Run one study with several tasks

schnuffichen · October 2021

Hi all,

I have what feels like a basic question that I can't figure out. I've been searching for answers to this question, but I must be using the wrong terms... I also tried getting this information from the JATOS Documentation and I found the correct page (I think) but I couldn't follow the instructions because I think they gloss over my specific question. :/

I would like to run a study with various sub-experiments, which should be run in the same order for each participant.

From the JATOS documentation it seems that I should be able to create this as one study with several components, which are identified through their HTML link. But: Where do I get this HTML link?

Here's what I tried:

1) I tried to just upload the tasks as their own study and then copy the HTML path I find under "Properties" --> "HTML file path" for that study into the new study component's "HTML file path". To illustrate, if my study is called STUDY, and the component is called TASK-A, I created a study called TASK-A and then hoped that I could simply copy and paste the HTML file path for the study TASK-A as the HTML file path the component TASK-A.

However, that obviously doesn't work since STUDY has its own folder that I don't know how to move out of. In other words, if I do what I describe above, the file path for the study TASK-A is something like "/filepath/index.html", but the file path for the component is something along the lines of "/STUDY/filepath/index.html"

2) I tried to import the task's OSWeb file as well as the OSWeb zip file directly as the component. However, I get an error message "Couldn't read JSON string" that I don't know what it means. :/

3) A colleague provided me with access to his mindprobe account. It seems that he simply created separate studies for each of the different tasks (rather than one study with different components), but it is not clear to me at which point he then defined that the tasks should be run one after the other (and in which order).

I could of course also just create one long single experiment that contains all the tasks (which is what I've done for E-Prime Go in the past), but this is annoying because I end up with one single huge data file for each participant (plus the fact that this would likely exceed the 5 MB restriction).

TL;DR: How can I create a study with different tasks? Nothing fancy - simply one fixed order of tasks that every person performs.

Thanks so much in advance!

Best,

Jana

elisa · October 2021

Hi Jana,

If I understood correctly, it sounds like you have separate OSWeb studies and you would like to combine them into one single JATOS study that spans over different components. That's fine. I'll try to go step-by-step

Make sure you have a local installation of JATOS. On your own laptop. This is important because you'll need to access the file system. https://www.jatos.org/Installation.html
Import your OSweb studied into your local JATOS. Then check where your files are (on your local JATOS page (http://localhost:9000/jatos/login) check the bottom where it says "where are my files".
Follow the instructions in this thread (sorry, they're a bit messy - see my last answer on February 25th). https://forum.cogsci.nl/discussion/6964/where-should-all-these-scripts-should-be-put-into. Essentially, each JATOS study is associated with a single folder. But each OSWeb study will create a different folder. So you have to merge the contents of all the OSWeb folders into a single one. Each OSWeb study starts with an index.html file, so you'll have to rename all these to prevent overwriting when moving to the same folder. (You could call them e.g. index_TASK-A.html etc)
On your local JATOS, go to the study you imported, and create new components (as you seem to have done already). When you go to New Component, you'll get an overlay where you have to provide the path to the HTML path associated with each component. Here is the place where you decide the order of your tasks.
(You can move around the order of the components to change your study)
Once you have your study nicely built on your local server, click on Export (on the study bar) and you'll get a jzip file. Save this somewhere and you'll be able to import it into a server, like mindprobe
To get a link to your entire study, just follow the usual instructions. https://www.jatos.org/Worker-Types.html. You'll get a link to the whole study. This will start with the first component and, when that's done, it should redirect participants automatically to the next one.

That's it. It sounds more complicated than it is. If you encounter problems, ask again.

Best

Elisa

schnuffichen · October 2021

Hi Elisa,

Ooooooooh! Yes, if you're right (which you probably are :)) I was completely on the wrong track. I had no clue that I could/should install JATOS locally. That makes tons of sense.

I'll try to follow the steps you outlined (here and in the thread you linked to). Even if I run into issues, at least I'll know a bit better what to search for.

Thanks so much, I'm pretty sure I may never have figured this out on my own - I really appreciate your help!

Best,

Jana

schnuffichen · October 2021

Hi Elisa,

Yay, after a bit of trial and error (it took me way longer than I care to admit to realize that I need to change the paths in the HTML file if I move the css/img/js subfolders into further subfolders to keep a clean structure) I finally managed to get this to run with several tasks after one another.

Thanks so much - your help was invaluable! :)

Best,

Jana

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