Open AccessA PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF KEYSTROKE LOG DATA FROM A TIMED WRITING TASK
Author(s) -
Almond Russell,
Deane Paul,
Quinlan Thomas,
Wagner Michael,
Sydorenko Tetyana
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.2012.tb02305.x
Subject(s) - keystroke logging , computer science , keystroke dynamics , sample (material) , task (project management) , word (group theory) , natural language processing , cognition , process (computing) , writing process , artificial intelligence , psychology , computer security , programming language , mathematics , mathematics education , password , management , chromatography , neuroscience , s/key , economics , geometry , chemistry
The Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 pilot tests for the CBAL ™ Writing assessment included experimental keystroke logging capabilities. This report documents the approaches used to capture the keystroke logs and the algorithms used to process the outputs. It also includes some preliminary findings based on the pilot data. In particular, it notes that the distribution of most of the pause length is consistent with data generated from a mixture of lognormal distributions. This corresponds to a cognitive model in which some pauses are merely part of the transcription (i.e., typing) process and some are part of more involved cognitive process (e.g., attention to writing conventions, word choice, and planning). In the pilot data, many of the features extracted from the keystroke logs were correlated with human scores. Due to the small sample sizes of the pilot studies, these findings are suggestive, not conclusive; however, they suggest a line of analysis for a large sample containing keystroke logging gathered in the fall of 2009.