Sessions classroom
Launching a Classroom Session¶
Classroom sessions are designed to allow students to participate in private experiments set up by their instructors or each other.
Classroom sessions require a FindingFive Classroom
This session type is only available for registered members of a FindingFive Classroom. If you are interested in setting up or learning more about FindingFive Classroom, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Are You Ready to Launch?¶
Before launching a recruitment session, make sure to check the following:
- You have permission to launch a session of this study. You must either own the study yourself, or be a collaborator with session launching permissions. If you are not, contact the study owner to request the necessary permissions.
- You have an active FindingFive subscription. A subscription is required to recruit participants. Plans start as low as $20/year, but you can find the right plan for your needs on our pricing page.
- You have acquired all necessary permissions from your supervisory ethics board (IRB, REC, etc.). This is human subjects research, after all! You know the drill.
- You have a PDF of your approved consent form on hand. You will need to upload it as part of session setup.
- If using FindingFive’s cash payment system, you have sufficient funds in your account to cover all participant payouts and payment processing fees. This does not apply if you are using course credits or rewarding participants outside of FindingFive.
- You have recently completed a full preview of your experiment. In some cases, FindingFive will not allow you to launch a recruitment session until you have completed a full preview. In other cases, it is still a good idea to help identify issues that might otherwise cause problems or confusion for your participants.
- You have downloaded that preview data and verified that it includes what you expect. Nothing would be more frustrating than downloading your data after your experiment is complete only to find that critical response data were not properly collected. By checking the data after a preview, you greatly reduce the risk of this happening.
Once you can check each of these boxes, you are ready to set up a session and start recruiting participants!
Select Classroom Recruitment¶
From the study editor page of the study you wish to recruit for, click Recruit and select From Classroom.
Click Confirm to open FindingFive's session launcher, which provides a step-by-step process for configuring all details of your session.
FindingFive saves your progress
You can leave the session launcher and return to it at any time by once again selecting Recruit and choosing the same session type. FindingFive will give you the option of picking up where you left off.
Choose a step from the tabs below to view information about that step of the session launcher:
Step 1: Welcome¶
The Welcome page highlights the essential features and requirements for collecting data from participants in your FindingFive Classroom. Review the information carefully before continuing.
Only for Classroom Members¶
Classroom sessions are private to your FindingFive Classroom. They are not publicly listed on FindingFive, and only the instructor and members of the Classroom can view or participate in them.
Demographic Filtering¶
Session types that require participant accounts support demographic filters managed by FindingFive. Later in the session setup process, you will be able to restrict participation based on criteria such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Language background
- Country of residence
Demographic filters can be used to target specific participant populations and reduce the need for manual participant screening.
No Rewards¶
FindingFive-managed participant rewards are not available for Classroom sessions. You cannot use FindingFive to distribute either cash rewards or course credit to participants in these sessions. If you need to compensate or otherwise reward Classroom participants, you will need to manage that outside FindingFive.
Shareable URL¶
Study sessions can be found by browsing available studies on FindingFive, but it is much more convenient to give participants a direct link to the study. FindingFive generates a unique URL for sessions that can be safely shared, even on public channels.
Researchers typically distribute this URL to potential participants through various means, including email invitations, laboratory websites, classroom systems, institutional participant pools, or external participant management tools. Participants who visit this URL will be able to view information about the study before choosing whether or not to participate.
Once the session has been launched, you can distribute the URL to members of your Classroom to give them direct access to the study.
When you are ready to continue, click Next.
Step 2: Task Details¶
The Task Details page collects the information that will be displayed to potential participants who visit your study's unique URL.
What's the name of this experiment (to the participant)?¶
Enter the name that participants will see when deciding whether to participate in your study. Choose a clear and descriptive title that accurately reflects the purpose of the experiment without revealing information that could bias participant responses.
This field is required.
What will the participants do? List any requirements here as well.¶
Provide a brief description of the participant experience. Researchers commonly use this field to describe:
- The purpose of the study.
- The activities participants will complete.
- Any technical requirements.
- Any participation requirements not enforced automatically by FindingFive.
Participants may use this information to determine whether they are interested in participating and whether they meet the requirements for the study.
This field is required.
