1. A Web-Based Tool for Gathering Ordinal Rankings
Elizabeth Arnott
David Allbritton
DePaul University

2. Introduction Ordinal rankings are used widely in many areas:
Psychology
Education
Business
Across areas the rating task itself is relatively standard

3. The Problem
Standard procedural methodology for gathering ordinal rankings does not exist
Ratings often used as a subordinate tool
Poorly defined methodology may lead to inconsistencies (Madden et al., 1965; 1964)

4. Benefits of a Web Interface
Convenient use
Information stored in a straightforward manner
Minimizes participant error
Allows for standard program to be used by any experimenter with web access

5. Perl Script Processes Input Files
Text files (one sentence per line)
Groups of items (stories) separated by a blank line
Generates XHTML Files for Data Collection
Forms linked by a “Submit” button

6. Using the Interface Groups of items to be ordered on a single page
Instructions to order from first to last
JavaScript
Clicking items with the mouse assigns a corresponding number in a text box
Participant can “Submit” or “Reset” when finished

7. Data Collection Perl CGI scripts receive data Data storage:
Text file of comma separated values
Storage in a database is also possible
Additional Text File
Stores story and sentence numbers
Facilitates matching

8. Recording the Data Format of text file is minimal:
One line per rating for each participant
Fields include:
Experiment name
Group number
Item number
Rating

9. Limitations and Future Directions
Current version only takes text input
Requires a server (XHTML files are delivered by a CGI script on a server)
Database storage
“Undo” option
User-friendly methods for setting parameters