Personal response system - Definition

A personal response system (or PRS) allows large groups of people to vote on a topic or answer a question. Each person has a remote control with which selections can be made. Each remote communicates with a computer via receivers located around the room. After a set time, the system shuts off and tabulates the results. Typically, the results are instantly made available to the participants via a bar graph displayed on projector.

In most cases the serial number of each remote control is entered beforehand in the control computer's database. In this way the answer of each individual can later be identified.

There are many reasons for the increasing use of personal response systems. The tendency to answer based on crowd psychology is reduced because, unlike hand raising, it is difficult to see which selection others are making. The PRS also allows for faster tabulation of answers for large groups than manual methods. Additionally, many college professors use the PRS to take attendance or even graded answers in large lecture halls, which would be highly time-consuming without the system.