Centre for Person-Computer Studies
http://repgrid.com mailto:cpcs@shaw.ca
2.1 The RepServe pane in the Rep 5 Manager window
2.4 WebGrid elicitation and editing scripts
2.6 WebGrid scripts for saving and accessing saved grids
2.10 WebGrid Javascript library
3.3 Element entry and edit page
3.4 Construct entry and edit pages
3.5 Element and construct delete pages
4 WebGrid tutorial: "Carol's life crisis"
4.2 Developing a grid to help resolve the problem
4.3 Possible courses of action as grid elements
4.4 Possible consequences of action as grid constructs
4.5 Rating the possibilities in terms of the consequences
4.7 WebGrid's main page and analysis of Carol's conceptual representation
4.8 Continuing the elicitation under Carol's control based on WebGrid's suggestions
4.9 Interacting with the clustered grid to assess Carol's possible courses of action
4.10 Saving Carol's grid for later use
4.11 Making a decision directly from the clustered grid
4.12 Making a decision directly from the mapped grid
4.13 Making the decision from the crossplot of important consequences
4.14 Making a decision based on an "ideal possibility"
RepServe is a scriptable web server shell embedded as an integral component of Rep 5. The shell supports the HTTP protocol for World Wide Web communication with multiple simultaneous client web browsers. It decodes the incoming encoded HTML requests and passes any variables and values posted from forms to a set of scripts written in RepScript. The scripts decode the request semantically and generate a response in HTML, passing this back to RepServe to send to the requesting client.
RepScript is a general-purpose programming language so that the web services provided through RepServe can be of any nature. Since RepScript has access to the library of RepGrid and RepNet functionality, it is particularly well-suited to services relating to the use of grids and nets. This combination of a robust HTTP server, an object-oriented, incrementally compiled programming language, and a powerful libraries of conceptual representation tools makes RepServe a powerful tool for knowledge management and market research applications.
RepServe was developed initially to make WebGrid functionality available as part of Rep 5, and the sample scripts provided emulate an enhanced version of our original WebGrid service. WebGrid was first developed in 1994 as a port of RepGrid to operate over the World Wide Web (Gaines, 1995; Gaines and Shaw, 1996; Gaines and Shaw, 1997; Gaines and Shaw, 1998; Shaw and Gaines, 1998; Tennison, O'Hara and Shadbolt, 2002). The WebGrid server at the University of Calgary (http://tiger.cpsc.uclagary.ca) has operated on a 24/7 basis since early 1995 making it one of the earliest continuous services on the World Wide Web (Gaines and Shaw, 2007). It has been used for repertory grid elicitation and analysis from over 100,000 sites worldwide and been the basis for experimental data collection for a wide range of studies.
There are major advantages of offering web-based conceptual representation services:
first, modern web browsers provide well-designed and robust general-purpose user interfaces, readily programmable through HTML which enables the user interface to be easily customized;
second, they provide
excellent typographic and page layout capabilities enabling dynamically
generated pages with variable content to be presented attractively;
fourth, access to
conceptual representation services over the Internet with no requirement for
special-purpose software on the client machine facilitates distributed studies
based on remote data collection.
The scripts that provide the WebGrid functionality are text files that may be edited by Rep
5 users to extend and customize WebGrid, or use as examples on which to base other forms of
interaction. The text in the scripts may be translated into other languages to
support versions of WebGrid in
French, German, Dutch, Swedish, and so on. Since the text is in Unicode (UTF-8)
it is also possible to support non-Roman languages such as Chinese, Japanese,
Arabic, Devanagari, and so on. Provision is made for the support of multiple
simultaneous versions of WebGrid
so that different customizations and translations can all be made accessible on
one RepServe machine.
RepServe queues
requests arriving while the current request is being processed and hence can
handle multiple simultaneous users. The number of users that can be served at
the same time depends on the acceptable average processing time and the actual
processing time determined by the speed of the machine. RepServe is not intended to be a heavy-duty document server
such as Apache, but rather a specialist conceptual representation tool that
incidentally serves documents as part of providing specialist capabilities
requiring significant computation.
This section describes some of the technical aspects of RepServe operation.
RepServe is managed from
the "RepServe" pane in the "Rep 5 Manager" window as shown below.
The Rep 5 Manager
window—RepServe pane
The "Port" field specifies the port on which RepServe should listen for HTTP communications. It is set by
default under Microsoft Windows to port 80, the standard default port for the
World Wide Web. It is set by default under Apple OS X to port 2000 since the
apple unix operating system does not allow the port to be set below port 1024
unless the application is running as a root application. Under Windows the port
can be changed to any number but should not be below 1024 unless it is set to
80. Under OS X it may be set to any port not below 1024.
The Internet address of the machine is shown in order to
monitor the address at which RepServe is
listening. The "Active " check box makes RepServe active when checked, that is listening at the
Internet address shown on the specified port. It can be unchecked to stop RepServe listening. The "Remote" check box is shown only for
the Enterprise Version and specifies whether requests will be accepted across
the Internet. It may be unchecked to restrict requests to come from a client on
the same machine as RepServe. The
"Browser" button starts the default browser on the local machine and requests
the URL on which RepServe is
listening, in this case "http://192.168.1.20:2000," thus fetching the default
page "/ServerDocs/index.html."
The text window at the bottom of the RepServe pane logs the server activity in the web "Common Log
Format" as shown in the example below.
RepServe server activity log in the common log format
The black bar at the top of the vertical scroll bar on the
right may be dragged up to hit the top line of RepServe controls and show only the log. It can also be
dragged down to show one or two additional lines of controls as shown below.
RepServe script debugging capabilities
The "Window" check box when checked specifies that the
activity should be logged in the window. The "File" check box when checked
indicates that the activity log should also be appended to the file named
"/ServerLogs/Log".
The "Debug" check box when checked specifies that the common log
format should be extended with additional information that may be useful in
monitoring the performance of server scripts. This information is specified by
a server script (as is the common log format data) and hence may vary. For the
supplied WebGrid scripts it comprises
the transaction time, the number of active objects, the memory in use, and the
UID of the grid being processed.
The "Client" check box when checked specifies that the common log
format should be extended with the client identification supplied by the remote
web browser. This information may be useful if there are problems with
supporting HTML on particular types of browser.
The "Capture" check box when checked specifies that new grids (as
contrasted with demonstration grids) should be filed in the directory
"/ServerLogs/Capture/" using their UIDs as their file names. This is useful in
monitoring remote studies and in supporting users who forget to save their
grids locally. It may raise privacy issue in some situations.
The "Clear" button clears the log window and, more
importantly, also clears the cache of the scripts that have been dynamically
compiled and cached in the operation of the server. This is useful when scripts
are being changed and one wishes the changed script to be used rather than that
previously cached.
On the bottom row are further options to aid script debugging.
The "Sockets" checkbox when checked causes details of each socket process to be
written in the log window. The "Request" checkbox when checked causes the raw
request from the client to be written in the log window. The "Data" checkbox
when checked causes the processed request as pairs of names and values to be
written in the log window. The "Reply" checkbox when checked causes the HTML
reply to the client to be written in the log window.
RepServe is designed
to run unattended. It keeps a record of the state of the controls in its window
and sets them up automatically when Rep 5 is started. Hence, most users do not need to access the RepServe pane. Even those developing scripts can usually
check their correct operation by testing them from a web client. However,
sometimes it may be useful to monitor the server operation at a more detailed
level and, if so, the capabilities are available.
When RepServe receives a
request it calls the script "/ServerScripts/Server.txt" passing it the URL (as
the first item of a vector store with an empty name that can be accessed as
vGet(0). If it is a POST request from a form it also passes the name/value
pairs from the form (in a hash store that can be accessed by a script through the
GetPost and CheckPost functions).
The script Server.txt uses the URL passed to determine what
scripts should handle the request. It provides the RepDoc functionality itself, returning the documents
requested by the client, generally stored in "/ServerDocs". It passes URL's
commencing with "WebGrid" to the script "/ServerScripts/WebGrid/WebGrid.txt"
and that script, together with a family of associated scripts support the WebGrid functionality.
Note that Server.txt can be changed to provide additional or completely
different functionality. RepServe is a
general-purpose, script-driven web server shell. In practice it is expected
that most users of Rep 5 will
leave the provided functionality in place, enhance it with other functionality,
and customize the provided WebGrid
functionality. A typical enhancement might be a general questionnaire data
collection facility or a link to a description logic inference engine.
