Configuration and Research Manual PROUST for
Contents
1. Figure 1 Login Screen From the password screen you may access the administrative manager s functions by entering the manager s password defined in the study configuration file and selecting login at the bottom of the password screen You will then have access to the manager s screen which permits you to change certain elements of the configuration of the program figure 2 The configuration options provided are as follows 1 Study name You may change the name of the study 2 Study start and stop dates You may change the start and stop dates for data collection 3 Participant data You may change the name ID number and sex for the participant 4 Password You may change the participant s password This is accomplished using the Password setting in the center of the manager s screen 5 Alarms You may change the number of alarms and the times when they go off up to a maximum of six alarms figure 3 6 Manager s password You may change the password used to access the manager s screen This is accomplished using the Passwd setting at the bottom of the manager s screen Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 17 of 29 Figure 2 Manager s Screen Figure 3 Alarm Screen You may also use the RESET button to erase all participant data although not the current configuration or the LAST ACCESS button to view the access history for this participant This screen will display2. lt selection name Working value 3 description Money money money largebmp 7040 gt lt selection name Sleeping value 4 description Unconsciousness largebmp 7090 gt lt selection name GamePlay description Time filler largebmp 6000 medbmp 3200 gt lt question gt More specifically what were you playing lt question gt lt selection name Monopoly value 5 description Zero sum game except for that pass Go thing largebmp 6100 gt lt selection name Sorry value 6 description No problem largebmp 6000 gt lt selection name Risk value 7 description World conquest largebmp 6100 medbmp 3200 gt lt selection name Operation value 8 description The wacky doctor s game largebmp 6000 gt lt selection name Chess value 30 description Various gambits largebmp 6100 medbmp 3100 gt lt selection name Checkers value 31 description Jump Jump King largebmp 6000 medbmp 3200 gt lt selection name Chutes value 32 description Chutes and Ladders largebmp 6100 medbmp 3000 gt lt selection name Life value 33 description Formula largebmp 6000 medbmp 3100 gt lt selection name Euchre value 34 description Dumbed down bridge largebmp 6100 medbmp 3200 gt lt selection name Hearts value 35 description Make friends largebmp 6000 medbmp 3000 gt lt selection name Poker value 36 description Bluft largebmp 6100 medbmp 3100 gt
3. SECTION I Introduction This program is designed to permit research participants largely on their own to report discrete events or experiences that occur over time in a user friendly Palm Pilot based interface The program can be configured to record events of nearly any kind at varying levels of time resolution e g 15 minutes 30 minutes etc and for varying lengths of time The program is based on graphical menus that make it unnecessary for the user to have any experience with Palm Pilot graffiti or any other method of data entry The menus are designed by the investigator to ask the questions he she desires in the order desired with configurable icons and help text for each study The data entry environment can also be customized to the individual and up to six alarms can be set to remind the participant at various points during the day to update his her records Pilot work thus far suggests that with appropriate training encouragement and careful interface design adult and older child research participants tolerate quite well the moderate burden of tracking experiences in this manner Article currently in preparation This manual assumes basic familiarity with the operation of PalmOS PDAs personal digitial assistants hand computers Thus in describing how to use the program the general details of how to operate a PDA are omitted If you are not familiar with the use of your PDA please refer to the manual that came with the hardw
4. and open the PROUST project file c proustinstall eat src palm eat mcp 5 Configure Codewarrior to use the PalmOS Software Development Kit a Under the edit menu select eat debug settings b In the window that appears under target select access paths c Select the System Paths radio button d Click on whatever path is given in the System Paths window This should look something like Project Palm OS 3 5 SDK Files Palm OS 3 5 Support Select the Change button In the Browse for Folder window that appears make sure Project Relative Path is selected in the pull down window g Browse to the location of the Palm OS 3 5 directory under the directory where you installed the Palm OS 3 5 SDK files Select this directory and click OK h Click OK again mo Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 10 of 29 6 Inthe eat mcp project window double click to select the palmicons rsrc file 7 Anew Constructor for PalmOS window will appear called Resource Type and Name After a moment s wait two windows will appear one of which is a list of resources In this window scroll down and click on Bitmaps 8 Press CTRL R to create a new bitmap resource In the window that appears give your new icon a name under resource name and an ID number under resource ID The ID number can be any number over 7000 that has not already been used i
5. neighbors In any of the three views it 1s possible to select a time to enter or change already entered data This is done by simply tapping once with the stylus on the time block to be changed b Data Entry Cascade Once the participant has selected a time for which he she would like to enter or modify data the Data Entry Cascade will appear Depending on the circumstances the form of the first prompt that the user sees will differ slightly Normally the user will be routed directly into the data entry cascade as described below If data were already entered for that time block they will be pre selected and may be modified Otherwise no options will be pre selected and new data may be entered However there is one special circumstance in which another menu will appear before the data cascade If no data have been entered for the time block the user has selected BUT data HAVE been entered for the PREVIOUS time block a question will appear the precise form of which is defined in the study configuration XML file This question gives the participant three options to indicate that the data for the current time block are the same as similar to or different from the data from the previous time block If the participant indicates that the data are the SAME then the data from the previous time block are replicated for the new time block and the participant returned directly to the data overview screen without proceeding through the data
6. 5 gt lt Alarm gt 10 45 lt Alarm gt lt Alarm gt 12 30 lt Alarm gt lt Alarm gt 15 27 lt Alarm gt lt Alarm gt 18 25 lt Alarm gt lt Alarm gt 20 00 lt Alarm gt lt Alarm gt 21 00 lt Alarm gt lt AlarmSettings gt Alarm Settings The alarmsettings tag defines up to six alarms that will remind the participant to enter data each day at the designated times The general format is evident from the example above The repeat setting defines how many times each alarm will repeat if there is no user response The delay setting defines how much time in minutes will pass between repeats The alarm times are in HH MM using the 24 hour format for hours lt AskContinuedActivity SameBmp 2210 SameText Same SimilarBmp 2330 SimilarText Similar DifferentBmp 2230 DifferentText Different gt lt question gt Compared to previous_time were your activities between entry time and next time the lt question gt lt AskContinuedActivity gt Continued Activity Option The askcontinuedactivity tag defines the first menu option that the participant will see when he she selects a time to enter data If data are already entered for the immediately preceeding time block the participant will be asked if he she wishes to replicate this previous data for the new time block The program is configured to offer three options same in which the data are replicated and the user is not automatically given the opti
