Test a usability test mission

To get an idea of what participants will see when completing your mission, you and up to five of your colleagues can test your mission prior to launch. This lets you double-check for errors and also preview your own sample data that’s deleted when you leave test mode.

Test mode requirements

To enable test mode for your mission, you must:

• Have a Contributor seat or higher. For more information, see User roles and permissions.
• Resolve all mission validations. You can view these by clicking the purple Launch button in the top right of your mission. (If the Launch button is green, you’ve met every validation!)

To test a mission, you must:

• Have a Dscout account (or create one when accessing the test mission).
• Use the mission’s assigned device type—mobile or desktop.
• Install the Dscout browser extension when testing a desktop usability test. For more information, see Dscout browser extension.

Enable test mode

Only one researcher must enable test mode for a mission. Then, they can participate themselves and invite up to five colleagues to participate in the test mission.

To enable test mode:

1. Open your mission in Dscout.
2. Click the More options icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Test. A confirmation modal is displayed.
   
   
4. Click Start test to confirm.

5. (Optional) Enter the First name, Last name, and Email of the people you want to test your mission.
   
   

   Note: Testers must have a Dscout account. If they don’t have one, they will be prompted to create one when accessing your mission.
6. Click Send tester invites (or Skip for now if you want to invite testers later).

Now, your mission is in test mode. You’ll see Testing displayed beneath the mission title.

To view sample data from your testers, open the Responses tab as they complete the mission. To test the mission yourself, select Add testers from the More options menu, then click Link to test mission.

Invite others to test a mission

You can invite others to test your mission at any time while your mission is in test mode. You can have up to five others (apart from yourself) complete the mission in test mode.

To invite others to test a mission:

1. Open your mission in Dscout.
2. Click the More options icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Add testers. The add testers modal is displayed.
   
   
4. Enter the First name, Last name, and Email of the people you want to test your mission.
   
   
5. Click Send tester invites.

Now, your testers will receive email invitations to complete your mission. Testers must have a Dscout account. They’ll be prompted to create an account if they don’t already have one.

Disable test mode

Your mission will automatically exit test mode after five days, however you can disable it manually if you’ve gotten the information you need.

To disable test mode:

1. Open your mission in Dscout.
2. Click End test in the top right corner of your mission. A confirmation modal is displayed.
   
   
3. Click End test to confirm.

Now, your mission is out of test mode. You’ll see Drafting displayed beneath the mission title and can now make further edits to your mission before launching.

Testing with SSO enabled

You may have difficulty testing a mobile mission if your Dscout account requires SSO (single sign-on) to log in. However, you can still access the mission by first logging in on a desktop computer.

To access a mobile test mission with SSO enabled:

1. Open the link to the test mission on a desktop computer. You can find this link in the invitation you received by email.
2. Log in to Dscout as you normally would. A second sign-in form is displayed If you’re already logged in, skip to step five.
3. Enter your email, then click Send magic link. A dedicated sign in link is sent to you via email.
   
   
4. In the email, click Log into Dscout. You’re automatically brought to the mission’s landing page.
5. On the mission’s landing page, scan the QR code using your mobile device and open the link.
   
   

Now, the Dscout app will automatically open to the mobile test mission. If you don’t have the Dscout app installed on your device, you’ll be prompted to download it and may have to re-scan the QR code once you have it installed.