ECSP – Embedded Client Side Paradata

 

Embedded Client Side Paradata 2020 (Schlosser, S., Höhne J.K.)

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Embedded Client Side Paradata (ECSP) is a tool that is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).It is based on different program languages, such as JavaScript and HTML. In general, ECSP can be implemented in web-based survey software solutions that provide access to the source code.It enables researchers to passively collect different kinds of client-side paradata, such as response times and scrolling events, and data from built-in sensors, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and acceleration data. This is irrespective of the Internet browser and operating system used and allows researchers to investigate respondents’ completion behavior with respect to web surveys. Paradata and sensor data are collected at the page-level and are stored together with the actual survey data (i.e., respondents’ answers) in the same dataset.

This contribution represents an updated version of the ECSP tool published by Schlosser (2016) and Schlosser and Höhne (2018). It is an expansion of the 2016 and 2018 versions that introduces five new data types. We do not discuss the contents of the previous versions from 2016 and 2018. For more detailed information on the functionality, implementation (for nonoptimized survey designs), and usage of ECSP, we refer interested readers to Schlosser (2016) and Schlosser and Höhne (2018). This also applies to the descriptions of program codes published in the previous versions, including the following paradata types: 1) browser window size, 2) connection type, 3) device orientation and orientation change, 4) keystrokes (PCs and laptops only), 5) mouse clicks and finger taps, 6) mouse movements, 7) response and transmission times, 8) screen resolution and pixel ratio, 9) SurveyFocus (basic and mobile), 10) vertical and horizontal scrolling, 11) user agent strings, and 12) zooming. In this contribution, we introduce and outline the program codes of the following five new data types: 1) acceleration data (SurveyMotion with and without gravity; see Höhne, Revilla, & Schlosser, 2020; Höhne & Schlosser, 2019), 2) compass data, 3) Global Positioning System (GPS) data, 4) gyroscope data, and 5) swiping.

 

Embedded Client Side Paradata 2018 (Schlosser, S., Höhne J.K.)

Link

Embedded Client Side Paradata (ECSP) is a tool that is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). It is based on different program languages, such as JavaScript and HTML. In general, ECSP can be implemented in web-based survey software solutions that provide access to the source code. It enables researchers to passively collect different kinds of client-side paradata, such as response times and scrolling events – irrespective of the Internet browser and operating system used – to investigate respondents’ completion behavior with respect to web surveys. Paradata are collected at the page-level and are stored together with the actual survey data (i.e., respondents’ answers) in the same dataset. ECSP- Embedded Client Side Paradata (2018)

 

Embedded Client Side Paradata 2016 (Schlosser, S.)

Link

Embedded Client Side Paradata (ECSP) is a system based on HTML, JavaScript as well as CSS script, which can be implemented in the online survey software EFS-Survey/Unipark in order to capture and store client side paradata together with substantive and metadata in one database. Based on “pixel perfect” displaying of survey pages in EFS-Survey/Unipark ECSP provides the ability to capture the full paradata regardless of the used browser, as well as the used operating system. ECSP is, furthermore, capable to identify movements of the mouse cursor, mouse clicks, keystrokes, zooming, scrolling, browser resolution, as well as losing focus of the survey. All these events are provided with timestamps and are stored together with measurements of processing and transferring times.ECSP- Embedded Client Side Paradata (2016)