Refactoring a helper method

Rails
1

I am working on a site that does web surveys. I have created a helper
method to create a likert scale table (e.g., 5 columns + row title,
strongly dislike <-> strongly like). This method accepts an array of
hashes and then uses the built in Rails helper form.radio_button to
unwrap the hash and build the table. The function is below:

procedurally goes into an array of hashes and generates a likert

table
def likert_table(items = [], f=f)
result = “” # collector string
items.each {|item| item.each {|attribute,text| result = result +
likert_row(attribute,text,f)}}
return "










#{result}
Strongly Dislike Dislike Neutral Like Strongly Like
"
end

create a row in a table with the 5 selectable radio buttons

def likert_row(attribute, text, f=f)
"


#{f.label attribute,
text}
#{f.radio_button attribute,
1}
#{f.radio_button attribute,
2}
#{f.radio_button attribute,
3}
#{f.radio_button attribute,
4}
#{f.radio_button attribute,
5}
"
end

However, I had a few questions about refactoring.

First, do I need to pass “f” in both of those functions? I use it in
the f.radio_button helper (as this method would be called inside a
form_for) but it seems clunky to have to add “f” to the arguments every
time.

Second, is using a string variable to collect the output of the
iterations and then returning that string the best way to construct an
iterative helper?

Third, is there a simpler way to iterate through this than an array of
hashes? I can build a likert table like so:

<%= likert_table([:rates_fighting => "Fighting",
                  :rates_platform => "Platform",
                  :rates_shooter => "Shooter",
                  :rates_action_adventure => "Action Adventure",
                  :rates_system_sim => "System Simulator",
                  :rates_life_sim => "Life Simulation",
                  :rates_rpg => "Role Playing Game",
                  :rates_mmorpg => "Online Role Playing Game",
                  :rates_strategy => "Strategy",
                  :rates_vehicle_sim => "Vehicle Simulation",
                  :rates_music => "Music",
                  :rates_puzzle => "Puzzle",
                  :rates_sports => "Sports",
                  :rates_casual => "Casual"],
                  f)%>

…but it feels un-Railslike, especially with that dangling “f”. Later
I will be pulling these values from a database and using a collection
instance variable. As a beginner ruby programmer I have hit my ceiling
on this one. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.