OTree: Implementing experiments with dynamically determined data quantity

Abstract

oTree (Chen et al., 2015) provides an excellent platform and device independent open-source software environment for creating experiments. In some scenarios, namely when dealing with a large or dynamic quantity of data, oTree’s design makes it hard to avoid error-prone repetitive coding. This article presents a way of realizing dynamic and flexible data collection that is easy to implement and follows the principles of good software engineering. A market scenario is used as an example and basis for an illustrative implementation which is also provided along with this article. A software package is presented that extends oTree’s capabilities of live data monitoring and data export of dynamically collected data.