Now that you've launched your mission, you're ready to manage it! There are a few important steps to managing a launched diary study. You'll use the Entries page to see the data scouts are sending you, and the Manage page to track their progress.
Monitor incoming entries on the Entries page
Monitor participants' entries so you know that the data they're providing will be useful for your research.
The default Entries grid view shows you all entries by each participant, but you can sort entries a variety of ways using the “Sort By” dropdown above the entries—for example, sorting by date is useful if you are interested in viewing new entries as soon as they are submitted.
Track participant progress through the Manage page
Use the Manage page to see where participants are in your mission, send them targeted reminder messages, and move them through your mission (if necessary).
You'll see the number of entries they've submitted to each activity, as well as the number of entries each activity requires.
You can see activity due dates for an individual participant by hovering over an entry count on the Manage page. You’ll also see the participant's activity due dates by expanding the participant messaging sidebar.
Filtering participants by progress
Use mission and activity progress filters to select participant to whom you want to send targeted messages, or for whom you'll be opening activities.
Each progress status is automatically applied.
Mission statuses
Mission statuses reflect participants' progress or status for the overall mission.
- Invited participants have been sent an email invitation and been given access to your mission via the Dscout iOS or Android mobile app.
- Accepted participants have logged into the Dscout app, viewed your mission, then tapped "accept" to indicate they are game to participate!
- Mission accomplished is the only progress status that is NOT automatically applied. It means a participant has submitted the min. # of entries required for each activity, and a researcher has reviewed their data and deemed it accurate and thoughtful. Once participants are marked as "mission accomplished" you can go ahead and pay them for completing your project successfully.
- Rejected participants viewed your mission in the Dscout app, but tapped "not interested."
Activity statuses
Activity statuses indicate a participants' progress within that individual part.
- Unstarted means the participant has not yet begun working on this activity
- In Progress means the participant's entries are still in progress in the current activity you’re filtered on
- Min. # of Entries means the participant has completed the minimum amount of entries required for the activity you’re filtered on
Filtering participants by their due date
Click the “Filter By Due Dates” modal on the far left side of the Manage page to filter for your participants by their due date. This can be useful for taking bulk actions on participants with shared due dates, like sending a message or opening the next activity.
Publishing and opening activities
When you built your mission, you chose whether to open activities automatically or manually to participants. This setting cannot be changed now that your mission is launched.
- If you chose to run an automatic mission, as soon as participants complete the required number of minimum entries for a activity, the next activity will automatically open for them. In other words, as soon as you launch an automatic mission, all its activities are published & available to participants.
- If you chose to run a manual mission, you’ll have control of when subsequent activities are opened for your participants, so it’s important to monitor the progress of your participants in the Manage page, and open new parts for them when appropriate.
When you launch a manual mission, only the first activity is published and opened. To publish subsequent activities:
- Navigate to the Setup page
- Select the Questions tab (and the activity you'd like to publish)
- Click the green Publish button on the top right corner of the screen
- Navigate to the Manage page
- Select the participants for whom you'd like to open the activity
- Click "Open activity"
- Select the activity or activities you'd like to open for participants
You may edit activities that have been published, so long as they have not been opened to participants yet. If you edit a activity that has been published, you will simply need to publish it again to be able to open it to participants. You cannot edit an activity that has been opened to participants.
Message participants with requests and reminders
Keeping in touch with participants is vital to the success of your mission. As you monitor entries and track participants' progress, you'll want to send participants plenty of messages:
- Redirection or constructive feedback for entries that weren't quite what you were hoping for
- Positive feedback on entries that were really great
- Deadline reminders, and reminders to submit entries on time
- Confirmation that you've opened activities (if running a manual mission)
- Confirmation that participants have completed the mission
- You may also want to ask follow-up or probing questions based on specific entries or responses
Each time you send a message to participants, they'll receive an email and a notification (if they have notifications enabled.).
Direct message
You can send a single participant a note by selecting a participant in the Manage table, then clicking Message from the banner that appears at the top of the table. A drawer will appear on the right side of the screen allowing you to see prior correspondence and compose a new message.
Group message
You can also send a message to all of your participants at once, to specific participants that you can select on the table, to a specific group you've created, or to a segment of participants based on their mission progress. Simply select the participants you would like to group message on the table, then click Message from the banner that appears at the top of the table. A drawer will appear on the right side of the screen allowing you to see prior correspondence and compose a new message.
Participants will still only see your message to them, and your message will populate in the individual message thread for each participant you've messaged. Participants will not be aware of each other's presence in the mission.
Comment on entries
When viewing a participant's individual entry, scroll down to leave a comment on the entry.
Your and participants' comments will show under the participants' entry. You can also see all comments from the Entries grid view:
See some sample messages, and best practices around messaging participants, here.
Close study and compensate participants
Finally, you'll close your mission and set participants up to be compensated.
To close your mission, navigate to the Setup page, and click "Close mission" in the bottom right corner.
After a mission is closed, participants can no longer submit entries, but you can still communicate with them.
You can also close a participant in the Manage page individually by clicking on an individual participant row then clicking "Close" on the toolbar that pops up.
Compensating participants
Read more here to get step-by-step instructions on how to compensate participants.
If you ran a screener and recruited your participants through Dscout, we'll start the process of compensating your participants after you've submitted your payment requests. (Note: subscribers on legacy pricing will be charged a 10% fee. Chat with your Dscout Account Manager if you're unsure of your pricing plan!) If you brought your own participants, you'll be in charge of making sure they are compensated as promised.
Incenting your participants for their time and hard work can be done directly in Dscout from the Manage Table in both diary studies and interview studies. Requesting payments will ping your Dscout Research Advisor who will then initiate the payment process for participants in 24-48 hours. Usability tests and media surveys, however, pay participants automatically upon acceptance of their entry. If you've opted to pay participants independently, this feature will not appear in your mission.