2022 Fall Study Grammar Update!

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Dear Researchers,

The 2022 Fall Study Grammar Update is almost here! This update contains quite a few new features and improvements that we are really excited about! FindingFive servers (US and EU, in their respective local times) will be updated on the early morning of Friday, November 11, 2022 to include the following changes:

1. Major Upgrade - Stimulus files are now bundled with launched sessions!

We have implemented a groundbreaking solution that addresses multiple pain points in running experiments with stimulus files. Starting with this grammar update, stimulus files are now bundled with launched sessions, instead of being dynamically sourced from "Resource Files" storage. This has a number of advantages:

• You can edit, replace, or even remove stimulus files in your account (under "Resource Files") after a session is launched. Such actions won't affect the active session because copies of the stimulus files have already been bundled together with the launched session.
  
• The rendered experiment in a launched session will generally load faster as bundled stimulus files are saved into our distributed cloud infrastructure, as compared to a centralized database. 
  
• We will soon be able to introduce a "time capsule" function, where you can duplicate the exact settings of a previous session, even using stimulus files that have been bundled with that session.
  

Please note: you MUST launch your session with the latest grammar version to use this feature. If your session is launched with grammar version 3.3.0 or lower, stimulus files will NOT be bundled with sessions.

2. Feature Enhancements and Bug Fixes to the Rating Response

The rating response has gained the following new features:

• A new "target" property which allows accuracy determination on individual rating responses (when applicable) and/or in evaluating accuracy for conditionally branched procedures.
  
• A new "target_sum" property which requires the sum of ratings in a multi-row rating response to add up to a certain number (our thanks to Souad Kheder of University of Florida for suggestion this feature)
  

The rating response also has a bugfix:

• When used with multiple rows, the rating response no longer momentarily flashes all rows in the beginning under the Safari browser. This issue did not affect Firefox or Chrome users.
  

3. Forcing the Display Language of an Experiment

It is now possible to force the Display Language of a FindingFive experiment - i.e., the language used in system-provided components, such as the greeting page, continue button, pop-up messages, and etc. This is done via setting the new "language" property in the procedure of an experiment.

4. Update to the Choice Response

The choice response can now be configured to also report the location of choice response options via the new "record_location" property. This can be especially useful in cases where the locations of response options are randomly sampled. (Our thanks to Bissera Ivanova of UNIVERSITE D-AIX-MARSEILLE for suggesting this feature!)

5. Minor Updates to the Overall Theme of an Experiment

We are in the process of gradually updating the overall style of a FindingFive experiment. In this update, you'll see:

• The cover page of an experiment has been updated to better confirm with the design language of the rest of FindingFive.
  
• The base font of an experiment has been updated to use the same font as the rest of FindingFive.
  

6. Prompts for Directing Participants to Subsequent Studies in a Prerequisite Chain

FindingFive now displays a list of "Recommended Follow-up Studies" at the end of an experiment, if the experiment is a prerequisite (as configured in the Session Wizard) of another experiment. (Our thanks to Ariel Chan of UCLA for suggesting this feature!)

Questions?
If you have any questions regarding this grammar update, please leave your comments below. Thanks!