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When the Discussion activity launches, the Discussion activity will appear in the participants To Do list in order of its launch time. Participant will recognize a Discussion Activity on their To Do list by the Discussion icon to the left.
1: Accessing Discussions
Clicking a Discussion in the To Do list opens it.
Once the participant has posted at least one response, the Discussion "To Do" item will move from the "To Do" list to the "Ongoing Activity" list, where the participant will be able to access it for the remainder of the project.
2: Viewing Discussions
When participants first open the Disucssion activity, they are presented with the instructions, optional image, and/or video stimuli as configured by the researcher during setup.
If multiple languages have been configured, the Discussion will display according to the participant's segment language setting.
- Influenced Discussions: Participants will immediately be able to see all other posts or comments that have already been posted. They will be able to review these posts before making one of their own.
- Uninfluenced Discussions: Participants will not be able to see any other posts or comments until they submit their first post. Once they submit their first post, all other posts and comments will become visible.
3: Participating in Discussions
3.1: Posting and Commenting
To add a new top-level post, use the main text box just below the instructions. Add text and click Add Post. This will create a new top-level post others can comment on.
To add a comment, click the + Comment button just below the original post.
To reply to another comment in the same thread, click the comment button that appears on hover. Both buttons will toggle open the comment box and allow the participant to add text and click Add Comment.
3.2: Uploading Images
Images can be uploaded in both top-level posts and comments. Click the camera icon to select an image. Post it as you would any other post or comment. The image can be removed by clicking the red "x" button before submitting.
See Photo, Audio, Video, and File Collector Formats and Size Limits to learn about acceptable photo formats and file size.
3.3: Liking Posts and Comments
Posts and comments can both be "liked". Click the "thumbs up" icon to the right of the author name/post date to like a post. The like button will display blue if the current user has liked a post. Click the "thumbs up" button again to "un-like".
3.4: Editing Posts and Comments
Participants can edit their own posts/comments. To edit, hover over the post/comment body and click the "cog" icon that appears. From the menu, select Edit. Make changes then click Save.
4: Tracking Discussion Progress
In the top right, participants see a progress bar that reflects their "Minimum Suggested Contributions" as well as a button to access the discussion activity pane.
4.1: Viewing Contributions
The Minimum Suggested Contributions count is configured by the researcher in the Discussion setup. This number reflects the number of "Contributions" to the discussion; it counts both top-level posts and comments. Clicking the progress bar displays a breakdown of their contributions.
4.2: Viewing Activities
The activity pane lists posts from newest to oldest in an easy to navigate tool bar. The activity pane contains all questions, as well as public and comment posts that were created within the discussion.
Although the posts within the activity pane only contain the first line of the response, when clicked, it will navigate to the appropriate location within the discussion where the full post can be read. At the top of the Activity Pane, a message displays how many new posts have been made since last time the discussion was checked. Clicking a comment takes you to where that comment is within the context of the discussion.
To close the activity pane, click the arrow at the top of the activity pane.