Common Question Controls

There are a number of controls common to every question type. Consider the following:



Question - this is the text of the question offered to the participant. The text will be formatted according to the layout specifications that you have selected for the assessment.

allow text to wrap automatically - Spaces and line breaks entered in the question space will be faithfully reproduced when the question is generated for the participant. Sometimes that may cause the text to be too wide on the resulting web page. Checking this option allows the text to flow across multiple lines as needed to fit in the participant's browser window.

Special Formatting - these options allow some customization of the question's appearance.

indent question text - this permits you to indent a question on the generated web page. This is typically used to visually group several questions together. A specific example might be a multipart question where you may have a picture and several questions that refer to it. The could be accomplished in Test Pilot by creating a section break question with the picture as its media item and then succeeding indented questions referring to the picture.

larger question text - this slightly enlarges this question's text size.

smaller question text - this slightly reduces this question's text size.

format as column of figures - this causes each line of the question's text to be considered as a number which should be lined up with each following line. The final line should contain an operator (+,-, etc.) as its first character. The result on the participant's assessment's web page will be a column of figures with an operator to the left of the bottom number and a dark line drawn below it.

Media - this allows you to associate a multimedia item with the question. In the space provided you can enter a filename or a URL of the media to be included. In the case of a filename, the file should be located in the same web server directory as the assessment's .tp3 file. For your convenience, there is a browse button to allow you to pick and choose from media items in that directory. In the case of a URL, enter a fully qualified URL beginning with http that refers to the media. Once you click the update button to save your changes, you can use the Image button to preview your media in a separate window. Read more about multimedia...

Sample - at the bottom of the editing page for each question is a sample of what the question might look like when presented to the user. Please note that, in this sample, random variables are not expanded in mathematical questions. To see the questions complete with random variable substitutions, it is necessary to click the left panel's Show Test button.

Duplicating Questions

Each question editing screen is equipped with a duplicate button.

Deleting Questions

Each question editing screen is equipped with a delete button. This permits you to remove questions from your list of assessment questions.

Caveat - Be aware that there may be participant submissions that may refer to a question you wish to delete. That is, if a participant has entered responses to your assessment, and one of those responses refer to a question that you plan to delete, the question should not be deleted.

If you attempt to delete a question, and your assessment has recorded participant submissions, you will be asked if it is OK to delete those submission records. If you choose not to delete those records and thus, not to delete the question, the question need not appear on any subsequent assessments. If you remove the question from all defined question groups in step #3 - choosing questions, the question can still exist yet not appear upon any assessment. Thus the question is logically deleted if not actually deleted.

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