The RepScript Manual describes the general features of the RepScript programming language together with the additional
features available when scripting RepServe.
Example scripts are provided for three services.
WebDoc serves
documents having URL's of the form "http://documentpath" from the directory
"/WebDocs/" looking first in the "/User/Documents/Rep 5" or "/User/My
Documents/Rep 5" directories and, if the document is not found in the directory
where the Rep 5 application
resides. The first field in document path must not be "WebGrid" or "WebNet" as
these are used as keywords to indicate the other services.
WebDoc has a macro
substitution capability in that fields at the end of the URL separated by "?"
are substituted for tags within the document having the form "<Mn>" where
n is a number indexing the string of ?-separated fields, with that after the
first "?" being number 1. This capability is used in the WebGrid contextual help facilities to pass user-defined
terminology to the help documents.
WebNet serves nets having
the URL's of the form "http://WebNet/netpath" from "WebDocs" as above, but
expects the document to be a net. If the document name has the form
"netname.rnet.png" then WebNet
returns a PNG image of the net which may be embedded in a user-defined
document. If the document name has the form "netname.rnet.click" then WebNet returns a a document having a link to the net
embedded in it (for test purposes and to show the form of an embedded link).
When a node in a net embedded in a document is clicked WebNet takes the note attached to a node to be a URL and
redirects to it.
WebGrid is the most
complex of the three applications and exposes much of the functionality of RepGrid to web clients.
The WebDoc and WebNet functionality is included in the Server
script. The WebGrid functionality is
scripted in a set of modular scripts described in the next section.
The diagram below shows the flow structure for the RepServe scripts that are normally issued as examples
supporting RepDoc, WebNet and WebGrid. The arrows indicate the main flow of calls between scripts.
RepServe script structure
The Libary script
comprises a set of utility routines that can be called from any script and
support commonly required computations across all scripts, such as generating
HTML headers and encoding the grid data in hidden fields.
The Server script is
that called by RepServe when a request is received. It services
some requests itself, notably those for RepDoc and RepNet
functionality, and passes others to script families providing more complex
services, such as those of WebGrid.
For ease of development and maintenance the WebGrid service implementation is split across some twenty
modular scripts, each providing specific functionality.
When a WebGrid
request is received by the Server script it passes it to the WebGrid script which analyzes it and passes it on to an
appropriate script. The structure of most of these scripts is based on two
routines, one of which writes out the HTML for its associated web page and the
other of which analyses the response from that page and calls other scripts to
perform the requested service.
The modularity and structure is not necessary. WebGrid could be written as one large script. However, its
partition into relatively small modules, each providing routines to generate a
specific type of page and to respond to requests from that page, makes the
scripts easier to develop, understand, enhance, translate and maintain.
The grid data is stored within hidden fields stored in every
WebGrid document. This avoids the need
to manage its storage at the server, enables the web clients capability to save
web pages to be used to save the grid locally, and makes the client's "Back"
button an effective "Undo" feature since it is always possible to revert to a
previous version of the grid.
Control in WebGrid
generally passes back to the main page generated by the Main
script which lists recommended actions based on analysis of the grid, list the
elements and constructs, provides access to the graphic analysis programs and
so on. The Main script can transfer
control to nearly all the other WebGrid scripts (except Register, WebGridCache.rgrid and Cache). It does so either in response to the users clicking on a button in
the main page or through a command string that can be entered to control the
initial sequence of elicitation, for example triadic elicitation of constructs.
The major options associated with setting up grid elicitation are
managed through an options page generated by the Options script. This also supports commencing a new grid
and either going through an interactive guided elicitation process or an
expedited data entry process.
The Elicit script
provides interactive elicitation of elements and significant constructs as an
alternative to bulk entry of the elements through the Options script. When the interaction is completed it
transfers control to the Main
script. The script provided is generic and is readily customized for specific
studies.
The Delete script
prompts the user to delete either selected elements or selected constructs, and
transfers control back to the Main
script.
The CAdd script
prompts the user to enter a new construct and then transfers control to the ERating script to edit it.
The ERating script
allows the user to enter or edit the ratings of all the elements on one or more
constructs and then transfers control to the Main script.
The CRating script
allows the user to enter or edit the ratings of one or more elements on all the
constructs, including entering a new element, and then transfers control to the
Main script.
The WebGrid analysis
scripts are entered from the Main script and generally support
some form of grid analysis and the graphic and/or textual presentation of the
results. The graphic output is a clickable map and the user can select whether
the result of clicking on an element or construct is to transfer to the
appropriate editor, or to remove that item from the analysis by deselecting it.
Each script supports the selection of the parameters controlling the analysis
and the color scheme for presenting the analysis. The analysis scripts transfer
control to the Main, ERating or CRating scripts.
The Display script
displays the grid.
The Focus script
provides a Focus analysis of the grid.
The PrinGrid script
provides a principal components analysis of the grid in two or three
dimensions.
The Crossplot script
provides a crossplot of the elements on two or three specified constructs.
The Compares script
provides a comparison of two grids having the same elements or constructs, one
of which must be cached on the server.
The Match script
lists the matches among elements and/or those among constructs.
The graphic output from the analysis scripts in the form of PNG
file, a link to which is embedded in the document returned. The PNG file is
cached in memory rather than written to disk and RepDoc recognizes the requests
for such a PNG file, sends it from the cache and then deletes it from the
cache, relying on the web client's caching to keep a copy locally. It also
checks the cache for PNG files that have not been requested and removes them
after a time period.
WebGrid provides a
number of options for saving a grid locally, caching it temporarily at the
server for purposes of comparison, or caching it longer term at the server in a
password-protected cache directory registered to, and managed by, a user.
When the "Save Grid" button in clicked in the main page the
Main script transfers control to the WebGrid.rgrid script which provides various options for saving,
caching or downloading the grid. The page generated also informs users how they
may save the grid on their local machine and/or download it as a RepGrid
file. This script is named "WebGrid.rgrid" because that becomes the value of
the form action attribute which is used by the client as the name of the file
it downloads.
If the chooses to cache the grid in the general cache
directory control is transferred to the script Cache which list the URL's through which the cached grid
may be accessed.
If the user chooses to cache the grid in a registered cache
directory control is transferred to the script WebGridCache.rgrid which, if the user's password is valid, caches the
grid in the user's registered cache directory and displays the contents of that
directory together with the means to control it.
The Register script
stands alone and is called directly to enable a user to register a cache
directory, providing their identification, intended use, and their password to
access the cache.
The Comment script
provides the opportunity to send comments to the specified email address.
The Finish script
provides the opportunity to thank the user for their participation, make sure
they know how to analyze and save their data and send comments to the specified
email address. This provision is not logically necessary since interaction can
be stopped at any time. However, it has proved to useful to users to support
them when they feel they have finished their interaction with WebGrid.
This script could be modified for remote data collection studies to ask users
for further information or to check that they have rated all the elements on
all the constructs.
When interaction with WebGrid commences an alternative script directory may be specified as the
location of the scripts to be used by putting its name after a "?" at the end
of the URL. For example, the URL
"http://myserver/WebGrid/Open/cars/hatchback.rgrid?Spanish" would access the
script "/ServerScripts/WebGrid.txt" with the command to open the grid
"ServerData/cars/hatchback.rgrid" and transfer to the script
"/ServerScripts/Spanish/Main.txt" which might be the Main script
translated into Spanish.
All subsequent scripts would be called from the
"/ServerScripts/Spanish" directory. However, if a particular script did not
exist in that directory then an attempt would be made to call it from the
default "/ServerScripts" directory. This enables some scripts to be customized
without requiring this to be done for all of them.
A command sequence may be added to the WebGrid URL after a second "?" and is decoded by the Main
script to execute the commands prior to any other action. The commands are
encoded as a string of command fields separated by semicolons. The command
fields have the format:
command arguments
where the command is currently represented by an alpha
character and any arguments are separated by commas.
The command for triadic elicitation is:-
T en1, en2, en3
which elicits a construct from a triad of the three elements
whose numbers are specified in en1, en2 and en3. There may be from zero to three elements specified and any
that are missing or out of range are replaced by randomly selected elements.
Thus the command string:
T 1, 2, 3; T 4, 5, 6; T 1, 3, 5; T
2, 4, 6
can be used to start elicitation with four specified triads. The
command strings:
T; T; T
and T 1; T 2; T 3
start elicitation with three randomly chosen triads, or three
partly specified and partly random, respectively. The command can be preceded
with a number specifying it be repeated that number of times, e.g. "3T" is
equivalent to "T; T; T".
