excel was helpful, since I am familiar with that program. This also made making changes to the experiment easy. Many of the subjects commented on the fact that the experiment looked nice, since were able to create instruction screens using PowerPoint (which allowed us to incorporate all of the capabilities of PowerPoint as well). Finally, the data merging capability of the programs is wonderful, as it saves a lot of time for the experimenter. In summary, I would definitely recommend the programs to others and feel that they make programming experiments an easy and fun experience (even for those of us who have not done any programming previously).
Shilaja Sundaramoorthy,
University of Toronto
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