Questionnaires and scheduling

Questionnaires link an existing survey into a study, decide which groups receive it, and control when and how often participants are prompted to answer.

Note

Studies require the Studies feature to be enabled. If the feature is not enabled, the Studies section will not appear in the navigation. Contact your Afterglow representative to have it enabled for your workspace.

Only Admins and System Admins can manage questionnaires.

The Questionnaires tab

Open a study and select the Questionnaires tab to see every questionnaire linked to it. Each row shows:

• Survey — The survey participants will answer.
• Kind — Whether the questionnaire is recurring, a baseline, or a final assessment.
• Cadence — How often it repeats (for example, Daily or Every 3 days).
• Times — The scheduled times of day participants are prompted.
• Groups — The groups that receive this questionnaire. If none are assigned, a warning appears because no participants will receive it.
• Order — The position the questionnaire appears in, relative to others.
• Actions — Open the survey to edit its questions, move the questionnaire up or down, edit it, or delete it.

Use the up and down arrows to reorder questionnaires. Click Add questionnaire in the top-right to link a new one.

Adding a questionnaire

Click Add questionnaire to open the dialog. Fill in the following fields:

1. Survey — Choose an existing survey to link. Its questions are managed in Content Management, not here.
2. Kind — Choose recurring, baseline, or final assessment (see Questionnaire kinds).
3. Schedule — Set when and how often participants are prompted (see Schedules and cadence).
4. Response window — Optionally set how long participants have to answer. Leave it empty to allow answers until the end of their local day.
5. Sort order — A number that sets the questionnaire’s position in the list. Lower numbers appear first.
6. Assigned groups — Select one or more groups to receive this questionnaire.

Caution

A questionnaire with no assigned groups reaches no one. Always assign at least one group before recruiting participants.

Questionnaire kinds

The Kind determines when a questionnaire is delivered during the study:

• Recurring — Repeats on its cadence throughout the study.
• Baseline — Delivered once, when the participant first joins the study.
• Final assessment — Delivered once, at the end of the study.

Schedules and cadence

The Schedule controls the rhythm of a recurring questionnaire. Choose one of these options:

• Daily — Prompts every day.
• Specific weekdays — Prompts only on the weekdays you pick.
• Every X days — Prompts on a fixed interval you set (for example, every 3 days).
• End of study — A single prompt delivered at the end of the study.
• Baseline — A single prompt delivered when the participant joins.

For recurring schedules (Daily, Specific weekdays, and Every X days), add one or more Scheduled times for the times of day participants are prompted, and choose a Reminder option:

• None — No reminder is sent.
• Once daily — A single reminder per day.
• Per occurrence — A reminder for each scheduled time.

Note

One-time questionnaires (End of study and Baseline) don’t use scheduled times or reminders. If you add no scheduled times to a recurring questionnaire, it is delivered at the start of the participant’s local day.

Response window

The Response window is how long after a scheduled time a participant can still answer. If you leave it empty, participants can answer until the end of their local day. Once the window closes, the prompt is recorded as missed and counts against adherence.

Locking

Caution

Once a study has any enrolled participants, the Questionnaires tab becomes read-only and a lock banner appears. Adding, editing, deleting, and reordering questionnaires are all disabled to preserve the integrity of the study protocol.

Finalize every questionnaire and group assignment before you start recruiting participants. After enrollment begins, changing the questionnaires requires creating a new study.