There are many experiment control programs out there. When choosing which one to use, you might consider some of the following factors:
- Cost. Some programs are free, and some aren't. For the non-free programs, prices and models vary widely: some are cheap and some are expensive, some have a one-time fee (once you pay it, you have a license to use it forever) and some work on a subscription basis (you have to pay every year).
- Ease of use. Some programs are known for being very easy to use, with little learning curve. Others require a lot of learning, and/or require computer programming.
- Flexibility. Some programs are designed specifically for a certain kind of thing, and can be hard to modify for other purposes. Related to this: some programs don't support certain things (e.g., some programs don't support presenting audio files, or don't support interfacing with EEG-recording equipment, or can't be run over the Internet, or things like that). Other programs are more flexible and can be used for anything.
- Platform. Some programs only work on Windows, some only work on Unix-based systems, some only work on tablets, etc.
- Availability of examples. Sometimes there are already previous examples of the kind of experiment you're trying to do that are available for a certain program, and in those situations it may be easier to keep using that program (so you can adapt the existing examples) rather than use a different program (where you'd have to figure out everything from scratch).
Find at least two experiment control programs that are used by language researchers (an easy way to do this is to check published papers and see which program they used—this will be mentioned in the Methods section—or to check discussion fora, such as ResearchGate, for previous questions and recommendations about what kinds of software to use for various kinds of research. For each one that you find, list its name here, and evaluate it on criteria 1-4 from above (i.e., list its name, say how much it costs, how easy it seems, how flexible it seems, and what platforms it works on).