Start a new study
Name the study, pick a starting point, and create a draft the principal investigator can finish in Setup.
Who can open this: Anyone signed in to the workspace
Who this is for
Creating a study is a workspace permission, separate from a seat on a study team. People who hold it see "Start a new study". Anyone else sees "You do not have permission to create studies." and "Your role in this workspace does not include it. If you need it, ask a workspace administrator." The same sentence is what the server returns if the permission is missing when the draft is saved.
The signed-in person is recorded as the Principal investigator. The form says "Change owners later under Study team."
The Template library is separate. "New template", "Export JSON", and "Import template" need permission to publish templates. Without it, New template shows "You do not have permission to create templates." Import answers "You do not have permission to import templates. Ask an administrator." Export answers "You do not have permission to export templates." Sharing a template with the workspace answers "You do not have permission to share templates with the workspace. Save it as your own, or ask an administrator." "Use template" needs permission to create studies.
Steps
Open New study from Home. The window title is "New study". The heading is "Start a new study", with "Name it, pick where it starts from, and create the draft. Everything can be changed afterwards." Cancel is "Back to Home".
Under "1. Name your study", fill "Study title" (required), "Short title", and "Pseudonym code". The short title starts as "Suggested from the title. Edit it if you like." and switches to "Edited by you." once you change it. The pseudonym code can stay blank; the hint says you can change it until the study launches. "Principal investigator" shows the signed-in person, marked "(you)".
Under "2. Choose a starting point", the tabs are "Study workflows", "Our templates", and "Past studies".
- "Study workflows": "How the study begins and what follows. The method and its rules are chosen on Method once the draft exists." The four cards are "Rate existing items" (marked "Recommended", and already selected when you open New study), "Generate items, then rate", "Define and refine, then rate", and "Build a custom workflow". Each card has "Select". "Rate existing items" reads "Begin with statements, criteria or recommendations you already have. Panelists rate them across successive rounds, seeing the group's feedback between rounds."
- "Our templates": "Reusable parts of your team’s earlier work. Using one copies its panel profile, eligibility and analysis settings into the new study; the template itself never changes."
- "Past studies": "Copy the setup of a study you already ran. Nothing about panelists or responses is copied."
A template or a past study writes the panel, the analysis plan, and the report settings. People and responses are not copied. The template card still says it copies panel profile, eligibility, and analysis settings. Those are the screen's words. In production, sample past studies are omitted. The Past studies tab is not filled from studies this workspace has completed.
An empty tab says "Nothing here yet."
"Choose what to bring in (N of M)" opens the sections that starting point carries. Closing it says "Hide what to bring in (N of M)". While it is closed, the line is "Everything is brought in by default. People and responses are never copied." The section names, when that starting point carries them, are "Round plan", "Item structure", "Consensus rules", "Profile fields", "Panel eligibility and screening", "Emails: sender and footer", "Analysis and reporting", and "Pilot and data retention". A study workflow carries a round plan only. The method itself is chosen on Method after the draft exists. The draft's method seed also sets classification, governance, the lock, and whether decision rules start on. The seed does not confirm the method.
Table: sections a starting point can bring in. A study workflow carries only the round plan.
| Section | Study workflow |
|---|---|
| Round plan | Carried |
| Item structure | Not carried |
| Consensus rules | Not carried |
| Profile fields | Not carried |
| Panel eligibility and screening | Not carried |
| Emails: sender and footer | Not carried |
| Analysis and reporting | Not carried |
| Pilot and data retention | Not carried |
The status line reads "Pick a starting point to continue.", then "Add a title to continue.", then "Bring in at least one section to continue." The button is "Create draft study", and "Creating the draft…" while it saves. The server uses the same checks: "Add a title.", "Pick a starting point.", and "Bring in at least one section."
The Template library is "Template library", described as "Start a study from a proven structure." A saved template's page has "Back to the library", "Export JSON" for people who may publish templates, and "Use template" for people who may create studies. A sample template page does not show "Export JSON". "Use template" opens the same New study page, with the crumb "Template library" and cancel "Back to the template", and that template already selected.
"New template" says "A template is made from a study you have already set up, or imported from a file. Choose the study, then Save this study as a template: you tick the sections to keep, and participant data, responses and contact details are never carried over." Under "Choose a study", each study has "Save as a template", which opens that study's Templates page. With no study, the page says "You are not on a study yet, so there is nothing to save as a template. Start a study first."
"Import a file" says "A template file exported from this or another workspace: one version of one template, as Export JSON writes it. It never carries people, and this workspace's own policies apply to it. It is saved as version 1, with you as its owner." The field is "Template file", with the hint "A .template.json file, under 200 KB." Then "Name", the checkbox "Share with the workspace" ("Unticked, it is your own template: only you see it in the library."), and "Import template". Beside Export, the preview lists what the file leaves out: "The study it was saved from, and who saved it and when.", "Panelists, responses, contacts and anything that names a person.", "The sections the template does not carry.", and "This workspace's policies: the importing workspace applies its own."
The new study is a draft. Finish it in Study design, then the rest of Setup, and launch from Review and launch.
What the app will not do
People and responses are never copied from a template or a past study.
A template file that carries panelists, responses, or contacts is refused, not stripped: "This file carries {key}. A template file names nobody, so this one was not made by Export and is refused." A file over the limit is "That file is too large. A template file is under 200 KB."
Creating the draft does not launch the study and does not send an invitation.
Related
Checked against the app on 2026-10-31.