Study length limits for panel orders

Generally speaking, there’s no hard limit to the number of blocks a study can have.

However, participants’ attention will significantly drop the longer the maze lasts. A very time-consuming study may cause participants to disengage and abandon the test.

You should be particularly mindful of this when hiring participants from the Maze panel. In these cases, there are some limitations in place to ensure that participants are compensated fairly for their time.

Study length limits on panel orders

Unmoderated Studies

While we don't have any strict limits on how long unmoderated studies should take, we recommend keeping them under 45 minutes.

Moderated Studies

If you intend to use the Maze panel, Interview sessions can go as long as 60 minutes. We do not recommend holding interview sessions longer than 60 minutes.

AI Moderated Studies

If you intend to use the Maze panel for AI Moderated sessions, the session must be no longer than 30 minutes.

How do you estimate the length of a study?

We estimate the length of a study based on the historical completion data for the blocks types included in the study.

In cases involving conditional logic or exclusive variant comparison, the count is based on the longest possible combination of blocks.
We compensate participants based on actual completion time, not estimated time to ensure they are paid fairly based on the actual effort required to complete a study. This means we pay participants a higher rate for more complex studies, like those requiring thinking out loud, than simpler studies, like surveys.

Workarounds

If you need to shorten your study before placing your panel order, you can do this either by hiding blocks in the study, or by splitting it into two shorter ones.

A) Hide blocks to reduce the length of the study

You can shorten the maze by going back to the study editor and hiding non-essential blocks.

B) Split study into two shorter ones

If hiding blocks in the study isn’t an option, you can also divide the maze into two separate ones.

To do so, duplicate the original study. Then, make the necessary edits to create two shorter studies.

If you’re on a paid plan, you can add a redirect to send participants from the first to the second study.

Still need help?

If you have any questions or concerns, please let our Support team know — we'll be happy to help!