7. but not allow you to change the last time and date when the data were synchronized uploaded to the PC Finally you have the option to EXIT which exists the ENTIRE PROGRAM not just the manager s screen although it does not erase any data If you wish to LOG OFF the manager s screen without exiting the program choose the pre printed menu button located in the lower left corner of the display and data entry area it looks like a two colored bar with an arrow pointing downwards From the menu that appears at the top of the display choose Logoff figure 4 Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 18 of 29 Figure 4 Log off Menu The other administrative function is synchronization data upload This is performed by attaching the Palm to the PC used to configure it by the Hotsync cradle or cable that came with the unit The cradle or cable will contain a Hotsync button which you must push with the Hotsync manager running on the PC All the data will automatically be uploaded to the PC but it WILL NOT BE ERASED on the Palm The data are stored in the c eat output directory with the file name StudyName UserID DateTimeStamp STUDYDATA txt StudyName UserID and DateTimeStamp are substituted by the actual name of the study the actual UserID and the actual date and time when the synchronization occurred respectively Note that a new file is created with each synchronization thus old data from previous uploads wi
8. entry cascade If the participant indicates that the data are SIMILAR then the participant 1s routed through the data entry cascade but with the choices from the previous time block pre selected as for editing Ifthe participant indicates that the data are DIFFERENT then the participant is routed through the data entry cascade without any choices pre selected as with normal new data entry This is an important function as participants may have long periods of time during which their experience does not change e g sleep It is frustrating and tedious for participants if they must re enter all the data for every time block during that period of no change this provides a short cut Once the participant enters the data entry cascade he she will encounter the menu structure as defined in the study configuration XML file At the top of the screen the current time the name of the study and the name of the participant will still be displayed Following that will be the question defined in the configuration file followed by a list of icons representing the different selections they may choose If the participant chooses the icon for a selection Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 23 of 29 he she will either advance to the next menu if only one choice was permitted from this menu or a box will appear around the selection chosen If however the participant chooses the NAME of the selection rather than its icon a help screen
9. lt selection name Solitaire value 37 description Pyramid or Vegas rules largebmp 6000 medbmp 3200 gt lt selection gt lt selection name Eating value 9 description Yum largebmp 7100 gt lt data_page gt lt data_page maxselections 1 gt lt question gt What was your SECONDARY ACTIVITY between entry time and next_ time lt question gt lt selection name Nothing value 0 description No secondary activity largebmp 2230 medbmp 3200 gt lt selection name Transit value 11 description In transit largebmp 7070 gt lt selection name Spiritual value 12 description Spiritual activities largebmp 7110 gt lt selection name Phone value 13 description Chatter largebmp 7120 gt lt data_page gt lt data_page maxselections 1 gt Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 14 of 29 lt question gt What was your TERTIARY ACTIVITY between entry time and next_ time lt question gt lt selection name Nothing value 0 description No tertiary activity largebmp 2230 medbmp 3000 gt lt selection name TV value 15 description Idiot box largebmp 7130 gt lt selection name Groom value 16 description Grooming and personal care largebmp 7140 gt lt data_page gt lt data_page maxselections 100 gt lt question gt Select ALL of the people who were with you between entry time and next_time lt question gt lt selection name Spouse
10. that came with the hardware Refer to your Palm Pilot user manual for detailed instructions Using the ZIP archive extractor of your choice unzip the PROUST distribution file PROUST1 0 zip into any temporary directory If you do not have a ZIP archive extractor installed as of the time of this writing it was possible to download functional evaluation versions from www pkzip com or www winzip com The remainder of these instructions assume that the temporary directory you choose is c proustinstall From the command line execute install bat from that temporary directory Access the command line by selecting Run under the Start Menu on your taskbar typing cmd or command depending on your version of Windows and pressing enter Change to the temporary directory by typing cd full temporary directory pathname Type install bat and press enter to begin the installation process Follow the prompts Choose the default installation path c eat Changing the installation path may cause serious problems with the installation Allow for the installer to exit signified by the return of the prompt Complete icon configuration if desired according to the instructions in Section VI below From the Palm Desktop menu under Programs in the Start Menu open the Install Tool Select add and locate the PROUST prc file in the c eat directory Select open and then done The install tool will infor
11. value 17 description Spouse largebmp 7150 gt lt selection name Dad value 18 description Father largebmp 7170 gt lt selection name Mom value 19 description Mother largebmp 7180 gt lt selection name SO value 118 description Focal largebmp 7190 gt lt selection name Sibling value 119 description Sibling largebmp 7200 gt lt selection name Family value 120 description Other family largebmp 7210 gt lt selection name Friends value 218 description Friends largebmp 7220 gt lt selection name Peers value 318 description Peersr largebmp 7230 gt lt selection name value 418 description Strangers largebmp 7240 gt lt data_page gt lt data_page maxselections 1 gt lt question gt Where were you between entry time and next time lt question gt lt selection name Home value 20 description Where the heart is largebmp 7250 gt lt selection name Work value 21 description Rat race largebmp 7260 gt lt selection name Out value 22 description Not home largebmp 7270 gt lt data_page gt lt data_page maxselections 1 gt lt question gt How did you feel between entry time and next time lt question gt lt selection name Sad value 23 description Melancholy largebmp 7290 gt lt selection name Glad value 24 description Exultant largebmp 7280 gt lt selection name Bad value 25 descri
