Sharing a Registration Link
Participants can be added to a Study by having them follow a link to register themselves. The secure link that permits self-registration is called the Shared Invitation Link. There is one such link per Study and it must be enabled on the Add Participants page in the Study Admin menu.
Do not share the invitation link with participants added via a Bulk Import as it will cause duplicate accounts to be registered. Previously imported participants must be invited with an Email Broadcast.
Shared Invitation Link vs. Email Invitations
You sometimes don't have all or any personally identifiable information about potential participants in your Study. Without an email address, you cannot send email invitations.
The Shared Invitation Link allows you to post a link anywhere online that potential applicants may use to join the Study. For example, the link could be included on a website, in a newsletter, or on social media. Anyone interested can click on the link to register an account and access the Study (or begin the screening questions if any are defined). Participants will be required to verify the email address they provide with a verification code in order to complete the registration.
When using the Shared Invitation Link with a public audience, we strongly recommend adding screening questions to your Study to learn more about the people attempting to join and ensure you get qualified participants.
Anonymous Access
Recollective includes an option to enable Anonymous Access. This means that an email address will not be collected or stored for the participant. You can give participants the option to join the Study anonymously when using the invitation link above, or you can generate a link for instant anonymous access to force everyone to enter anonymously.
If either of the Anonymous Access options are being used and you intend for people to still make multiple or repeated visits, you'll want to make sure that you enable the option for usernames and passwords to still be defined.
The absence of a valid email address compromises Recollective's ability to send email notifications and updates to participants. Anonymous participants will never receive an email from the Study.
Participants should choose a username they can remember. Without a username, they will be unable to log back into Recollective after their first session.