Project Setup and Workflow

Overview

Creating a research project in Pulse Labs involves a thoughtful progression through three essential phases: setting up data capture methods, building your research team through collaborator invitations, and establishing your participant pool. This structured approach ensures that all the foundational elements of your research are properly configured before you begin collecting data.

The project creation workflow is designed to guide you through these critical decisions in a logical sequence, helping you establish a solid foundation for successful research outcomes. Each step builds upon the previous one, creating an integrated research environment that supports your specific methodology and team structure.

Understanding the Three-Phase Project Setup

Phase 1: Setting Up Data Capture

The first phase of project creation focuses on defining how you'll collect research data. This involves selecting and configuring the capture methods that align with your research objectives, whether you need in-depth qualitative insights through interviews, structured feedback through surveys, task-based observations through evaluations, or naturalistic behavior data through observation studies.

During this phase, you'll make fundamental decisions about your research methodology. The platform offers four primary capture methods, each optimized for different types of research questions and data collection needs. Understanding which methods serve your research goals is crucial for designing an effective study.

Interview Capture Series excel when you need rich, qualitative insights from direct conversations with participants. These are ideal for exploratory research, concept validation, user journey mapping, and scenarios where you need to understand the "why" behind participant behavior and preferences.

Survey Capture Series provide structured data collection for scenarios where you need quantifiable insights or want to gather standardized feedback from larger participant groups. Surveys work particularly well for baseline measurements, satisfaction assessments, feature prioritization, and market research applications.

Evaluation Capture Series support task-based research where you need to observe participants completing specific activities or using particular features. These are perfect for usability testing, feature validation, workflow optimization, and comparative studies.

Observation Capture Series enable longitudinal research and naturalistic behavior studies where you need to understand how participants interact with products or services in their real-world contexts over extended periods.

Phase 2: Building Your Research Team

The second phase involves establishing your research team through collaborator invitations. This step ensures that everyone who needs access to the project can contribute effectively to the research process, whether they're leading sessions, observing, analyzing data, or providing oversight.

Collaborator management in Pulse Labs supports various research team structures, from individual researchers working independently to large, cross-functional teams with specialized roles. The invitation system integrates with your workspace settings, ensuring that team members receive appropriate permissions and access levels.

When adding collaborators, consider both immediate research needs and future project phases. Team members can be added throughout the project lifecycle, but establishing the core team early helps ensure consistent communication and coordination from the beginning.

Phase 3: Adding Participants

The third phase focuses on building your participant pool through various recruitment methods. Pulse Labs supports multiple approaches to participant recruitment, from leveraging the platform's built-in participant panel to managing external recruitment efforts through custom landing pages and invitation systems.

Participant management integrates with your capture method selections, ensuring that the people you recruit are appropriately matched to the research activities you've planned. The system supports sophisticated targeting and filtering capabilities that help you find participants who meet your specific criteria.

Detailed Project Configuration

Capture Method Selection and Setup

When setting up data capture, you'll work within an intuitive interface that presents your options clearly and guides you through configuration decisions. Each capture method can be configured independently, allowing you to create projects that combine multiple research approaches for comprehensive insights.

The capture method selection interface provides detailed descriptions of each option, helping you understand how different methods align with your research objectives. You can create multiple capture series within a single project, enabling research designs that progress participants through different types of activities or gather data through multiple channels.

For projects that require complex research designs, you can configure relationships between different capture methods. For example, you might use a survey to screen participants, then conduct interviews with qualified respondents, followed by evaluation sessions to test specific concepts discussed in the interviews.

Advanced Project Settings

Beyond basic capture method selection, project configuration includes settings that affect how your entire research study operates. These settings control participant experience, data management, collaboration permissions, and integration with external tools.

Project settings include naming and description fields that help organize your research portfolio. Clear, descriptive project names and objectives are essential for team coordination and future reference, especially in organizations conducting multiple concurrent studies.

Privacy and visibility settings allow you to control who can access your project and how data is shared. These settings are particularly important for sensitive research or proprietary product development where information security is crucial.

Workspace Integration

Projects exist within workspaces, inheriting certain organizational settings while maintaining their own specific configurations. Understanding this relationship helps you leverage workspace-level resources while maintaining project autonomy.

Workspace integration affects collaborator permissions, billing management, participant pool access, and compliance settings. These inherited characteristics provide consistency across projects while reducing setup time for each new study.

Collaborator Management and Team Building

Understanding Team Roles

Pulse Labs supports sophisticated team structures through its collaborator role system. Different team members can have varying levels of access and responsibility, ensuring that everyone can contribute effectively while maintaining appropriate oversight and security.

Primary Researchers have full project management capabilities, including the ability to configure capture methods, manage participants, conduct sessions, and access all project data. These team members typically lead research efforts and have decision-making authority for the project.

Collaborating Researchers can participate in research activities and access project data but may have limitations on certain administrative functions. This role works well for team members who contribute to research execution without needing full project management capabilities.

Observers can view research activities and access certain project data without the ability to modify configurations or interact directly with participants. This role is valuable for stakeholders who need research insights without active participation in data collection.

