A WebBased Tool for Gathering Ordinal Rankings Elizabeth

A Web-Based Tool for Gathering Ordinal Rankings Elizabeth Arnott David Allbritton De. Paul University

Introduction • Ordinal rankings are used widely in many areas: – Psychology – Education – Business • Across areas the rating task itself is relatively standard

The Problem • Standard procedural methodology for gathering ordinal rankings does not exist • Ratings often used as a subordinate tool • Poorly defined methodology may lead to inconsistencies (Madden et al. , 1965; 1964)

Benefits of a Web Interface • Convenient use • Information stored in a straightforward manner • Minimizes participant error • Allows for standard program to be used by any experimenter with web access

Perl Script • Processes Input Files – Text files (one sentence per line) – Groups of items (stories) separated by a blank line • Generates XHTML Files for Data Collection – Forms linked by a “Submit” button

Using the Interface • Groups of items to be ordered on a single page • Instructions to order from first to last • Java. Script – Clicking items with the mouse assigns a corresponding number in a text box – Participant can “Submit” or “Reset” when finished

Data Collection • Perl CGI scripts receive data • Data storage: – Text file of comma separated values – Storage in a database is also possible • Additional Text File – Stores story and sentence numbers – Facilitates matching

Recording the Data • Format of text file is minimal: – One line per rating for each participant – Fields include: • • Experiment name Group number Item number Rating

Limitations and Future Directions • Current version only takes text input • Requires a server (XHTML files are delivered by a CGI script on a server) • Database storage • “Undo” option • User-friendly methods for setting parameters