The command for construct rating, generally used for given
constructs, is:
C n
which shows the construct rating page for construct number
n. If n is missing it is taken as "1". The command can be preceded with a plus
sign to generate successive construct rating pages starting with that
specified, e.g. "+C" will generate rating pages for all given constructs.
The commands, "D", "F", "P" and "X" generate Display, Focus,
PrinGrid and Compare analyses, respectively. The command "O origin" sets up the
origin of the grid to be as specified to enable grid comparison. These commands
are used in the WebGridCache.rgrid script
to support the analysis of grids
in a cache.
One of the facilities provided by the Library script is a contextual help system that allows a
clickable "?" icon to be inserted in a WebGrid page, and a specified help
document to be opened if the icon is clicked. The help documents are held in
the directory "/ServerDocs/WG/Help/" and are always opened in the same window
that can be positioned by the user and kept open.
The user terms for "element," "elements," "construct" and
"constructs," and the user-defined purpose are passed as parameters in the URL
generated for a help document, and the macro-substitution facilities in WebDoc are used to embed them appropriately in the help
text. This enables the help messages to be customized to be more readily
understood by the user.
WebGrid pages are
linked to the cascading style sheet, "/ServerDocs/WG/WebGrid.css", which
defines a set of standard styles for WebGrid pages. Users may override these by incorporating
style definitions in their grid options data. The predefined styles are:
WebGrid pages are
linked to the Javascript library, "/ServerDocs/WG/WebGrid.js" which defines
some common functions used in several WebGrid pages. These are:
This section illustrates and discusses each of the web pages
generated by WebGrid. The same examples
will be used as those in the RepGrid
manual to facilitate comparison between the stand-alone and web versions of the
grid tools.
The options page shown when entering or eliciting a new grid
is shown below.
WebGrid options page
The top section provides text boxes for the entry of: the
name of the person generating the grid; a note which will be placed in
parentheses after the name in the analysis heading in order to identify the
grid; a purpose that will be used to remind the user of her or his intentions
as the grid is being elicited and will be shown in the analysis heading;
annotation which will not be shown but can be used for additional notes; and a
list of initial elements. The check box below when checked indicates that an
existing grid is to be entered and leads to a rapid dat entry sequence rather
than an elicitation. The "Update" button refreshes the page taking into account
any changes in items entered or customization. The "Done" button transfers to
the main page.
The three sections below each have outliner arrows that are
initially closed. Clicking on the "Grid Parameters" arrow opens the section
allowing various parameters to be entered or edited as shown below.
WebGrid options page
Grid Parameters section
The text boxes on the first line allow the singular and
plural forms of the terms to be used for elements to be defined, for example,
person/people, car/cars. The text boxes on the second line allow the singular
and plural forms of the terms to be used for constructs to be defined, for
example, quality/qualities, property/properties. The text boxes on the third
line set the range of the default rating scale. The check boxes on the fourth
line specify what meta values will be allowed in rating scales. The check boxes
on the fifth line specify what types of rating scales will be allowed in
construct definitions.
Clicking on the "Grid Items" arrow opens the section showing any
grid items that have been defined and providing a blank one for the entry of an
additional item.
WebGrid options page
Grid Items section
If multiple items are to be entered the "Update" button
should be clicked between item entries.
Clicking on the "WebGrid Customization" arrow opens the section
allowing the web pages to be customized.
WebGrid options page
WebGrid Customization section
The checkbox at the top if checked specifies that the HTML
note entered for an element will be inserted in the page when the element is
being used in elicitation. This enables text, images and audio clips to be
inserted to remind users of the features of an element they are considering.
The first text box allows a heading to be entered which will
replace the standard WebGrid heading at
the top of each page. This enables the WebGrid pages to be customized with an application-dependent
heading, typically a logo and title.
The second text box allows text to be inserted at the end of
the <head> section of the document, typically a style sheet and/or
javascript. This enables the styling of the pages to be customized, including
adding, removing or moving controls.
The third text box allows text to be inserted at the end of
the <body> section of the document, typically javascript or a link to an
associated document. This enables the enhancement of the functionality
provided.
Since WebGrid pages all
link a default CSS style sheet defining types for its major visual elements an
ID is generated for each page and each major sub-element, the use of these
customization capabilities can radically change the appearance and operation of
WebGrid interaction without
requiring any change to the underlying scripts.
All of the parameters, items and customization are stored
with the grid.
An example of a customized options page is shown below.
Example of customized WebGrid options page
The main page giving access to other WebGrid functionality is shown below.
WebGrid main page
The five top sections show options generated by WebGrid based on the grid data and suggesting further
elicitation of elements and constructs. The two sections below each have
outliner arrows that are initially closed. Clicking on the "Situations" arrow
opens the section showing the elements (which have been termed "situations" on
the options page) as shown below.
WebGrid main page
elements section
The element names are shown in a list box where none, one or more
may be selected by clicking upon them (holding down the CMD key for multiple
selections). The buttons at the side may be clicked to add another element,
delete those selected, edit each of those selected, edit just the note attached
to each of those selected, sort the elements to bring those selected to the top
(appropriate selections and a sequence of clicks can achieve any desired
order), or select no elements. The check box below when selected causes the
selected elements to be used in the pairs or triads used in the elicitation
suggestions above.
Clicking on the "Qualities" arrow opens the section showing the
constructs (which have been termed "qualities" on the options page) as shown
below.
WebGrid main page
constructs section
The construct identifiers are shown in a list box where none, one
or more may be selected by clicking upon them (holding down the CMD key for
multiple selections). The buttons at the side may be clicked to add another
construct, delete those selected, edit each of those selected, edit just the note
attached to each of those selected, sort the constructs to bring those selected
to the top (appropriate selections and a sequence of clicks can achieve any
desired order), or select no constructs.
The section below shows five icon buttons which when clicked
generate different analyses of the grid. If the grid has been generated from
another one that has been cached then a sixth icon button, "Compare," will also
be shown.
WebGrid main page
analysis section
The bottom section provides five buttons to access the
options page, and so on, or turn
the contextual help system on or off.
WebGrid main page
bottom section
The element entry and edit page has a variety of headings
and preambles dependent on the reason an element is being entered or edited.
The simplest is that shown below which is displayed when the "Add" button in
the elements section of the main page is clicked.
WebGrid element
addition and rating page
The text box at the top allows an element name to be entered, and
that the bottom allows it to be annotated with text that may contain HTML
markup including links to images or sounds that can be incorporated in pages
where the element is involved in construct elicitation. The menus in the center
section allow the element to be rated on the constructs.
As shown below, a similar page is generated when the "Edit"
button in the elements section of the main page is clicked showing the selected
elements and their ratings, in several sections if more than one is selected.
WebGrid element editing
page
As shown below, another variant is generated if there is a
prompt on the main page to add an element to reduce a construct match, such as
"The qualities flexible—rigid and self-organised--staff-organised are
very similar. Do you want to enter another situation to distinguish them?" and
the "Add situation" button is clicked.
WebGrid element
addition to reduce construct match page
The radio buttons at the top allow the way in which the new
element goes against the existing construct match to be entered. Clicking on
one of them triggers javascript to set up the appropriate ratings as shown
below, leaving the user to enter the element name and the other ratings, and to
adjust those WebGrid has entered if
desired.
WebGrid element
addition to reduce construct match page
The construct entry page has a variety of headings and
preambles dependent on the reason an construct is being entered or edited. The
simplest is that shown below which is displayed when the "Add" button in the
constructs section of the main page is clicked.
WebGrid construct
addition page
The two text boxes at the top allows the construct pole names to
be entered, and that the bottom allows the construct to be.
As shown below, another variant of the construct addition
page is generated if there is a prompt on the main page to add construct to
reduce an element match, such as "The situations lecture and tutorial are very
similar. Do you want to enter another quality to distinguish them?" and the
"Add quality" button is clicked.
WebGrid Construct
addition to reduce element match page
The poles are now shown associated with the elements to be
rated at either end of the construct, and if the user enters pole names such as
"one way" for lecture and "interactive" for tutorial and clicks on "Done" then
the page below is generated where the ratings of the elements to be
distinguished have been preset appropriately. The user can enter ratings of the
remaining elements on the new construct, and edit the present ones if they
wish. They can also adjust the pole names in the light of consideration of all
the elements if they wish, and click on "Update" to see the effect of the
revisions before they click on "Done" to indicate they have finished entering
the new construct.
