What is SMARTRIQS?
SMARTRIQS is an open-source solution that allows researchers to run interactive online experiments on the popular survey platform Qualtrics.
What kind of experiments can I design and run with SMARTRIQS?
SMARTRIQS is ideal for short online experiments and surveys that feature real-time interaction between participants (up to 8 participants per group). You can easily set up various experiments such as allocation games, coordination games, competitions and auctions, or studies that require sharing text or sending messages to others. See the live demos for sample experiments.
Who can participate in SMARTRIQS experiments?
Since the interactive experiments are designed in Qualtrics, everyone can participate who has a device with Internet access and a browser that supports JavaScript. All major platforms (PCs, macs, phones, and other portable devices), OS (Windows, iOS, android) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) are supported.
Is SMARTRIQS free?*
Yes! SMARTRIQS is free and open-source. It is licensed under the MIT License: anyone can use or modify it freely, as long as they cite this page.
* Assuming that you already have a Qualtrics account.
Do I need any background in programming?
No! When developing SMARTRIQS, one of the main goals was to create a solution that doesn’t require researchers to have any background in programming. You can easily set up and manage experiments in the Qualtrics survey editor, without having to modify any of the scripts.
Do I have to install anything?
No, you don’t have to install anything. Simply download the survey templates and import them to your Qualtrics account. Alternatively, you can manually copy/paste the code to your surveys. Even if you decide to deploy smartriqs to your own server, instead of using the default SMARTRIQS server, you only have to copy a few files to your server and you are ready to go.
What are the limitations of SMARTRIQS?
To preserve simplicity and reliable server performance, SMARTRIQS does not support the transmission of multimedia files. This implies that SMARTRIQS does not feature any audio or video chat. Also, you might want to consider using a different platform if you are planning to run an experiment with 1) many repeated stages, 2) large group sizes (8+ participants per group), and 3) re-matching.
How does SMARTRIQS work? What programming languages are used in SMARTRIQS?
In a nutshell, SMARTRIQS gathers data from the individual Qualtrics survey respondents and sends them to a server. Then, the server processes the data (e.g., matches participants, manages groups, manages BOTs and inactive players, creates and updates records) and sends back the results to each of the Qualtrics survey respondents. The back-end programming language is PHP, while the front-end relies on the Qualtrics Survey Engine and pure JavaScript (no external libraries).
The architecture of SMARTRIQS
Where is the collected data stored? How can I access my results?
The most important data — group IDs, roles, conditions, decisions, chat logs, error logs — are all saved directly in Qualtrics, and are included in the standard Qualtrics data files. Because everything that matters will be in one place and in the same file, you do not have to worry about combining and merging data. In addition to Qualtrics, some of the data is stored on the SMARTRIQS server. This server is hosted on a secure, SSL-encrypted virtual computer, hosted at Amazon Web Services. To learn more about data collection policies, see the Data Policy.
Who developed SMARTRIQS?
SMARTRIQS was developed by Andras Molnar, who is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. Andras has education and research training at the intersection of psychology, economics, and business, and studies belief-based utility. You can learn more about his research here.