A Web-Based Tool for Gathering Ordinal Rankings

1
A Web-Based Tool for Gathering Ordinal Rankings

• Elizabeth Arnott
• David Allbritton
• DePaul University

2
Introduction

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

3
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)

4
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

5
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

6
Using the Interface

• Groups of items to be ordered on a single page
• Instructions to order from first to last
• JavaScript
• Clicking items with the mouse assigns a
  corresponding number in a text box
• Participant can Submit or Reset when finished

7
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

8
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

9
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