Test a usability test study

To get an idea of what participants will see when completing your study, you and up to five of your colleagues can test your study prior to launch. This lets you double-check for errors and also preview your own sample data that’s deleted when you leave test mode.

Tip: If testing a study isn’t enough, you can also “soft launch” your study. This lets you gather some preliminary data and then edit your study before opening it to your target n-size. For more information, see Edit a launched study.

Test mode requirements

To enable test mode for your study, you must:

Have a Collaborator seat or higher. For more information, see User roles and permissions.
Resolve all study validations. You can view these by clicking the purple Launch button in the top right of your study. (If the Launch button is green, you’ve met every validation!)

To test a study, you must:

Have a Dscout account (or create one when accessing the test study).
Use the study’s assigned device type—mobile or desktop.
Install the Dscout browser extension when testing a desktop usability test. For more information, see Dscout browser extension.

Enable test mode

Only one researcher must enable test mode for a study. Then, they can participate themselves and invite up to five colleagues to participate in the test study.

Note: You will not be able to edit your study while in test mode. Test mode is automatically disabled after five days or you can disable it yourself. For more information, see Disable test mode.

To enable test mode:

Open your study in Dscout.

Click the More options icon in the top right corner.

Select Test. A confirmation modal is displayed.

Click Start test to confirm.

(Optional) Enter the First name, Last name, and Email of the people you want to test your study.

Note: Testers must have a Dscout account. If they don’t have one, they will be prompted to create one when accessing your study.

Click Send tester invites (or Skip for now if you want to invite testers later).

Now, your study is in test mode. You’ll see Testing displayed beneath the study title.

To view sample data from your testers, open the Responses tab as they complete the study. To test the study yourself, select Add testers from the More options menu, then click Link to test study.

Note: Screener questions are not included when testing a study. If you want to preview screener questions as well, consider “soft launching” your study and editing it after. For more information, see Edit a launched study.

Invite others to test a study

You can invite others to test your study at any time while your study is in test mode. You can have up to five others (apart from yourself) complete the study in test mode.

To invite others to test a study:

Open your study in Dscout.

Click the More options icon in the top right corner.

Select Add testers. The add testers modal is displayed.

Enter the First name, Last name, and Email of the people you want to test your study.

Click Send tester invites.

Now, your testers will receive email invitations to complete your study. Testers must have a Dscout account. They’ll be prompted to create an account if they don’t already have one.

Disable test mode

Your study will automatically exit test mode after five days, however you can disable it manually if you’ve gotten the information you need.

Note: Any data collected while in test mode will be deleted when test mode is disabled. Only disable test mode if you’ve reviewed all the sample responses you need to.

To disable test mode:

Open your study in Dscout.

Click End test in the top right corner of your study. A confirmation modal is displayed.

Click End test to confirm.

Now, your study is out of test mode. You’ll see Drafting displayed beneath the study title and can now make further edits to your study before launching.

Testing with SSO enabled

You may have difficulty testing a mobile study if your Dscout account requires SSO (single sign-on) to log in. However, you can still access the study by first logging in on a desktop computer.

To access a mobile test study with SSO enabled:

Open the link to the test study on a desktop computer. You can find this link in the invitation you received by email.

Log in to Dscout as you normally would. A second sign-in form is displayed If you’re already logged in, skip to step five.

Enter your email, then click Send magic link. A dedicated sign in link is sent to you via email.

In the email, click Log into Dscout. You’re automatically brought to the study’s landing page.

On the study’s landing page, scan the QR code using your mobile device and open the link.

Now, the Dscout app will automatically open to the mobile test study. If you don’t have the Dscout app installed on your device, you’ll be prompted to download it and may have to re-scan the QR code once you have it installed.