Insert <variable> in question wording not working

[Laura_k]

Hi,

I am having difficulty pulling the information participants enter into a fill in the blank item, into the question wording of a subsequent fill in the blank item. This is how I currently have the questionnaire file set up.

1. First, participants are given an essay title and told they will have 2 minutes to write their answer once they click continue.
2. Participants are presented with a reminder of the question and a fill in the blank space (unlimited text space using the s5 parameter).
3. When the time runs out participants are asked whether they require more time using a scale response.
4. If participants press yes for more time, they see what they have written so far (using the <> parameter to pull the text from the fill in the blank into the question wording). They are then provided with space (second fill in the blank) to write anything extra for a further 2 minutes.

In the early stages of running through the experiment, everything appeared to work fine. I'd get to number 2 (above) and write a short sentence into the space (I didn't write a whole essay at first as I was making small amendments so I pressed esc to move on), pressed yes for more write more (number 3) to check this was working and that my sentence appeared in the question wording, and it did (number 4). I also tested this with longer samples of text, by copying and pasting a small paragraph into the space, pressing esc and yes for more time, which also worked fine (my small paragraph appeared).

However, if I spend 2 minutes writing the essay (to see how much particiants can write in that time) and press yes to write more when the time runs out (as opposed to pressing Esc) the <> parameter no longer works and participants cannot see what they wrote in the first fill in the blank (number 2), in the question wording (number 4)

I'm unsure whether I've missed something or why this is not working. I wondered what you thought about this?

[jarvis24]

So is the problem reliably a function of the amount of text that goes into the initial essay? I do know there may be a 255 character cut off for how much text a fill in the blank answer can store in memory for later use and for writing to the data files.

[Laura_k]

Hi,

Thank you for your suggestion. I tried writing less than 255 characters into the fill-in-the-blank box and waiting for the time to run out. When I click yes for more time, the text I typed in does not show up. If I enter in the same text, press esc before the time runs out and yes for more time, the text shows up.

Laura

[jarvis24]

So to be sure I understand. The essay they are writing is actually being written in a fill-in-the-blank item (with an s5 parameter to make it big) and NOT an essay item, correct? I think so. And then it's as if the FITB does not save the "essay" data if the time runs out--only if the user completes the item before that. Consequently, when re-presented with the previous entry, it appears blank if the time had run out earlier when it was presented the first time. Again, as if the response was not saved because the time ran out. Am I getting it now? If so, exactly what version of MediaLab are you using (i.e., 20xx.x.x) and can you post a copy of your exp and que file?

[Laura_k]

Hi,

Yes that's all right. I am using v 2008 1.33. See attached the experiment and questionnaire file.

Thank you for your help.

Laura