Before submitting your project for review, use this checklist to make sure you're on the right track. And if you haven't already, take a look at this example of good mission design!

Make sure to draft both your mission and your screener before submitting your dscout project for review. This gives dscout research advisors the necessary ability to review your entire project.

Questions to ask yourself about your screener:

Title: Did you add an attention-grabbing title to interest applicants?

Teaser: Does your screener have an attention-catching name, and does your teaser clearly communicate what your project is about? If scouts will need to take a picture/video or be in a specific place while applying, do you give them a heads-up?

Timeline: Do you accurately indicate the mission's duration, type of mission, and expected launch date?

Compensation: The more time and effort required of scouts, the more they'll expect to be paid. (And only scouts who completely finish your project get compensated.)

Targeting Attributes: Add any desired targeting attributes to hone in on your intended audience (these pre-screened questions can reduce the number of questions you need to add to your screener).

Structure: Starting your screener with 1 or 2 knockout questions in the Qualify tab will save you time by removing ineligible scouts from the applications you receive. (You'll automatically see each applicant's age, gender, and city, so no need to ask for these.)

Media: If you ask scouts for a video (and if you ask for any videos in your mission, you should), can they reasonably answer your prompt in 30 or 60 seconds? 

Open vs Closed Questions: Do you include at least one open ended question so you can see how well scouts explain themselves? Do your closed questions include a "none of the above" option? 

Question Settings: Check that you applied any needed skip logic, apply the 140 character limit to open-ended questions when you want scouts to answer in a few words or less, and check all scale questions to ensure the scale minimum and maximum align with your prompt.

Questions to ask yourself about your mission and its activities:

Mission Overview: Does your overview mention your mission's due date and your project's compensation amount? 

Activity Instructions: Do your instructions clearly tell scouts what they're supposed to capture for you?

Structure: How is your mission structured? Do you have multiple activities? Do any of your activities require multiple entries (and if so, does it make sense for them to?) Or, if you used a mission template, did you customize the language to meet your project's needs?

Media: Do(es) your media prompt(s) ask scouts to capture the specific experience you want to see most?

Open vs. Closed-ended Questions: Closed questions are easy to filter and analyze; open questions provide more depth but take longer to review. Do you have the right combination to get the results you're looking for?

Scouts' Perspective: Have you double checked your project's design by launching test of your mission and inviting yourself to it?