12. will appear prior to subsequent main menu choices The ordering of data entries can be confusing at first and it 1s Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 19 of 29 highly recommended that new managers of this program experiment with data entry and the data files that are produced before deploying PROUST Once the synchronization is complete PROUST will exit You must restart the program if the participant will continue to use it after the synchronization You will not lose any data by restarting the program NOTE Once PROUST has been configured it is NOT POSSIBLE to change the configuration through the PC The configuration must be changed through the manager s screen If changes are required that cannot be performed through the manager s screen then you must DELETE PROUST from the Palm and re install it with the new configuration To delete PROUST first make sure that you have uploaded all data and that the uploaded files are in place and accurate on your PC Then exit PROUST through the manager s screen Select the pre printed menu button as described above and from the pull down menu that appears choose delete You will see a list of installed programs including PROUST Select PROUST and then the delete button You are now ready to re install the program Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 20 of 29 SECTION IX Participant Functions Access the participant functions of PROUST by enterin
13. 1s not room to display icons in this view instead you will see a series of open blank or closed blackened boxes next to times separated by one hour intervals Each box represents one time block If any data have been entered for that time block the box is closed otherwise the box is open The boxes are arranged sequentially for each hour interval thus if each block represents 15 minutes the first box after 12 00 would be for 12 00 12 15 the second for 12 15 12 30 etc figure 7 Figure 6 Close up View Figure 7 Full Day View Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 22 of 29 In the close up and medium normal views only a shorthand device is used if more than one time blocks in a row contain PRECISELY the same data In order to save room on the screen such time blocks are collapsed and all times but the very first one disappear from view This is indicated by a vertical line on the left side of the display which begins at the first time with identical data and ends at the next time block with DIFFERENT data All intervening times are hidden from view However by selecting the first time in this set of time blocks with identical data the list is expanded and all time blocks are once again revealed to the participant s view This is critical insofar as editing intervening time blocks after data are initially entered for them requires first expanding the list so that the time block is visible independent from its
14. Configuration and Research Manual PROUST for PalmOS v1 0 Programmable Recording Of User friendly Self report through Time Jason A DeCaro M A Carol M Worthman Ph D Noah J Ternullo M S Ryan Brown B A and the Laboratory for Comparative Human Biology Revision 1 2 10 02 Copyright 2002 Emory University Atlanta GA Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 II HI IV VI VII VIII IX XI XII TABLE OF CONTENTS Mrod cio iesnas a a a ae License and Distribution eeoeoososssssececcocssseseceeceossssssssesessoo Regue meN S enscsesrns r N R Downloading Components sesosossssceceocscsssseecesccoeossssssesesessoo Installing Components eeseseoossssssceceocsossesesceceoosossssssecessossso Icon Configuration sesosssssececcocsossecceceoesossesceseoocossossesceseossso Study Configuration sssssecececosossecceceocsosssscececcoossssssecesessssssee Administrative Functions ssesesccsesossecocoesocoecococoosoesocosoosoecoe Participant Functions a Data Overview Screen esssssecesssecessceccsoecccsseeecesoe b Data Entry Cascade sessececcoosssssececcoossssssssececeseoo Re s arch Technig s sinrsinossinnainiiennnann Troublesho tint sissantina anes Known Bugs and Limitations scsososssececcccocscsssscececososssesese Appendix A Pre installed icons Page of 29 Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 2 of 29
15. ake selections and advance only when the user selects next or done at the bottom of the menu screen Note that on any data page that contains nested menus the logic of the program is such that maxselections always must equal 1 As elsewhere in the configuration file the text of the question to be asked at the top of the menu defined by this data page is bracketed between the question tag and the question end tag Then the individual selections are defined one by one using the selection tag Each selection is given a name that may not usually exceed 6 or7 characters to display properly It is given a value which is a unique number for that selection which will be used internally by the program in constructing the study database The description text will be displayed when the user selects the name of the icon for that selection rather than the icon itself The largebmp setting defines what icon from the resource library compiled into the program will be used for this menu choice Each icon is indicated by its number not its name Pre installed icons and their numbers are displayed in Appendix A to this document The largebmp must be a 20x20 pixel bitmap Finally the medbmp setting defines what icon from the resource library compiled into the program will be used in the miniaturized view of the icon used on certain screens after data have been entered The medbmp must be a 10x10 pixel bitmap Please n
16. are before attempting to configure or install PROUST Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 3 of 29 SECTION II License and Distribution Emory University retains the copyright to PROUST which 1s available for download at the web site http www emory edu COLLEGE ANTHROPOLOGY CHB PROUST html or through a CD ROM distribution The program may be used free of charge for research purposes with appropriate citation s such as DeCaro JA Worthman CM Ternullo NJ Brown R and the Laboratory for Comparative Human Biology 2002 Configuration and Research Manual PROUST for PalmOS v1 0 Atlanta Emory University Available at http www emory edu COLLEGE ANTHROPOLOGY CHB PROUST html and or Worthman CM DeCaro JA Ternullo NJ Moody J Brown R and the Laboratory for Comparative Human Biology 2002 PROUST for PalmOS v1 0 computer program Atlanta Emory University Available at http www emory edu COLLEGE ANTHROPOLOGY CHB PROUST html As described elsewhere in this manual the PROUST system is highly customizable However should changes be needed in order to fit a particular research project that are beyond the scope of the program s configurability license is granted to modify and re compile the source code included in the PROUST distribution for personal or lab group use only and on the condition that Emory University retains copyright to the modified program unless there is a written agreement to the contrary Modifi
17. arrows respectively located in the right top corner of the display If data have been entered there will be a row of miniaturized icons representing that data adjacent to the time for which they were entered All selections will be listed in the order they appear in the data cascade menus as defined by the study configuration XML file unless there is not enough room on the screen for them all in which case the list will be truncated For each time block in the schedule the START time is displayed The STOP time is implicit as the next start time minus one minute Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 21 of 29 From the data overview screen it is also possible to zoom in or zoom out to see more or less of the data on the screen at once To zoom in select the box with a single dot found in the lower left corner of the display Fewer blocks of time will be visible at once but for those blocks that are visible any data already entered will display using the large rather than the miniaturized versions of the icons If there are too many icons for any time block to display them all on the screen before they are truncated first one by one icons at the end of the list will be miniaturized figure 6 Alternately to zoom out select the box filled with fifteen dots in three columns found in the lower left corner of the display In this view the entire day will be displayed all at once However since there
