Maze's moderated testing panel is powered by Respondent, which gives you access to a vast and diverse pool of research participants.
To recruit participants from the Maze moderated testing panel, you must include at least two screener questions.
This step guarantees that the selected participants accurately represent the characteristics, interests, behaviors, and knowledge of your target user group.
In this article:
- Why must I add screening questions for moderated panel recruitment?
- How much do moderated tester credits cost?
- Tips for writing effective screener questions
- Add screener questions
- Set up screening logic
Why must I add screening questions for moderated panel recruitment?
Moderated studies require a significant amount of time, and not every participant is equally suitable when organizing a study. Screeners make sure you maximize the value of your investment by connecting with the most relevant participants.
Screening questions are key to selecting participants based on characteristics such as demographics, work profiles, consumer preferences, and more. This guarantees that the participants involved in the study match your desired audience. Making sure that participants are representative of the actual user base allows for more meaningful insights.
Screeners save time and resources by filtering out early on participants who don't meet the study's qualifications. This way, you only spend time with relevant participants.
For these reasons, it's required to include a minimum of two screener questions when recruiting moderated testing participants from the Maze panel.
How much do moderated tester credits cost?
- 25 credits per B2C participant (General population)
- 45 credits per B2B participant (Industry professionals)
This cost is already inclusive of participant screening and incentives.
This cost is independent of session duration.
Learn more about purchasing panel credits
Tips for writing effective screener questions
- Define participant traits: Clearly outline the criteria you are looking for in participants. For example, consumer preferences, technical proficiency, or behaviors.
- Start broad and narrow it down: Structure questions in a funnel-like manner, beginning with broad questions and progressively becoming more specific.
- Avoid binary Yes/No questions: Instead of asking questions with only yes or no answers, opt for multiple-choice questions. This not only increases the credibility of your study, but also allows for more nuanced responses. Be sure to include distractors among answer choices to prevent participants from guessing the purpose of the study.
- Use simple language: Avoid using technical jargon, complex terminology, or acronyms that might confuse participants. Use language that’s clear and easily understandable to your target audience.
- Be specific when defining frequencies: Provide clear and unambiguous options (e.g. “daily”, “weekly”, or “monthly”) instead of subjective terms (such as “often” or “rarely”). This helps get consistent and accurate participant responses.
Adding screener questions
To add screening at the start of your recruitment link:
- In the recruitment settings, click + Add first question.
- Enter up to 5 multiple-choice questions. Learn more about setting up your screener logic in the section below
Setting up screening logic
To establish your screening criteria, you’ll enter up to 10 multiple-choice questions.
Each screening question can be single-select or multi-select. In single-select questions, each answer can either qualify or reject the participant. In multi-select questions, some answer choices may also be defined as not important.
- Qualify: Selecting this option means the participant meets the criteria to continue with the test.
- Reject: This option should be used to actively exclude a participant based on their response. Selecting any reject option will disqualify the participant, even if they’ve selected other qualifying choices as well.
- Not important: This option allows participants to proceed only if selected alongside a qualifying choice. Selecting a non-important option without a qualifying choice leads to the participant being disqualified from the test.
The following video guides you through an example of setting up qualifying criteria in your screener:
Please note:
- To mitigate potential bias, participants can't go back and change their answers.
- It’s not possible to use conditions between screener questions.
- We always recommend previewing your screeners to make sure that questions are clear and easy to understand.
Learn more about how to set up screening logic
Still need help?
If you have any questions or concerns, please let our Support team know — we'll be happy to help!