How Long Should a Test Be?

There's no magic number for how many tasks or questions should be included in a study. The complexity of the tasks you include can vary significantly, depending on the scope and format.

For example, 25 survey-style multiple choice questions could be completed much more quickly than 10 written response tasks that require a contributor to compare two separate designs. 

If you're unsure of how long your study will take a contributor to complete, we suggest using the Preview Test feature, or releasing a dry run to just one contributor. Based on your results, you can make adjustments as needed.

Here are some things to consider: 

• Be conscious of contributor fatigue: tasks that trigger lengthier written responses, particularly for tests on a mobile device, can be cumbersome or time-consuming. So keep these to a minimum. 
• Adding metrics questions to your tasks: these survey style questions help you to add quantitative data quickly and can easily be shared. 
• Include time frames for some tasks: For example: "Spend up to two minutes reviewing the site. What do you like or dislike about it?"

If you're writing your first test plan, here are some other factors to take into consideration.

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