The ETK modules are designed to work within a Qualtrics survey. Each module consists of a JavaScript, an HTML and a CSS file. Each of these scripts is inserted into a specific location within a Qualtrics survey or a Qualtrics question. The CSS script is added to the survey Look & Feel tab; the HTML script is added to the question text and the JavaScript is added to the question via the JavaScript API. The researcher will need to modify the scripts in a few places such as adding the URL and image names specific to their study and modifying a width parameter in the CSS file to fit their image size. Qualtrics Embedded Data variables will also need to be created for study output.
A checklist of the steps needed to implement the module scripts can be found at: ETK Checklist.
Useful functionality implemented in the ETK modules include:
- Randomization: automatically done within the specific modules. This includes randomization of left/right (or right/left) presentation of comparison pairs and randomization of the order in which image pairs are presented.
- AllOneSide variable: a boolean variable that is set when a study participant only clicks on LEFT or on RIGHT. This allows the researcher to easily flag participants who did not faithfully attempt the study.
- Time Delay: flag and variable to optionally impose a time delay between images.
- Validation images: the RRC module includes the ability to add a separate image pair as a validation/attention check. This could again be used to flag study participants who were not faithfully completing the study.
- Image Number tag on MoA carousel: a code section within the MoA module can be used to add an Image Number at the top of the carousel box. This is useful when designing a study where multiple images could be selected by the participant. Turning on the Image Number feature and embedding the MoA module in a Qualtrics multiple choice format question would allow for more than a single image to be chosen.