Design a study
This guide walks through each tab of the Study form (create or edit) and explains what to fill in, why it matters, and where those settings appear for participants.
Overview
The Study form is organized into six tabs:
| Tab | Purpose |
|---|---|
| General | Title, description, status, password, UI language, sharing, moderation, and quotas. |
| Recording | Screen sharing, real-time speech recognition, interaction telemetry, and voice enhancements. |
| Pages | All participant-facing screens: welcome, device gate, requirements, consent, calibration, participation form, conclusion, and closed page. |
| Tasks | Add, order, and configure behavioral, ancillary, and stimuli tasks. |
| Analysis | Post-session processing: Speech-to-Text, Noldus FaceReader, and eye-tracking. |
| Diagram | Read-only visual representation of the full participation pipeline. |
Save early, then set the Status to Open (in the General tab) when you are ready to recruit. Use Preview to dry-run the entire flow without recording or uploads.
Owners and Editors can update the study. Viewers and Analysts see a read-only form for review.
General
Title and Description
Shown on researcher listings and during participation.
Status
After the first save, a Status dropdown appears in the General tab.
- Keep Closed while drafting.
- Switch to Open to allow anyone with the link to participate.
- Switch to Restricted to require a single-use invite link. Only participants with a valid, unconsumed invite token can join.
Invite links (restricted studies)
When a study is Restricted (or Open), you can generate single-use invite links from the Invite Links dialog on the study participations page.
- Open the participations page for the study.
- Click Invite Links.
- Set a count (up to 500) and optional labels, then click Generate.
- Copy individual URLs and distribute to participants.
Each link contains a unique token that is consumed after the participant gives consent. Once consumed, the token cannot be reused. Labels attached to tokens are automatically copied to the participation document for filtering and export.
- Open studies accept both the general link and invite links.
- Restricted studies only accept invite links.
- Tokens survive study close/reopen and are not auto-revoked.
- On subscription downgrade, both Open and Restricted studies are auto-closed.
Study password
(Optional) Set a password to require entry before participants can click Start. The welcome screen will show a password prompt. You can customize the prompt and labels in UI translations.
UI language and translations
Choose a base UI language or switch to Custom. Click the configure button to open the "Study user interface language" dialog.
The following labels appear during participation but are not part of any task:
- Start, Next, Stop study, Session
- Camera, Microphone, Screen
- Password labels
- Consent checklist instruction
- All built-in initial-form field labels
Editing any value sets the language to Custom. You can edit translations using the spreadsheet interface in the dialog; the table expands to show all columns and the dialog width adapts to keep labels readable.
Sharing
(Owners only, after first save)
Click Share study to invite collaborators by email and assign Viewer, Analyst, or Editor access. If the study has not been shared yet, the section shows "Not shared yet." Collaborators appear in the Dashboard studies table with their access level.
Moderation
Enable moderation to require a researcher to join the live session before tasks begin. Participants wait in a moderation lobby until the moderator starts the session.
- Strict control: When enabled, participants cannot move to the next task without moderator approval.
Quotas
Enable quotas to limit participation by completed sessions. Set a total participant limit; once reached, new participants see the closed study page (configured in the Pages tab).
Pages
Use the left sidebar to jump between sections without leaving the tab:
Welcome
Rich text shown on the welcome screen. You can insert images directly; they are uploaded to Storage.
Device gate
Displayed when a participant's device does not meet the minimum requirements (screen resolution, camera, microphone). Use the rich text editor to customize the courtesy message shown alongside the auto-generated requirements checklist.
The checklist uses technical values only (e.g., screen dimensions, browser name and version) so no translation is needed.
Requirements
Optional rich text describing eligibility requirements, plus a list of checkboxes participants must confirm before continuing (e.g., over 18, browser requirements).
Consent
Rich text consent notice (e.g., recording disclaimers) plus a list of checkboxes (e.g., permission to record). All checks must be ticked to proceed.
Calibration
Appears in the sidebar when Real-time Speech Recognition is enabled in the Recording tab. This page lets participants test their microphone by reading calibration words. Configure calibration settings in the Recording tab.
If a participant's browser does not support voice recognition, this page is skipped automatically and participation continues to the next step.
Participation Form
Configure intro text, built-in fields, and custom fields. Reorder, mark as required, and save the form shown before tasks begin.
Conclusion
Rich text shown after the last task. Stored as a Quill Delta so styling is preserved.
Closed status message
What participants see if they open a closed study link.
Pages diagram
A read-only reminder diagram at the bottom of the tab shows the flow:
Welcome → Device gate → Requirements → Consent → Calibration → Participation Form
Gray Task and Analysis blocks stand in for hidden details. The Welcome node has a "Gated" connector leading to the Device gate terminal node, and a "Closed" connector leading to the Closed terminal node.
Tasks (Experimental Design)
Adding tasks
Click Add task to open the picker. Each task shows a description before you add it.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Behavioral | Stroop, N-back, Flanker, Go/No-Go, BART, and more. |
| Ancillary | Instructions page, eye-tracking calibrations, questionnaire. |
| Stimuli | Text, image, grid, sequence, video, audio. |
Task order
Each task has a "Next task" dropdown:
- Leave blank to end the flow.
