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Consent and Screening in Research Surveys

Build consent pages, eligibility screeners, early exits, and screening variables with clear respondent paths.

Build Consent First

Most academic research surveys begin with consent information. Use a content block to show study details, participation expectations, risks, benefits, contact information, data handling, incentive rules, and institutional language required by your protocol. Then use a question to capture the respondent's participation choice.

Keep consent, screening, and main study tasks in separate blocks. This makes it easy to route consent-declined and ineligible respondents to the correct end screens before they see treatment material or outcome questions.

Open The Right Place

  1. Step 1: Open the survey draft. From Surveys, open the survey you are preparing for participants.

    Step 1: Open survey draft

    Personal Dashboard

    Live dashboard surface from the app shell (ephemeral help scene).

    Surveys

    Untitled surveyLast Modified
    Policy attitudes pilotLast Modified
  2. Step 2: Use Block Builder for consent and screeners. Create a consent block first, then add a separate screening block before the main study task.

    Step 2: Block Builder consent and screeners

    Block Builder: Consent and Screener

    A consent statement block followed by an agree/decline question and a citizenship eligibility screener.

    Timing
    Breaks
    Validation
    Shuffle

    Use one random flip direction for selected flip-enabled questions.

    reCAPTCHA
    Data Collection

    Records browser type, browser version, operating system, screen resolution, and user agent. Not shown to respondents.

    Question Names

    Simple assigns Ask1, Ask2… in full survey question order (including follow-ups).

    Trash is empty.

  3. Step 3: Use Flow for exits. Open Flow only after the eligibility questions and end screens exist.

    Step 3: Flow for exits

    Block Builder
    Preview
    Deploy

    Flow Canvas

    Interactive routing surface from the app, running in no-persist help mode.

    Consent and Study Intro

    1 question

    Political Knowledge Block

    2 questions

    Control Message

    1 question

    Treatment Message

    1 question

    Outcome Measures

    2 questions

    Survey Ends

    Anchors explicit end of survey

  4. Step 4: Preview every result. Test consent accepted, consent declined, eligible, and ineligible paths with Preview before publishing.

    Step 4: Preview every result

    Block Builder
    Preview
    Deploy

    Preview: Consent and Screener

    Preview the consent + eligibility path. Answer 'No' on the citizenship screener to test the ineligible route configured in Flow.

Add Eligibility Screening

Screening questions determine whether respondents should continue. Common screeners include age, location, prior experience, panel qualification, language, role, device type, or study-specific criteria. Use Multiple Choice, Dropdown, or Short Answer depending on the variable.

Name screener variables clearly before using them in Flow or quotas. If a screener is sensitive, explain why it is asked and consider a path for respondents who prefer not to answer.

Block Builder: Question Type

Block Builder: Question Type

Use the question type selector to switch between multiple choice, slider, grid, ranking, and more.

Closing text
Redirect (optional)

Route Ineligible Respondents

  1. Step 1: Create an ineligible end screen. In Block Builder, add an End Survey block with a polite closure message.

    Step 1: Create ineligible end screen

    Survey Editor

    No-persist demo using the real builder shell.

    Add a Block

    Trash is empty.

  2. Step 2: Place the screener before the split. The eligibility question must appear before the Flow branch that uses it.

    Step 2: Place screener before split

    Block Builder: Question Type

    Use the question type selector to switch between multiple choice, slider, grid, ranking, and more.

    Closing text
    Redirect (optional)
  3. Step 3: Open Flow. Connect eligible respondents to the next study block and ineligible respondents to the end screen.

    Step 3: Open Flow

    Block Builder
    Preview
    Deploy

    Flow Canvas

    Interactive routing surface from the app, running in no-persist help mode.

    Consent and Study Intro

    1 question

    Political Knowledge Block

    2 questions

    Control Message

    1 question

    Treatment Message

    1 question

    Outcome Measures

    2 questions

    Survey Ends

    Anchors explicit end of survey

  4. Step 4: Test both answers. In Preview, submit one eligible response and one ineligible response before publishing.

    Step 4: Test both answers

    Block Builder
    Preview
    Deploy

    Preview: Consent and Screener

    Preview the consent + eligibility path. Answer 'No' on the citizenship screener to test the ineligible route configured in Flow.

Use Screeners With Quotas

Screeners can feed quota groups and stratified assignment. If your design needs target counts by arm or group, create the condition sets first, then configure quotas in Deploy.

  • Eligibility quota: use when a demographic or screening group has a maximum target count.
  • Condition quota: use when treatment or control arms need balanced completed responses.
  • Quota-full ending: create a distinct end screen so respondents understand the study path is closed.
  • Export review: confirm the screener, quota group, and end screen path are visible before live launch.

Flow: Conditions and Routing

Block Builder
Preview
Deploy

Flow Canvas

Interactive routing surface from the app, running in no-persist help mode.

Consent and Study Intro

1 question

Political Knowledge Block

2 questions

Control Message

1 question

Treatment Message

1 question

Outcome Measures

2 questions

Survey Ends

Anchors explicit end of survey

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