Privacy Level¶
For Classroom sessions, the privacy level is automatically set to Good and cannot be changed. You will receive the emails of participants who complete or quit the experiment. These will be the same emails you used to invite members to your Classroom.
As with other session types, participant identifiers are never linked to study response data.
Consent Form¶
Upload the consent form that participants should review before deciding whether to participate. Consent forms must be uploaded as PDF files. Researchers are responsible for ensuring that all consent materials accurately reflect the procedures approved by their IRB, REC, or other supervisory ethics board.
Once you have completed the Task Details page, click Next.
Step 3: Time Requirements¶
The Time Requirements page allows you to estimate how long participation should take and define how long the recruitment session should remain active.
Based on your best estimate, completing this experiment should generally take [X] minutes.¶
Enter your estimate of how long it should take participants to complete the experiment under normal conditions. This estimate is displayed to participants before they begin the study and may influence their decision to participate.
Researchers should provide a realistic estimate based on pilot testing, study previews, or previous experience with similar experiments whenever possible.
Kick out participants if they don't finish in [X] minutes.¶
This setting defines the maximum amount of time participants may spend in the experiment before they are automatically removed. Leaving this setting blank or setting it to 0 disables the timeout entirely, allowing participants to take as long as they need to complete the study.
Researchers are generally encouraged to provide participants with as much time as practical, particularly for longer studies or studies where interruptions may be common. A common approach is to set the timeout substantially higher than the expected completion time.
Participants that time out are reported separately from completed and abandoned participations in the session summary. However, data from timed-out (and abandoned) participations are not included when exporting the session's participant data.
Once launched, this session will stay open for [X] days and [Y] hours.¶
This setting determines how long the recruitment session will remain active after launch. Once the specified duration has elapsed, new participants will no longer be able to join the session. The session will also automatically close once the requested number of participants have been recruited, even if the specified duration has not yet expired.
Researchers should select a duration that provides sufficient time to recruit the desired number of participants while remaining consistent with project deadlines and recruitment goals.
When you are satisfied with your time requirements, click Next.
Step 4: Number of Participants¶
The Number of Participants page allows you to specify how many participants to recruit.
This session will recruit [X] participants.¶
Enter the total number of participants you would like to recruit for this session. The session will automatically close once this number of participants have successfully completed the study, even if the session's scheduled duration has not yet expired.
Note that only successfully completed participations count toward this total.
When you are satisfied with your recruitment target, click Next.
Step 5: Eligibility¶
The Eligibility step allows you to control who may participate in your recruitment session based on previous participation history on FindingFive. Use the Who to Allow section to require previous participation before someone becomes eligible, and the Who to Block section to prevent certain participants from taking part.
Reminder: You can launch multiple recruitment sessions for the same study. Some eligibility criteria refer to previous sessions of the current study, while others refer to participation in entirely different studies.
Who to Allow¶
Use the Who to Allow section when participation should be limited to people who have already completed specific studies or who have been explicitly invited to participate.
If no criteria are selected, all participants are allowed unless they are excluded by the Who to Block section.
Participants who have completed all of the following studies (Prerequisites)¶
Choose this option when participants should only be eligible after successfully completing one or more previous studies.
Because all selected studies must have been completed, this option is well suited for longitudinal research, multi-stage experiments, training studies, or other research designs where participants progress through a fixed sequence of studies.
Select participants who have completed my other studies¶
Choose this option to invite specific participants using participant IDs from previously downloaded participant data.
FindingFive will send invitation emails to the selected participants.
Researcher users on FindingFive¶
Choose this option when the session should only be available to registered researcher accounts. This option is primarily intended for internal testing, demonstrations, or other situations where participation should be limited to FindingFive researchers.
Who to Block¶
Use the Who to Block section to prevent participation by individuals who have already been exposed to study materials or who should otherwise be excluded from the current sample.
Participants who attempted but failed to complete a previous session of this study¶
This option is enabled by default.
Participants who have previously started, but did not successfully complete, a session of the current study are prevented from participating again. This helps avoid collecting data from participants who have already been exposed to the study materials.
Consider disabling this option if participants who previously withdrew should be allowed to attempt the study again without requiring you to manually nullify their previous participation.
Those who have completed a previous session of this study¶
This option is enabled by default.
