Creating Custom Profile Fields

You can create custom profile fields for your project to provide your research team with more flexibility during data analysis.

Select Participants from the navigation menu. Then follow the instructions below.

1:  Adding the Profile Fields

There are two methods for adding custom profile fields to your project. You can either:

• import profile fields from a preconfigured .csv file

  build out custom profile filters prior to uploading or adding participants

Note:  Profile fields should contain only alpha-numeric characters and no punctuation other than periods.

1.1:  Importing from a CSV File

In the .csv file containing your participant list, add a column for each new profile field you wish to create. Name your columns with easily identifiable names such as “HHI” or “User type”.

Navigate to the Participants page from the navigation menu. From the drop-down Participants menu on the right, select Upload multiple to upload your participant .csv file.

Follow the instructions on the Upload Participants page. Click Next as appropriate. The list you upload must include participants, as well as the new columns. See Adding Multiple Participants at Once to learn more about the Upload Participant pages.

Note:  The Screen Name column should contain only alpha-numeric characters and no punctuation other than periods.

Once you have uploaded your .csv file, Forsta Plus Digital Diaries will identify new columns and give you the option to "create a new column", “merge with existing”, or "ignore". Select Create a new column and select the type of data contained within the column.

The following data types are available:

• Text:  Put answers to open-ended questions into a profile field.
• Drop Down:  Put answers to drop-down questions into a profile field.
• Single Select:  Only one option applies to each participant.
• Multiple Select:  Several options can apply to each participant.
• Date:  Put a date value into a profile field.
• Time:  Put a time value into a profile field.
• Number:  Put a number value into a profile field.

Note:  Choose Single or Multiple Select for columns you want to use as a filter in Explore. See Using Custom Profile Fields to learn more.

Once you are satisfied with your setup, click OK to add the new column.

Select Submit to add the new columns and upload new participants.

1.2:  Building Out Filters

Navigate to the Participants page using the navigation menu. Select Customize profiles under the drop-down Participants menu on the right to open the Custom Profile page.

Drag and drop collectors into the profile editor on the Custom Profile page. The collectors you add are new criteria that will be a part of a user’s profile.

When picking your collectors, think of it as the form you fill out when you upload new participants.

For example, if you want to add a profile field for income, chose a single choice question (since there can only be one response to this question per participant). In the question text, write "Income". Add answer options according to how you want to segment your participants' income ($20k-$39k, $40k - $59k, $60k - $79k, etc.).

Click Savewhen you are done. 

Once you are satisfied with your filter setup, upload a .csv file containing your participant list and select “merge column with existing” for the custom fields. Alternatively, add one participant at a time and select their answers for them.