Each Lighthouse questionnaire may include one or more MaxDiff experiments (a series of questions designed in a careful manner to lead to the efficient estimation of item scores). (Remember, even if you are not asking the "worst" half of the MaxDiff question or if you are doing a method of paired comparisons study, we still refer to the experiment in the software as "MaxDiff.")
Each MaxDiff experiment uses a list of items. This list may be a pre-defined (fixed) list, or it can be built dynamically for each respondent (a constructed list). If a constructed list, it must have a pre-specified number of items.
To add a MaxDiff experiment with its list of items, from the Write Questionnaire dialog click Add | MaxDiff Exercise. Specify a name for the exercise (starting with a letter and having no more than 25 total numbers or letters). Click OK and the MaxDiff Exercise dialog is shown.
The MaxDiff Exercise dialog has six tabs:
Question Text: Here, you specify the text that appears above and below the MaxDiff questions.
Label Text: Here, you specify the labels that appear above the columns associated with "best" and "worst" (or "best" only, if you are not asking respondents to identify the "worst" item in the set).
Items: This tab lets you add or delete items from the list used in the MaxDiff exercise. Please note that you can use any predefined (fixed) list, or you can select a constructed (dynamic) list for use in MaxDiff experiments.
Format: The layout style and colors are specified on this dialog.
Design: Here, you specify how many items to show per question, how many questions to ask, any level by level prohibitions, and other controls that govern the experimental plan.
Skip Logic: This tab is not active, and is available only for consistency with other parts of Lighthouse Studio.