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Add stimuli to an interview study

Many interview sessions revolve around stimuli to guide the conversation between moderator and participant. Maybe you’re looking to get live feedback on a set of marketing concepts. Or maybe you want to see how users interact with a prototype or website and ask in-the-moment questions about their choices. In Dscout, you can add stimuli to your study for easy access during your sessions.

This article covers adding stimuli to an interview study. For information on sharing stimuli during a session, see Share stimuli during an interview session.

To add stimuli to an interview study:

1

Navigate to the Setup tab of your study.

2

Select Stimuli. Then, click Add stimuli.

3

Select the type of stimuli you want to add. For more information, see Stimuli types.

4

Depending on your selection, select media files to upload or enter the desired URL.

5

Click Done.

Now, your stimuli are uploaded to your study. Depending on the stimuli type, this may take a moment to complete. For information on accessing stimuli during an interview session, see Share stimuli during an interview session.

Give your stimuli a name for easy selection during your sessions by replacing Untitled stim with a unique identifier:

Stimuli types

Dscout supports the following types of stimuli in interview studies:

  • Media: Photos or videos to be referenced during your sessions. These may be marketing assets, promotional concepts, or similar. For more information, see Media.

  • Prototype URL: Application prototypes to be referenced during your sessions. These may be links to Figma designs or other prototype files. For more information, see Prototype URL.

  • URL: Websites to be referenced during your sessions. These may be your own websites or others. For more information, see URL.

For more information on each type of stimuli, refer to the sections below.

Media

Sharing media files lets you present participants with photos and videos during an interview session. The following file formats can be uploaded as media stimuli to an interview study:

  • .jpg

  • .png

  • .mp4

  • .mov (Desktop studies only)

Media files cannot be saved by participants, nor can participants return to the files after their session has ended.

You can give media files participant-facing titles and group them together if you want to display more than one file to a participant at once. To group stimuli, upload one media file then click Add media beneath it to add additional files to the same group:

To reorder media files within a group, click the icon to the left of the file and drag it to the desired position. You can also move media files between groups using the arrow icon to the right of a file:

Prototype URL

Sharing prototypes during an interview session can be a great way to see how your users interact with an application while also being able to ask in-the-moment questions to gather insights and feedback. Refer to the table below for guidance depending on your study type:

When using a prototype in a desktop interview study:

  • Prototypes may be optimized for either desktop or mobile viewing.

  • Prototypes may be complex with many screens.

Prototypes open in a new tab in the participant’s browser. Therefore, they will be able to navigate back to the prototype after their session has ended if they wish.

When using a prototype in a mobile interview study:

  • Ensure your prototype is optimized for mobile viewing.

  • Keep your prototype simple and lightweight when possible.

Participants will not retain access to the prototype once their session has ended.

Regardless of study type, we recommend using publicly accessible prototype share links when possible. If you need to share a password-protected link, you’ll also need to share the credentials with participants during your sessions. You can do this verbally in desktop or mobile sessions, or you may use the chat in desktop sessions.

URL

If you want to reference a website during your sessions, you can add a URL as stimuli. When accessed, this URL will open in a new tab in the participant’s web browser. For easiest access, ensure the URL does not require participants to enter a login or to use a VPN.

In desktop interview sessions, URLs will remain in participants’ browsing history after the session has ended. If you don’t want participants to be able to access a URL after their session, consider using a mobile interview study.