What is it?  A questionnaire designed to qualify whether potential research participants are eligible for a study based on the research goals. It is a filtering process based on a set of criteria that define the desired target audience and is a key first step in the recruiting process before they can be included in the research.

When is it best used? It is important to start with the right questions on the screener in order to recruit the right participants for a study. In both qualitative and quantitative research the screener is designed to weed out those who do not meet the target audience criteria for the study, and identify those who do qualify. 

In qualitative research it is a separate questionnaire used as part of the recruitment process, while for quantitative research, screener questions are usually built-in up front in the survey questionnaire to prevent unqualified respondents from progressing with the full survey question set.

What does it entail?  Screener design is an art and a science, and must be thought through carefully, to not only qualify those you want to include in the study, but also to exclude those who do not qualify, or who might provide misleading information. 

It starts with identifying the screening criteria, which are a list of the qualities and attributes of the audience you want to include, and or exclude, in your study. These might include demographic and geographic data, relationship to the study topic, psychographic factors, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics, and more.

Once the profile is defined, the questions and response options are authored and tested. There are different types of question formats to consider (binary questions, multi-select, ranking, open text field, card sorting, Likert scale, and more). 

When designing your screener, key considerations include: Posing questions in the right sequence, (typically presenting them in the order of importance relative to the required participation criteria,) short and direct wording; avoiding jargon, double negatives, double barreled questions; and mitigating any biases. Brevity is also important. 

Ten screener questions, or fewer, is a best practice as is taking the respondents' user experience into consideration (i.e. how your response format appears on different devices, providing a progress bar or average completion time, etc.). Other factors include avoiding people in the study industry or a related industry, study timing, incentive, access to specific devices/platforms, education level, articulation question/video, etc.

Screeners are often programmed into a survey software but can also be used as a live script for phone screening or in-person intercept recruiting. In qualitative research, respondents who meet the criteria are identified, their responses are evaluated and prioritized, before scheduling occurs to participate in the research study. 

Interchangeable term: Survey screener, screening questionnaire

Use in a sentence: We used a screener to identify and ensure we had the right mix of participants for our upcoming study which was key to the success of the project.

Related terms: Sample / Sampling, recruiting / recruitment, participant pool

Visual: No

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