Graded Surveys (Radiobuttons Interaction)

Intro

Several years ago I created a blog about a Graded Survey, which still attracts viewers regularly. Some visitors complain that the embedded example is SWF.  You may underestimate the amount of work which is needed for that type of blogs which are all offered for free. Impossible for me to convert all blogs to the present versions and for HTML5 output.

However yesterday a user asked another similar question on the forums. You can visit the thread here

The title doesn’t really reflect the full question, which was clarified later on. User wants to have survey slides, which each have two statements. The learner should rate each statement with a number between 0 and 10, and the sum of both ratings should always be 10. As usual I have a dislike for the word ‘force’ used in the title. The example you will be watching, is not forcing really. I considered three possible situations:

  1. Two ratings have a sum of 10, rating is accepted immediately.
  2. Sum of the two ratings is not equal to 10. In that case the second rating will be edited to achieve a sum of 10. Learner can accept this change or if he prefers:
  3. Learner gets the opportunity to retry to set correct ratings.

Contrary to my old blog post, where I used a MCQ, for this solution used the Radiobuttons interaction. Likert question was not possible, since I needed a rating scale with 11 dvisions (0-10). Moreover Likert is not supported for responsive projects. Although the example is a non-responsive project, the described workflow would also be possible for responsive projects (some changes needed)..

Example File

Watch this example.  You’ll see three survey slides after the title slide. Each survey slide has two statements with a rating scale. After finishing the survey slides, you’ll see the X_Score and Y_Score on a results slide. You can open the example from this link or watch the embedded movie with a fixed resolution:

Setup

Due to this specific setup, extending the survey to more than 3 survey slides is very easy.  Just duplicate a survey slide and edit the statements. Everything will work fine. I will explain the objects using the timeline, the user variables to be created and the advanced actions.

Timeline Survey slide

Have a look at the screenshot of the timeline of the FIRST survey slide:

From bottom to top you see:
  • Two statements, labeled SS_XStatement, and SS_YStatement. I didn't create a dedicated master slide with two placeholders for these statements, but that would be possible. Labeling of those statements is not so important, because they are not used in any action.

  • Two instances of the RadioButtons Learning Interaction, used as rating scales. Please don't be confused by their green colored timeline, because these interactions are not interactive, they are static. This is a design bug. The properties of one interaction can be seen in this screenshot:

    Important fields are marked in Red or Green. Beware: you have to create the variable - here ‘v_X‘ i- n the Variables dialog box.

  • Question1: text above the statements with the warning about the sum (could also be a placeholder on the master slide)

  • Submit button: needs to be a shape button, because it has to be timed for the rest of the project. Eventually you can use a SVG or bitmap image (from 11.5 on). Both can also be timed for the rest of the project.

  • A group Gr_Feedback, including the Accept button, Retry button and the Message which appears when the sum of the rates is not equal to 10.  This group is also timed for the rest of the project, which means that both buttons need to be shape buttons, SVG or bitmap images.

Variables

The use variables to be created are:
  • v_null: empty variable is used to clear the associated variables to the learning interactions. More details about its functionality in this blog

  • v_start: will store the first frame of each survey slide. For the Retry action, the micro-navigation solution described in Replay Slide (scenario 2) is used, hence the necessity of the variable which can be empty as default value. This variable is reused on each survey slide.

  • v_X: variable associated with the rating scale (interaction) of the first statement, default can be empty. This variable is reused on each survey slide. Default value can be empty.

  • v_Y: variable associated with the rating scale (interaction) of the second statement, default can be empty. This variable is reused on each survey slide. Default value can remain empty.

  • v_sum: will be calculated by adding v_Y to v_X. Default value can be empty.

  • v_XScore: will be calculated after each survey slide, by adding the value of v_X. Default value can be empty.

  • v_YScore: will be calculated after each survey slide, by adding the value of v_Y. Default value can be empty.

Actions/events

EnterAct

This action is assigned to the On Enter event of all the Survey slides. It is meant to reset everything as is visble  in this screenshot:

The frame number of the first frame is stored in v_start, the variables v_X and v_Y are cleared. The group with the Accept button, Retry button and Feedback message is hidden, and the Submit button is shown.

SubmitAct

This action is triggered by the Success event of the Submit button. Because that shape button is timed for the rest of the project, you need only one instance of this two-decision action:

The first decision ‘Always’ is not conditional, calculates the value of v_sum which is used in the condition of the following decision.

Second decision ‘Checkit’ verifies if the sum of the ratings is equal to 10. If that is the case, the ratings for X and Y score can be added to the totals, and navigation to the Next slide is done. If the sum is different from 10, the group (2 buttons + message) shows up. The value of v_Y is corrected (10 – v_Y) which will show immediately on the rating scale. The learner can accept this correction or opt for retaking (Retry) the rating.

AcceptAct

This action is triggered by the Success event of the Accept button. Because that shape button is timed for the rest of the project, you need only one instance of this Standard action:

You see exactly the same commands as for the THEN part of the SubmitAct.

RetryAct

This action is triggered by the Success event of the Retry button. Because that shape button is timed for the rest of the project, you need only one instance of this action:

As described before, I use a Replay action with re-entering the slide to reset the survey slide for a new attempt. Although it has only one command, it is necessary to create an advanced (or shared action) because the command ‘Expression’  is not available as simple action.

EnterResults

This action is assigned to the On Enter event of the Results slide. It is necessary to get rid of the objects displayed for the rest of the project:

Conclusion

Hope you liked this solution? For a responsive project with fluid boxes, the workflow will be more cumbersome, not only because of the Fluid Boxes setup but also because:

  • You cannot use grouping in fluid boxes.
  • The possibility to have objects timed for the rest of the project is limited. It is possible if the slides are based on the same master slide, which could be the case for the survey slides.

Could I have used Shared actions? Of course,  I dragged the Replay action from my external library with Shared actions bit for your convenience converted it to an Advanced action. The other actions can be converted to shared actions as well. However withthe described setup, the advanced actions are used only once. If you have issues with the timing for the rest of the project in a Fluid Boxes project, I would certainly recommend to use shared actions because you’ll need an instance on each survey slide.