What Are Waves?

Waves allow you to create a series of linked studies (or "waves") that target the same pool of participants. Each wave can have its own schedule, survey link, and compensation structure, and participants who completed prior waves are automatically invited to subsequent ones.

This feature eliminates the need to manually manage participant lists and set up follow-up studies, and simplifies the process of longitudinal research.

• Participant Consistency: Automatically invite participants from earlier waves to ensure data continuity.

• Scheduling Flexibility: Set specific dates and times for each wave’s launch.

• Customized Follow-Ups: Tailor compensation, survey links, and messages for each wave based on study needs.

• Effortless Management: Track participant progress across all waves in one place. 

How to Set Up Waves

1. Create the Study

• Log into your Connect account and click Create Project.
• Select Waves as the template.
• You will go through set up.

2. Setup your Waves

You will be prompted to go through the usual study set up and input required info for the initial study.

In the Cost section, you will be prompted to input the number of participants you'd like to get that complete ALL waves. 

After setting up the initial study:

• Click the Waves tab in the menu.
• Fill out the number of waves you will have, frequency of the waves launches, and other scheduling settings like when the first wave launches and eligibility criteria.
• Configure each wave.

• Click the Configure button next to the first wave. Wave 1 is the initial study that you likely set up in the beginning but can edit here as well. You will be prompted to set up the wave's basic info, project link, cost, completion method, and timeframe for scheduling.
• • For any other waves, repeat the above step and configure all study settings. For waves other than the first wave, you are able to set the eligibility criteria which determines what participants you allow to take this wave.  
• After configuring all waves, we will determine the initial number of participants based on our recommended approach. This recommendation considers the timing between waves and the final N size you aim to achieve. This starting N size can be edited to something you prefer.   

3. Add Participant Targeting and/or Configure Completion Branches (optional)

You can select to target certain demographics. Please follow this article here which goes over how to do this. Completion Branches lets you redirect participants midway through your initial survey for demographic screening, failed attention check questions, or partial completes for leaving the survey early. To learn more about Completion Branches please see this article here. 

4. Review and Save

• Review the setup details for the study and each wave.
• In the pricing section, you’ll find a detailed breakdown of costs for all waves combined as well as each individual wave.

5. Launch 

Find the study on your dashboard and hit "...", then "Launch". The piloting and launch options pop up will appear. You can learn more about these options here. 

6. Track Progress

• Locate the waves study on your dashboard. You can view:
  • Scheduled waves in the series.

• • Completion per wave.

• • Detailed participant record.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I link waves with different questionnaires?

Yes, when setting up each wave you can configure them to have different survey links. You will need to make sure you are collecting Connect IDs across each wave's survey in order to match up responses and track participant progress. 

What if I need to modify the setup after creating waves?

You can edit the waves by clicking "..." and then "Edit Series". Navigate to the Waves section to update any specific waves. 

To pause the waves select "Pause Series".