[Air-l] Any opinions about Opinio web survey software

[Rowin Young]

Hello Ulf,

A very belated 'thank you' for this very useful reply.  I'm a member of the
QTI working group and will pass on your thoughts to the group as it's always
very helpful to get these insights from real world users.

Many thanks, and best wishes,
Rowin


On 5/7/06 17:03, "Ulf-Dietrich Reips" <ureips at genpsy.unizh.ch> wrote:

> Hi Rowin, all,
> 
> At 15:01 Uhr +0100 5.7.2006, Rowin Young wrote:
>> I would also be very interested in seeing the
>> results of your research and am looking forward
>> to them being announced.
>> 
> I'll be happy to send them.
> 
>> I also wondered how many (if any) of the tools
>> you've looked at use the IMS Question and Test
>> Interoperability specification
>> (http://www.imsglobal.org/question/index.html),
>> an open standard mainly being used in
>> eassessment but which can also be used for
>> surveys.
>> 
> We are aware of the IMS standards (and have used
> an earlier version in our own e-learning
> development, see e.g.
> http://www.methpsy.unizh.ch/mesosworld/archive/standards/STD-QTI.html
> and 
> http://www.methpsy.unizh.ch/mesosworld/archive/leitfaden/ulf/assessmentgen.htm
> l 
> ), but the IMS has a number of impracticalities
> and inconsistencies. In particular, none of the
> research on Web survey and Web experiment
> methodology has found its way into the standards
> (e.g., certain types of errors happen more easily
> with some response types or rendering types than
> others, so it is better to offer the latter in a
> tool). Also, the psychology and reality of Web
> surveying is not appropriately reflected in the
> standards. For example, the frequency of how
> often a question type is needed in creating Web
> surveys ought to be reflected in a tool's
> usability and selection of question types, but
> the standards are indifferent in this respect.
> Furthermore, response-type and rendering may
> theoretically ideal to be handled independently
> (as aimed for in the standards), but this is not
> the psychological reality for responders to and
> creators of questionnaires. They experience and
> prefer to handle both as a conglomerate. We can
> discuss further details off-list, if you like.
> However, we will consider the IMS in terms of the
> total picture of question types, layout types and
> response options etc. available in tools.
> 
> Best --u