18. ation and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 5 of 29 SECTION III Requirements This program is designed for and has been tested on the PalmOS platform only The program has been tested on PalmOS versions 3 5 1 and 3 5 2 and on the Palm Ixe Palm m100 and Palm m105 The original specifications called for PalmOS 3 5 x compatibility only Nonetheless the program may function normally but has not been tested on other PalmOS platforms Some problems were encountered in preliminary testing when switching between display zoom levels with PalmOS v4 0 although all other functions of the program seemed to work As of the publication date of this manual work to update PROUST to work correctly with PalmOS v4 0 was underway with a new build including this fix PROUST v1 2 expected in December 2002 Including both the executable and the data files PROUST uses approximately 100 kilobytes of memory on the Palm The desktop laptop computer synchronization system which is used to configure and download data from PROUST can only run on a PC compatible computer running Windows NT XP 2000 There are no special requirements for the PC other than a port for the data connection as per the specifications of your Palm model Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 6 of 29 SECTION IV Downloading Components Three downloadable files are required to install and configure PROUST v1 0 1 The full PROUST distribution available from http www emo
19. data entry for each time block it will be necessary to have participants track this separately or to write additional code to allow such recording 9 RECORD DELETION ISSUE Currently there is no way to delete a record once data have been entered for any given time slot without clearing the ENTIRE database Thus if users inadvertently enter data they can change and correct that data but they cannot return the time slot to the blank no data condition 10 SIMPLE ICONS ISSUE Presently due to inherent limitations of the display hardware icons must be very small and simple 20x20 pixel bitmap As logically follows the automatically rendered miniature icons used in certain views by the program 10x10 bitmaps will be even more elementary although the program contains good algorithms for mimaturizing 20x20 icons without losing too much recognizability 11 REQUIREMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM ISSUE Presently as described in earlier sections of this document it is necessary to purchase the CodeWarrior development platform in order to customize the total pool of icons available for the program 12 PC ONLY SYNCHRONIZATION ISSUE A PC compatible computer running Windows must be used to configure the program and download data from the Palm Support for Apple MacIntosh or other platforms is not currently available 13 FORWARD COMPATIBILITY ISSUE Some problems may be encountered using PROUST on PalmOS versions later than 3 5 x A b
20. ed programs may not be distributed without explicit written permission from Dr Carol Worthman worthman emory edu LCHB director The PROUST system as downloaded or received on CD ROM should also not be re distributed nor should its component parts be re packaged as part of any other distribution without explicit written authorization from Dr Worthman The PROUST system is made available free of charge at users own risk Neither Emory University nor the programmers designers are responsible for any loss of data or financial loss resulting from the use of this program By downloading or installing the PROUST system you agree to these licensing and distribution conditions In lieu of e mail communications traditional mailing addresses for Dr Worthman and Mr DeCaro are respectively Carol M Worthman Ph D Department of Anthropology Emory University 1557 Pierce Drive Atlanta Georgia 30322 Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 4 of 29 Jason A DeCaro Department of Anthropology Emory University 1557 Pierce Drive Atlanta Georgia 30322 Funding for development of this program was provided by the Sloan Foundation through the support made available to Carol Worthman as Core Faculty member of the MARIAL Sloan Center Myth and Ritual in American Family Life directed by Dr Bradd Shore Jason DeCaro s effort on program development was supported by a graduate Fellowship also from the MARIAL Center Configur
21. ed schedule to prompt cross sectional reporting at the moment or over the previous specified time interval e g prior 5 min or previous hour SAMPLE PALM When explaining to participants how to use the program it is usually critical to have one extra Palm Pilot on hand that they can practice with It is important that this Palm not be one that they will be using because of the record deletion issue described in Section XI which will prevent dummy sample data from easily being expunged SAMPLE SCENARIOS Investigators are advised that it is usually critical to come prepared with a series of somewhat complicated sample scenarios that participants would Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 25 of 29 6 7 8 9 need to be able to code Allow the participants to code them on their own as a practice run once they have received instructions in the overall coding procedures Also allow participants to dream up a few sample scenarios of their own and make sure they know how to code them correctly CHEAT CARDS It may be helpful to create a wallet sized laminated card with reminders for the participants on basic program usage While built into the program is a help function that will remind users of the DEFINITIONS of various icons they can choose in the data cascade screen there is no help function that will remind users how to operate the program in general BACKUP TECHNOLOGY Although we have found th
22. g the participant s password at the password screen and clicking login a Data Overview Screen The first screen displayed after the participant logs in is the Data Overview Screen figure 5 At the top of the screen you will see a dark bar containing the current time the name of the study and the participant name if there is enough room After that is a display of the schedule broken up into blocks of the appropriate length and centered upon the CURRENT day and time If however you access the program before or after the beginning or end of the study period respectively the display will reflect a date and time inside the study period Figure 5 Data Overview Screen Main Participant Screen At the top of the schedule the day of the week and date are displayed Then there 1s a list of times with either an open circle or a crescent next to them The crescent indicates at night and the open circle during the day Note that this is NOT the same as AM or PM The program is configured to recognize 12am 5 45am and 6pm 12am as nighttime and all other times as daytime Not all times will display as there is not enough room on the screen for the entire day to be visible at once To scroll up to earlier times or down to later times use the up or down arrows respectively located in the lower right corner of the display To scroll forward to subsequent days or backward to previous days use the right or left
