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Random boxes appearing in question items

  1. 10-19-2010, 12:34 PM#1
    hoodkb

    Random boxes appearing in question items

    Hello,
    I am currently running two experiments one with videos and one without. While running both experiments boxes randomly appear after the question item. There is no pattern to which questions the boxes appear nor when the boxes appear. The video study has six conditions and the boxes have appeared at least once on every condition. In the other study the boxes appear randomly as well; they appear 4 or 5 out of every 10 runs. The boxes do not obstruct the view of the questions though participants have noticed and asked about them. Any thoughts?

    Thanks
  2. 10-19-2010, 3:31 PM#2
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Not sure--I haven't heard of this issue before. What version of MediaLab are you using? Also, can you elaborate on the appearance of the boxes and/or attach a screen shot of one?
  3. 10-20-2010, 11:48 AM#3
    hoodkb
    Hello,

    I am using version 1.33. The boxes or squares are appearing at the end of the question. Anywhere from one to four boxes randomly appear after questions.

    ex.
    1. How old are you? □
    2. Do you like ice cream? □□

    Thanks!
  4. 10-20-2010, 12:12 PM#4
    hoodkb
    Attached is a screen shot. Thanks again!
  5. 10-20-2010, 3:16 PM#5
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Looks like there may be some unusual character(s) in the text of your questionnaire (.que) file. Could you possibly attach it and I'll take a look. You could also try it yourself by taking a close look at the wording for the item in the screenshot you attached. Go to that item in you que and click Details for that item. See if there are any hidden characters at the end of the text. If so erase them and save the file. If not, select all the text, delete it, and try re-entering it. But again, also feel free just to attach it and I'll take a look at it, no problem.
  6. 10-20-2010, 3:46 PM#6
    hoodkb
    We have tried re-entering the text on the questionnaires. The boxes are still showing up. Attached is the que file from the screen shot I sent you. Thanks
  7. 10-20-2010, 4:07 PM#7
    hoodkb
    Hello again,

    I am having another issue with the program. MediaLab is crashing (blank screen) if we run multiple participants without closing the program in between. I am using Windows XP and version 2008 1.33. I have seen threads about Vista and Windows 7 but not much about XP. I have not had this issue in the past, I just installed/downloaded the program last week onto newer computers. Thanks
  8. 10-21-2010, 1:12 PM#8
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Please try this revised version of your que and see if you have the same issue. With regard to the crash, is it with the same que file?
  9. 10-21-2010, 1:38 PM#9
    hoodkb
    The crash is happening with the same two experiments. If I run multiple people it gives me a blank screen towards the end of the survey and the responses are not recorded. Just tried it with someone else's study and after running it twice on the third time, a box stating that MediaLab was out of memory appeared and the whole program shut down.

    Also, I tried running MediaLab with the sample file used in the thread http://www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?t=1013

    and it crashed after running the file twice without closing MediaLab in between runs. It crashed (blank screen) on q78 on the second run.
  10. 02-01-2011, 4:31 PM#10
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    I think we may have this memory leak issue resolved in v2010 (just released Jan 28, 2011). It has not been posted on the website yet but you can email sales@emp.. if you would like to try a copy. It should be posted as an official release sometime this week.

    See, e.g.,

    http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=5500
    http://www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?p=15284

    Note that v2010 also addresses a variety of issues associated with video files--including a bug in which backvideos could cause problems on some systems if the item ended before their completion.
  11. 08-31-2011, 10:28 AM#11
    Kyle_Irwin
    Hi There,

    I am also dealing with random boxes appearing in questionnaire files...could you describe how to fix the problem?

    Thanks for the help.