I would like to show participants which among a set of items they've rated most highly – after having rated these items in several matrices that represent different situations for rating those items. 

For example, people will describe themselves using the same terms across different situations (e.g., confident, motivating, self-effacing), each on a 7-point scale.  I would like to sum their scores on each individual item across 4 situations (i.e., 4 matrices using the same item stems but a different question as a prompt).  I then hope to report out the highest rated items across the 4 situations. (An example is included below to better clarify.)

Ideally, I'd report a fixed number of the highest rated items, and in case of ties between different items, I would allow more than the fixed number of items to be reported.  

It seems that I should use merge codes for this, but am not sure where to start. 

Thank you very much,

Jeff

Example:

(((For respondents)))

Please rate yourself in each situation:

Situation 1:  With colleagues at work

confident (1 – 7)
motivating (1 – 7)
self-effacting (1 – 7)

Situation 2:  With boss at work

confident (1 – 7)
motivating (1 – 7)
self-effacting (1 – 7)

Situation 3: At home

confident (1 – 7)
motivating (1 – 7)
self-effacting (1 – 7)

Situation 4:  With my closest friends

confident (1 – 7)
motivating (1 – 7)
self-effacting (1 – 7)

(((After answering, survey respondents would see the following on a separate page)))

**Results of your survey (i.e., quiz results)**

Across different situations, you see yourself most consistently as _____. 

Across different situations, the degree to which you see yourself as ______ appears to change the most.

Post edited 5:38 – July 2, 2009 by Jeff

Jonathan,

Thanks for the quick reply!

To write a custom script, would I begin by learning the merge codes and use existing functions that I've found in the support guides?  Or is there a different language this script would need to be written in? 

I'm familiar with some database programming specific to statistical analysis more than html, but can enlist help if I need to start with an external language.

Thanks again,

Jeff