Before you launch your mission to participants, it’s good to give it one last review to ensure everything is in order. This will lead to a more seamless experience for participants, but it will also make analysis easier on your end once you’ve received responses. Use the following checklist to review settings on each tab of your Express mission and update them as needed.
Contents
Mission settings
Most mission settings are defined when you first create your mission, but there are a few that can be edited along the way. Before launching, review the following settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | Is your title engaging while not giving too much away? You want your participants to have an idea of what the mission is about, but you don’t want them to be able to guess your recruitment criteria. |
| Informed consent | Does your mission require custom informed consent in addition to the standard Scout Terms & Conditions? If so, make sure the proper form is selected here. |
Overview tab
The Overview tab of your mission should offer a welcoming and engaging summary of your mission. Before launching, review the following settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Mission description | Does your description offer some context without revealing your recruitment criteria? Let participants know what they’re signing up for without letting them know exactly how to qualify. |
| Participant limit | Is your participant limit accurate to the sample size (or n-size) you want to take part in your mission? What you enter here determines how many participants Dscout will allow into your mission. |
| Incentive per participant | Is the incentive you’re offering to each participant reflective of the effort your mission requires? Consider the total number of questions but also the question types. Keep in mind that some question types (like videos, photos, and open-ended responses) require more effort than others. |
Screener tab
When recruiting from Dscout’s pool of participants, your Express mission includes a built-in Screener tab where you’ll set your recruitment criteria. On this tab, keep in mind the feasibility of your criteria—if it’s too restrictive, you may not reach your target participant goal. Before launching, review the following settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Targeting attributes | Do your targeting attributes accurately reflect the audience you’re trying to reach? It’s important to think of the specific requirements applicants must meet to qualify for your mission, but it’s also crucial to not be too exclusionary. |
| Screener questions (knockout questions) | In Express missions, screener questions serve as your knockout questions. So, double check that response options for each question are correctly marked as May select, Must select, or Knockout. And if you’re applying quotas to certain responses, double check those while you’re at it. |
Usability test or Media survey tab
Depending on your mission type, you’ll see either the Usability test or Media survey tab. This is where the bulk of your mission lives, including your usability tasks or survey questions. Before launching, review your tasks and questions with the following requirements in mind:
- Are all question prompts clear?
- Is all skip logic applied correctly?
- Are all multiple choice questions correctly set as either single or multi-select?
- Are all response choices for single select questions mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive?
- Do open ended questions have the correct character limit set (by default, this is set to 140 characters)? If set to unlimited, we suggest adding “In a few sentences…” to ensure participants know what is expected so they will not be inadvertently marked as low quality for short responses.
- For usability tests, are your task questions set up correctly? And if necessary, do they include a prototype or website link?
- For media surveys, does the mission have no more than three video questions? Will participants have enough time to respond to the prompt within the time limit that has been set?
For good measure, we also recommend using Test mode to see your mission as it’ll appear to participants. This is especially useful when including a Figma prototype in a usability test. For more information, see Test mode in Express missions.
Other resources
The sections above cover the most important parts of an Express mission, but if you’re still feeling like you’d benefit from an extra set of eyes, Dscout’s Research Advisors are here to help. For more information, see Optional pre-launch review.
And as hard as we try, mistakes are bound to creep into our research. But don’t worry, you can make changes to your mission even after it’s launched to participants. For more information, see Edit a launched screener or mission.