Fill-in-the-blank questions

[Kwise1]

Hi there - I'm new to MediaLab.

I would like to ask an open-ended question where participants tell me the # of hours per weekday they spend watching television. I would like the question to look like this:

How many hours of TV do you watch in the average weekday in the following times:

6am -12 noon _______ hours per week
12noon-6pm ________ hours per week

I do not know how to get the "hours per week" to appear AFTER the blank. When doing (m******hours per week) that clearly does not work!

Also, I would love for both of those time periods (6am-12noon and 12noon-6pm) to appear on the same page. This might involve customizing via HTML, but I have NO IDEA how to do this.

Thanks!

[jarvis24]

Kwise1, the easiest way to do this would be a format in which you ask each question one at a time (you could randomize the order if you like). With the questions wording being something like this:

How many hours of TV do you watch in the average weekday in the following times:

Hours Per Week:

6am -12 noon _______

Another way to go might be using the Multiple Response item type in combination with the specify option. You could list the various time ranges as options and, if selected, the user could be prompted to enter the number of hours for any given one. For details, see http://www.empirisoft.com/medialab/help/index.html?medialab_overview.htm

Finally, yes, the could be done with custom item--you might check out the multiple fill in the blank custom item sample that comes with MediaLab in the Samples folder.

Let me know if you run into any trouble!
Blair

[Kwise1]

Thanks - this helps. The problem is I don't want the participants to see them one at a time. I'd like them all to be on the screen at once.

The problem with giving people questions one at a time is that it increases fatigue, in my opinion at least. After answering 3-4 questions of the same kind, Ss might start to wonder, "how long will this go on?" But if they can SEE on the screen how many questions of a certain kind are being asked, they know when they are almost done. So it would be great if Medialab did a better job of allowing multiple questions on the screen at once, rather than requiring us to create them via custom files (which is not easy - I'm having serious trouble doing so).

But I'll check out the many Sample files to see if I can find one that works for me. Thanks!

[jarvis24]

Kwise, I'm going to close this thread and refer you to our other (open) thread on the same issue:

http://www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?t=1091