Incorporating timeline variables into data

[TomHartleyYork]

I am having trouble incorporating timeline variables into the output data. I have tried a number of different approaches but none so far have worked, although the task runs properly and returns other data (e.g., "name", "options"). I am not an experienced javascript or jspsych programmer so I am probably doing something foolish.

    var probe_procedure = {
        timeline: [  
        {
                type: jsPsychSurvey,
                pages:[
                    [
                        {
                            type: 'multi-choice',
                            prompt: function () {
                                var html = `Was ${jsPsych.timelineVariable('word')} on one of the lists?`;
                                return html;
                            },
                            required: true,
                            options: ['yes', 'no'],
                            name: 'onlist',
                            //add necessary trial information to data - doesn't seem to work
                            data: {class: jsPsych.timelineVariable('class'),
                                    word: jsPsych.timelineVariable('word') }                                                         
                        },                        
                        {
                            type: 'likert',
                            prompt: 'How confident are you in your answer?',
                            required: true,
                            likert_scale_min_label: 'Complete Guess',
                            likert_scale_max_label: 'Absolutely Certain',
                            likert_scale_values: [
                                { value: 1 },
                                { value: 2 },
                                { value: 3 },
                                { value: 4 },
                                { value: 5 }
                            ],
                            name: 'drm_confidence',
                            data: {class: jsPsych.timelineVariable('class'),
                                    word: jsPsych.timelineVariable('word') }                             
                        },
                    ],
                    ],
                required_question_label: '',
                button_label_finish: 'continue'                
            },
        ],
        timeline_variables: all_probes, //test_lists is set up in create_drm_lists each study list providing 1 lure, 3 studied words and 3 additional unstudied items
        randomize_order: true //the full set of test lists is randomized/intermixed
    }

[becky-gilbert]

Hi @TomHartleyYork!
I think the problem here is that the data parameter is implemented on the whole trial level, not within each question object inside the pages parameter.
Since your timeline variables vary over trials rather than questions, I think you can just move your data parameter to the trial level without losing any info, right?

var probe_procedure = {
        timeline: [  
            {
                type: jsPsychSurvey,
                pages:[
                    // ...
                ],
                required_question_label: '',
                button_label_finish: 'continue',
                data: {
                    class: jsPsych.timelineVariable('class'),
                    word: jsPsych.timelineVariable('word') 
                }            
            },
        ],
        timeline_variables: all_probes, //test_lists is set up in create_drm_lists each study list providing 1 lure, 3 studied words and 3 additional unstudied items
        randomize_order: true //the full set of test lists is randomized/intermixed
    }

Does that work?

[TomHartleyYork]

Yes, that worked very nicely. Thank you so much, and also thanks for responding so quickly.

As I understand it, this is specific to the survey plugin, and the hierarchical structure it requires (i.e., with pages). Maybe it is worth adding to the documentation and/or examples?

[becky-gilbert]

@TomHartleyYork yes you're right, I think this is confusing because of the unique structure of this plugin. I'll add this to the survey plugin docs & examples. Sorry for the oversight and thanks for the suggestion! 👍

[becky-gilbert]

FYI @TomHartleyYork, there's now a note about this and related demo on the survey plugin documentation page - see the last example: "Adding data to trial".

I hope this helps to clarify. Let us know if you have suggestions for improving the docs on this, or feel free to submit a pull request 😄