Participants who have already completed a previous session of the current study are prevented from participating again. This helps to ensure that each participant contributes data only once.
Consider disabling this option if you intentionally want participants to complete multiple recruitment sessions of the same study, such as when using different versions of the study to investigate unrelated research questions.
Participants who have participated in any of these studies (Anti-prerequisites)¶
Choose this option to exclude participants who have previously participated in one or more other studies.
Unlike prerequisites, participants are excluded if they have participated in any of the selected studies.
This option is useful when multiple studies use similar materials, manipulations, or research questions and individual participants should experience only one of them.
Select participants who have completed my other studies¶
Choose this option to exclude specific participants using participant IDs from previously downloaded participant data.
This option is useful when individual participants should be excluded regardless of whether they satisfy the other eligibility criteria.
No Double Dipping¶
Regardless of the eligibility criteria you define, FindingFive will never allow a participant to complete the same recruitment session more than once.
If you would like to allow a participant to retry a session after experiencing technical difficulties or another exceptional circumstance, use the Nullify Participation Record feature from the Manage Participants page for the active session.
When you are satisfied with your eligibility criteria, click Next.
Step 6: Demographic Filters¶
The Demographic Filters page allows you to further refine which participants are eligible for your recruitment session based on self-reported demographic information associated with each participant’s FindingFive participant account.
All demographic filters are optional. If you do not specify any filters, participants of all demographic backgrounds will be eligible to participate (subject to any eligibility criteria defined in the previous step).
Please note that this information is used by FindingFive to allow or disallow certain participants, but is not reported alongside participant data as it is deemed Personally Identifying Information (PII).
The age of the participant must be between [X] and [Y] years.¶
Use this setting to specify the minimum and maximum ages of eligible participants. FindingFive evaluates age daily by comparing each participant's date of birth with the date they attempt to join the session.
The gender of the participant must be one of...¶
Use this setting to restrict participation to one or more gender identities.
If no genders are selected, participants of all genders remain eligible.
The participant must be a native speaker of the following languages.¶
Use this setting to recruit participants based on their native language(s).
If you select multiple languages, participants must identify as native speakers of all selected languages in order to be eligible.
This filter is particularly useful for studies involving bilingualism, language acquisition, speech perception, or other research where native language background is an important inclusion criterion.
The participant must currently live in one of the following regions.¶
Use this setting to restrict participation based on participants' current country or region of residence.
Researchers commonly use this filter when recruiting participants from specific geographic regions or when study materials are intended only for people living in particular locations.
Important Disclosure About Demographic Filters¶
Demographic filters rely on information that participants have voluntarily provided in their FindingFive profiles. To protect participant privacy, demographic information used to determine eligibility is not included in participant data exports by default. Researchers receive only the participant data collected by the study itself. Although FindingFive encourages participants to provide accurate demographic information, these data are self-reported and cannot be independently verified.
When you are satisfied with your demographic filters, click Next.
Final Step: Review and Launch¶
The Review and Launch page summarizes your session configuration before the session is created. Review the information carefully to ensure that everything is correct before proceeding.
Important details listed¶
Important details, such as the number of participants to be recruited, compensation details, and any limits on eligibility will be listed here and should be carefully reviewed. Note that the specific details listed will depend on the specific configuration of your session.
A session fee invoice may be generated...¶
This notice refers to FindingFive's session fees, which may apply to your session when you download your data if you have exceeded your subscription plan's free participation record quota.
Will session fees apply?
Depending on your subscription plan, a certain number of completed participation records are included at no additional cost. If the total number of completed participation records downloaded across your account exceeds your plan's complimentary quota, a session fee invoice may be generated when you download this session's participant data.
Unlike participant rewards and payment processing fees, session fees cannot be calculated at the time of session launch because they depend on your cumulative participation record usage when your session data are downloaded. Please see our cost management FAQ for more information.
Launch¶
When you are satisfied with your session configuration, click Launch to create the recruitment session. Once the session has been launched, participants can begin joining immediately using the session URL.
Data Sharing Agreement¶
By launching a session, you agree to share session-related data with FindingFive.
As a nonprofit organization, FindingFive uses these data to improve the platform and the experiences of researchers and participants. No action is required beyond launching the session.