WebGrid Construct
rating page
A similar construct rating page is generated when the button
to add a new construct is clicked in any variant of the construct addition
page.
A similar sequence of pages is generated if there is a
prompt on the main page to add a construct to represent the difference between
a pair of two elements, such as "Can you think of a quality that distinguishes
between the two situations, video tape and programmed text?" and the "Add
quality" button is clicked.
The construct rating page is also generated is generated
when the "Edit" button in the constructs section of the main page is clicked.
As shown below, it shows the selected constructs and their ratings, in several
sections if more than one has been selected.
WebGrid construct
editing page
As shown below, another variant of the construct addition
page is generated if there is a prompt on the main page to add a construct to
represent the similarities and differences between a triad of three elements, such
as "Can you think of a quality that distinguishes between the three situations,
library, practical and video tape, such that two are alike and differ from the
third?" and the "Add quality" button is clicked.
WebGrid triadic
construct elicitation page
The radio buttons at the top allow the way in which two of
the elements are similar and different from the third to be entered. Clicking
on one of them and, entering the appropriate pole names and any annotation, and
clicking on "Add quality" triggers javascript to set up the appropriate ratings
as shown in the two pages below.
WebGrid triadic construct elicitation page in use
WebGrid construct
rating page after triadic elicitation
The pages above are generated if none of the "Data Types"
check boxes in the options page are checked and WebGrid defaults to basic grid elicitation with default
rating scales. If the "Ratings" check box is checked more advanced options for
a rating scale are added as shown below
WebGrid construct
addition page with all ratings options
Users can change the rating scale range, add categories
naming intermediate points or sub-ranges, give the construct a name, a weight,
a level relative to other constructs and specify whether it is an output to be
anticipated. The weight is used in clustering and the level/output in inductive
modeling.
When the "Categories" text box is used to label intermediate
points or intervals on the rating scale, these labels appear in the popup menus
when elements are rated on the construct. This supplements the normal labeling
of the extreme rating values by the construct pole names. The first screen
below exemplifies the way in which such categories are entered, and the second
the way they appear in a popup menu.
WebGrid construct
addition page with categories specified for ratings
WebGrid construct
rating page with categories showing in a popup menu
If all the "Data Types" check boxes in the options page are
checked then, as shown below, additional options are given to specify that the
construct is a rating scale, an integer in a specified range, a floating point
number in a specified range, or a set of ordered or unordered categories. If
only some "Data Types" check boxes are checked then only the appropriate
options will be given.
WebGrid construct
addition page with all data type options
When a categorical scale is defined the construct editing page
has a popup menu of categories with which to rate each element similar to those
for numeric ratings. When a numeric rating scale is specified the construct
editing page has an edit field for each element in which may be entered the
numeric values. An example of the construct addition page and associated
editing page for a numeric construct is shown below.
WebGrid construct
addition page with a numeric construct specified
WebGrid construct
rating page for the numeric construct
Clicking the "Delete" button in the elements or constructs
section takes the user to the delete page for the elements or constructs
respectively, asking that the deletion of the selected items be confirmed or
cancelled as shown below, and returning to the main page when that is done.
When the "Display" icon is clicked in the main page the grid
data is displayed, typically as below.
WebGrid display page
If the "Continue" button is clicked WebGrid returns to the main page. If the "Copy Image" button
is clicked the graphic display is copied into a separate window as shown below.
WebGrid display page with image copied to another window
This capability to keep a copy of the results is common to
all of the analyses with graphic output, enabling intermediate results to be
kept and saved.
The graphic output is a clickable image, and clicking in may be
used either to edit the data or to deselect it so that it is not used in the
analysis. The radio buttons under the graphic output allow one of the two modes
to be selected. In the edit mode if, for example, the element name "film" is
clicked WebGrid displays the element
editing page for "film" as shown below.
WebGrid element editing
page shown after an element name is clicked in edit mode
In the deselect mode if the element name "film" is clicked
WebGrid shows the display page with the element "film" omitted as shown below.
WebGrid display page
shown after an element name is clicked in deselect mode
These capabilities for interactive editing and re-analysis
with a reduced grid are common to common to all of the analyses with graphic
output. The edit mode enables ratings to be adjusted easily if the results of
analysis suggest that some are inappropriate. The deselect mode enables the
sensitivity of the analysis to particular elements or constructs to be
investigated.
At the center bottom of the display there is an outliner arrow to
access the "Display Parameters" section and clicking it opens the section
enabling the form of the display to be specified as shown below.
WebGrid display page
"Display Parameters" section
There are three sub-sections. The "Plot" check box when
checked causes the graphic display to be produced. The "Title," "Numbers" and
"Shading" check boxes when checked cause the display to be titled, the elements
and construct numbers to be shown and the ratings to have a background shading
according to their value, respectively. The radio buttons under "Rows"
determine whether the rows in the display will be the elements or the
constructs. The check boxes under "Notes" determine whether the annotation of
the elements and/or constructs will be shown in parentheses after their names.
The "Style" sub-section top row allows the font and font size
used in the display to be changed, and the display to be shown in black and
white. The next two rows enable the colors used in the display to be specified
in hexadecimal RGB form. The color swatches enable the colors specified to be
seen. Changing the hexadecimal specification and keying "return" causes the
lower half of the swatch to show the new color so that it can be checked before
use.
The "Use" sub-section specifies whether only selected
elements and constructs will be displayed. The "All" button at the top selectts
all elements and constructs to be analyzed (equivalent to selecting all of them
on the main page). If any of the "Data Types" check boxes on the main page are
checked this sub-section also gives the options to use element and construct
weights in analyses.
Clicking on the "Display" button causes the graphic output
to be produced again with the new parameters.
Similar facilities are provided for all the graphic analysis and
they are coupled such that opening the parameter section opens all the analysis
parameter sections, and changing the style changes all the analysis styles so
that there is consistency across the results.
In the following sections on the other analysis pages only
those features that differ from those for the display page will be discussed in
detail.
When the "Cluster" icon is clicked in the main page Shaw's (1980) Focus cluster analysis of the
grid data is displayed, typically as below. See the RepGrid manual for more details of the analysis and its
parameters.
WebGrid Focus Cluster
page
In the top row of the "Plot" sub-section of the "Focus
Cluster Parameters" section, the "Cutoff" value specifies how low a match is to
be shown in the element and construct trees, the "Power" value specifies the
Minkowski metric used in the cluster distance measure, and the "Interior" check
box if checked specifies that items may be matched to interior items of a
cluster, not just its edges. In the second row the radio buttons under "Tree"
determine whether the tree associated with the columns should be at the top or
on the right side.
The "Text" sub-section provides check boxes to determine whether
a textual form of the Focus cluster results are presented and, if so, whether
element and/or construct matches, links and sorts are shown.
When the "Map" icon is clicked in the main page a PrinGrid
Map principal components analysis grid data is displayed, typically as below.
See the RepGrid manual for more details
of the analysis and its parameters.
WebGrid PrinGrid map
page
The "Axes," "Dimensions," "Variance" and "Fit" check boxes
in the top row of the "Plot" sub-section determine whether the component axes
should be shown, whether the construct lines should be shown, whether the
percentage variance in each component should be shown, and whether the construct
pole positions will be scaled to have the same maximum position as the element
positions, respectively. The X, Y and Z popup menus and "Reverse" check boxes
in the second row specify what component should be plotted on each axes and
whether the direction of the axis should be reversed. The "3D" check box on the
third row if checked specifies a three-dimensional plot with axes rotated as
specified by the three values to its right.
The "Components," "Situation loadings" and "Quality loadings" in
the "Text" sub-section specify whether, if a textual version of the analysis is
output, the percentage variance for each component and the loadings on the
elements and constructs should be shown.
When the "Crossplot" icon is clicked in the main page a
crossplot of the elements on the selected is displayed—a 3D plot is shown
below. See the RepGrid manual for more
details of the analysis and its parameters.
WebGrid Crossplot page
The X, Y and Z popup menus and "Reverse" check boxes in the
"Plot" sub-section determine which constructs are used on each axis and whether
the ratings are reversed.
When one grid is derived from another grid that has been
cached then a "Compare" icon appears in the analysis section of the main
page. When this is clicked in the
main page a comparison of the two grids is presented as shown below where
Mary's exchange grid with Arthur is compared with Arthur's original.
