Introduction

Most people are right handed. The Edinburgh Handedness Inventory is a well known short questionnaire for determining objectively whether one is left or right handed (Oldfield, 1971), and there is a short form of it (Vealy, 2014). This PsyToolkit implementation uses the short form.

The questionnaire takes only half a minute or so.

This handedness inventory is useful for cognitive psychological experiments in which people use both hands. Often, people respond slightly faster with the dominant hand.

Did you know that Ned Flanders is one of the most famous fictional left handers? Read about it here.

Run the demo

You can use this questionnaire, but you will need to cite both references listed at the bottom, as well as PsyToolkit.

Technically

This is a very simple questionnaire. For the feedback, some more advanced HTML is being used, namely color coding and a small table.

The survey code for PsyToolkit

Copy and paste this code to your PsyToolkit account if you want to use the scale in your own online research project
scale: side
- {score=-100} Always left
- {score=-50} Usually left
- {score=0} Both equally
- {score=50} Usually right
- {score=100} Always right

l: questions
t: scale side
q: Please indicate your preferences in the use of hands in the following activities or objects
- Writing
- Throwing
- Toothbrush
- Spoon

l: score
t: set
- mean $questions

l: feedback
t: info
q: <b><font color='red'>Your laterality quotient score is {$score}.</font></b><br><br>
The standard classification is as follows:<br>
<table border=1>
<tr><th>Handedness</th><th>Laterality Quotient score</th</tr>
<tr><td>Left handers:</td><td> -100 to -61</td</tr>
<tr><td>Mixed handers:</td><td> -60 to 60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Right handers:</td><td>  61 to 100</td></tr>
</table>

References

  • Oldfield, R.C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97-113.

  • Veale, J.F. (2014). Edinburgh Handedness Inventory - Short Form: A revised version based on confirmatory factor analysis. Laterality, 19, 164-177.