23. he exit rather than logoff program exits function from the manager s screen See Section VIII The Palm responds very sluggishly to Some older or lower end versions of the Palm commands inside the program and or platform use rather slow processors that take some initialization takes a long time time to perform certain functions of the program This should not affect data entry however When I tap on the screen using the The Palm digitizer 1s miscalibrated refer to your stylus the program incorrectly hardware owner s manual recognizes which option I have selected is all blank or all dark hardware owner s manual The Palm will not turn on Your battery may have run down You MUST be aware of the possibility this will happen and check the battery status periodically refer to your hardware s owner manual for how to check and replace or recharge battery power If the battery power is totally exhausted for more than a short time all data will be lost You will not receive a warning inside the program Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 28 of 29 SECTION XII Known Bugs and Limitations The following bugs or limitations have been identified in this version of PROUST Others issues may also exist that have gone undetected thus far or are inherent limitations not made explicit in this document 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 CONDITIONAL MENU ISSUE Currently the configurati
24. he next few lines constitute the study tag The general format is lt study start_date date stop date date participant_name name participant_id number participant_sex female male participant_password number manager_password number study_name name last_sync_date timestamp slots _per_day number gt The two dates used should be the days that this research participant will begin and end data collection respectively and are in the format MM DD YYYY The participant name is a string that can either represent the actual name or some coded form of the name of the participant The participant ID is a unique integer that will identify this participant in the database The participant sex is the fully spelled out word male or female The participant and manager passwords must be numeric only The study name should be short and descriptive as it will be displayed on user screens when participants enter data The last_sync_date field is updated automatically by the program when it is used and should not be edited manually The slots_per_day setting controls how many blocks of data are collected in each 24 hour period and thus how long each block is the Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 12 of 29 options are 24 1 block for each hour 24 1 block for each half hour 72 1 block for each 20 minutes or 96 1 block for each 15 minutes lt AlarmSettings repeat 3 delay
25. is to be quite rare in our computer tech literate population occasionally a participant is simply unable or unwilling to operate the Palm Pilot This may be due to physical limitations or due to extreme discomfort with computers We found it useful to have an entire backup technology based upon stickers with grid sheets checklists or some other technique available that these rare individuals can use For advice on creating a simple backup technology that is compatible with the data generated using PROUST write to Jason DeCaro or Carol Worthman see contact info in section II CLEAR GUIDELINES The soul of successful use of this program is VERY CLEAR guidelines provided to the participant not only for how to use the program itself but also for all icons categories selections that you have created in the configuration process The program has only a limited ability to provide the user with help if the guidelines are not clear and memorable Consider in advance such issues as how short in duration can an event or experience be and still remain codeable For example in a study tracking activities at a 15 minute resolution a 30 second phone call may still be important to record as ONE OF the activities that took place during that 15 minutes Or depending on the design of the study you may prefer that participants ignore short duration events The combination of new software on new technology for some participants and an actual study constr
26. k s worth of data for the uses that we have deployed so far but we suggest that investigators determine length of use constraints carefully before fielding their protocols Because this program is highly configurable it may be used for nearly any research that tracks discrete events or experiences across the entire day It 1s most useful when the priority is to capture recollection of events in a structured sequential manner in effect a guided narrative It is less useful when recall bias would be a serious limitation in the study It has the advantage of capturing and even highlighting key salient events that 1s 1t takes advantage of the bias inherent in the memory process while providing sufficient structure that even minor events are usually recalled It also can capture important events or experiences of very short duration which might be missed using a random sampling approach However when objective accuracy of the event sequence is the highest priority and therefore a recall based process is undesirable spot observations or techniques such as the Experience Sampling Method may be more appropriate Betzig and Turke 1985 Borgerhoff Mulder and Caro 1985 Gross 1984 Larson and Verma 1999 Section References Betzig LL and Turke PW 1985 Measuring time allocation observation and intention Current Anthropology 26 647 650 Borgerhoff Mulder M and Caro TM 1985 The use of quantitative observational techniques in Anth
27. ll not be destroyed Synchronization will also create a file named StudyName_ UserID DateTimeStamp CONF xml which contains a full copy of the current configuration of PROUST including any changes that you have made in the manager s screen The data file is a comma delimited text file and comprises a series of entries one per line and one for each block of time for which data were collected E g in the sample studies that come with the distribution one per 15 minute block Each line contains the following information in the following order StudyName UserID ParticipantName ParticipantSex Date BlockNumber Datal Data2 Data3 The date is the date FOR WHICH data were entered for that block of time not the date when the data were entered or when the data were uploaded The block number is an integer between 0 and the total number of blocks in each day minus one in the example configuration file provided with the distribution there are 96 blocks per day so the BlockNumber would range from 0 to 95 Note that only this blocknumber will indicate the TIME for which data were entered There is one data entry for each possible selection on ALL the menus that the user encounters Each data entry is either 0 indicating that the selection was not chosen or 1 indicating that it was The data entries appear in the file in the SAME ORDER as the selections appear in the XML configuration file This means that sub menu choices
28. m Pilot including intercepting a soft reset such that a user cannot exit the program without the password However the program will not intercept a hard reset Ifa user completes the hard reset sequence the program and all its data will be lost ICON SIZE ISSUE On the large icon view screen if there are more icons than can fit in a row some of the icons will be miniaturized to allow them all to fit There is no way to scroll left or right in any of the data views DAILY LAYOUT ISSUE As presently designed the data overview can only be presented in terms of calendar days 1 e 24 hour segments beginning at midnight and ending midnight the following day It is not possible to configure this program to only collect data for the daytime for example or to have each screen begin at 6am and end at 6am the following day ICONS PER SCREEN ISSUE In any single menu screen in the data entry cascade there can be no more than twelve choices If additional choices are programmed into the configuration file there will NOT be a scroll bar allowing the user to select them Instead choices in excess of twelve will simply be cut off Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 29 of 29 8 NO TIMESTAMP ISSUE Although a record is kept of when data are synchronized between the computer and Palm Pilot downloaded no record is kept of when the user enters or modifies data If it is important to know the precise time of