WebGrid Compare page
Grids have common elements and/or common constructs may be
compared, and the "Compare Parameters" provide the same degree of control over
the comparison as they do in the standalone RepGrid program, and the RepGrid manual should be consulted for details.
The capability to deselect items and show how the analysis
changes with fewer items can be used to implement Shaw's (1980) Core procedure for determining the stable core of a
conceptual representation from grids elicited at different times or from
different people. For example, the comparison below has resulted from the least
matched elements and least matched constructs in the comparison above being
successively deselected.
WebGrid Compare
page after lowest matched items have been deselected
When the "Match" icon is clicked in the main page tables of
matches between the elements and between the constructs are displayed as shown
below.
WebGrid Match page
The "Match Parameters" section provides the same options as
they do in the standalone RepGrid
program, and the RepGrid manual
should be consulted for details.
When the "Save Grid" button is clicked at the bottom of the
main page a page presenting the user with a number of options for saving the
grid is displayed as shown below.
WebGrid save grid page
The top section explains how to save the grid and the
session by simply saving the page using the "Save Asclient. Each page contains the grid data and a link to the server such that
when it is reopened WebGrid interaction
can continue. If the page is saved as HTML rather than a web archive it can be
opened in RepGrid as if it were a
grid file. Clicking the "Continue" button return the user to the main page.
Clicking the "Download" button in the second section downloads
the grid data in a grid file named "WebGrid.rgrid" that can be renamed
appropriately and opened in RepGrid.
To support grid comparison and remote data collection WebGrid supports the capability to cache grids at the server
in a sub-directory of the directory "/ServerData/Cache/" and to make these
accessible through the web. Clicking on the "Cache" button in the third section
caches a copy of the grid and generates the page shown below which gives URL's
for accessing the cached grid for various purposes.
WebGrid cache page
Users may also register their own password-protected caches,
and the final section provides the option to access this cache or to copy the
grid into it.
If a user has registered their own cache an associated cache
management page may be accessed through a URL of the form:
http://serveraddress:serverport/WebGrid/Cache/cachename
Below is shown a cache management page where the cache name is
121D7851647.
WebGrid show cache page
The table at the top of the page shows the four grids in the
cache. The radio buttons in the first two columns allow a grid to be selected
as "A" and another as "B." Clicking on the grid name displays the grid.
Clicking on "Remove A" removes the grid. This button only appears for
password-protected caches, not for caches that are not protected so as to make
the data generally available. Clicking on the "Download A" button downloads the
grid as a grid file with the name "WebGridCache.rgrid" that may be renamed
appropriately. Clicking on "Refresh table" reloads the page so that one can see
if any more grids have been cached.
The four buttons on the next row provide the capability to open
grid A and run various forms of analysis. The four buttons below provide the
capability to open a copy of the grid, an exchange copy with ratings set to be
open, a copy with only the elements, or a copy with only the constructs. These
copies contain a pointer back to the grid from which they are derived and when the
user edits them the edited grid is also automatically written to the cache to
support remote data collection. Generally one wants to make a URL available to others so
WebGrid does not cache the new grid immediately it is created thus allowing the
URL to be copied without affecting the cache.
The "Commands" field below allows a sequence of commands to
be added to the URL of a derived copy, for example, to specify some triads for
elicitation in an "Elements" copy. The "Path" allows a script path to be specified
in the URL so that customized scripts can be used supporting the remote data
collection process.
As shown below page to register a cache may be accessed
through the URL:
http://serveraddress:serverport/WebGrid/Cache
WebGrid register cache
page
This page collects data about the registrant that may be useful
to the WebGrid server owner in managing
caches created by otherwise anonymous users together with an account name and
password supplied by the registrant to give them protected access to the cache.
One possible customization is to remove the cache facilities
if they are not required or to require the WebGrid server owner's approval for
registering a cache.
The comment page is displayed when the "Comment" button at
the bottom of the main page is clicked. It is intended to allow users to send
messages to the server operator. The email address shown is that specified in
the RepServe pane of the "Rep 5 Manager"
window.
It could be customized in various ways: minimally, change
the email address to direct the comments appropriately; add a text box for
comments, the contents of which are appended to a comments file; remove the
"Comments" button on the main page if the capability to comment is not
required.
The finish page is displayed when the "Finish" button at the
bottom of the main page is clicked. It is intended to allow users to take a
definite action when their grid elicitation is complete and to remind them of
how to save their grid. It needs customization to support particular
applications of WebGrid
The WebGrid cursor changing
to "?" as user mouses over a contextual help "?"
The "help" window for the top item on the main page is shown
below. It provides a short explanation of the page and of the options offered
by the two buttons next to the help icon.
WebGrid contextual help
window
The help window can be resized and moved to a convenient
location so that it is always accessible. It will reopen if closed and will
come to the front if hidden.
This is an example of using a grid to support a personal
decision-making process based on Chapter 5 of Think Again (Shaw and McKnight,
1981).
It is based on a generic customization of the Elicit script which provides interactive elicitation of elements
and significant constructs and then transfers to the main page with a command
sequence that leads the user to rate the elements on the constructs they have
entered and generate more constructs through triadic elicitation.
Carol is a middle-aged housewife who is in a rut. The worst
part is, she knows she is in a rut but can't think clearly enough to get out of
it. Her husband works long hours as a successful self-employed businessman and
her son has gone away to school, so she sits at home thinking, and her thoughts
seem to go round and round in circles. Carol has arrived at what we might call
a crisis point in her life. She feels it is time for a change, but is not sure
in which direction she ought to go.
One day, Carol's thoughts and feelings are so pressing that she
decides she cannot continue without sorting them out. Her mind is so jumbled
that she cannot just sit down and think out her problems. She decides to try
using a grid so that she can at least look at her problem objectively. She
hopes that the exercise may help break her out of her rut.
Carol's rut is one born of habit, but it has not always been that
way. Before Carol and her husband John were married, Carol had a job as
personal assistant to the director of an engineering firm. Her job meant long
hours. But every day was different, and often she was taken to dinner by her
boss on business occasions. Indeed, it was on one such occasion that she met
John who, at the time, was starting his own business.
After a brief romance, Carol and John were married. A year later
their son was born. Carol had given up her job shortly after they were married,
and once their son was born, she found that mothering was a full-time job. John
spent all his waking hours working to build up his business.
Now, eighteen years later, Carol's son has just left home for
university and Carol now realizes that she has spent all that time serving her
family's needs. John is still working all day, every day, even though his
business is now thriving. Work has become a habit to John; he fears his
business would collapse if he worked less. Now the only times Carol meets
people are either when she shops or when John brings business associates home for
dinner.
Carol feels that there is not a "mental" solution to her
problem—she must do something. The trouble is she doesn't know what to
do. She decides to use WebGrid to help
her consider her problem and starts a new grid as shown below.
She enters her purpose as "to think about possible courses
of action to improve my life", the entities relevant to he purpose as
"possibilities", and the distinctions relevant to it as "consequences" as shown
below.
WebGrid then asks her to
list significant possibilities as shown below.
The first possibility that occurs to Carol is that she could get
a job again. Her typing and shorthand used to be very good, and she is sure it
would take her very little time to brush up on them. The local university often
has vacancies for secretarial staff, so she is fairly sure she could get a job.
Upon reflection, Carol decides that she really has two
possibilities here. She knows that there are often part-time secretarial jobs
available at the university, so she lists her first two possibilities as "take
a full-time job" and "take a part-time job." Any job would give her some money
that she could spend as she wished. Obviously, a full-time job would give her
more money than a part-time job, but a part-time job would leave her with more
free time.
Thinking about the university leads Carol to another possibility.
Although she is now middle-aged she knows that it might be possible for her to
become a student. She had always encouraged her son to get as good an education
as possible because she felt that she had not been given such an opportunity.
However, when she took her son to one of his college interviews, she was
surprised to find that a few of his fellow interviewees were closer to her age
than his! Talking to them while she waited for her son, she discovered that it
was not uncommon for social science departments to accept mature students. Her
son was majoring in sociology, but she thought that she would prefer
psychology, having always maintained an interest in people and their behavior.
She would like to study the subject formally, although she now finds the idea
of a full-time program a little daunting. As her third possibility she lists
"take a psychology course."
