Manage projects with multiple phases

Who is this article for?
‍🗣️ All researchers (both admins and users)
⭐ Available with all Recruit and Research Hub plans

🤔 What are multi-phase studies?

Multi-phase studies consist of research that is conducted in several distinct stages and include the same participant panel throughout the entire process. These studies can be quite diverse in their structure and often include various types of interactions with participants.

Multi day studies are used when you need to use two or more study types in a multi day study. These can be an online, over the phone, or an in-person interaction.

For example, a multi day multi phase study might look like:

1. A diary study where participants must record their response for a span of time, then join a 1:1 interview.
2. A product test where a participant must test or interact with an app, website, etc. for a span of time, then join a 1:1 interview.
3. A participant being required to complete multiple, separate unmoderated tasks or surveys + join a focus group.

How to run a multi-phase study on PAYGO plans

‼️ Helpful tip: If multi-phase projects are sent to projects@userinterviews.com while in draft phase, a project coordinator can assist you with setting up your study!

Otherwise, there are 2 methods for running multi-phase studies on PAYGO plans.

PAYGO Method #1

• Launch project as a multi-day study.
• Set study length to encompass the expected time commitment for the whole project.
• Provide clear instructions and expectations in both the project description and screener, which should include an agreement that participants must accept to qualify for the study.
• Handle scheduling off platform as events or deadlines within the multi-day date span cannot be scheduled within our platform.

Multi-day study best practices:

• When you choose multi day for the study type, you'll set the session length in the "Session attendance, location, and scheduling" tab of the project builder. The session length represents the full span of time the participant is committing to. i.e. 30 days, 2 week, etc. For example, if a participant will need to fill out 1 survey a week for a month, the session length is 1 month. We recommend adding the time and requirements within that date span in the "Project Listing Description" so participants understand the study expectations before applying.

• We will then automatically format sessions of that length when you add sessions under "Session attendance, location, and scheduling".
• Similar to focus groups, on the "Participant number & incentives" tab, enter the default number of participants per session.

• The calendar will auto populate sessions with the requested number of slots when a session is added.

Our scheduling system only takes into consideration the full length of the multi day study, and events or deadlines within the date span cannot be scheduled on our platform. Participants will be reminded of their session before the start of the multi day study, but will not receive additional reminders throughout the date span. Any other reminders will need to manually be sent to participants. If you choose to have UI distribute incentives, participants cannot receive partial incentive payments for completing certain portions of your study. We can only pay out incentives in their entirety.

PAYGO Method #2

We understand that the above proposed multi-day solution may not work due to your scheduling needs, or study requirements. In this case, you will need to launch two separate studies.

In study #1:

1. Provide clear instructions and expectations in both the project description and screener, which should include an agreement that participants must accept to qualify for the study.
2. Use Messages Tool to manually invite participants to each follow-up study. Important note - participants may fall off even if invited.
3. Split incentive between the projects - participants must be paid out within 10 days after each phase.

In study #2:

1. Include “Invite Only” in your internal title, that way we can avoid sending invites to the greater panel.
2. Reminder: split incentive between the projects - participants must be paid out within 10 days after each phase.

How to run a multi-phase study on Recruit subscription plans or using Hub

Recruit/Hub Method #1

We do not recommend using multi day studies for studies that have multiple methods. If you are running a multi-method study, we recommend creating one project per method and using our Recruit Participants Tool to invite past participants across projects. As a subscription Researcher, you have access to our Recruit Participants Tool.

Use the Recruit Participants tool to:

• Invite participants who may have not snagged a spot in your last study, but you were still interested in talking to.
• Run follow-up sessions. For example, if you'd like to bring back select participants who were especially helpful in a session for another conversation, you can do that with the Recruit Participants tool.
• Please see our in depth guide here on how to utilize this tool.

To effectively run a multi method study on our platform using the Recruit Participants Tool, you'll want to launch two separate studies.

In study #1:

1. Provide clear instructions and expectations in both the project description and screener, which should include an agreement that participants must accept to qualify for the study.
2. Use the Recruit Participants Tool to invite folks to the second study. Important note - participants may fall off even if invited.
3. Split incentive between the projects - participants must be paid out within 10 days after each phase.

In study #2:

1. Include “Invite Only” in your internal title, that way we can avoid sending invites to the greater panel.
2. Reminder: split incentive between the projects - participants must be paid out within 10 days after each phase.

Recruit/Hub Method #2

We understand that the above proposed Recruit Participants Tool solution may not work due to your scheduling needs, or study requirements. In this case, you will need to launch a multi-day study.

• Launch project as a multi-day study.
• Set study length to encompass the expected time commitment for the whole project.
• Provide clear instructions and expectations in both the project description and screener, which should include an agreement that participants must accept to qualify for the study.
• Handle scheduling off platform as events or deadlines within the multi-day date span cannot be scheduled within our platform.

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