The system addresses itself to any person, experienced as well as unexperrienced
users of the Internet, and it consists of quite a large number of facilities
many of which can be used in any order.
The description of the system therefore takes form of a hyper text.
For the sake of clearness many references (links) to parts of the
description are represented by a single character # only.
Click the nearest # for a description of a menu item.
To answer a questionnaire simply follow the instructions that you have
recieved from the questionnaire author.
In the case of an open survey which can be answered by anybody
you have been given an Internet address to be entered in the
browsers 'Location' field (followed by 'Enter' key).
The questionnaire will be presented to you.
Fill in the entry fields of the questionnaire and click its submit button.
You'll get a response from the questionnaire server acccording to specifications
by the author of the questionnaire.
In the case of a survey with a closed list of participants
You have recieved an identification and a password together with a
questionnaire name.
Then click 'Accessing a questionnaire' under
'For questionnaire answerers'
(or, if you prefer not to read any further, click
here)
whereby you are presented with a form.
Fill in the entry fields of this form and click the submit button
to have the questionnaire presented to you.
You'll get a response from the questionnaire server acording to specifications
by the author of the questionnaire.
If you prefer to familiarize yourself only with the facilities offered
by the system click 'Introduction to creation of questionnaires'.
Or click 'Examples of questionnaires' and, on the page displayed,
the links to examples.
Or continue reading this page.
Before reading on in this text it might be advantageous to start up yet a
browser window displaying the QuizComposer start page for questionnaires.
You can then at the same time read this text and try out the instructions
in the text.
If you wish to try to create a questionnaire
then click 'Creating a trial questionnaire'.
You will be presented with a form for defining such
a questionnaire.
What follows is a mini-guide to filling in such a form.
It suffices to fill in the two entry fields for the first question
and the entry field 'Introduction to presentation of evaluation of answer'
possibly using the proposed examples in parentheses.
Use the copy and paste facility of your window system.
In the text proposed for the phrase of the first question each
brace containing a single letter represents a click button
in the resulting question phrase.
Clicking the blue (underlined) hash character close to each entry field
in the ddefinition form presents you with the detailed explanation
for that type of field.
Click the submit button at the end of all the entry fields for all questions
and you will see the questionnaire unless, ofcourse, there are
errors in the definition such as a missing brace.
In the case of an error use the browsers 'Back' button and correct the
definition form.
In the response from the server you will see the contribution of points
from each click button question and the answer
to each question with optional text.
Return to the definition and create a questionnaire with two
questions, for example by copying the phrase and contribution of points
from the first to the second.
You will see when answering the questionnaire that points are summed.
As suggested by the second proposal in the entry field
for contribution of points (in the first question)
you can associate names with points.
Each click button can have a number of associated point contributions
each with its own name and a single unnamed point contribution.
For the totality of clicked buttons in a submitted answer
a sum of points will be computed for each name and a sum of unnamed points.
Try experimenting with texts different from the default texts in some of the
other entry fields and with a text in the field
'Final message to questionnaire answerer...'.
Notice the possibility of defining all messages to be displayed to the
quiz answerer, also messages in foreign languages (having latin letters).
Some of the entry fields may be left empty.
Certain fields will, if they are empty, result in corresponding parts of the
response being left out.
If you wish to create real questionnaires
(to be answered by others, that is)
you must first have been registered as a quiz and/or questionnaire author
on a server.
You must apply for this at an administrator of QuizComposer
on one of the servers on which QuizComposer has been installed.
In the future the start page of QuizComposer will (probably) contain
a link to a list of such servers.
Till then, apply at the e-mail address at the bottom of this page.
If you are interested in having QuizComposer installed on a server
contact a person having a UNIX or Linux server at his or her disposal
and who is able to carry out the instructions presented when you click on
the link 'Getting installation files' on the start page.
Presumably you have already created a trial questionnaire.
Otherwise you should try it now (possibly in a parallel browser window).
You will then have seen a definition form and a corresponding questionnaire.
If you prefer to take small steps forward click the menu item
'Define a new questionnaire' on the start page (or else, click
the menu item 'Accessing files, modifying questionnaire definitions,
testing questionnaires, etc.' on the start page, see below).
In the form select '10 questions'.
You will be presented with a definition form for a questionnaire with
up to 10 questions (the questionnaire can always be extended to at least 30
questions).
You need only enter your identification, your password and a name
for the questionnaire in the first fields.
You can postpone the specification of a heading and an introductory
text (or prologue) for the questionnaire.
However, before clicking the button 'SUBMIT THIS FORM' (immediately
following all question fields) it is probably most natural to define
the phrase and any point contributions associated with the first question.
By clicking the hash character (#) you get a thorough guide to the
two entry fields for a question.
Write anything in the phrase field and then insert 3 braces {a} {b} {c}
(in correct alphabetical order).
In the field for point contributions write 3 numbers, e.g. 0 5 10.
Click the button 'SUBMIT DEFINITION FORM' and view the questionnaire.
Submit the questionnaire with various buttons clicked and see
the point contributions associated with the buttons.
Return to the definition (via the browsers Back button), fill in
the entry fields for the second question, submit the form, answer the
new questionnaire and see the effect of the button contributions.