29. m you that the program will be uploaded to the Palm at the next Hotsync 10 Create an XML configuration file for the current study in the c eat directory according to the instructions in Section VII below Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 8 of 29 11 From the command line in the c eat directory type process name where name is the name of the XML file you have created including the xml extension Press enter This will prepare the computer to Palm conduit with the correct configuration file This will also perform a rudimentary check of the syntax of the XML file you have created If you receive an error message re open your XML file in a text editor and look for syntax errors 12 With the Palm Pilot attached to the computer push the Hotsync button to install the PROUST application 13 With the Palm Pilot attached to the computer push the Hotsync button a second time to allow the conduit to configure the PROUST application Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 9 of 29 SECTION VI Icon Configuration The program comes with a variety of pre installed icons that may be used in configuring the menu structure of the study see section VII below However in most cases these pre installed icons will be inadequate for the purposes of new studies The pre installed icons are listed in Appendix A to this document If you are using only the pre installed icons skip ahead to the next ste
30. n the resource list for another icon Choose create 9 Open your new icon by double clicking on its name in the resource list 10 Change the size of the bitmap to 20x20 under options select set image size and then enter 20 for height and width Then select resize 11 Design the icon using the drawing tools provided It is also possible to cut and paste the icon from another bitmap editing program such as Microsoft Paint so long as the same bitmap size is used The number of colors you may use in designing the icon will depend on the model of Palm or Palm compatible hand computer you intend to use in your research 12 When you are done designing the icon close the icon window 13 Under the File menu select Save to make your changes permanent 14 Repeat beginning with Step 7 until all icons have been created 15 Recompile the project in Codewarrior a Close Constructor and return to Codewarrior b In Codewarrior under project select Make 16 Copy the new executable c proustinstall eat src palm obj PROUST prc into the c eat directory This will replace the version that came with the distribution Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 11 of 29 SECTION VII Study Configuration The specifics of your study are configured using a text configuration file with the XML file extension In the c eat directory you will find two sample XML files called TestCasel
31. ntaining data UNCHOOSE a selection by clicking on its icon the black box surrounding the icon will disappear In any menu where only one selection is permitted it is not necessary to unchoose a selection simply choose the new selection and the previous one will automatically be voided Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 24 of 29 SECTION X Research Techniques This section comprises a series of suggestions for how this program can be effectively deployed based upon our experience in research using PROUST in a predominantly middle class population in the United States This is a set of suggestions only alternative approaches may indeed be possible especially with some ingenuity Further successful research techniques are bound to differ somewhat in other sociocultural contexts 1 2 3 4 5 AGE OF SUBJECTS It has been our experience thus far that children under the age of 10 do poorly in entering their own data Although they often have the requisite general technological savvy the complex menu structure and the possibility for logical contradictions to be entered as data see Section XII below often serve as a source of confusion We strongly recommend that with young children children and adults jointly enter the data In some cases with very small children adults may need to take over data entry entirely INTERMEDIATE VISITS In our studies American participants have been asked to keep 24 h
32. on does NOT permit any kind of looping or conditional structure in the menus Thus for example 1f you have constructed a menu that allows the user to choose several options and one of those options is Nothing or Nobody or another affirmative null response there is no way to prevent the user from ALSO selecting one or more other icons This also means that if you have several menus in a row with the same options with the intent that users can choose more than one of them sequentially nothing prevents the user from selecting the same option on multiple menus Thus take care with the participants to make sure they understand the logical contradictions that can result and review data carefully while the participant is still available to make sure you can resolve any logical contradictions that the participant has created TIME RESOLUTION ISSUE It is not currently possible to select a time resolution for data entry smaller than 15 minutes or greater than one hour BATTERY POWER ISSUE This program intercepts most alarms that would normally warn users of problems with the equipment including low battery power Make certain to check the equipment periodically for adequate battery power by exiting the program and looking at the battery gauge on the Palm s main menu If the battery runs down completely you risk losing all data since the last synchronization HARD RESET ISSUE This program was designed to take control of the Pal
33. on to edit them similar in which the data are replicated but the user is immediately put into the edit mode in order to make changes and different in which the user is put into the edit mode to enter new data This tag defines precisely how the question is asked The general format is lt askcontinuedactivity samebmp number sametext text similarbmp number Ssimilartext text differentbmp number differenttext text gt lt question gt QUESTION TEXT lt question gt lt askcontinuedactivity gt The samebmp similarbmp and differentbmp settings respectively define the icons that will be used for the same similar and different options The sametext similartext and differenttext settings respectively define the text descriptions associated with those three icons Note that the text descriptions must be quite short normally no more than 6 or 7 characters long in order to be displayed properly The question tag defines the actual text that will be used to ask the question in the pop up window that the participant sees Note that the Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 13 of 29 question text is located OUTSIDE of the question tag and before the question end tag lt question gt lt data_page maxselections 1 gt lt question gt What was your PRIMARY ACTIVITY between entry time and next time lt question gt
