Navigating the Study design

Build, view and test your study

Updated over a week ago

The Study design allows you to view, build and test a study. You can also use it to create templates and copies of studies. Once a study has begun fielding, you can view the number of completes, quota, and termination statistics.

You can start by clicking on Studies in your Company account.

Click on "Create study." You have two options: To start from scratch or pick one of the templates we prepared for you.

You have now entered Study design. Here is where you program your study.

Adding and deleting modules

In the middle of your screen, you can see the flow of your study. It is like a timeline, where you will add modules as you build your study.

A module is an element within the study, such as the question, message, or condition that can be added to the study flow.

To add a module, click on the "+" sign and choose the module you want to use.

To remove modules from a study, hover over the module you’d like to delete and click the “x” in the upper right corner.


Note: To change the order of your modules, drag and drop them in the new location.

Blocks

With blocks, you can improve your navigation in study flows by organizing parts of the study into collapsible groups. You can add questions, messages, or logic modules to the block. Each block has a name in the study design, and a slightly transparent blue box separates its content from the rest of the study. When creating LiveSlides from a study, blocks used in the flow will also be used to organize the LiveSlides presentation.

To add a block, click on the "+" sign and select "Flow," and then "Block."

Collaboration

To collaborate within a study, you can discuss back and forth within a single module by selecting the quotation symbol. This allows you to make comments or create tasks available to all who can access your study.

You can modify the comment by hovering over it, where you will have the option to add a task, delete, or edit. Adding a task creates a bubble that you can check off once the task is completed.

Note: You'll also be notified of comments made within the study by the quotation symbol at the top of the study. Clicking on this will allow you to check off tasks immediately.

Saving your study

When you edit your study, make sure to save your work periodically. This must be done manually. Your work will not auto-save.

You can save your work anytime by clicking the “Save” button at the top of the study design page.

You cannot live preview, view code, or copy the link to your study without saving it first.

Segments

Access the Segments manager by clicking "Segments" at the top of the Study design. Here, you can manage segments in your current study. You can learn more about Segments in this article: Building Segments.

Media manager

Access the Media manager by clicking "Media" at the top of the Study design.

View the Media manager to input videos and images into your study. To use these visuals, click on a specific module (message or "image" question type) and upload it by clicking on the image icon.

You can copy a link to your media by clicking on the copy icon in the top left corner of the media thumbnail.

Appearance (Welcome screen)

The Welcome screen is off by default, though if toggled on, it will be the first thing a respondent sees when they enter your study. If you choose to include it in your study, you will want to personalize this.

Click on the “Welcome Screen” module at the top of the Study design. This will open a menu for editing the Welcome Screen.

The Welcome screen is also accessible by clicking "Appearance" at the top of the study design.

  1. Logo: Add a logo to the welcome screen by clicking on the “Logo” icon and choosing the appropriate image from your device. This image will appear above your desired welcome screen title and description.


    Note: JPEG files are the best format for uploading an image to the GroupSolver dashboard.


  2. Welcome screen title: Type in the main message you’d like to display on the welcome screen to your study.


  3. Welcome screen description: This message is generally longer than the welcome screen title and should concisely explain what the study is about. A detailed description can motivate respondents to complete your study.


  4. Study language: Available Languages include: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hausa, Hindi, Igbo, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Yoruba


  5. Study theme color: Customize the color scheme of your study by using the sliders or by entering a hexadecimal notation in the menu below. The chosen color will be the color theme throughout the study.


More study settings

You can access these settings by the settings button located on the top part of the screen.

Duplicate study: This will create a duplicate of your study.

Create template from study: Your entire study will be made into a template, which can be found in the “Library” tab of your account page.

Study settings: These settings allow for changing the study name and the number of respondents you request.

Delete study: This will completely delete the study from your account.

Preview before launch

You can test your study from the respondent's perspective in Preview. The Preview will open in a new browser tab. Once the Preview finishes, close the Preview tab and return to Study design.

Previews and Completes :

On the top of the right side of the Study design, view the number of live previews for your study before it’s launched and the number of completes collected after the study is launched. Previews reflect how often the study was tested from start to finish, and completes reflect the number of respondents who have completed the live study.

  1. Previews: When a study is still in draft status, you can view the number of previews collected. These previews will not be reflected in data collection once the study is launched. The preview limit is usually set at 50.

    If you want to preview your study more than 50 times, click “Delete preview data” to clear the collected previews.


  2. Completes: You will see completes collected instead of previews collected once a study is launched. As respondents complete your study, you will see the first number rise. The total reflects the total number of completes you set when you created the study.

Test with Bots

You can test a study using "Live preview" or "Test with bots." This form of testing uses online bots or "fake respondents" to see if your study has been programmed correctly.

The “Test with bots” button is located on the far top right side of the Study design after clicking on the previews dropdown. Click this button to begin the bot testing. After accepting the testing session, the study status will change to “Testing with bots.”

During the testing session, you cannot change the study flow. This will vary in time, based on the length of your study. We estimate 20 seconds for each choice question and 60 seconds for each open-ended question in the study.

The number of bots that complete your study will show up under the number of previews. You may also check out the reports and visualizations to view the "fake" data collected.

If there is an error in your study's programming, you'll receive a notification letting you know an error has been found and that you should contact our support team before launch.

Study stage

The study stage is reflected underneath the study name.

There are five study stages:

  1. Draft: Studies that have yet to be launched are in the draft stage.

  2. Collecting data: A “collecting data” study has begun collecting respondents.

  3. Paused: These studies were launched into the field, but their collection is currently paused. These studies can be quickly resumed once you are ready to continue fielding.

  4. Solved: These studies have been launched and have finished collecting respondents.

  5. Archived: The system will not delete the data, but you will only have access to data download.

For more details, check out our Study stages article.

Launching the study

When you want the study to begin fielding, press “Launch study,” located in the far top right part of the Study design.

Note: You may not edit the study and make any changes once it has launched. Be sure to double-check your flow and test the study multiple times.

Study Statistics:

Once a study is launched, you can see study statistics, including completed, terminated, over-quota, and dropped respondents. You can also see which question respondents terminated in the study.


Once launched, the study statistics will be located in a middle panel between the navigation panel on the left and the "Session flow" on the right.

For more details, please read the article Study Statistics.


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