The doubt Carol feels about taking such a course leads her to her
fourth element. She knows there are many night school classes that she could
attend. They could involve not only academic but leisure interests, for
example, guitar playing, dress making, and so forth. Rather than make her mind
up now, Carol simply lists "take an evening class" as her fourth possibility.
Carol misses the daily contact with her son, something she has
had for the past eighteen years. With John working such long hours, she
sometimes does not see another human being from one day to the next. In short,
she is often lonely.
At her age, Carol knows that she is a little old to have another
baby. She is still physiologically able to give birth, but she knows that the
risk of having a handicapped child is greater at her age. However, she could
easily foster a child. This would give her contact with a child again, but it
would also mean continuing in a serving role. She has not discussed the idea
with her husband yet, but the idea is appealing enough for her to include it as
her fifth possibility as shown below.
These possibilities seem somewhat mundane and Carol then begins
to think of more exotic ones, clicking on "Add more possibilities" to enter
them.
Another way she can think of to counteract her loneliness relates
to the lack of contact she has with her husband. A few weeks ago, John brought
Mike, a business associate, home to dinner. During the course of the evening,
Mike (a single man) was very flattering to Carol, particularly when John was out
of the room. On the basis of this encounter, Carol is fairly confident that she
could at least have an affair with Mike if she wanted to. She is not sure
whether such an involvement would be only a temporary answer to her problem.
She has no way of knowing at this stage whether Mike would be interested in a
permanent relationship and is not sure herself whether she wants to leave her
husband, but she decides to include "have an affair" as her sixth element.
Because of her uncertainty about staying with John, she decides to include
"leave husband" as her seventh element.
Carol decides to include the possibility of emigrating as her
eighth element. She has a married sister in England and has enjoyed holidays
there without John. She knows John would not leave the United States, so going
to England would mean leaving him. However, it would be a different type of
separation than if she simply moved out of their house and stayed in the same
neighborhood. The latter would be a possibility if Mike were interested in a
long-term relationship.
As a final element, Carol decides to include "carry on as
before." She is prepared to believe that her present worries may just fade
away, that she is just overreacting to small changes and that she will adapt to
her new situation. However, she is not very confident that she can adapt. The
pressure she feels seems to demand action, but she doesn't want to rush into
any action she might later regret.
WebGrid now gives Carol the
opportunity to think about the important consequences that might result from
her different possible courses of action.
Carol thinks about what would be improvements in her life and
realizes she wants more independence and enters this as an important consequences.
She also wants more excitement to make life less humdrum. She
clicks on "Add more consequences" and describes this consequence.
She cannot think of any other important consequences immediately
and clicks on "Done" to let WebGrid
continue.
WebGrid lists the
possibilities she has entered and the important consequences she wishes to
consider, and offers her the opportunity to add more before she begins to rate
the possibilities in terms of their consequences.
She is content with what she has done and clicks "Done" to
move on to the next phase of the elicitation.
WebGrid asks her to
rate all the possibilities she has entered on her first consequence dimension.
Carol clicks on the popup menu next to "take a full-time" job and
rates this as "5 gain in independence" as it will very much help her achieve
this objective.
She goes on to rate each of the other possibilities in terms
of this consequence.
She clicks on "Update" and WebGrid sorts the possibilities according to her ratings so
that she can see which possibilities offer greater independence and decide
whether she has rated them appropriately or whether she wishes to change any
ratings.
What she has done makes sense to her so she clicks on "Done"
and WebGrid asks her to rate her
possibilities her second consequence, that they might be humdrum or exciting.
She is content with her ratings and clicks on "Done".
WebGrid presents her
with three of her possibilities, "take a psychology course", "take a full-time
job" and "take a part-time job", asking her in what way two are alike and
different from the third.
The first thing that occurs to her is that both the job
possibilities are alike in that they would provide her with some money, but
taking the course differs because it would actually cost her money. She enters
this information.
Carol then clicks on "Add consequence", and WebGrid asks her to rate her possibilities in terms of the
consequences, "cost more money—make more money", having already rated the
three possibilities she has already considered.
Carol rates the other possibilities and changes the rating on
"take a part-time job" because she will make less money part-time.
She clicks on "Done" and WebGrid presents her with another three of her possibilities, "take an evening
class", "foster a child" and "have an affair." In this case, the evening class
and the affair possibilities seem similar because Carol knows that she could
stop them both if she found that they were not what she wanted. On the other
hand, fostering seems irreversible. It would be emotionally unfair to the
fostered child to change her mind once the process had begun.
Again, WebGrid asks her to
rate the remaining possibilities in terms of these consequences.
She clicks on "Done" and WebGrid presents her with another three of her possibilities, "leave husband,"
"emigrate," and "carry on as before." She knows that both leaving her husband
and emigrating would disrupt John's life, but if she simply carries on as
before, she is fairly sure that he will do the same.
Again, WebGrid asks her to
rate the remaining possibilities in terms of these consequences.
When Carol clicks on "Done", WebGrid takes her to its main page where it has already
begun to analyze her conceptual representation of her possibilities and their
consequences.
The top five sections suggest various actions she might take
next. The first section gives her the option to have WebGrid choose what she does next, or to provide her with
other choices. The second section notes that the possibilities "take a
psychology course" and "take an evening class" are very similar in their
consequences and asks whether she wants to enter another consequence that might
distinguish them. The third section notes that the consequences "no gain in
independence—gain in independence" and "wouldn't disrupt John—would
disrupt John" are very similar, and asks whether she wants to enter another
possibility to distinguish them. The fourth section asks whether she can think
of a consequence that distinguishes between the three possibilities, "take a
part-time job", "take a full-time job" and "have an affair". The fifth section
asks whether she can think of a consequence that distinguishes between the two
possibilities "take a full-time job" and "have an affair.
All of these questions and suggestions are based on the
possibilities, consequences and ratings that Carol has entered, and indicate
aspects of her conceptual representation that will help her to think about
possible courses of action to improve her life.
The sixth section shows an outliner arrow. If she clicks on it
the possibilities she has entered will be shown, giving her the opportunity to
add, delete, edit or sort possibilities.
The seventh section also shows an outliner arrow. If she clicks
on it the consequences she has entered will be shown, giving her the
opportunity to add, delete, edit or sort consequences.
The eighth section has a set of five icons illustrating
various ways in which she can view and interpret her conceptual representation
based on her grid content, and the ninth and final section offers various
additional options.
Carol realizes from the questions in the fourth and fifth
sections that she has not considered the consequences in terms of physical or
emotional strain and chooses to add it as a consequence that distinguishes
between the two possibilities "take a full-time job" and "have an affair.
She then rates all her other possibilities in terms of this
consequence.
By the time she has reached this point, Carol feels that she
is really getting somewhere. Rather than go on adding more possibilities and
consequences, she decides to look at a conceptual representation based on her
grid and make some decisions on that basis.
She clicks on the "Cluster" icon which provides a Focus analysis she has found useful before that sorts her
possibilities to bring similar ones together, and sorts her consequences to
bring similar ones together. She likes this approach because it does not change
anything she has entered and she can see the relations between her ratings and
the structure represented.
Carol can see from the sorted grid that her possibilities
cluster into three groups based on their consequences: emigrating and leaving
her husband have similar consequences; taking courses or jobs have similar
consequences; and, to a lesser extent, having an affair, carrying on as before
or fostering a child have similar consequences. When she looks at the grouping
of consequences, reversibility, excitement, independence and disrupting John
group together.
The consequence "make more money—cost more money" does
not seem to her to be important. She doesn't feel that her present predicament
would be solved by gaining money or that an alternative should be ruled out
because it would cost money. She clicks on it to remove it from consideration
and the representation changes a little.
Looking at the consequence "reversible—irreversible"
Carol decides that she does not want to do anything irreversible. She knows
that she is going through a hard time, but she doesn't want to overreact and do
something she might regret later. Therefore, she clicks on the possibilities that
seem irreversible "foster a child" and "leave husband" to remove them from
consideration.
Looking at the consequence "would disrupt
John—wouldn't disrupt John," Carol feels that she would not mind if John
were slightly disrupted. After all, why should she be the only one to suffer
all the time? But she doesn't want John to be greatly disrupted because he has
worked so hard to give them both a high standard of living. With this in mind
she decides to remove the possibilities "emigrate" and "take a Psychology
course."
Looking at the consequence "humdrum—exciting" Carol
realizes that the only really humdrum possibility left is "carry on as before."
She is fairly sure that she does not want to carry on as before, so Carol
removes this possibility.
