Introduction to Studies
A Study typically represents a single research project with distinct research objectives. A Recollective site can host many Studies at the same time however. There are a number of reasons why you may want to include multiple studies on the same site:
Geography
If you are conducting a research project that will be run in different languages or time zones it is typically best to create a separate study for each language and/or time zone. This will allow you to set a default language and time zone for each study independently to ensure that your participants will be accessing the study in the correct language, and that your activities and discussions will be released to them on the correct schedule. You can review our knowledge base articles on Localization for more information on running projects in multiple languages or regions.
Data Segregation
For one reason or another, you may want to keep the data for multiple groups of participants entirely separate. If you are planning on running a handful of unique activities or tasks for each group, you may want to just consider using segmentation to control the visibility of these specific sections so that you can aggregate the data for the remaining activities across all of your groups. On the other hand, if a majority of the content that these groups will complete is different, using separate studies can simplify moderation and analysis by completely separating these groups.
Socialization
You may have multiple groups of participants and you only want these participants to socialize with other individuals within the same group. By completely separating these groups out into different studies, you can ensure that they will not be socializing with individuals who are not in the same group. This can also be achieved with segmentation, but if these two groups will not be interacting at all, it may be best to use separate study spaces entirely. You can review our Socializing Responses knowledge base article for more information on socialization.
Separate Projects, Brands, or Clients
If you have an annual license or opt to use the same site for multiple projects, you will likely want to create a separate study for each project, or for each of your clients. This will allow you to control who has access to each of these spaces to ensure that your moderators and clients only have access to the projects that apply to them.
It's important to note that data from separate study spaces or from separate segmented activities cannot be combined within the platform. It would need to be exported, merged, and analyzed externally.
Regular end users of a site are referred to as Panelists and they can be added to one or more Studies. A Panelist that joins a Study is considered to be an active participant of that Study.
Every study starts off with four key features enabled which can be customized, renamed or disabled:
When a Study is created, it starts off in a DRAFT state so it can be configured before it's OPEN to participants. Learn more about Study States.