Tutorial 2 - Zigzag Calculator: Interpret and compare test results

• This tutorial will show you different ways of displaying the results of a test that has already been administered to students.
  
  
• Open the Zigzag Calculator application in one of the following three ways:
  
  
• By selecting the application from the program bar:
  
  
  
  
• By double-clicking on the shortcut icon (which under standard installation conditions should be located on the desktop).
  
  
• By selecting Zigzag Calculator from the menu in the Zigzag Generator:
  
  
  
  
  
• In the application's menu, select the menu File > Open … .
  
  
  
  
• A window called Open Project will appear. Select the project Tan and Gram and click OK (or double-click on the project icon).
  
  
  
  
• The Open Project window contains the results for previously administered tests (here: 47 tests from 47 different readers), in alphabetical order by name (Reader 01, Reader 02, etc.) The results displayed upon opening of the window correspond to the default settings on the right-hand side of the window.
  
  
  
• Click on the heading Score. The matrix data will be sorted in descending order as a function of this column. As you can see, Reader 22 has the best score for the group (i.e. 100%), followed by the other readers in descending order.
  
  
  
  
• Click on the heading Time. The matrix data will be sorted as a function of this column, this time in ascending order. Reader 23 is the fastest reader of the group (2.390 sec. per segment on average), the other readers follow in ascending order.
  
  
  
  
• Check the Summary box to see an additional column appear. Click on the heading of this column.
  
  
  
  The Summary score allows you to simultaneously take into account the Score and Time based on the weight attributed to each (in this case, 75 % Score - 25 % Time). To modify the default weightings, specify the desired setting from the roll-down menu. Note that the Score, Time and Summary columns each refer to the total number of the segments for a given text.
  
  
• Check the box Code(s) and select the item Anto in the roll-down window. You will then see three new columns appear, named Anto-Score, Anto-Time, and Anto-Summary. These columns refer to the text segments which have been coded Anto (i.e. segments coupled with an antonym) in the generation process.
  
  
  
  
• The box Questionnaire(s) is deactivated since the test TangramE does not contain any multiple choice or true-false questions.
  
  
• When readers have read a text more than once (trial 1, 2, …) the roll-down menu Trials will allow you to select a given trial (cf. left-hand graphic). However, in the graphic on the right-hand side, no reader in the group has read the text twice, and so you can only access the first (and only) trial.
  
  
  
  
• The default setting for the presentation of the results upon opening of a Zigzag project with the File > Open … command is identical to what is presented when the Results > Summary Table (see the checked option) command is used:
  
  
  
  
• The Zigzag Calculator also allows you to review the detailed results that are shown to the readers at the end of a test taken in the Zigzag Test module. Select the Results > Detailed Results for a Reader menu:
  
  
  
  and then select a reader of your choice (here: Reader 01) in the roll-down menu:
  
  
  
• You will see a three-column table appear which presents the results segment by segment. In the case of an error (i.e. selection of a distractor-segment instead of the target-segment), the distractor selected will be displayed in red. Reader 01 has correctly selected segments 1 through 6, but made an error on segment 7 by selecting the distractor their shape. instead of the target their shapes. .
  
  
  
  
  
• The Zigzag Calculator can also help you to rank a reader's results, by means of a succinct written report, as a function of his group of reference (i.e. the other readers having results in the test repertoire for the Tan and Gram project). Select the menu Results > Reader Ranking and then the item Reader 01 in the roll-down window.
  
  
  
  
  
• It is possible to restrict the reference group by excluding certain readers using the command Display > Reader(s) to exclude.
  
  
  
  In the window called Exclude from result calculations that appears, all the readers of the reference group are checked by default. Uncheck the box for Reader 47 to temporarily remove this reader from the group and click Close.
  
  
  
  
• Once again, select Reader 01. His ranking will have been recalculated as a function of the new reference group (out of 46 instead of 47):
  
  
  
  Note that the Display > Reader(s) to exclude will also affect how the average displayed at the bottom of the summary table is calculated; the table is accessible via the Results > Summary Table command.
  
  
• To export data from a Zigzag project in order to do statistical analyses (for example in SPSS), select the menu File > Export. The window Save As … will appear. Give the file to be exported a name and confirm your choice by clicking on Save. The extension of the exported file is csv; it can be read by software such as Excel. The exported file contains detailed information for all the trials and readers of a given Zigzag project.
  
  
• To close the Zigzag Calculator application, select the File > Quit menu.
  
  
  
• Tutorials - Overview
• Tutorial 1 - Zigzag Test: Take a test
• Tutorial 3 - Zigzag Generator: Generate a test (step 1)
• Tutorial 4 - Zigzag Generator: Generate distractors and assign codes (step 2)
• Tutorial 5 - Zigzag Generator: Add images to test (step 2)
• Tutorial 6 - Zigzag Generator: Add questionnaires to test (step 2)