- Point to another task to set the sequence.
Add tasks in any order, then use the dropdown to define the path.
At least one task must be configured. If a participant opens a study with zero tasks, they see the Closed message.
Inline configuration
Selecting a task opens a compact inline panel (no modals or separate tabs) for:
- Task name and instructions
- Media uploads
- Task-specific parameters (e.g., Stroop font/trials, N-back settings, Go/No-Go ratio, BART parameters, calibration timing, drawing reference image, questionnaires, stimuli uploads)
The panel stays open while you edit. Select another task to switch, or use Close or Save to finish.
Stimuli image sequences
Drag to set the image order, optionally randomize per session, and set an auto-advance interval for timer-based progression.
Tasks diagram
The tasks-only diagram beside the list updates as you change "Next task" links so you can verify the flow visually. It starts with Start and End unconnected; links only appear once you set a "Next task." The other diagrams stay locked for reference.
Diagram (Visual design)
Open the Diagram tab to see an auto-arranged view of the entire study:
Welcome → Device gate → Requirements → Consent → Calibration
→ Participation Form → Tasks (in order) → Conclusion → Analysis
The Welcome node has three outputs:
| Output | Leads to |
|---|---|
| Next | Normal participation flow |
| Closed | Closed study page |
| Gated | Device gate (requirements not met) |
- Labels (e.g., "Start", "Next", connector names) follow the selected UI language.
- Click Fit view to recenter if you pan or zoom.
- The main diagram, Pages snippet, and Analysis snippet are read-only. Adjust task order or content from the Tasks tab.
Quick reminder diagrams also appear in the Pages tab (pages-only view), Tasks tab (tasks-only with Start/End nodes), and Analysis tab (analysis pipeline view).
Recording
Screen sharing
Toggle "Include screen share" to enable or disable screen sharing. New studies have this enabled by default so screen sharing is requested right after consent alongside camera and microphone. Disable it if the study does not require screen capture.
Real-time Speech Recognition
Enable this to give participants feedback related to their verbal interaction. Useful for tasks that include verbal interaction such as the Stroop task. It automatically:
- Skips to the next stimulus after a spoken answer is detected
- Gives the participant feedback about being heard
- Generates markers identifying participant answers
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable | Check the box to activate the feature. |
| Language | Select the expected language. Changing this resets the word list to defaults if you have made custom edits. |
| Speech Tolerance | 0% to 100%. Minimum similarity for matching a spoken word to the expected word. Default: 70%. Lower for stricter matching; raise if participants are rejected too often. Applies to both calibration and task recognition. |
| Calibration Words | Words displayed during the calibration phase. Editable via the spreadsheet interface. Changing the language after custom edits triggers a confirmation dialog before resetting to defaults. |
Interaction telemetry
Enable to record non-content interaction signals (clicks, pointer movement, scrolling, key presses). Provide a consent checkbox label; participants must accept before signals are recorded.
Voice enhancements
Enable to capture non-transcript voice activity metrics and optional pitch estimates from the microphone stream. Provide a consent checkbox label (required) and adjust the sampling interval and activity threshold to control sensitivity.
Questionnaire
Use the generic Questionnaire to compose your own items with optional randomization.
Available item types: scale, text area, numeric, MCQ, multi-select, dichotomous.
- Scale labeling: Choose Anchor labeling (left/right labels) or Full labeling (a label for every scale value). Full labeling respects Min/Max/Step and shows one input per value.
- Questions accordion: Each question opens in an accordion; only one is open at a time. Click a question header to expand or collapse it.
- Questions are auto-labeled
q1,q2, ... by display order, and options are internally indexed.
Analysis
Pick the analysis algorithms that run after uploads finish. Turn on any combination needed for the study.
| Algorithm | Description | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Speech-to-Text | Transcribes the microphone audio. | Pick the expected language per study. |
| Noldus FaceReader | Extracts frames from the camera recording. | Set the frame rate (10 to 30 fps). |
| Eye-tracking | Runs gaze analysis on the recorded video. | No extra tuning fields. |
These settings do not affect the live UI. They control the converter pipeline that runs after each session.
Analysis diagram: The analysis diagram beside the list updates as you toggle algorithms, showing the Interview node feeding only the selected processors.
Saving and opening
- Click Create (or Update) to save changes. After the first save, you can switch Status from Closed to Open.
- Clicking Update keeps you on the same page with a brief success notice, so you can continue editing without being redirected.
- When ready to recruit, copy the participation link from the Dashboard. See Share a participation link.
If a study already has participations, you cannot edit it directly. Use Duplicate project to apply changes to a copy, or remove the participations first and then edit the original study.
If your access level is Viewer or Analyst, the form remains read-only so you can review settings without changing them.
Previewing
Use the Preview button to open the full flow without recording, uploads, or password verification. This is useful for:
- Proofreading participant-facing texts
- Validating task sequencing
- Checking the overall participation experience