--- title: "Survey and experiment pilots with LLMRpanel" output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{Survey and experiment pilots with LLMRpanel} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8} --- ```{r, include = FALSE} RUN_LIVE <- FALSE knitr::opts_chunk$set(collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>") ``` LLMRpanel administers survey and experimental instruments to panels of language model personas. It can be used to pretest questions and pilot conjoint designs. Responses describe a configured model under the supplied personas. `panel_benchmark()` compares closed-item response shares with benchmark shares supplied by the user. It records deviations for the covered responses and nonresponse rates by item. The examples use a deterministic response function through `.runner`. The live example runs only when `RUN_LIVE` is set to `TRUE`. ## What silicon panels are for 1. Instrument pretesting uses draft items to examine unmatched replies and first-option sensitivity. 2. Design piloting uses conjoint tasks to examine responses to recorded profile assignments. 3. Model measurement compares response distributions under different personas or model configurations. Displayed option order can also be varied. ## Panels and instruments ```{r setup} library(LLMRpanel) # Closed items receive the first displayed option. Open items receive a # fixed sentence. first_shown <- function(experiments, ...) { experiments$response_text <- vapply(seq_len(nrow(experiments)), function(i) { shown <- experiments$option_order[i] if (is.na(shown)) "Because it reaches the most people." else strsplit(shown, "|", fixed = TRUE)[[1]][1] }, character(1)) experiments$success <- TRUE experiments } ``` `panel_from_margins()` samples attribute values from the supplied marginal distributions. `set.seed()` makes this draw reproducible. ```{r panel, purl=FALSE} set.seed(110) panel <- panel_from_margins( list( age = c("18 to 34" = .30, "35 to 64" = .45, "65 plus" = .25), party = c(left = .45, right = .45, independent = .10) ), n = 12, persona_template = "A {age} year old voter who leans {party}." ) panel instrument <- panel_instrument(list( item_likert("wk4", "A four-day work week would benefit society."), item_choice( "fund", "Which should the city fund first?", c("public transit", "road repair") ), item_open( "why", "What should the city consider when choosing between public transit and road repair?" ) )) instrument ``` Margins are useful when targets are published as tables. When microdata is available, `panel_from_data()` is the joint distribution counterpart. It draws personas from observed rows and therefore preserves relationships among attributes rather than sampling each margin independently. `LLMR::report()` identifies whether a panel came from supplied margins, microdata rows, or supplied personas. `panel_administer()` sends each persona-item pair as an independent request. It returns a `panel_responses` object. Response rows are stored in `$data`; the panel and instrument are retained in separate fields. The default instrument settings permute choice options for each request. A Likert scale retains its original order or is reversed, each with probability one-half. `option_order` records the displayed options. `item_position` records the item's fixed position in the instrument, rather than an order of exposure. When comparing models, reset the seed before each administration to reproduce the same option assignments. ```{r administer, purl=FALSE} cfg = LLMR::llm_config("groq", "openai/gpt-oss-20b", temperature = 0.8) cfg_qwen = LLMR::llm_config("groq", "qwen/qwen3-32b", temperature = 0.8) set.seed(110) resp = panel_administer(panel, instrument, cfg, .runner = first_shown) resp resp$data panel_bias_audit(resp) LLMR::diagnostics(resp) set.seed(110) # the same assignments for the second model resp_qwen = panel_administer(panel, instrument, cfg_qwen, .runner = first_shown) panel_bias_audit(resp_qwen) ``` ## Compare responses with a benchmark `panel_benchmark()` compares valid model response shares with benchmark shares for matching item-response pairs. It also records benchmark coverage and item-level nonresponse in `$benchmark`. Before a benchmark is attached, response shares describe the configured model under the supplied personas, not a human population. `bench_fund` supplies shares for one closed item. ```{r benchmark_partial, purl=FALSE} bench_fund = data.frame( item_id = rep("fund", 2), response = c("public transit", "road repair"), share = c(0.41, 0.59) ) resp_partial = panel_benchmark( resp, bench_fund, benchmark_name = "toy city survey" ) resp_partial ``` `bench_fund` covers one of the instrument's two closed items. `bench_all` adds shares for `wk4` and covers both. ```{r benchmark_full, purl=FALSE} bench_all = rbind( bench_fund, data.frame( item_id = rep("wk4", 5), response = c( "strongly disagree", "disagree", "neutral", "agree", "strongly agree" ), share = c(.05, .20, .25, .35, .15) ) ) resp = panel_benchmark( resp, bench_all, benchmark_name = "toy city survey" ) resp LLMR::report(resp) resp$benchmark$nonresponse ``` `resp$benchmark$nonresponse` gives the missing response proportion for each closed item. The comparison shares use nonmissing responses as their denominator. ## Conjoint designs `conjoint_design()` uses R's random-number generator to construct a classed design list. Its `$profiles` field contains the initial profile table, and its `$attributes` field contains the attribute universe. `panel_administer()` draws the profiles each respondent sees. Set a seed before administration to reproduce those respondent-level draws. ```{r conjoint_design, purl=FALSE} set.seed(110) design = conjoint_design( list( price = c("low", "high"), origin = c("domestic", "imported") ), n_tasks = 4 ) design design$profiles design$attributes ``` `conjoint_design()` attempts to use distinct profiles within each task in `$profiles` and warns when the attribute space cannot supply them. `conjoint_instrument()` creates one forced-choice item per task. Administration renders a fresh draw for each respondent and records it with the response. `conjoint_amce()` estimates from those recorded profiles relative to a reference level for each attribute and calculates standard errors clustered by persona. The reference is the first level, in the design's order, that appears in the estimation data. ```{r conjoint_amce, purl=FALSE} cj_instr = conjoint_instrument(design, "Which product would you buy?") set.seed(110) cj = panel_administer(panel, cj_instr, cfg, .runner = first_shown) conjoint_amce(cj) ``` `conjoint_amce()` returns a classed result with one row for each observed attribute level. Reference levels have estimate 0 and missing standard errors. Other rows contain the estimated contrast and 95 percent interval. Run counts remain in separate columns. The printed header names the reference levels, which are also in `attr(amce, "reference")`, and gives the number of personas whose responses entered the estimate, the clusters for the standard errors. When every profile showing an attribute's first level is lost, for instance because those executions failed, the next level present becomes the reference and a warning names it. ## A live administration The identical call against a live provider drops the `.runner` argument. This chunk runs only when `RUN_LIVE` is set to `TRUE` in the setup chunk. ```{r live, eval = RUN_LIVE, purl=FALSE} resp_live = panel_administer(panel, instrument, cfg) resp_live ``` ## Request counts and model choice `panel_administer()` makes one request per persona-item pair. Option randomization does not add requests. Provider prices and prompt and response lengths determine cost. A versioned local model can support later reruns when hosted endpoints change. The `$data` field retains `response_text`, `response_id`, `success`, `model`, and `provider`, including when a reply cannot be matched to a closed-item option. `finish_reason` is retained when the runner supplies it. ## Relations [LLMR](https://asanaei.github.io/LLMR/) supplies provider configuration and execution. [LLMRcontent](https://asanaei.github.io/LLMRcontent/) provides codebook-based text annotation and validation. [LLMRagent](https://asanaei.github.io/LLMRagent/) provides agent experiments. [LLMRpanel](https://asanaei.github.io/LLMRpanel/) contains panel constructors, instruments, administration, and response summaries.