Panel design
Define who can join, how large the panel should be, and what the study collects, before Review & launch will allow launch.
Who can open this: Principal investigator, Steering committee (full access), Biostatistics, Coordinator
Who this is for
Panel design is the second Setup group. Its sidebar label is "Panel design", and its line is "Define the panel and participation requirements for this study." The sidebar tabs are the three steps: "Eligibility", "Size & mix", and "Profile & integrity".
Only the Principal investigator can edit these pages. Steering committee (full access), Coordinator, and Biostatistics can read them and see "You can read Setup but not change it. The principal investigator edits these steps; the fields below are shown as they are saved." Another seat's save is "You do not have permission to change this." Coder, Adjudicator, and Steering confirmer do not get Setup.
Steps
Each step has its own heading and its own page tabs. Review & launch counts Eligibility, Size & mix, and Profile & integrity as three of the ten steps. An error is "Blocks launch". A warning leaves the step as "Needs attention", and that step still counts as ready.
Table: which pages belong to each Panel design step.
| Step | Pages |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | Criteria, Screening |
| Size & mix | Size & mix, Geography |
| Profile & integrity | Profile, Conflicts, Publication |
Eligibility. Heading "Eligibility": "Define who is eligible and how candidates are screened." The page tabs are "Criteria" and "Screening".
Criteria blocks launch with "Describe the target panel." and "Add at least one inclusion criterion." "No exclusion criteria yet. They are recommended." needs attention and still allows launch. Screening, when it is on, blocks launch with "Add at least one screening question." and "Every screening question needs wording." Leaving screening off does not block launch.
Size & mix. Heading "Size & mix": "Set the panel size, the mix of stakeholder groups, and where panelists are from." The page tabs are "Size & mix" and "Geography".
Size & mix blocks launch with "Set the minimum and target completers and the expected attrition." until those three are set, and until they fit: "The target must be at least 2.", "The minimum must be at least 2.", "The minimum cannot be above the target.", and "Attrition must be between 0 and 99 percent." A group blocks launch when "A group's minimum is above its target" or "Every group needs a whole-number target of at least 1."
Each group is "Core" ("Judged in the group checks.") or "Context" ("Recruited and reported. Not counted toward pass or fail where the rule set says so."). Who may join a round that has already opened is "Nobody joins an open round", "An investigator may include them", or "They join at the next round".
Geography blocks launch with "Choose a geographic scope." The scopes are "Single institution", "Local", "Regional", "National", "Multinational", and "Global". The country count has to match the scope: "Name the country.", "A multinational panel needs at least two countries.", and "Name at least one country for the region."
"No expertise domains listed. Add them if the panel should cover several areas." and "No stakeholder groups: the panel is one group, and nothing is reported per group." need attention. Neither blocks launch. Method can still warn when a judged group's target is below the respondents the Round 1 group check needs, or a context group's target is below the reporting floor. Those warnings live on Method and on Review and launch. The numbers themselves are in Thresholds.
Profile & integrity. Heading "Profile & integrity": "Choose what to collect from panelists, how conflicts of interest are handled, and how authorship works." The page tabs are "Profile", "Conflicts", and "Publication".
Profile blocks launch with "Add at least one profile field, or the intake form is empty.", "Every field needs a label.", a duplicated label ("Two fields share a label"), and a field that "cannot split the panel into subgroups". Conflicts blocks launch when disclosure is set to screening while screening is off ("Screening is off, so there is no screening form. Pick another time or turn screening on.") and when the handling policy is empty ("Say who reviews disclosures and what can happen."). Publication blocks launch with "Group authorship needs the group's name." or "Write the authorship policy."
"Panel templates", for someone who can edit, opens "Apply a panel template". The three starting points are "Invited panel" ("A small panel of people with relevant experience, invited directly. No screening step, and enrollment is by invitation."), "Open call panel" ("A larger panel recruited through a public call, with screening and automatic rejection."), and "Community or lived-experience panel" ("People with lived experience of the topic, and those who support them, alongside practitioners. Screening checks the experience, not qualifications."). Apply with "Apply to N pages". Applying is one undoable change and still has to pass the same Setup rules.
After launch, Criteria, Screening, Profile, Conflicts, and Publication show "Locked at launch: this page decides who qualifies and what panelists are asked. A change needs a protocol amendment." A save of those parts is refused: "The eligibility rules, screening, profile fields, disclosure timing, authorship policy and late-enrollment policy is locked: the study has launched. Changes need a controlled amendment." Size & mix and Geography stay editable, and the edit is logged.
This group describes the panel. Adding people, screening them, and enrolling them happens after launch. See Enrolling after consent.
What the app will not do
Screening left off does not block launch. A panel with no domains or groups does not block launch.
Size & mix and Geography stay editable after launch. Eligibility, screening, profile fields, disclosure timing, the authorship policy, and the late-enrollment policy do not.
Panel design does not invite anyone and does not record consent.
A save that lost a race is refused: "This section was changed somewhere else since you opened it. Reload to see the latest version."
Related
Checked against the app on 2026-10-31.