34. or other lab groups especially in the early stages of the release of this program Particularly for groups that wish to use this program on a small scale or trial basis this would simplify configuration and avoid the need to purchase CodeWarrior Please contact Mr DeCaro if this service is needed Ifa CD ROM distribution is preferred this can be arranged by writing to Jason DeCaro at the address listed above Third party software cannot be distributed as part of the CD ROM distribution because of licensing restrictions To acquire this software other than by downloading please contact Sun Microsystems or Palm Computing directly Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 7 of 29 SECTION V Installing Components 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Follow these steps to install PROUST onto your computer and Palm Pilot On the PC that will be used to configure PROUST install the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Software Development Kit SDK a Download the software as described above b Open the installer You will be asked to agree to their license and then to select a location to install the program c Follow the prompts to install the program Install all components On the PC that will be used to configure PROUST install the Palm Desktop and Hotsync software for your Palm Pilot model if they are not in place already The process will differ slightly by model and usually involves an installation CD ROM
35. ote that this is an optional setting If it is not included the program will automatically generate a miniaturized version of the largebmp The program actually does an excellent job in this miniaturization and it is recommended that when defining a new study you try letting the program generate the smaller icon automatically and see if this is satisfactory before constructing one manually After all data pages have been defined the configuration file is always closed with the lt study gt tag Any information placed after the lt study gt tag will be ignored Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 16 of 29 SECTION VIII Administrative Functions Once the PROUST application is configured correctly and installed on the Palm or Palm compatible hand computer it should appear as an option in the main menu Choose the PROUST icon to start the program As the program initializes it will display an initialization message followed by a copyright notice A password screen should then appear figure 1 It should NOT display a message indicating that no configuration file was found and a sample study is being generated If this happens then the XML configuration file was not correctly downloaded from your PC to the Palm This most frequently happens because you did not successfully complete the process command see Section V step 11 or because you did not perform the second hotsync operation see Section V step 13
36. our activity records for 7 consecutive days In this context we found that AT LEAST 2 intermediate check up visits or at a bare minimum telephone conversations are required between the initial visit when instructions are given for using the software and the final visit when the data are downloaded This serves four critical purposes first it provides a constant reminder and impetus to continue updating the records second it provides an opportunity to download data periodically in case something goes wrong during the latter part of the data collection period third it provides an opportunity for participants to ask questions regarding any problems they ve had with the program and fourth it provides an opportunity for investigators to review data with participants while their memories are still fresh The first follow up visit which should occur no later than 1 5 days after data collected has started in particular serves the critical purpose of training participants in the meaning and use of the icons so that their report of daily life is accurately channeled into the terms of the study ALARM SETTINGS In our studies three alarm settings per day have generally proven sufficient for a good 24 hour recall of the day Participants can also be encouraged to take the Palm Pilot with them and enter data during breaks in their daily schedule even when the alarm has not sounded However alarms could be timed and a priori set randomly or on a fix
37. p in the installation process installation step 9 in Section V above As discussed in Section IV icon configuration requires purchase and installation of Codewarrior from Metrowerks Within the limits of his time Jason DeCaro see contact information in Section II may be able to complete the icon configuration as a service without cost for other lab groups especially in the early stages of the release of this program Particularly for groups that wish to use this program on a small scale or trial basis this would simplify configuration and avoid the need to purchase CodeWarrior Please contact Mr DeCaro if this service 1s needed However labs that expect to make heavy use of this program or who expect to use the program for multiple studies that require separate icon configuration are urged to purchase the Codewarrior software and learn the icon configuration process 1 On the PC that will be used to configure PROUST install Metrowerks Codewarrior according to the instructions that come with the installation CD ROM 2 On the PC that will be used to configure PROUST install the PalmOS Software Development Kit SDK a Download the software as described above b Open the installer You will be asked to agree to their license and then to select a location to install the program c Follow the prompts to install the program Install all components 3 Launch Codewarrior 4 In Codewarrior under the file menu choose open
38. ption Malicious largebmp 7300 gt lt data_page gt lt study gt Data Pages Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 15 of 29 The remainder of the configuration file comprises the data page s which define the sequence of menus that the participant will see while entering data The general format for each data page is lt data page maxselections number gt lt question gt QUESTION TEXT lt question gt lt selection name name value number description text largebmp number medbmp number gt lt data_page gt Each data page defines one menu screen and as many data pages as are needed can be defined Within each data page every selection is defined separately The number of selections is limited to 12 on any menu due to the limitations of the small Palm screen It is however possible to create nested menus in which after the participant selects the icon for some general category in the example above gameplay he she is presented with a sub menu with more specific options within that category In the general format maxselections defines the number of selections that the user can make simultaneously from that menu If maxselections is equal to 1 then as soon as he she picks a single selection the program will automatically advance to the next menu If maxselections is greater than I the program will allow the user as much time as needed to m
39. ropology Current Anthropology 26 323 335 Gross DR 1984 Time allocation a tool for the study of cultural behavior Annual Review of Anthropology 73 519 558 Larson RW and Verma S 1999 How children and adolescents spend time across the world work play and developmental opportunities Psychological Bulletin 725 701 736 Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 27 of 29 SECTION XI Troubleshooting This section describes some of the common problems that you may encounter with PROUST and suggests some solutions If you have problems that this section cannot resolve please contact Jason DeCaro see contact information in Section II for assistance Also please contact Mr DeCaro if you encounter other problems for which you determine the solution and that you believe should be included in this list of troubleshooting suggestions PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS When I process a new XML There is a syntax error in the XML file Re open it configuration file I receive an error with a text editor and look carefully for problems message When I start PROUST I receive a You have not successfully configured PROUST message indicating that no This most frequently happens because the process configuration file was found command was not successful or the second hotsync operation was neglected see Section V Delete PROUST from the Palm as described in Section VIII and re install When I exit the manager s screen the You have chosen t
