New LimeSurvey user, just trying to figure out if this is the right platform for my project, which involves testing student's reading comprehension and writing abilities.
I'd like to be able to capture the 'progress' of a long text field and save 'snapshots' of the text at regular intervals as the student is composing their response. Would it be possible to take a text field that's still being edited, and save it's current value (along with corresponding timestamp) every X number of seconds?
Perhaps there could be some hidden question/field that the snapshots get dumped into, without the user seeing multiple versions of the one question.
Yes, you could place several long-text questions on the same page and use JavaScript to hide all but the first one and periodically load the contents of the visible question into one of the hidden questions.
What LimeSurvey version are you using and what time interval would you want?
Cheers,
Tony Partner Solutions, code and workarounds presented in these forums are given without any warranty, implied or otherwise.
I'm currently testing with the free version hosted here with LimeSurvey, whatever version number that is. If I can figure out this timer issue and do decide to go forward with using this platform then I will set up my own server using the current/sable version.
I would want the time interval to be every 60 seconds, and capture a snapshot of their text each time. From the user's perspective, I'd like it to be as seemless as possible, as if they're just continuing to work in the same field the entire time.
I just noticed some timer controls in the question 'Advanced settings/Timer' section. One of the options is to 'move on without warning' when the timer expires. It seems like that would do most of what I need. How could I capture that data before moving on to the next question, then autofill the next question with that data?
But if you redirect them automatically to the next question it will not be "seamless", they will clearly notice that a new page is loading.
If it should be seamless, Tpartners approach is probably a lot better because the will probably not even notice that the text has been saved in one of the other hidden questions.
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Provide your LS version and where it is installed (own server, uni/employer, SaaS hosting, etc.).
Always provide a LSS file (not LSQ or LSG).
Note: I answer at this forum in my spare time, I'm not a LimeSurvey GmbH employee.
True, but it sounds like an easier approach that makes use of existing features instead of writing JavaScript for all of it. I'm new to this platform and don't know much JavaScript so if there' a way to achieve the same result and avoid adding my own code then that's something worth considering.
The user experience is definitely important though. I think I'll try using the native timer and see how noticeable it is, but I'm still interested in learning how it would be done with JavaScript as well.
Hi, Greenflux,
considering your goal of "testing student's reading comprehension and writing abilities." I am longing to know how you partial out the bias of typewriting skills of the students.
That's because of your time criteria.
Best regards
Joffm
Volunteers are not paid.
Not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless
That's totally up to the client. I have nothing to do with the testing evaluation criteria. I'm just trying to find a platform that can offer the features the client has requested.
I thought it was kind of interesting that they wanted to see the snapshots as well, instead of only grading the final submitted version. It must have some statistical significance to their research but I couldn't tell you what they do with it from there.
I don't think that any existing features will accomplish this.
Regarding the JavaScript approach...
1) Place several long-text questions in the same group directly after the existing long-text question.
2) Add the following script to the existing long-text question - adjust "snapShotInterval" as necessary. It will hide the new long-text questions and sequentially load them with the value of the visible long-text at the prescribed interval.
Code:
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
$(document).ready(function() {
// Identify the questions
var thisQuestion = $('#question{QID}');
var hiddenQuestions = $(thisQuestion).nextAll('.text-long');
var textArea1 = $('textarea.form-control', thisQuestion);
// Hide the hidden questions
$(hiddenQuestions).hide();
// Set the timer interval (in milliseconds)
var snapShotInterval = 60000;
// Start the timer
var snapShotTimer = setInterval(snapShot, snapShotInterval);
function snapShot() {
// Find all empty hidden textareas
var nextTextArea = $('textarea.form-control', hiddenQuestions).filter(function(e) {
return $(this).val() === '';
});
// Load the value of the first textarea into the first empty hidden textarea
if(nextTextArea.length > 0) {
$(nextTextArea).first().val($(textArea1).val());
}
// Abort the timer when there are no more hidden textareas
else {
clearInterval(snapShotTimer);
}
}
});
</script>
