Journal Activity Setup

Journal Activities allow participants to re-answer the same set of Tasks repeatedly for some period of time and interval that you choose. 

The Activity can be more structured whereby there's maybe a daily "to do" entry (e.g. answering a set of questions after breakfast each day). The Activity can also be more open-ended however with no entry schedule, but instead a period of time where entries are supposed to be added and with a desired minimum amount set. 

Activity Dates

As part of a Journal Activity's setup, you must set its dates. You'll be required to choose a Start Date (when the Activity becomes visible) and a Due Date (the target date of completion). You also have an Archive Date option which can be used to set the date whereby no responses or feedback is allowed (but this is optional).

Using the edit time button below any of the dates allows you to set a specific time and gives you access to the Activity's time zone.

If you have participants all across North America, set the activity time zone to Pacific Time. Otherwise, participants located in central or western time zones will not see the "Add Entry" button at the correct time.

Activity and Response Visibility

Like any Activity in a Recollective Study, you'll need to determine who it's visible to. Will the Activity be completed by All participants or just a subset of Study participants (e.g. Only select segments). 

Similarly, you'll also need to set the Response Visibility for the Activity. If your Activity is social, you can make it so that it is Public (i.e. All responses are visible immediately) or Uninfluenced (i.e. Responses are hidden from participants until they respond). Your Activity can also be Private (ie. No sharing of responses among participants). 

Randomize Tasks

Just like the Standard Activity type, you can enable Task randomization if needed. By default, the Do not randomize tasks option will be selected, but you can switch this to Randomize tasks not locked into position.

Following the Activity Setup page, you'll be able to create your Tasks which can be locked in place or randomized as needed. You can even create groups of Tasks that are then randomized amongst each other.

Journal Type

As part of a Journal Activity's setup you'll need to choose whether the entry schedule is more open-ended or a set specific interval along with the minimum entries needed for completion.

If the Activity calls for entries to be made over a certain period of time but participants have the freedom to choose when they make the entries (usually the most desirable), the Unlimited responses per participant until the due date option is best. 

If selected, participants will have an Add Entry option made available for each day that goes by as the Journal is live. This way, someone can make an entry on Friday that pertains to something they did on Thursday for example. Although the entry was made on the Friday, the system will index it as part of Thursday's Journal entries.

Alternatively, you can use the Do not group entries by date option which simplifies things as only a single Add Entry button is ever provided. If this option is enabled, the entry will be indexed for the day it was made on. This option is especially desirable if you have participants spanning multiple time zones.

If the Activity calls for entries to be made on a specific interval (e.g. a single daily entry), then you'll want to use the Responses collected at a fixed interval... option. If selected, you'll then need to set your fixed interval (e.g. once per day, 3 times per week, etc.).

More information on choosing the right journal type can be found here.

Journal Requirements and Instructions

Following the Journal Type, you'll have to set your Journal Requirements. Simply set the minimum number of entries needed to be considered complete here. Even if the Journal is optional in your Study, a minimum of one entry must be enforced in order to have completion criteria.

Finally, there's the Journal Instructions. This text appears above the Add Entry button when a participant clicks into the Activity. Use this space to set the stage for what the Journal Activity is all about, this way participants can get a sense of what's expected without having to start an entry.

Notifications 

Each Activity in a Recollective Study can have customized notifications tied to it. These notification options can be found by clicking on the Notifications tab next to Basic Settings towards the top of the Activity Setup page or clicking the More options... link towards the bottom. 

For Journal Activities, the notification options are as follows:

  • New activity available (on start date)
  • Journal entry reminder after duration of inactivity (where you get to choose the duration)
  • Activity reminder (day before due date)
  • Activity overdue (day after due date)
NOTE: Journal Activity names will be revealed to participants in email notifications, even if the Activities are sequenced and the participant has not completed the prerequisite ones.  For this reason, Journal Activity names should not include product/brand names that are meant to be blind throughout the study.

Point Customization

If you have chosen to enable the point tracking feature for your Study, you will see a Points tab on all Activity Setup pages with the option to Customize points awarded for activity completion and feedback. This is an opportunity to depart from the default point allocation for a Journal Activity as configured in Study Settings: Points. 

If selected, the default points will be shown for editing:
  • Journal activity completion
  • Comment on own response
  • Comment on a response
  • Like other's response
  • Like rating received
For example, you might have a specific long-term Journal Activity where people are supposed to log entries after a certain action, product's use or event serving as the main part of your project. If using the Points feature in your Study, you could prioritize entries in that main Journal compared to others you might release that are more focused and span less time.  
You can also perform point customizations on individual Tasks that make up your Journal Activity if you’d like certain questions and response types to have different point allocations than those configured in Study Settings.

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