Run Test
Overview
The Run test tab is where you review the final details of your test, make the test available to panelists, and control it while it collects results. Every test type has this tab.
This article explains how to run a test, what each test status means, what every option on the tab does, and how to have a test pause itself once it has enough complete responses.
Run Your Test
- Open your test and select the Run test tab.
- Check the Summary table on the right side of the page. Fix any red errors before you continue.
- Enter the Display name, Start date and End date, and choose your Incentives setting.
- If you want the test to stop on its own, turn on Automatically pause test and enter a number of complete responses. This step is optional.
- Click Start test. The test is now live for panelists.
- Share the Test URL or the Test start URL with your panelists, if they need a link.
If you are running your tests in your lab and require panelists to log in, we recommend setting up the booth environment to make accessing login pages more efficient. - When you have enough results, select Pause test and then Complete test.
Check Your Test Before You Start
The Summary table on the right side of the page shows what has been added to your test in each tab. It is a quick way to find problems before panelists see the test. You can select the Run test tab at any time to see the latest errors and warnings.
| Indicator | What it means |
|---|---|
| Green circle | There are no errors in the corresponding tab. |
| Red circle with a red X | There are known errors in the corresponding tab. Read the error messages carefully and fix them. You cannot launch a review or select Start test until the errors are fixed. |
| Yellow square with an exclamation mark | There is a warning in the corresponding tab. Warnings are not mandatory to fix, and you can still launch a review or select Start test. |
| White circle | This is the results summary. |
Test Status
The status shows what stage your test is in.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| In design | You are still creating the test by setting up the questionnaire and adding samples, panelists and a design. |
| Running | The test is live and ready for data collection. Selecting Start test makes the test available to panelists on the panelist website. |
| Scheduled | The test is set to Running with a Start date in the future. It becomes available to panelists on the date and time in the Start date field. |
| Paused | The test is removed from the panelist website and is not collecting results. Select Pause test to make minor edits and present the test again, to set the test as Complete, or to leave the test for later. A test also becomes Paused when it reaches the number of complete responses you set for Automatically pause test. |
| Complete | All required results have been collected. Selecting Pause test >Complete test removes the test from the web and protects it from accidental edits. |
| Expired | The End date has passed. Panelists cannot take the test and you cannot make changes. If you collected the results you wanted, select Complete. To make minor changes or collect more data, change the End date field. |
Run Test Options
Set up the test
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Display name | The name of the test that panelists see. |
| Start date | The date and time when the test becomes available to panelists. |
| End date | The date and time when the test stops being available to panelists. |
| Time zone | Shows the time zone selected in the Overview tab. To change it, go to the Overview tab and update the time zone there. |
| Incentives | Controls whether you assign incentives to panelists for taking this test. If incentives are available to your group, you can also let panelists redeem their points. |
| Automatically pause test | Pauses the test by itself once it reaches the number of complete responses you enter. This is optional and is off by default. See the section below for details. |
Control the test
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start test | Makes the test live on the panelist website. Registered panelists sign in and take the test. Anonymous panelists click a link or scan a QR code. |
| Pause test | Removes the test from the web. Panelists can no longer open the test. |
| Complete test | Marks the test as Complete when you have collected all results. This prevents accidental edits and keeps the test out of some reports. If incentives are enabled, some incentives are assigned to panelists when the test is set to Complete. |
| Undo complete | Reopens a Complete test so it can collect more results. |
| Delete results | Appears when a paused test has results. It removes the results so you can reopen the test for editing. Use this button with caution, because deleted results might be recoverable only for a short time. Changes that are not structural, such as editing text screens, do not require deleting results. |
| Reopen test for editing | Appears when a paused test has no results. Use it to make structural changes, such as adding or removing samples, questions or choices. You can update text or sample names without reopening the test. |
Share the test with panelists
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Test URL | The link panelists use to take the test. Registered panelists must sign in first and then see the list of tests available to them. For an anonymous test, the link takes panelists directly into the test, which suits lab testing and home use testing. Select Copy to clipboard to copy the link, or use the URL wildcard when inviting panelists. You can also create a QR code for an anonymous test with an online tool. |
| Test start URL | A direct link that signs registered panelists in and takes them straight into this specific test. If panelists are already signed in, the link opens the test right away. If the test is not running when panelists click the link, they land on the Home page and see their list of tests. |
✎ Note: Anonymous tests do not have a Test start URL. You can also set up booths on panelist lab devices, and the booth setup instructions are in the Overview tab of the test.
- You want panelists to add themselves to your tests automatically.
- Your lab runs several tests at the same time, and panelists can skip the full test list to avoid confusion about the order they should take tests in.
- You are not sure who can come to which test, so you add all employee panelists to all tests. Sample sets are then assigned first come, first served, which gives the best balance in the serve order without panelists entering their sample set.
- Your panelists use single sign-on (SSO), so the direct link takes them straight into the test without a sign-in prompt. Contact Compusense Support to learn more about panelist SSO.
Automatically Pause a Test
Use Automatically pause test when you need a test to stop collecting data at an exact number of complete responses. This is helpful when you set up more sample sets than you need to allow for partial responses, or when your samples are limited.
For the full details, see the Auto-pause Tests article.
Troubleshooting
I cannot start the test
Open the Run test tab and read the error in the Summary table. Fix every red error, then select Start test again. If you use Automatically pause test, the setting is invalid when the number is blank, is larger than the number of sample sets, is not a whole number greater than 0, or has already been reached by the results in the test.
I cannot change a setting
Most settings are read-only while the test is Running. Select Pause test, make your change, and then select Start test again.
A test closed before panelists finished
Check whether the End date has passed, which makes the status Expired, or whether the test paused itself after reaching its number of complete responses. In both cases you can adjust the setting and start the test again.
To learn more about the tab, watch the video in Tests: Run Test Tab.