Invitation and Onboarding Process

The collaborator invitation system streamlines team building while ensuring proper access control. When you invite collaborators, they receive clear information about the project, their role, and how to access relevant resources.

The invitation process integrates with your organization's existing systems when possible, leveraging directory information and authentication systems to simplify access management. This integration reduces administrative overhead while maintaining security standards.

New collaborators receive onboarding information that helps them understand the project context, their responsibilities, and available resources. This structured onboarding approach helps team members contribute effectively from their first interaction with the project.

Ongoing Team Management

Throughout the project lifecycle, team management tools allow you to adjust permissions, add new collaborators, and modify team structure as research needs evolve. This flexibility supports projects that grow in scope or require different expertise at different phases.

Team communication features integrate with project activities, ensuring that collaborators stay informed about research progress, participant feedback, and important developments. These communication tools help maintain team coordination without overwhelming team members with unnecessary information.

Participant Recruitment and Management

Understanding the Participant Funnel

Participant management in Pulse Labs operates through a structured funnel that moves people from initial interest through active participation to study completion. Understanding this funnel helps you optimize recruitment efforts and manage participant experience effectively.

Stage 0: Potential Audience represents the pool of people who might be interested in participating in your research but haven't yet been exposed to your study. This includes panel members who meet your criteria and external audiences you might reach through recruitment activities.

Stage 1: Invited Audience includes people who have been exposed to your study through various invitation methods. This might include panel members who have seen your study in the discovery interface, people who have received direct invitations, or individuals who have found your study through external recruitment efforts.

Stage 2: Enrolled Audience consists of people who have completed all necessary verification and qualification steps and are ready to participate in your research activities. These participants have committed to your study and are available for scheduling.

Completed Audience includes participants who have finished all required research activities and are eligible for compensation or other study completion processes.

Recruitment Strategy Development

Effective participant recruitment requires understanding your target audience and matching recruitment methods to their characteristics and preferences. Pulse Labs supports multiple recruitment approaches that can be used independently or in combination to reach the right participants for your research.

Panel-Based Recruitment leverages Pulse Labs' built-in participant network, allowing you to reach qualified participants who have already expressed interest in research participation. This approach provides quick access to participants while maintaining quality through the platform's verification systems.

Direct Invitation Methods allow you to recruit specific individuals through email invitations, social media outreach, or other targeted communication channels. This approach gives you precise control over who receives invitations while requiring more effort in terms of outreach and communication.

Landing Page Recruitment supports broader recruitment efforts through custom web pages that can be shared through various channels. These pages provide detailed study information and qualification screening while capturing interested participants for further engagement.

Participant Verification and Qualification

The participant management system includes comprehensive verification capabilities that ensure participants meet your study requirements and can successfully complete research activities. Verification steps can be configured based on your specific research needs and quality standards.

Technical Verification ensures that participants have the necessary equipment and capabilities to participate in your research activities. This might include device compatibility checks, internet connection speed tests, or software installation verification.

Demographic and Behavioral Screening allows you to verify that participants match your target audience characteristics. This screening can include survey-based qualification, profile verification, or other methods for confirming participant suitability.

Document and Identity Verification supports research scenarios that require additional security or compliance measures. This might include identity verification, consent document signing, or other legal and regulatory requirements.

Project Lifecycle Management

Launch and Activation

Once your project setup is complete, the launch process involves activating your configured capture methods and beginning participant recruitment. The platform provides tools for coordinated launches that ensure all project components are working together effectively.

Launch activities include final verification of capture method configurations, team access testing, participant recruitment activation, and communication system setup. These verification steps help prevent issues that could disrupt research activities or participant experience.

Ongoing Project Management

Active project management involves monitoring research progress, managing participant flow, coordinating team activities, and maintaining data quality throughout the study period. The platform provides dashboards and tools that support these ongoing management needs.

Project monitoring includes tracking participation rates, identifying potential issues, managing scheduling and logistics, and ensuring that research objectives are being met. These monitoring capabilities help you make informed decisions about recruitment adjustments, timeline modifications, or methodology refinements.

Project Completion and Analysis

As research activities conclude, the project management system supports data consolidation, team coordination for analysis activities, and project closure procedures. These capabilities ensure that research insights are properly captured and that project resources are appropriately managed.

Project completion processes include data export and analysis preparation, team access management for post-research phases, participant compensation and communication, and project archival for future reference.

Integration with Broader Research Workflows

Cross-Project Coordination

For organizations conducting multiple research projects, the platform supports coordination between related studies and efficient resource sharing. This might include participant pool sharing, team member coordination across projects, or methodology consistency across related research efforts.

External Tool Integration

Project workflow integrates with external research and analysis tools, allowing you to incorporate Pulse Labs data into broader research and business intelligence systems. These integrations support comprehensive research programs that span multiple tools and platforms.

Compliance and Governance

The project management system includes features that support research compliance and governance requirements. This includes audit trails, data management controls, privacy protection measures, and other capabilities that ensure research activities meet organizational and regulatory standards.

The project setup and workflow system in Pulse Labs provides a comprehensive foundation for conducting high-quality research while maintaining flexibility for different research approaches and organizational needs. From initial project conception through completion and analysis, the platform supports effective research management while ensuring excellent experiences for both research teams and participants.