Onboarding questions are pre-join screening questions shown to participants after the full-text overview (if configured). Use them for eligibility screening, demographic collection, and baseline data.
Question Fields
Each onboarding question has:
| Field | Required? | Description |
|---|
| Question text | ✅ Yes | The question shown to the participant |
| Response type | ✅ Yes | How participants answer (see table below) |
| Options | For customOptions only | Array of option strings |
| Required | — | Whether the question must be answered (defaults to true for new questions) |
| Validation rule | Optional | A question guard for eligibility screening |
Response Types
Onboarding questions support the same 5 response types as prompts:
| Response Type | UI Rendering | Notes |
|---|
text | Text input field | Free-form answer |
yesno | Two radio buttons: “Yes” / “No” | Binary choice |
number | Numeric input field | Numeric answer |
numberRange | Numeric input with bounds | Bounded numeric |
customOptions | Radio buttons or checkboxes | See below |
Custom Options Rendering
The rendering of customOptions depends on whether a question guard is set:
- If the guard uses
in or not_in → checkboxes (multi-select), answer stored as comma-separated values
- Otherwise → radio buttons (single-select)
Options in onboarding questions are entered as comma-separated values (e.g., Student, Professional, Retired, Other). This is different from prompt custom options, which use semicolons.
Adding Questions
- Open your quest in the editor
- Navigate to the onboarding section
- Click Add Question
- Enter the question text
- Select a response type
- If using
customOptions, enter the options
- Optionally toggle Required (on by default)
- Optionally add a validation rule (question guard)
Validation
Client-side: All required questions must have a non-empty, trimmed answer before the form can be submitted.
Server-side: If any question has a question guard, the answers are validated server-side. Failed validations show rejection messages and block the participant from joining.
Data Storage
- Onboarding responses are saved as a dataset with type
onboarding_responses
- Source is tagged as
web or mobile depending on where the participant completed onboarding
- Onboarding responses are free — they are not billed
Onboarding responses are submitted before the participant joins the quest. This is different from prompt responses, which are submitted after joining.
Example
A typical eligibility screening setup:
| Question | Type | Guard |
|---|
| ”How old are you?” | number | Must be ≥ 18 |
| ”Do you consent to participate?” | yesno | Must equal “Yes" |
| "What is your primary language?” | customOptions (English, Spanish, French, Other) | Must be “English” or “Spanish" |
| "Describe any relevant medical conditions” | text | None (informational only) |
