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Building Studies

What are studies?

A study in FindingFive is where you design and structure your experiment using the FindingFive Study Grammar. It defines the stimuli, responses, trial templates, and procedures that make up your research. You can also manage collaborator permissions within a study.

It's important to note that studies are distinct from sessions. A study defines the experiment itself, while sessions refer to individual rounds of data collection where participants complete the study.

What is the Study Grammar?

FindingFive uses a custom Study Grammar for defining your research studies. It is based on JSON, a simplified text-based notation for sharing information, but is customized to use terms familiar to researchers like you.

A study in FindingFive consists of four key components:

  • Stimuli – the materials presented to participants (e.g., text, images, audio)
  • Responses – the ways participants interact with the study (e.g., multiple-choice, text input)
  • Trial Templates – reusable structures that define how stimuli and responses are combined to form trials
  • Procedure – the sequence in which trials are presented to participants

Each of these components is modular, meaning they can be defined independently and then combined to create a complete experiment.

How do I create and edit a study?

To create a new study, visit the Studies page. From there, you can start a blank study or choose from one of our pre-built templates. You can also duplicate an existing study by clicking the three-dot menu next to its name and selecting Duplicate.

Once your study is created, you can use the Study Grammar to define its structure, including stimuli, responses, trial templates, and procedure. Studies can be edited at any time by returning to the Studies page and selecting the study you want to modify.

How do I create and edit stimuli and responses?

To add a stimulus or response, navigate to the appropriate section in the study editor and click the + icon. From there, you can customize its properties and upload resource files such as images, audio, or videos if needed.

You can also duplicate existing stimuli or responses, or upload multiple definitions at once using a CSV file.

How do I create and edit trials?

Trials in FindingFive are defined using trial templates. A trial template serves as a blueprint for generating trials with similar structures. Instead of defining each trial individually, you specify a template and provide lists of stimuli and responses to generate trials dynamically.

Trial templates are defined within the trial templates section of the study editor. Each template follows the format "template_name": { definition }. Templates are enclosed in curly brackets {} and separated by commas.

How do I order my blocks into an experiment procedure?

Trials in FindingFive must be organized into blocks, which are then presented to participants according to a block sequence.

  • Blocks are defined in the "blocks": {} section of the Procedure, where each block contains a set of trials generated by trial templates.
  • The block sequence is specified in the "block_sequence": [] section, determining the order in which blocks appear to participants.

In the simplest form, blocks are listed in order, but more complex sequences—such as randomized orders or conditional presentation—are also possible.

I'm getting an error while previewing my Study. How do I fix it?

Most errors come with a message explaining the issue. If the error occurs in the Trial Templates or Procedure sections, a red ❌ icon will mark the affected line—hover over it for details.

If no specific line is flagged, you can preview your study one block at a time to isolate the problem. Another useful trick is to temporarily comment out sections using // at the beginning of potentially problematic lines and preview again to see if the error disappears.

Common issues include typos, missing or extra commas, mismatched brackets or quotation marks, or incorrect property names. Double-check your syntax, especially in lists and nested structures. If you're still stuck, compare your study setup against the Study Grammar reference to ensure everything is correctly formatted.