Tracking which documents participants look at

[dchugh]

Blair,

This feature sounds like what we are looking for!

Do you, or others, have a sample of a program using web tracker that I could play with, to look at how it's set up and how the data files look?

Also, I'm not sure if this is a fair question, but it's on my mind, so let me ask - does Media Lab's web tracker operate similarly to Mouse Lab? I haven't learned Mouse Lab but had been directed to check it out. But since I already know Media Lab, it would be better than learning new software. What I'm interested in understanding is how the two differ, if any out there has already done the due diligence on the comparison?

THANKS!
Dolly Chugh, MediaLab lover!

[jarvis24]

Hi Dolly,

Haven't tried Mouse Lab so I can't say. As far as the WebTracker item type goes, it's pretty straightforward--just select the item type in your questionnaire. List the starting file or URL in the fielname field. That's it--the subject just clicks on Continue when they are done and the browsing data are written to a file in your data folder.

The following is a blurb from the user's guide:

The HTML item type allows you to present HTML and other "browser-compatible" files. The WebTracker item extends this functionality by tracking a subject's behaviour while browsing through a sequence of HTML or other browser-compatible files. It stores each link that the subject follows as well as the time at which the link was followed and how long the subject stayed there before continuing to the next link. The item ends when the subject clicks the "Continue" button. These data are all written to a separate spreadsheet file (.csv) that will be named after the variable name you assigned to the WebTracker item and will be located in the experiment's data folder.

I notice one thing it omits is that you can, I think, optionally add a password (x) parameter to the item in order to indicate a file or URL that will end the item automatically. For example, if you entered (xhttp://www.empirisoft.com) in the parameters field and the subject browses to that link then the item would end at that point.