Question stimuli

You can add stimuli to questions in screeners and unmoderated studies to get participant feedback on visual assets, concepts, and more. You can also randomize your stimuli to help prevent bias.

Note: This article covers stimuli in unmoderated studies. For information on adding stimuli to an interview study, see Add stimuli to an interview study.

Stimuli limitations

When working with stimuli in Dscout, some limitations apply:

Up to 5 pieces of stimuli can be added to a single question.
Supported file types include .jpg and .png. (GIF files are not supported.)
Recommended maximum file size is 1 MB.
(Mobile) Recommended file dimensions are 1080 x 1920 with a portrait aspect ratio.
(Desktop) Recommended minimum width of 1300 pixels. (Lower resolutions may appear pixelated to participants.)
Participants must view all images attached to a question before they can provide a response or advance to the next question.
Stimuli cannot be added to card sort, tree testing, screen recording, or task questions.
Stimuli cannot be added to AI moderated studies.

Add stimuli to a question

You’ll add stimuli at the question level. Once you’ve uploaded a piece of stimuli, you can attach it to additional questions in the builder without having to re-upload it.

Tip: Once you’ve added a piece of stim, you can assign it to additional questions without re-uploading.

Click the question in the builder. The question’s settings are displayed.

Click Add or + Add stimuli. The add stimuli modal is displayed.

Screeners, usability tests, media surveys, intercept studies:

Diary studies:

Drag and drop files to upload them. Or, click to browse for files on your device. Uploaded files are displayed on the right of the modal.

Tip: Files you’ve already uploaded are displayed on the right of the modal. You can select existing files here without re-uploading them.

Choose images to attach to your selected question. Use the checkboxes to the left of your stimuli. Your selections populate the question’s five allowed pieces of stimuli at the top of the modal.

Tip: Click Untitled image to give your uploaded stimuli a participant-facing name. Participants will never see stimuli file names.

Click Insert images. Once you’ve finalized your selection.

Now, the selected stimuli are added to the question. When participants reach this point in your study, they’ll have to view all pieces of stimuli before they can provide a response or proceed to the next question in your study.

You can preview any stimuli by clicking on it in the builder:

To edit a question’s stimuli, simply return to the add stimuli modal from the builder.

Display or hide stimuli titles to participants

Depending on your research needs, you may not want your participants to see the titles you give your stimuli. Titles are displayed by default, however you can control this from the builder using the Hide titles and Show image titles to Scouts toggles:

Screeners, usability tests, media surveys, intercept studies:

Diary studies:

Randomize stimuli

To avoid bias, you can randomize stimuli at the question level. This presents any stimuli attached to that question to each participant in a random order. During analysis, you’ll be able to see the order in which each participant saw your stimuli from the Participants view.

Warning: Changing this setting on a launched screener or study will create a new version of the associated question during analysis. For more information, see Edit a launched screener or study.

Click the question in the builder. The question’s settings are displayed.

Set the Stimuli randomization toggle to ON.

Screeners, usability tests, media surveys, intercept studies:

Diary studies:

Note: This setting is only displayed when two or more pieces of stim are added to a question.

Now, the stimuli for that question will be displayed to participants in a random order. To display stimuli to participants in the order they appear in the builder, set this toggle to OFF.

Note: Stimuli will not be randomized when previewing your study. However, stimuli will be randomized when viewing your study in test mode.

Questions with stimuli randomization enabled show a chip letting you know:

Download stimuli

You can download stimuli that’s been added to your study directly from the builder. This is helpful if another researcher uploaded stimuli but you want to keep a copy handy for yourself.

Click Add or + Add stimuli on any question in your study. The add stimuli modal is displayed.

Click the Download icon beside any piece of stim. Or, click Download all to download everything that’s been added to the study.

Now, stimuli downloaded individually are automatically saved wherever your device stores downloaded files. If you download all stimuli at once, a progress bar is displayed at the top of the builder. When prompted, click Download to download a ZIP file of all your study’s stimuli.