40. ry edu COLLEGE ANTHROPOLOGY CHB PROUST html 2 The latest Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Software Development Kit SDK from www javasoft com As of the time this document was written the latest version was J2SE v1 4 available at http java sun com j2se downloads html Item 2 is third party software currently made available for free from Sun Microsystems Icons 20x20 pixel for the data recording menus may be designed in any bitmap producing graphics program At the time of this writing PROUST comes with the icons designed for our initial application For configuration of new icons by users it is also necessary to acquire 3 The PalmOS Software Development Kit SDK version 3 5 from www palmos com As of the time this document was written this file was available from http www palmos com cgi bin sdk35 cgi It is important to acquire the correct version of the PalmOS SDK Do not simply download the newest version Item 3 is third party software currently made available for free from Palm Computing 4 CodeWarrior for PalmOS available from Metrowerks http www metrowerks com As of the time this document was written the CodeWarrior software cost 499 CodeWarrior is the Development Environment required to re compile the PROUST executable with the new icons included Within the limits of his time Jason DeCaro see contact information in Section II may be able to complete the icon configuration as a service without cost f
41. the icon configuration procedures described in section VI Icon ID Number Graphic wo Gls 7020 7030 7050 7060 to S 7080 7090 7130 7140 o m f ts Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Appendix A 7170 7180 7190 7200 PEPE PTT PPP TC 7210 7220 7230 7240 7250 7260 7270 7280 7290 7300 ue 7310 7320 7330 ot nw X oy l EE 7340 o ms 89
42. uct can be daunting if the instructions are vague in any way FUDGE PERIOD The first 24 hours 1s often the period in which participants have the most problems before they become familiar with the program and the study It is advisable to sift through data from this first day especially carefully to make sure it 1s accurate and not biased by the participants initial discomfort with study procedures An effective technique 1s to translate the participant s data record into a verbal narrative that reconstructs their day and to solicit clarification elaboration and completion of any gaps as the narrative proceeds It may even be advisable to add one extra day of data collection onto the study and automatically reject the first 24 hours of data as unreliable although we have not found this approach necessary 10 POWER SUPPLY Note that if the power supply to the Palm Pilot fails for more than a brief period all data will be lost Therefore provision of power to the Palm Pilots needs to be carefully tailored to the needs of the study protocol In most cases it will be best to use batteries and to supply the Palm Pilot with new batteries each time it is used Use of Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Page 26 of 29 batteries avoids the possibility of power failures associated with use of cradles e g users may forget to use the cradle or the cradle may become disconnected Fresh batteries easily support collection of a wee
43. ug fix release PROUST version 1 2 specifically addressing this problem is currently in development and hopefully will be available shortly In the meantime however please make certain that you have purchased equipment for use in your project that is capable of running PalmOS 3 5 x Should a subsequent version of this program be released these are amongst the issues we may try to address with the exception of the hard reset issue which is a necessary feature as well as a limitation there must always be some way for a frozen Palm Pilot to be reset if all else fails If in your use of the program you come across either bugs that must be fixed or functions you would like to see added to overcome limitations of the program please let us know by writing to Jason DeCaro jadecar emory edu or see full mailing address in section I While we cannot guarantee that we will incorporate your suggestions or that a subsequent version of the program will be developed we will take your feedback very seriously Configuration and Research Manual PROUST v1 0 Appendix A APPENDIX A PRE INSTALLED ICONS The following icons which met the needs of the first study for which PROUST was deployed in the field are already installed Although each study will most likely need its own custom designed set of icons should the following icons prove sufficient for a new research application it would be unnecessary either to purchase CodeWarrior or to follow
44. will appear that contains the brief description from the study configuration file Then they may either choose select if they determine they did intend this selection or cancel otherwise to return to the list If the menu uses sub menus the sub menu will automatically appear when the appropriate selection is chosen Ifthe menu permits multiple selections then the menu will not disappear until the participant chooses next or done If however any menu permits only one selection as soon as a selection 1s made the program will advance to the next menu The one exception is that the data cascade will not exit without the user selecting done That is if the final menu in the cascade allows only one selection once that selection is chosen the menu will not disappear the user must select done to exit At any point in the data cascade it 1s possible for the user to move forwards or backwards by choosing next or back respectively The program will not prohibit the user from skipping a menu that is choosing next without choosing any of the selections on that menu In this case it will record in the data file as all zeros that is nothing was selected for that menu Depending on your instructions to the participant for analytical purposes this can either be treated as none of the above or as missing data In any menu where multiple selections are permitted when editing entries already co
45. xml and TestCase2 xml These can provide a template that will in addition to the instructions below help you understand the configuration process Like HTML used to describe web pages XML files are broken up into a series of tags A tag begins with the character lt followed by the name of the tag Any amount of configuration information may follow prior to the character gt which completes the tag In some cases another tag is necessary to indicate that the information in a previous tag no longer applies In this case the second tag will simply be lt followed by the tag name and then gt These instructions take the form of an annotated version of TestCasel xml The XML code in the instructions below is red and bold The annotations instructions are italic Use any text editor such as Notepad in Windows to generate the XML file for your study lt xml version 1 0 gt lt DOCTYPE study SYSTEM c eat EATXML dtd gt lt study start date 06 25 2002 stop date 06 28 2002 participant name John Q Participant participant id 12345 participant sex male participant password 1234 manager password 5678 study _ name Anthropology test last _sync date 8 29 2001 21 10 slots _ per day 96 gt Study Definition This section of the XML file defines the general parameters of the study The first two lines which define the xml version and doctype should not be changed T
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