Looking at the consequence "physical strain—emotional
strain," Carol is fairly sure that she does not want any more emotional strain,
although physical strain does not worry her much. As a result she removes the
possibility "have an affair."
Carol is left with the possibilities "take a full-time job,"
"take a part-time job," and "take an evening class." Looking at these three
possibilities in terms of her initial significant consequences "no gain in
independence—gain in independence" and "humdrum—exciting" Carol can
see that all three are roughly equivalent.
She could continue her interpretation but decides that she
already has clarified many of her thoughts and feelings and has reduced her
possible courses of action. Rather than carry on with the exercise, Carol
decides that she would like to talk to John about the three possibilities. It
is possible that he is so wrapped up in his work that he simply is not aware of
her problems, so talking about these things would be a good way of introducing
him to the problems.
Brimming with optimism and clear-headed, Carol feels that if
she decides to take an evening class, perhaps she could take a psychology
course and pursue her interest in people and their problems.
Carol is pleased with her grid and wants to keep a copy to
review in future. She clicks "Continue" to return to the main WebGrid page, and then clicks "Save Grid" to keep a copy of
her grid on her computer.
All she need do is use the "Save Asof her browser to file her data on her disk. At any time she can re-open this
file and it will automatically reconnect to WebGrid and let her review her
possibilities, consequences and ratings again, edit them, add to them as
further possibilities and consequences emerge, and generally keep track of
whether she is actually improving her life.
If her relations with John improve she may someday share her
thoughts about her life crisis with him, and maybe that will help them both.
Meanwhile, sharing them with a friendly and supportive computer system has
helped her clarify her options and encouraged her to take action to alleviate
her problems.
The scenario above follows as closely as possible that described
in Think Again (Shaw and McKnight,
1981)
where Carol develops a grid manually and has no tools for its analysis. Her
sequential interaction with the grid in removing some possibilities is valuable
in its own right as it encourages her to assess each of her possible courses of
action in terms of what she sees as their likely consequences. However, it is
also possible to arrive at much the same conclusions directly from WebGrid's
graphic analysis of her conceptual representation.
The cluster of possibilities at the bottom, having an affair,
carrying on as before or fostering a child, can be seen as similar in that,
although they would not disrupt John, they give Carol no gain in independence.
The cluster at the top, emigrating or leaving her husband, do improve her
independence but she does not see them as exciting and they do involve
emotional strain. That leaves her with the cluster of taking courses or job in
the middle, all of which she sees as reversible, exciting, gaining independence
and not involving emotional strain. Out of those, she sees taking a psychology
course as most disruptive to John and might prefer the others because of that, leaving
her with same outcome as before. Thus, it is possible to come to conclusion
based primarily on interpretation of the conceptual representation created by
using Focus to sort and cluster the grid.
Carol used the Cluster analysis option to view and interact
with her conceptual representation because she likes to see her ratings as she
thinks about her representation of her problem. Others may prefer the Map
analysis option next to it on WebGrid's main screen that treats the
consequences as dimensions in space and plots a map of the options.
Carol can see from the mapped grid that her possibilities
cluster into same three groups as before: emigrating and leaving her husband
have similar consequences, irreversible and disruptive to John; taking courses
or jobs have similar consequences, reversible, physical strain, exciting and
gain in independence; and having an affair, carrying on as before or fostering
a child have similar consequences, being humdrum, no gain in independence and
not disrupting John.
The options of emigrating and leaving her husband seem
unattractive because they are irreversible and disruptive so Carol clicks on
them to remove them.
The option to foster a child seems humdrum and that to carry
on as before is also humdrum and has no gain in independence. Carol removes
both.
The option to have an affair involves no gain in
independence and emotional strain so Carol removes it.
This leaves the job and course options in a very small map
with little variation. Interestingly enough, the main source of variation left
is the consequence of making money or costing money which, as already noted, is
not important to her.
Carol can also use the "Crossplot" analysis to display her
possibilities plotted in relation to her most important consequences, "gain in
independence" and "emotional strain".
The three clusters and her primary considerations in
choosing those in the top right quadrant are clearly apparent in this plot
which provides a simple rationale for Carol's choice of possibilities on which
to base her future plans.
Another technique commonly used when a grid has been
developed to help in making a choice between various possibilities is to add an
"ideal possibility" that represents the best possible choice, rate it on the
consequences, and see what are the actual possibilities that most closely match
it. Carol does this by clicking on the "Add" button by the side of her list of
possibilities.
She enters "ideal course of action" as a new possibility,
and rates it on six consequences she has already entered: as giving her a gain
in independence, being exciting, neutral as to costing or making money,
reversible", neutral as to its effect on John, and preferring physical strain
to emotional strain.
She clicks on "Add possibility" and returns to the main screen
with the new possibility selected.
She clicks on the "Matches" icon and is shown the matches of the
other possibilities to the new one (note that the options chosen are to match
the selected possibility with all the others, with the cut off set to zero so
that all matches show).
It is apparent that the highest three matches are those she had
come to consider as most appropriate in the previous approaches discussed
above. If she had clicked on the "Cluster" icon she would reach the same
conclusion from the clusters shown.
And the same cluster of possibilities is apparent is she had
click on the "Map" icon.
This example has shown how developing a grid can support a
significant decision-making process. A number of approaches to interpreting the
grid have been illustrated. It is not expected that all of them will be used or
that they will be equally attractive and meaningful. What is important is that
they all lead to much the same interpretation, showing that it is the grid, not
the method of interpretation, that supports the decision. Users should be
encouraged to explore different approaches and choose those they find most
meaningful.
Note that much the same interpretation may be derived
directly from clusters, maps and crossplots as from the interactive process of
removing possibilities and consequence dimensions that was first described.
However, direct interpretation may not give the same feeling for the underlying
basis of the clustering as does the interaction. It is often more important
that those making significant decisions understand the basis on which they are
making them than that they are shown the 'right' choice to make relative to the
way they construe the issues.
Note also that it may be 'obvious' that the more extreme options
are not going to be chosen but it is important that they be considered and that
their roles within the space of all options be made apparent. Sometimes those
extreme options may become the appropriate choices despite their negative
consequences, and it can then be important when choosing them to prepare to
manage those consequences.
Some of the reports cited in
the manual are available through http://repgrid.com
Gaines,
B. R. (1995). Porting interactive applications to the web. In 4th International
World Wide Web Conference Tutorial Notes,
pp. 199-217.
Gaines, B.
R. and Shaw, M. L. G. (1996). WebGrid: knowledge modeling and inference through
the World Wide Web. In Proceedings of Tenth Knowledge Acquisition Workshop Gaines, B. R. and Musen, M. A., eds., pp.
65-1-65-14.
Gaines, B.
R. and Shaw, M. L. G. (1997). Knowledge acquisition, modeling and inference
through the World Wide Web. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 46, 729-759.
Gaines, B.
R. and Shaw, M. L. G. (1998). Developing for web integration in Sisyphus-IV:
WebGrid-II experience. In Proceedings of Eleventh Knowledge Acquisition
Workshop Gaines, B. R. and Musen, M. A.,
eds.
Gaines, B.
R. and Shaw, M. L. G. (2007). WebGrid Evolution through Four Generations
1994-2007. http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~gaines/reports/KBS/WGEvolution.
Shaw, M. L.
G. (1980). On Becoming a Personal Scientist: Interactive Computer
Elicitation of Personal Models of the World.
Academic Press, London.
Shaw, M. L.
G. and McKnight, C. (1981). Think Again: Personal Problem-solving and
Decision-making. Prentice-Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.
Shaw, M. L.
G. and Gaines, B. R. (1998). WebGrid II: Developing hierarchical knowledge
structures from flat grids. In Proceedings of Eleventh Knowledge Acquisition
Workshop Gaines, B. R. and Musen, M. A.,
eds.
Tennison,
J., O'Hara, K. and Shadbolt, N. R. (2002). APECKS: using and evaluating a tool
for ontology construction with internal and external KA support. International
Journal Human-Computer Studies 56,
375-422.
