Adding and Importing Board Moderator Guide Questions

Setting up a discussion guide is a two-part process.  Topics need to be created and then questions are added into the newly created topics.

Quick Links for this article
Creating a Topic

Adding Questions

Polls

Displaying Media

Question Mode 

Copying and Moving Questions and topics

Checking Question Settings

Go to the Project Setup tab and select Moderator Guide from the drop-down menu.

Step 1: Create a Topic

Click the Add Topic button to begin filling in the topic details.

In most cases, only the Name and the Post Time are needed in the create topic form. 

The Name (e.g. Day One, Topics 1) is seen by participants so you will want to ensure that this is something a participant can see. 

The Post Time is set to determine when the questions in this topic are posted to allow the participants to answer.

Here are details on all the fields in the Topic form as reference

• Name - The topic Name (eg: Day One, Topic 1, Introduction).  This name is seen by the participants.
• Description - This field is for the moderator so they can leave a description of the topic for themselves in the transcripts. This can be left blank.

Topic Details

• Post Time - The time that the topic will go “live” allowing participants to access it.
• Close Time - The time that a topic will close and participants can no longer reply to questions after that point.
  Note: we recommend that in most cases this field is left blank. Leaving it blank will allow participants to go back to the questions/topics as long as the board is open. Once the board closes participants won’t be able to access any of the questions.

Whiteboard

• Select Media - this drop-down box allows you to choose the stimuli that you want to share for this topic. 
  Note: this is left blank in most cases unless there is a need for every question under the topic to show the same media. Normally this is set at the question level, so as to only share specific stimuli for that question.

Group Options (only applicable when subgroups are enabled)

• Responses Viewable - This option determines how the responses will be viewed by subgroups
  
  • Between Groups: This will allow subgroups to view between groups.
  • Within Group: This will only allow subgroups to view responses from within their own subgroup. 
• Group Memberships - List of participant groups to choose from in order to show this topic to them.
  Note: These group options can also be changed at the question level for each individual question.

Step 2: Adding Questions

To get to this part of adding the guide, make sure that a topic is expanded (by clicking on the topic name) and click on the Add Question button that appears when you click the topic.  A dialogue box like below will appear with areas to add in your question text and set the settings in that question.

The two areas that are required for any question are Name and Question Content.

The Name field can be anything you need it to be. Since participants see it, you will need to ensure it is friendly to them.

 

Below is the question name as seen by participants on the Discussion tab:

The Question Content is where you set up the question in text or video format.  You can record a video or type/copy in text.  You can also have both options if needed.

Recording a Video Question

To record a video question in addition to or instead of text, click on the Add Video button.  This will bring up the webcam recording interface.

If your browser asks you to, click the Allow radio button to let the itracks website access your webcam.

Click the recording button (the red dot in the middle of the screen to begin recording.  There will be a count down then the recording will begin.

To stop recording, click on the Stop   button.  Click the Save button to save your video to the question.

Adding in Question Text/Creating a Text Question

If you are adding question text, the best way to do so is to copy and paste from a word document. Once you have added text, you can further edit your text within the software.

If you are finding that you are getting odd spaces and formatting this may be some of the formatting in your word document not working well in an online environment.  Many of these issues can be easily alleviated by using the Format Stripper. Selecting the Format Stripper will give you multiple options as shown in the image. 

 

 

Displaying Media

You can choose a previously loaded whiteboard from the drop-down here if you have visual stimuli or videos associated with your question.  Files and Links can also be added using the Add Files or Add Links options here.  Only one file or link can be added to any question.

Polls

If you want to add a poll to your question, you can do so by clicking on the Add Poll button below the Question Content window.

The Response Options area is where the options the participants have to choose from will be entered. You can have as many response options as needed.  Additional option input areas will appear automatically when the bottom most area with the phrase ‘Click to enter a response option’ is clicked and typed into.

In the poll question area, there is the ability to choose Single Choice or Multiple Choice question types.

Single Choice questions allow the participant to choose one option from the list of responses.

The Multiple Choice question type allows participants to choose multiple options from a list of responses. 

If a poll question is already present, you can also remove a poll that you may have accidentally added by clicking on the Remove Poll button.

Open End Question Settings

Response Details

This is where it is determined how the participants will post their open ended response. There are 4 options here: 

Text - Participants can enter in text responses and upload media with their response

Video - Participants will be required to reply to the question using video - either as an upload of a prior recording or using the camera on their computer or smartphone/tablet.

Text or Video - Allows the participant to choose whether to respond with text or record a video response.  They can also upload media with their response here.

None - This option will remove the reply window, not allowing an open ended response.

You can also set the open-ended response to Required or Optional, if you have not chosen the “None” option. The required option will force the participant to respond before moving on to the next question.

Choosing Optional here will allow the participant to proceed to the next question if they do not choose to answer.

Question Mode 

This is the area where you determine how participants see each other's responses and when.  

Regular Question - The respondent can see the replies of all the other participants before they post a reply themselves.

Uninfluenced Question - The respondent will not see the other replies until they have responded themself.

Interview Question - Sets up the question so it looks like a one-on-one between the moderator and the respondent. As a result, the respondent never sees the posts of the other respondents. 

Previewing and Editing Your Guide

Once your guide is loaded you can preview it in the Discussion Tab or look at the outline of it in the Manage Moderator Guide area.

Inserting new topics or questions in an existing guide

To insert a topic/question click on the  icon and this will add a new topic or question.  If you are Inserting a question click the  icon where you want to insert the question to.  A question area will open up with the following areas to input your question.

Copying and Moving Questions and topics

To copy or move a topic/question click on the  icon and this will open a new window for you to move or copy that topic/question. You can copy as many times as needed and move topics/questions into desired locations within your discussion effortlessly and efficiently. Response data will carry over with moved topics/questions, but will not carry over for copied questions (they will be new questions.) 

This is the pop-up menu that allows you to copy or move topics/questions (moving/copying “Concept 1” as is evident by the highlighted name):

Checking Question Settings

At the question level when expanded:

You can view your moderator guide text as well as see any question details (Post time, Question type, Required)
Note that the question defaults in the top left of the screen are not reflective of what is set up in your guide.  You will want to check the question settings at the question level.

Editing Questions and Topics

To edit click the following icons on the right hand side of the question or topic.

Click on the edit  icon, this will take you to the edit interface of the topic or question.

Click on the delete  icon, this will delete the topic or question.