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Screener questions identify specific contributors for your tests. These best practices can help your team know which questions work well for finding the best contributors. |
This article applies to: UserTesting
On this page:
- Guidelines for screener questions
- How to check that your screener is capturing the right users
- Screeners based on familiarity with a product
- Screeners based on the frequency of use
- Screeners based on industry or occupation
- Screeners that deal with your personal information
Guidelines for screener questions
Always provide a "None of the above," “I don't know," or “Other" option
- This prevents users from picking an answer at random and accidentally ending up in your test.
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Poor example: Which of the following social networks do you have an account with?
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Better example: Which of the following social networks do you have an account with?
- Other
💡"Other" option applies to survey and interaction tests.
Provide clear and distinct answers that don't overlap each other.
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Poor example: How many salespeople do your team support?
- 1-10
- 10-30
- 30 or more
-
Better example: How many salespeople do your team support?
- 1-10
- 11-29
- Over 30
- I don't know
Avoid asking leading questions
- This prevents users from giving you the answer they think you want instead of the one that applies to them.
- Instruct users to select the option that most closely applies to them.
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Poor example: Do you like shopping online?
- Of course, I do often
- I never do it
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Better example: What are your thoughts on shopping online?
- I like shopping online
- I do not like shopping online
- I'm indifferent about shopping online
- I don't shop online
Avoid asking yes/no questions so people can't guess the "right" answer.
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Poor example: Do you work for Microsoft?
- Yes
- No
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Better example: Which of the following companies do you work for?
- Microsoft
- Amazon
- None of the above
Avoid double-barrelled questions so that you give people time to process and respond to one thing at a time.
- Poor example: How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with the pay and work benefits of your current job?
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Better example (this should be two questions):
- How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with the pay of your current job?
- How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with the work benefits of your current job?
How to check that your screener is capturing the right users
- Verify your contributor is right for the test in your first task.
- Example: “You indicated in the screener questions that you are currently shopping for a new car. Please describe what kind of car you are looking for, where you have looked so far, etc."
- Sometimes listening to a user describe their experience can let you know if they're the right fit.
Screeners based on familiarity with a product
- Don't point-blank ask if someone is familiar with your product as people are naturally inclined to say "yes".
- Ask contributors to indicate their familiarity and then define the different levels of understanding.
Screeners based on the frequency of use
- Define frequency in solid terms, not just "rarely," “sometimes," “often," etc.
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Yearly
- To determine how recently a user has participated in a specific activity, define time:
- Within the last week
- Within the last month
- Within the last six months
- Within the last year
Screeners based on industry or occupation
- Start by listing broader categories.
- For example, a massage therapist might want to hear from people in the massage therapy industry. The first question could be:
- Which of these industries do you work in?
- Health (which would encompass massage therapy)
- Tech
- Education
- Sales
- Marketing
- None of the above
- Which of these industries do you work in?
- In a follow-up screener, have users indicate their role within the Health industry.
Screeners that deal with personal information
- If the study requires the contributor to disclose sensitive personal information during the user test, it's important to forewarn them with a screener question.
- We recommend asking these types of screener questions first so that contributors avoid wasting time if they don't want to opt-in.
- If your study involves Protected Health Information (“PHI”), please review our article on collecting insights under HIPAA. Only accept users who are willing to be open about this personal information.
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