Manage time slots in an interview study

Before participants can schedule interviews as part of your study, you’ll need to create time slots for them to choose from. You’ll do this on the Schedule view of your study's Setup tab. Dscout lets you either generate time slots in bulk or add them manually.

Generate time slots in bulk

The fastest way to create time slots in your study is to generate them in bulk. First, you’ll set a designated window of availability on select days, then you’ll assign moderators once the time slots have been generated.

To generate interview session time slots in bulk:

1. Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.
2. Select the Schedule view.

3. Under Filter schedule view, select a Moderator to assign to your bulk generated sessions.

   Note: You can generate time slots without designating a moderator, but you will need to manually assign a moderator to each session later.
4. Under Session details, set a desired Session length. We recommend conducting sessions between 30 minutes and an hour.
5. Click Confirm.
   
   
6. Under Bulk generate time slots, use the calendar to select the days on which you want to create time slots.
7. Set a window of availability using the time range selectors.
8. Set a length of time to include between each scheduled time slot. You can set a minimum break of zero minutes and a maximum of one hour.
   
   
9. Click Generate time slots.

Time slots are now automatically added to the calendar on your selected days and assigned to your designated moderator. Click a session to make edits, including assigning it to another moderator. Or, click the Delete (trash) icon to remove it from the calendar entirely.

When you’re satisfied with your new session availability, click Publish in the top right corner to make your time slots available to participants.

Manually create time slots

If you only need to add one or two additional time slots to your study, you can do so manually.

To manually add a time slot:

1. Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.
2. Select the Schedule view.

3. Under Filter schedule view, select a Moderator to assign to your new sessions.

   Note: You can add time slots without designating a moderator, but you will need to manually assign a moderator to each session.
4. Under Session details, set a desired Session length. We recommend conducting sessions between 30 minutes and an hour.
5. Click Confirm.
   
   
6. Click on the calendar where you want to add a session.

A new session is added at your chosen time. Click the session to edit its time, adjust the time slot’s moderators, or to delete the time slot entirely. Once you’re satisfied with your changes, click Publish time slots to make them available to your participants.

Require advance notice

While flexibility is often important when conducting interviews, it’s also important that participants don’t book sessions without enough notice for you or another moderator to join them.

To help ensure no sessions are scheduled too late, you can set a window of time before the start of a given time slot when participants are no longer able to claim it.

To require advance notice for participants scheduling sessions: 

1. Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.
2. Select the Schedule view.
3. Under Require advance notice, enter the number of hours you want as notice for newly scheduled sessions.
   
   

Now, participants will not be able to schedule new sessions within the window you’ve specified. For example, if you have an open time slot at 11 am but require an hour’s notice, participants won’t be able to claim that time slot after 10 am.

View time slots by moderator

Even if you’re not adding new time slots, the Schedule view can give you a glimpse at time slots assigned to each moderator in your study.

To view time slots by moderator:

1. Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.
2. Select the Schedule view.
3. Under Filter schedule view, select the Moderator whose time slots you want to view.
   
   

Now, the calendar shows only the time slots assigned to your selected moderator. You can select multiple moderators from the Moderator drop-down to compare assigned time slots.

Assign time slots to a moderator

An interview session wouldn’t be complete without a moderator. If you didn’t assign a moderator when you created the time slots, you’ll need to manually assign one later.

To assign a time slot to a moderator:

1. Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.
2. Select the Schedule view.
3. Click the time slot you want to assign to a moderator. The time slot’s details are displayed.
4. Select a moderator from the Moderator(s) drop-down.
   
   

Now, that time slot is assigned to your chosen moderator. They’ll receive a calendar invite when a participant selects that time slot for a session.

Create overlapping availability

If you have multiple moderators available at once, you can create time slots with overlapping availability. Simply create the time slots on your study's calendar as you normally would, then assign the time slots to the necessary moderators, ensuring no moderator is assigned to two sessions that overlap.

Once you publish your time slots, participants will be able to choose whichever time slot works best for them.

Manually schedule an interview session

While the bulk of your sessions will be scheduled by participants selecting an available time slot, you can also manually schedule a session with an individual participant. This is helpful if the participant’s schedule is unpredictable or if you want to make an exception to your availability without making it public to all participants.

To manually schedule a session with a participant:

1. Navigate to the Manage tab of your study. A list of your study's participants is displayed.
2. Find the participant you want to schedule a session with.
3. Under Scheduled time, click Schedule now. The scheduling modal is displayed.
   
   
4. Select the Manual view, then enter the desired Date and Time for the session.
5. Click Confirm.
   
   

Now, your session is scheduled. The participant and any assigned moderators will receive a calendar invite with the details.