2 RepServe Operation
2.1 The RepServe pane in the Rep 5 Manager window
2.2 RepServe scripting
2.3 WebDoc, WebNet and WebGrid
2.3 The RepServe scripts
2.4 WebGrid
elicitation and editing scripts
2.5 WebGrid analysis scripts
2.6 WebGrid
scripts for saving and accessing saved grids
2.7 Miscellaneous scripts
2.8 Alternative scripts
2.9 Command sequences
2.10 Contextual help system
2.11 WebGrid CSS
* {font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; color: #008888;}
body {margin: 0 auto; padding: 2px; width: 710px; background: #EEEECC;}
a {color: #006666; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;}
a:hover {background: #880000;}
div.a {border: 4px solid #DDDDBB; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 2px; background: #FFFFE1; text-align: center;}
div.a + div.a {border-top: 0px;}
div.data {background: #ffffe1;}
table {width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;}
table.ele, table.con {margin: 0 auto; width: auto;}
table.center, table.items {margin: 0 auto; width: auto; text-align: left;}
table.items {border-width: 2px; border-spacing: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: #008888;}
table.items th, table.items td {border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;}
table.cmat, table.emat {margin: 4px auto; width: auto; border-width: 2px; border-spacing: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: #008888;}
table.cmat *, table.emat * {border-width: 1px 0 0 0; padding: 1px 6px; border-style: solid; text-align: center; font-size: 12px;}
table.cmat th, table.emat th {border-width: 2px 0 1px 0; font-size: 13px;}
table.cmat tr>td, table.cmat tr>th {text-align: right;}
table.cmat td+td, table.cmat th+th {text-align: left;}
table.cmat td+td+td+td, table.emat td+td {text-align: center; border-left-width: 1px;}
table.cmat tr.a td, table.emat tr.a td {border-top-width: 2px;}
table.cmat th.a {text-align: center;}
table.cmat tr.a {text-align: center;}
table.cache, table.cachecon {margin: 0 auto; width: 99%; border-width: 2px; border-spacing: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: #008888;}
table.cache td, table.cache th {border-width: 1px; padding: 2px 3px; border-style: solid; border-color: #BBDDBB;}
table.cache td, table.cache a {font-size: 11px;}
table.cache td {text-align: right;}
table.cache td.a {text-align: left;}
table.cache tr.a0 {background: #FFFFFF;}
table.cache tr.a1 {background: #FFEEEE;}
table.cache tr.a2 {background: #F7FFCE;}
table.cache tr.a3 {background: #C6EFF7;}
table.cache tr.a4 {background: #E0E0E0;}
table.cache tr.a5 {background: #FFE7C6;}
table.cache tr.a6 {background: #FFFFFF;}
table.cachecon {border-top: 0px;}
table.cachecon td, table.cachecon th {border-width: 0px; padding: 4px 0px;}
h1, h2, h3 {text-align: center; line-height: 1.4; margin: 2px; color: #880000}
h1, h1 * {font-size: 24px;}
h2, h2 * {font-size: 16px;}
pre, input.a {font-family: Courier, 'Courier New', monospace; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;}
p {margin: 0px; padding: 4px; border: 0px;}
hr {height: 3px; color: #DDDDBB; background: #DDDDBB; border: 0;}
div.left {text-align: left;}
div.center {text-align: center;}
div.right {text-align: right;}
div.hide {display: none;}
div.butr {text-align: right; margin: 4px;}
table.opt td {padding: 4px 2px; text-align: right; font-weight: bold;}
table.opt td.a {text-align: left; font-weight: normal;}
table.analysis {border-width: 1px;}
table.analysis td {border-width: 1px; padding: 6px; border-style: solid; border-color: #BBDDBB; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;}
span.swatch {font-size: 8px; border-width: 7px 0 0 0; border-style: solid; outline: black solid 1px;}
button {background-color: #EEEECC; margin: 0px; font-weight: bold;}
button:hover {background-color: #DDDDBB;}
button:disabled {background-color: #DDDDDD; color: #AAAAAA;}
button, .butw {width: 100px;}
button.small {width: 48px;}
button.large {width: 150px;}
button.auto {width: auto;}
button.icon {width: 95px; height: 57px; font-size: 16px;}
button.dis {background: url(/WG/display95.png);}
button.foc {background: url(/WG/focus95.png);}
button.pri {background: url(/WG/pringrid95.png);}
button.cro {background: url(/WG/crossplot95.png);}
button.mat {background: url(/WG/match95.png);}
button.com {background: url(/WG/compare95.png);}
span.help {color: white; background: #008888; text-decoration: none; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;}
span.help:hover {color: transparent; background: transparent; cursor: help;}
.qw {width: 18px;}
2.12 WebGrid Javascript library
function bitSet(num,bit) {return num|bit;}
function bitClear(num,bit) {return num&~bit;}
function addHidden(item,value) {
var el=document.createElement('input');
el.type='hidden';
el.name=item;
el.value=value;
document.grid.appendChild(el); // append to form after type set to hidden
return el;
}
function setGridValue(item,value) {
var els=document.getElementsByName(item);
if (els.length==0) {
addHidden(item,value);
} else {
els[0].value=value;
}
}
function setswatch(el,id,bord) {
if (!el) return;
var s=el.value;
for (var i=s.length; i<6; i++) {s="0"+s;}
el.value=s;
s='#'+s;
var els=document.getElementById(id+'x');
els.style.backgroundColor=s;
if (bord) els.style.borderColor=s;
}
function initswatches() {
var s;
for (var i=0; i<initswatches.arguments.length; i++) {
s=arguments[i];
setswatch(document.getElementById(arguments[i]),s,1);
}
}
function help(screen,link) {
w=window.open('/WG/Help/'+screen+'.html#'+link,'wghelp','resizable=yes,width=500,height=400');
w.focus();
}
function showImage(imurl,title,ww,hh) {
ww=ww+20;
hh=hh+20;
w=window.open('','_blank','toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width='+ww+',height='+hh);
w.document.write('<html><head><<title>'+title+'</title></head><body>&glt;img src='+imurl+'></body></html>');
w.document.close();
w.focus();
}
function changeVisible(id,vis) {
document.getElementById(id).style.display=(vis)?'block':'none';
}
function switchVisible(id,vis,bit){
changeVisible(id,vis);
changeVisible(id+'x',!vis);
var el=document.grid._Control;
var n=(el)?el.value:0;
n=(vis)?bitClear(n,bit):bitSet(n,bit);
setGridValue('_Control',n);
}
function selInit(selid) {
var sel=document.getElementById(selid);
if (!sel) return;
var opt=sel.options;
var len=opt.length;
var n=0;
for (var i=0; i<len; i++) if (opt[i].selected) n++;
var dis=n==0;
for (var i=1; i<arguments.length; i++) {
var el=document.getElementById(arguments[i]);
if (el) el.disabled=dis;
}
}
function selAll(selid,b) {
var sel=document.getElementById(selid);
if (!sel) return;
var opt=sel.options;
var len=opt.length;
for (var i=0; i<len; i++) opt[i].selected=b;
}
function doBtn(name) {
var el=addHidden(name,'');
var elh=addHidden('*','*');
document.grid.submit();
el.parentNode.removeChild(el);
elh.parentNode.removeChild(elh);
}
3 Using WebGrid
3.1 Options page
3.2 Main page
3.3 Element entry and edit page
3.4 Construct entry and edit pages
3.5 Element and construct delete pages
3.6 Display page
3.7 Focus cluster page
3.8 PrinGrid page
3.9 Crossplot page
3.10 Compare page
3.11 Match page
3.12 Save grid page
3.13 Cached grids page
3.14 Register cache page
3.15 Comment page
3.16 Finish page
3.17 Contextual help system
icons that appear next the various
options on WebGrid pages provide access to a "help" window that provides more detail
on the associated options. As shown below, when the mouse is moved over a 
icon the cursor changes to 
indicating that that help will be
provided when it is clicked.
4 WebGrid tutorial: "Carol's life crisis"
4.1 The problem situation
4.2 Developing a grid to help resolve the problem
4.3 Possible courses of action as grid elements
4.4 Possible consequences of action as grid
constructs
4.5 Rating the possibilities in terms of the
consequences
4.6 Elicitation of consequences by considering
similarities and differences in triads of possibilities
4.7 WebGrid's main page and analysis of Carol's
conceptual representation
4.8 Continuing the elicitation under Carol's
control based on WebGrid's suggestions
4.9 Interacting with the clustered grid to assess
Carol's possible courses of action
4.10 Saving Carol's grid for later use
4.11 Making a decision directly from the clustered
grid
4.12 Making a Decision Directly from the Mapped Grid
4.13 Making the decision from the crossplot of
important consequences
4.14 Making a decision based on an "ideal
possibility"
4.16 Summary
5 References
