Stages (Archived)

Insight conceptualizes Stages as periods of time. The Stage feature allows researchers to present different questions and intervention content and use different Insight features at different time points in their study. There is no limit to the number of stages that can be used.


Create or Edit a Stage

To add a new stage, click on “Add a New Stage” or to edit a stage, click “Edit Stage.”

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Stage Duration Type can be “TimeBased” (in days) or “Formula Based.”

Time Based - Allows you to set how long (by number of days) a stage will last. The app will automatically move to the next stage (in order) when each stage ends. Type the number of days for the stage in the “Number of days” textbox.

i. Check the “Ends at Midnight” checkbox if you would like a stage to advance to the next stage at midnight on the last day of the stage. If this box is not checked, the stage will advance at the same time of day as when the participant downloaded the app and started the study (this will result in some participants starting a new stage at 5:00 PM, and others at 8:00 AM). In most cases, the Ends at Midnight checkbox should be checked for Duration Stages.

Time Based Duration

Formula Based - Allows you to end a stage when specific formula criteria are met (e.g., Participant indicates that they have not smoked in the past 7 days; Participant indicates exercising 3 or more days in the past week).

Type in the formula for branching logic instead of copying and pasting formulas.

Copying and Pasting formulas have the potential to carry over hidden characters or HTML tags that are not seen in web browsers.

 

Create a Schedule

To create a new schedule in a stage, click the “+ Add Schedule” button.

After naming the schedule, select the schedule type from the dropdown.

After selecting the schedule type, select which assessment to include (assessment must be created prior to adding).

Next, select which group(s) will receive the assessment (multiple groups can be added).

After selecting group(s), set the notification timeout (minutes).

Click “Next” to save and move to the next section.

After selecting the day(s) to schedule, select the time for scheduling.

Next is the option to add a random factor to the assessment. The Random Offset (optional) acts as a buffer range for when the assessment will be scheduled (i.e., adding a Random Offset of 15 minutes to a Schedule time of 5:00 PM means the Assessment can be scheduled any time between 4:45 PM and 5:15 PM).

Click “Next” to save and move to the Notification Details section. Here you can customize the Title and Description of the Notification the participant will see on their device. There is also the option to customize reminder Notifications, so the participant knows to complete their assessment.

After the details have been added to the Title and Description fields, click “Done.” When notifications go off, they will appear on the lock screen and in the notification section of your device.

 

The participant initiated schedule type allows participants to initiate an assessment when they click a button on the app home screen. These assessments will be in the form of a button that can be colorized, if desired.

To change the color of a button, click on the color itself, then a color palette will appear. The assessment button color and assessment text color can then be changed.

The second section is where scheduling details can be select.

Maximum daily attempts are the number of times a participant can view/access the assessment per day. Interval total attempts are the total number of attempts an assessment can be viewed/accessed per stage. If you want the participant to be able to take the self-initiated assessment one time for a stage that is 7 days. Then the maximum daily attempts would be 1 and the interval total attempts would be 7.

Click “Done” to save changes.

 

The Fixed Schedule type allows assessments to be scheduled for the participant anytime between their wake and sleep times. These wake and sleep times are set when adding a participant to the study.

When creating the Fixed schedule type, a schedule name needs to be added, an assessment selected, the groups the assessment will be given to, and the Notification Timeout (minutes) needs to be set.

After completing the assessment and group form, the second form will allow the selection of days and times for the assessment to be scheduled. An optional Random Offset can be established to the assessment so that the assessment can be schedule before or after a set amount of minutes (i.e., before will be a negative value such as -30 and after a positive value such as 30). For example, a Fixed Assessment can be scheduled at a random time with 30 minutes of the desired time.

 

The Random Schedule type allows assessments to be randomly scheduled between the participant’s wake and sleep times. These wake and sleep times are set when first adding a participant to the study.

When creating the Random schedule type, a schedule name needs to be added, an assessment selected, the groups the assessment will be given to, and the Notification Timeout (minutes) needs to be set.

After filling out the required fields and clicking “Next,” the Schedule Details form will have two types of Random schedules. Fixed and Participant Offset (further details below):

 

Participant Offset Type for a Random Schedule provides the participant with a random assessment delivered by an offset in minutes from the Wake, Preferred, and/or Sleep times. This offset assessment can be set to occur more than once between the provided time offsets. It is required to set the number of occurrences. Days of the week can be manually selected or can be selected using the “Quick Selection.”

 

When creating the Participant Offset schedule type, a schedule name needs to be added, an assessment selected, the groups the assessment will be given to, and the Notification Timeout (minutes) needs to be set.

After completing the above fields, click “Next,” the Scheduling Details form will appear. Fill out the days and times for the assessment.

After completing the Scheduling Details, click “Done.”

 

When a notification for an assessment is missed, a rescheduling option can be added to remind the participant of the missed assessment notification. This reminder can be set for a specific number of times or specific time interval.

Rescheduling can be added when creating a Schedule for a specific Stage by clicking “+ Add Schedule.”

Fill out the appropriate fields that are required denoted by * on the first section of creating a Schedule.

The next section is Scheduling Details such as days of the week and time of the day. Random Offset is optional and is used to create a buffer range of possible times to notify that has been set by the time of day.

The last section of the form is where rescheduling can be enabled or disabled depending on the study design. Fill out fields required denoted by * and click “Done.” A dialog box may pop-up asking to save changes made.

The schedule will appear in the list of created schedules under that specific stage. If edits need to be made, simply click on “Edit Schedule” to make changes to the schedule. Be sure to click save when prompted to avoid losing changes made.

The One Click Phone Call feature is used to initiate a phone call from the Participant phone to a specific phone number (e.g., research staff, nursing staff). Please note, this feature will only work if there is an active service plan and there is adequate cell phone reception.

To get started, click the “Stages” tab.

Click on “Add Schedule.”

A dialog box will populate. Enter information in the appropriate fields and select “Phone Call” as the Schedule Type.

After selecting “Phone Call,” select the group in which the phone call schedule will be presented and click “Next.”

After the phone number has been entered, select “Done.”

If changes need to be made to the phone number, simply click on the “Edit Schedule.”

To see existing schedule details in a stage, click the “+” button to the left of the row.

The row will expand and show the existing Schedules, Event Type, Groups, Assessment Name, and Notification Timeout within that Schedule.