The Rating Scale Component is in the process of deprecation, if possible we recommend using the newer Slider component instead. By combining a Slider, Text/TextBox and Button components, a Slider should be able to perform all the same tasks as a RatingScale Component.
A rating scale is used to collect a numeric rating or a choice from a few alternatives, via the mouse, the keyboard, or both. Both the response and time taken to make it are returned.
A given routine might involve an image (patch component), along with a rating scale to collect the response. A routine from a personality questionnaire could have text plus a rating scale.
- Three common usage styles are enabled on the first settings page:
'visual analog scale': the subject uses the mouse to position a marker on an unmarked line
'category choices': choose among verbal labels (categories, e.g., "True, False" or "Yes, No, Not sure")
'scale description': used for numeric choices, e.g., 1 to 7 rating
Complete control over the display options is available as an advanced setting, 'customize_everything'.
- name : string
- Everything in a |PsychoPy| experiment needs a unique name. The name should contain only letters, numbers and underscores (no punctuation marks or spaces).
- start :
- The time that the stimulus should first appear. See :ref:`startStop` for details.
- stop :
- The duration for which the stimulus is presented. See :ref:`startStop` for details.
- category choices : string
- Instead of a numeric scale, you can present the subject with words or phrases to choose from. Enter all the words as a string. (Probably more than 6 or so will not look so great on the screen.) Spaces are assumed to separate the words. If there are any commas, the string will be interpreted as a list of words or phrases (possibly including spaces) that are separated by commas.
- scaleDescription : string
- Brief instructions, reminding the subject how to interpret the numerical scale, default = "1 = not at all ... extremely = 7"
- forceEndRoutine : bool
- If checked, when the subject makes a rating the routine will be ended.
How should the stimulus be laid out? Padding, margins, size, position, etc.
- size : float
- The size controls how big the scale will appear on the screen. (Same as "displaySizeFactor".) Larger than 1 will be larger than the default, smaller than 1 will be smaller than the default.
- pos : [X,Y]
- The position of the centre of the stimulus, in the units specified by the stimulus or window. Default is centered left-right, and somewhat lower than the vertical center (0, -0.4).
What information to save, how to lay it out and when to save it.
- visualAnalogScale : checkbox
- If this is checked, a line with no tick marks will be presented using the 'glow' marker, and will return a rating from 0.00 to 1.00 (quasi-continuous). This is intended to bias people away from thinking in terms of numbers, and focus more on the visual bar when making their rating. This supersedes either choices or scaleDescription.
- low : str
- The lowest number (bottom end of the scale), default = 1. If it's not an integer, it will be converted to lowAnchorText (see Advanced).
- high : str
- The highest number (top end of the scale), default = 7. If it's not an integer, it will be converted to highAnchorText (see Advanced).
- labels : str
- What labels should be applied
- marker start :
- Where should the marker start at
- store history : bool
- Store full record of how participant moved on the slider
- store rating : bool
- Save the rating that was selected
- store rating time : bool
- Save the time from the beginning of the trial until the participant responds.
.. seealso:: API reference for :class:`~psychopy.visual.RatingScale`