It’s now easier and faster to recruit participants for your studies if you’re using our in-app participant recruitment tool.
There are 3 ways to recruit participants in Optimal Workshop:
Share the study URL with existing contacts, customers or users on your website, email or social media
Use our in-app recruitment feature which allows you to use recruitment credits to source targeted participants
Use our custom recruitment service where our team uses very specific criteria to find participants for you
You can read more about the last two here.
If you’re using our in-app participant recruitment feature, it’s now easier for you to spot participants who may not have completed your study correctly and replace them.
Flagged participant responses
If a participant doesn’t complete your study correctly, their response will be flagged in-app in OptimalSort and Treejack. While it’s not 100% foolproof, we’ve instituted some rules that flag a response if it doesn’t match.
Flag rules for Treejack
Responses that meet any of the following rules will be flagged:
Rule | Condition | What you'll see |
The same tree endpoint is selected over 50% of the time, regardless of whether the tree order is randomized or not | Rule does not apply if the study has less than 3 tasks | This participant selected the same answer for more than half of the tasks. |
The participant went directly to an answer more than 80% of the time, and more than 25% of those answers were incorrect (failure or skip) | None | This participant chose a direct answer more than 80% of the time, however, less than a quarter of their answers were successful. |
Flag rules for OptimalSort
Responses that meet any of the following rules will be flagged:
Rule | Condition | What you'll see |
More than 50% of categories are named with an individual character or letter | Applies to hybrid or open card sorts only
Rule does not apply if the participant creates less than 3 categories | This participant used a single character to name over half of their categories. |
Automatically replaced participants
If a participant meets any of the rules below, they will be replaced immediately at no cost, i.e. their response won’t even make it into your participant results.
Replacement rules for OptimalSort
Responses that meet any of the following rules will be immediately replaced:
Rule | Condition | What you'll see |
All cards are sorted into their own category | Rule does not apply if it is a closed card sort with less than 3 categories | This participant sorted each card into its own category. |
All cards are sorted into one category | Rule does not apply if the customer is using the card order indicator
Rule does not apply if it is a closed card sort with less than 3 categories | This participant sorted all cards into a single category. |
No cards are sorted (entire card sort is skipped) | None | This participant did not sort any cards. |
Replacement rules for OptimalSort and Treejack
Responses that meet any of the following rules will be immediately replaced:
Rule | Condition | What you'll see |
EVERYTHING is skipped, including pre and post task-study questions and the entire study | None | This participant did not complete any of the study. |
Easily replace participants
If you find yourself with a flagged participant or one that doesn’t provide the data you’re after, you can quickly and easily replace them in-app, instead of having to raise a ticket.
Simply select the participant and click ‘Replace this participant’. Your study will then be shared again and the participant will be replaced within 4 hours.
You can replace up to 60% of your participants in-app within 30 days of their response. If you need to replace more than 60% of participants, you’ll need to raise a ticket with our Frontline Support team.
Use screeners to make sure you're recruiting the participants that are right for you
While our flagging and replacement functionality will help filter out participants who may not fit your criteria, we still recommend creating a screener. Screeners act as an added check to ensure you’re getting the right participants for your study.
You can read more about how to create a good screener here.