Randomize Tasks

Use these steps to randomize tasks and understand why it's effective in your studies.

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On this page:

• About randomizing tasks
• Find randomization settings
• Groups of tasks and sets of groups
• Create groups of tasks
• Create sets of groups
• A/B testing randomized tasks example

 

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About randomizing tasks

• Randomizing tasks allows you to:
  • Remove order bias
  • Test different versions of your website/prototype by giving participants tasks for one version.
  • Keep the study short by randomly assigning only a few tasks to each participant.
• The balancing system evenly distributes participants so all tasks or groups of tasks have the same number of completes.
• When all tasks are assigned to all participants, the order of the tasks is purely random.
• Before randomizing, you may have to reorder some of the tasks. This keeps tasks belonging to the same group of tasks together.
• Randomizing tasks is not available for Basic Usability Test studies.

 

Find randomization settings

1. Open your study.
2. In the Task Builder, go to the Study.
3. Click Task Options on the top left.
4. Wait for the overlay window to fully load.
5. Select Groups & Random from the menu on the left.

 

Alternative route

1. Click the three dots that appear on the right of the task title when hovering over it.
2. Select Randomize from the dropdown.

 

 

Groups of tasks and sets of groups

• Groups are made up of tasks.
• Sets are made up of groups of tasks.
• Creating these groups and sets allows you to:
  • Decide if participants see:
    • Tasks in a group:
      • In order
      • Randomized (when this option is checked)
    • Groups in a set:
      • In order 
      • Randomized (when this option is checked)
  • Define the number of tasks assigned to each participant.
    • Assign: All - Participants are assigned all tasks in the group or all the groups within the set.
    • Assign: x - Participants are randomly assigned the defined number of tasks from the group or group of tasks for the set.
• When groups and sets are configured and new groups and sets are created, all settings are reset.
• Combining logic and conditions with randomization can cause unexpected behaviors with the flow of the study.
• Add an Starting (Initial) URL to any task that could be the first Navigation Task.
• The icon shows that the Navigation task has an Initial URL.

 

 

Create groups of tasks

1. Click Add Group. The new group appears below the last task in the study.
2. Drag the group and drop it below the last task of the previous group.
3. Check the Random Tasks & Assign box.
4. Select the number of tasks for each participant.
5. Add as many groups as you need.

 

 

Create sets of groups

1. Click Add Set. The new set appears below the last group.
2. Drag the set and drop it below the last group of the previous set.
3. Check the Random Groups & Assign box.
4. Select the number of groups for each participant.
5. Add as many sets as you need.

 

 

A/B testing randomized tasks example

In the below example:

• All participants see Task 1 first.
• Then they see Task 2 or Task 3 in a random order.
• Finally, all participants see Task 4.

 

Related content

Want to learn more? Check out these Knowledge Base articles...  Task types Create and manage tasks	Interested in growing your skills? Check out our University courses... How to Structure Your Tests The Basics of Remote Testing
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