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Modify the psiTurk templates

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Kathryn Schuler edited this page Oct 13, 2016 · 35 revisions

The next step is to modify the psiTurk templates for use with your experiment. When you open a template, there are a large number of files and folders. Each of these files and folders are described in Anatomy of a psiTurk project. Only a small number of these files and folders need to be changed to customize your experiment. Modifying the psiTurk templates covers how to changed these selected files and folders for use with your experiment.

  1. Anatomy of a psiTurk project
  2. Modifying the psiTurk templates

Anatomy of a psiTurk project

Every turkAGL experiment template is a psiTurk project. When you open a psiTurk project, you will see the following files and folders:

What are these files and folders?

Each of these files and folders contains important aspects of your psiTurk experiment.

  • config.txt
  • a local configuration file that contains the unique settings for an individual experiment.
  • participants.db
  • a SQLLite database created by psiTurk for storing data (automatically created the first time you run)
  • server.log
  • a sever process log created by psiTurk the first time you run the server. It contains error messages and warnings (the psiTurk web server process will not print to the Terminal).
  • static
  • a folder that holds files which are not dynamically altered by the psiTurk server (e.g. images, fonts, javascript libraries, css sheets, etc)
  • templates
  • a folder that holds the HTML templates for different parts of your experiment, which are dynamically updated by the psiTurk server.

The config.txt file is the only file you will need to change in the main experiment folder.

Inside the static folder

We can take a closer look inside the static folder to see exactly what it contains.

  • css
  • a folder containing the css style-sheets that describe how the HTML should be presented (e.g. layout, color, font, etc)
  • favicon.ico
  • the little icon that appears next to the URL in the browser window.
  • fonts
  • a folder containing the fonts that are used.
  • js
  • a folder containing the javascript libraries required for the experiment. util.js are some functions that support psiTurk and jsPsych is the javascript library for building psychology experiments.
  • lib
  • a folder containing all of the external javascript libraries needed by psiTurk.
  • stimuli
  • a folder containing all of the stimuli that will be used by your experiment.

With the exception of the stimuli folder, you will not need to make changes to anything in the static folder.

Inside the templates folder

We can take a closer look inside the templates folder to see exactly what it contains.

  • ad.html
  • contains the HTML text for your experiment advertisement. This gets automatically uploaded to the psiTurk Secure Ad Server. It is the very first thing participants see when they view or accept your experiment.
  • complete.html
  • the HTML file that completes the HIT and displays a 'complete' message.
  • consent.html
  • the HTML file containing a link to your informed consent form.
  • default.html
  • an HTML file that redirects someone to your ad if they access the top-level route (e.g. http://myserver.edu:PORT/)
  • error.html
  • an HTML file that handles the errors that can occur during an experiment, and what is displayed to the participant in the event of an error.
  • exp.html
  • the experiment itself! (a self-contained file with all of the experiment HTML and javascript)
  • thanks.html
  • a debriefing HTML file that appears after the experiment is complete.

Modifying the psiTurk templates

  1. config.txt
  2. ad.html
  3. consent.html
  4. complete.html
  5. default.html
  6. error.html
  7. thanks.html

config.txt

ad.html

The first thing that workers will see is your ad, which is contained in ad.html. ad.html is actually two separate ads. The first ad is a "Call for participants", which is kind of like a flyer. It describes who is doing the experiment and what the experiment will entail, including how many minutes it will take and how much the workers can expect to be paid. The second ad is a "Thank you for accepting this HIT!", which allows workers to begin the experiment or to return the HIT if they wish to. You MUST edit the "Call for participants" portion of ad.html to reflect your experiment. Editing the "Thank you for accepting this HIT!" portion of ad.html is optional.

Modify Call for participants

When workers see the "Call for participants", it looks exactly like the screenshot below. All experiment templates contain the exact same placeholder text (shown in the screenshot) for the "Call to participants". You must change this text in ad.html to reflect your experiment. To change the text in the "Call for participants", you can modify lines 166 to 182 in ad.html. You should modify this text to reflect the text that you want your participants to see.

Modify Thank you for accepting this HIT!

consent.html

complete.html

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