Enter abitrary texts in the fields
'Introduction to presentation of evaluation of answer'
and 'Final message to questionnaire answerer...',
resubmit the form, answer the questionnaire and view the texts
in the response from the server.
You might have recognized some of the single line texts in the entry fields
of the definition form between the large fields you just filled in.
Alter the texts according to your taste and view the effect on the response
from the server.
In the definition form enter in the phrase field of the 3rd question
any text not containing a brace with a single letter, but leave the
field for point contributions empty.
You will see from the resulting questionnaire that you have defined a
question to be answered with any text.
If you answer the questionnaire you see that the answer of the
'optional answer' question is included in the response with a heading
defined in the field
'Heading in presentation of optional texts written by answerer'.
If you leave this field empty all answers to 'optional answer'
questions will be left out in the response from the server.
Try to alter other default texts in the definition form and view the effects
on the questionnaire and the reponse from the server.
Click the #-referrences close to the entry fields to learn more about
the meaning of a field.
Normally you would set the use of the questionnaire to 'private'
so that you will be the only person able to view the questionnaire
while it is being developed.
Later you can redefine its use to one of the 3 other possibilities
the meaning of which is explained in what follows.
If you submit the questionnaires definition form with its use set to
'self-test' you create a questionnaire which can be answered by anybody
having access to the server on which you are registered as being an author.
This is apparent from the Location field in your browser window.
The contents of that field is the Internet address of your questionnaire.
Notice that the questionnaire answers are not registerred anywhere
(compare with the effect of the next button in the definition form
explained below).
Submitting the questionnaires definition form with its use set to
'open survey with answers being registered' creates a questionnaire
which, just as for a self-test questionnaire can be answered by anyone,
but the answers will be registered.
You can view the answers via this
form.
Submitting the questionnaires definition form with its use set to
'closed survey' creates a questionnaire accessible only to
persons having an identification and a password defined by you
with the aid of this
form.
More information on entering values in the entry fields of the definition form
is available in
Introduction to creation of
questionnaires.
You can select this menu item when your questionnaire definition
is not in your browsers session cache (for example when returning to
QuizComposer after having restarted your browser).
Click the menu item and enter your identification, your password, the
(main) name of your questionnaire and the corresponding definition
form will be presented to you.
In general, however, it is better to select the next menu item:
'Accessing files, modifying questionnaire definitions,
testing questionnaires, etc.'
which presents you with many more possibilities as explained in the following
paragraph.
The only advantage of the menu item for working with a single questionnaire
is that it is less confusing for a beginner.
Via this menu item you get simultaneous access to all your questionnaires
and files and you need only state your identification and password once.
On the other hand the form presented may seem somewhat more complex
at first sight.
The form starts with a summary of your questionnaires stating
their declared type of use.
At the bottom you'll find a button for presentation of a definition form
for a new questionnaire with up to 10 questions (which can be expanded
to at least 30 questions).
You can use the first two buttons to view a questionnaire and its definition
form, respectively.
Enter the (main) name of a questionnaire
in a field and click the corresponding button.
If you are a beginner you won't be particularly interested in the following
buttons concerned with associated files.
You probably wouldn't want to delete one or more questionnaires
immediately either.
The next buttons in this form give you access to all forms concerned with
questionnaires (without prompting for your identification and password).
When you click a button you are presented with the corresponding form
which, incidentally, always starts with a guide to its use.
In what follows the function of each button is explained briefly.
The first button gives you access to the form for specifying a list
of participants for a closed survey, for example, a classroom.
The questionnaire you want to use for the survey must have been defined
with the correct type of use specified, i.e. 'closed survey'.
It is a good idea to try to create a small questionnaire and use it
in a survey with a couple of answerers a and b, say, with passwords 1 and 2.
A click on the nearby link 'Particant access to questionnaire'
displays the form to be filled in by every participant in the survey
in order to get acces to your questionnaire.
If, as proposed above, you have created a list with a couple of paticipants
the link gives you an easy way to try out your questionnaire.
Furthermore the next button 'Get results of questionnaire survey'
gives you the possibility of studying the
formats in which results of surveys with registered answers can
be presented.
The button 'Work with data for a questionnaire' presents you with a
form which gives you low-level possibilities for altering
the texts in a questionnaire definition, for example, the possibilty
of changing the order of question phrases simply by renaming the phrases.
You also get the possibility of storing the data for a questionnaire
on your own computer by utilyzing the copy and paste facilities of
your window system.
The button 'Pack/unpack one or more questionnaires' gives you the
possibility of transporting questionnaires form server to server
(with intermediate storing of the packed form on your computer).
A click on the button 'Transfer figure file, document file ...'
presents you with a form with which you can transfer certain types
of files from your computer to the server.
Your questionnaires can then contain links to the copies on the server.
The button 'Transfer style properties (CSS)' presents a form with which you can
transfer a file containing a description of the properties (color, fonts etc.)
in the presentation of your questionnaires.
It is possible to associate with a questionnaire a program for creating
certain effects, for example the highlighting of a text when the cursor
passes over the text.
Such a program is called a script.
The button 'Transfer a script' presents you with a form with which
you can transfer a script from your computer to the server.
