Conjunction of a programming language and text formatter for generating randomized questionnaires

• DOI: 10.3758/bf03200840
• Publication Date: 2011-01-15T14:26:40Z
• Authors: Annabel J. Cohen; Joan E. Foley

The conjunction of a progamming language and a text formatter is described as an aid to the construction of questionnaires in which the order of presentation of items is randomized and the output has a neat and professional appearance. The technique has marked advantages over the use of a programming language on its own. Modifications can be easily and independently made in the format of the document or in the experimental procedure itself, for example, number or type of questionnaire items, or instructions. The particular example is for BASIC and RUNOFF, but the technique would generalize to other language-formatter pairs available on computers of any size.