MediaLab v2008 (from Empirisoft)

Click for details of DirectIN keyboards and response boxes for use with MediaLab.

MediaLab, designed specifically for the Windows environment, enables users to create questionnaires and multimedia experiments with a variety of question formats quickly and easily. MediaLab comes with extensive help files and manual, sample experiments and a simple tutorial to help you get started right away.

General features include:

• As many experimental conditions as you like (great for factorial designs)
• Flexible randomization features at multiple levels
• Embed your own or third-party programs within an experiment or questionnaire
• Run DirectRT or Inquisit sessions from within your MediaLab experiment
• Create multiple custom preference settings with choices of fonts and display colours
• Context sensitive help
• Easy-to-use intuitive interface--no programming code necessary.
• Compatible with non-english fonts (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Arabic).
• Customize all messages and/or translate into any language.
• Optionally run experiments from a CD-ROM or Server on LAN.

Questionnaire design features include:

• Scale responses with up to 12 closed ended responses
• Multiple response (select all that apply) responses
• Fill-in-the blank responses (free or restricted)
• Essay-type response
• Thought listings and recall listings
• Have subjects rate their own thought-listing responses on any dimension
• Easy text-based instructions for any question
• Present html pages with active hyperlinks (MediaLab uses Intenet Explorer, so you can display anything that Explorer can)
• Track browsing behaviour and every link followed
• Present Microsoft Word or other OLE compatible documents
• Embed Microsoft PowerPoint shows
• Gather continuous rating data during audio and video clips
• Skip pattern capability when a particular closed ended response is given
• Questionnaire items can be omitted in specified conditions
• Easily modify and re-use your questionnaires in other experiments
• Option of self-paced or time-limited responses
• Allow subjects to return to previous questions if necessary
• Embed subjects' responses in subsequent question wordings
• Create multiple style configurations (e.g., colours and fonts) for use within the same experiment or questionnaire

Multimedia features include:

• Present graphics (.bmp, .jpg, and .gif), sound (.wav, .mp3.) or video, or combinations
• Present html, flash, java, asp and any other browser compatible files
• Set the screen location of images and movies

Data features include:

• Write data (choice of variables) to an easy-to-analyze ASCII file
• Imported straight into Excel (up to 255 variables) or SPSS (unlimited variables; variable definitions are written automatically)
• Two sets of data files produced, one organized by questionnaires the other by variable names
• Easily merge data files collected on different computers
• Optionally write reaction time for any response to the data file

For further details, see MediaLab website

Hardware and software requirements

MediaLab runs on all current PC systems runnning any version of Windows. At least 64 Mb of RAM is recommended, but additional memory can certainly boost perfomance when resource demands are high (e.g., when using an array of multi-media stimuli).

It is recommended that you also install Microsoft Office Professional on all machines that will be running MediaLab, especially Excel, Word and PowerPoint. These programs add functionality to MediaLab, allowing you to embed Word and PowerPoint documents in your experiment and to access the conditional logical and power of Excel for your experimental design. With Microsoft's Internet Explorer installed, MediaLab can also give you the ability to embed local and internet web pages within your experiment. Finally, a spreadsheet application such as Excel or SPSS is required to view the data files produced by MediaLab.

Price information and ordering details