Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is it called PsyToolkit?

Psy is short for Psychology and Toolkit refers to the various software tools PsyToolkit comes with.

What can one do with PsyToolkit?

A lot. Apart from this website with lessons and documentation, you can setup your own online or laboratory-based studies. In short, you can program and run cognitive psychological experiments, you can run surveys, and you can do this all offline or online, including online data collection.

Does PsyToolkit work with MTurk?

Yes, there are various research groups doing so. It is very easy to do. You can tick the end-code box in PsyToolkit to get a unique participant code which participants then can enter in their MTurk entry box.

Are you on the social media?

All important PsyToolkit information is on its own page, so there is not that much need. But PsyToolkit is on various social media for documentation (YouTube) and news (twitter), and likes (Facebook). Here are the links:

Why is this software free?

There is a lot of free software available, and there is a profound philosophy behind it. Read more about this here. Free software makes it more accessible to use, especially for students.

Where is PsyToolkit based, and who pays for it?

The PsyToolkit webserver is based at the University of Glasgow. The project is supported by the University of Glasgow and has received a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Who uses PsyToolkit?

PsyToolkit is being used around the world. Many psychology students use it for research projects.

What is the difference between Eprime, Superlab, and PsyToolkit?

There are many differences, even though these software packages have many similar aims. One difference is that PsyToolkit does not have a graphical user interface for programming your experiments. Another difference is that PsyToolkit does not have the resources for full user support like commercial companies do. Otherwise, PsyToolkit is on par with those packages.

Why not a graphical user interface?

Although a graphical user interface might give you the impression it is easier to use, it is actually much easier and faster to work with a text based setups.

Does PsyToolkit work on tablets and mobile phones?

Yes, but there are limitations for cognitive psychological experiments. Typically, you want to collect response times, and keyboards are good input devices. With only a touch screen, the online surveys work fine, though (although you cannot do experiments with keyboard input).

Is the response measurement timing reliable?

It is different for the web based version and the Linux offline version. The latter is super precise. For many experiments, you probably do not necessarily need such high levels of precision. Yet, it is good enough to reliably measure relatively small effects, such as Inhibition Of Return or the Simon Effect (i.e., effects of less than 50 ms effects).

How can we support PsyToolkit?

You can do one of the following things:

Can you implement feature X, please?

I am always open to suggestions of new features. Just send me an email.

Is the scripting language for online experiments different from the Linux version?

No, it is the same, although some features are designed only for the Linux version (such as external keyboards) and some features only for online experiments

How long can surveys run?

Currently, they can be active for as long as you want, but there are no guarantees.

Can you support my language?

Currently, PsyToolkit supports various foreign languages (including Spanish and simplified Mandarin/Chinese). Contact me if it does not support your language.

Will surveys stay valid if the software is updated?

Yes, the old versions will stay active. If you compile a survey with a specific PsyToolkit-for-the-web version, this will remain active, even though the latest version of PsyToolkit might have new or changed features. This makes the life of researchers easier.

Which browsers are supported?

All modern browsers, including Internet Explorer version 10 and higher. Embedding experiments with keyboard input requires a real keyboard (touchscreens won’t work very well or not at all).

Is there a welcome screen for surveys?

If you create a survey, you can put welcome-information in the various text boxes under survey intro screen.

Where can I add information for participants (such as plain language statement, etc)?

If you create a survey, you can put this information in the various text boxes under survey intro screen.

How do I put my university logo on the welcome screen?

Here are the two steps how to do this:

What sort of survey items are available?

There are many different items available, including Likert scales, choice questions, text boxes, embedded experiments and videos, etc. Check the online documentation under Question Types. You can also copy and paste existing scales from the survey library.

Can the order of questions be randomized?

Yes (read how to)

Can you randomly assign participants to questionnaires?

Yes (read how to)

Is there a tracker of how far the participant has come in a survey?

At the top of the web page, the percentage completed is indicated. This might not always be accurate if you include conditional elements (i.e., you cannot predict how long the survey will last if certain questions might be skipped depending on how some questions are being answered).

I have a "check" question, but I would like that people can enter some text if they want to choose something that is not on my list. Can I do that, and if so, how?

Yes, you can do that, click here to see how.

Can people go back with the browser back button?

Yes

How can you embed an experiment in a survey?

You will first need to have a working experiment, and then you can embed it in the "experiment" item. An example can be viewed here.

How can you embed a video in a survey?

You can embed a YouTube video. Here is an example.

What types of cognitive tasks are already available?

There are a number of cognitive tasks in the online library. You will still need to understand data analysis techniques to extract the data you want. If there are special tasks you are interested in, you can program them yourselves, or make a suggestion to me to implement it.

How can I invited participants to participate in the survey I have created?

When you create a survey and select it to go online, a URL link is provided. You need to send this to your participants yourselves or advertise somewhere on a website, the PsyToolkit website will not do that for you.

What sort of format will the data be stored in?

The data will be available in a raw format (text file) and in the common spreadsheet format CSV, which can be opened with all spreadsheet software. Excel export is also supported.

Can surveys be programmed so that participants get feedback about their own answers at the end?

Yes (using the set question, click here to read about it).

Can the text font of questions be changed?

Yes, all text can be changed using html tags. Click here for some examples.

Is there an option for "must fill out" questions?

Yes, you can "require" that people give an answer. For "radio" (choice) questions this is the default, and for text boxes you can add the option require. Check the documentation about textlines on how this works.

Can you have survey links that are unique to participants?

Each survey you create has one survey link. This means, in essence, that participants are unidentifyable. You can, of course, ask people to identify them with a question about their email. Also, you can give people an identifier code at the end of the survey, which they can then use for course credits, etc. Check here how that works.

Can you run surveys in different languages?

Yes, the text on the buttons and so on can be set to English, Spanish, German, Dutch, simplified Chinese, Bulgarian, and Hungarian.

Can you change the button text?

Yes, you can use the questionnaire item operator "b:", see Check here how that works.

Can I download my data in SPSS format?

Under download, you can specify that you want to add Excel files, which can be easily and directly read into SPSS.

What is the output data format of experiments?

The output data format is ascii text. Further, it is entirely up to the designer of the script which variables are being save (with the save statement).

Can PsyToolkit play a sound stimulus, like a short beep?

Yes it can. See the statment sound and link

Can PsyToolkit play some music when a participant is doing a block of trials?

Yes it can do that too. See the statment sound.

Can I include files into my script?

Yes, see the include statement.

Is there a recommended Linux distribution?

No, PsyToolkit for Linux should run on any modern distribution. Mint Linux seems currently one of the most popular.

Where can I download the Linux software?

http://www.psytoolkit.org/download

Will you implement this on other platforms, such as Mac or Windows?

No, but there is other free software available for those platforms.

Which external keyboards does PsyToolkit support?

Cedrus, BlackBox and IOlab (although these latter ones are probably no longer being made or sold). You can also build your own keyboard and use the parallel port. Read more about this here.

Psycc complains that psycc might not work with this pre 2.0 Ruby?

If you get that message, your Linux computer uses an older version of the Ruby programming language (in which psycc is written). There are different ways to deal with this problem. In any case, you need to make sure you have a modern Ruby version installed. You need at least version 2.0 (as of August 2015, the stable version of Ruby is 2.2). All modern Linux systems can run Ruby 2.0 or later. The 2 solutions are as follows: