The screener

A screener is an optional set of questions shown before the card sort, used to qualify or disqualify participants and to manage quotas. Build it in the study's Screener tab. If you add no questions, participants go straight to the sort.

Question types

Each question can be marked Required, and choice/matrix questions can be set to Randomize option order (with specific options locked in place if you want, e.g. "Other").

Qualifying logic

On choice questions, give each option a role:

• No effect: just collects the answer.
• Qualifying: the participant must pick at least one qualifying option in that question, or they're screened out.
• Disqualify: picking this option screens them out.
• Must select: they must pick this specific option, or they're screened out.

Other controls:

• Mutually exclusive: selecting this option clears the others (e.g. "None of these").
• Number range: on number questions, set min and/or max; answers outside the range screen out. Leave both blank for no screening.
• Matrix Pass / Gate: mark scale columns as a Pass (acceptable answer) and mark statement rows as a Gate (must be answered with a Pass column, or screen out). A gated matrix needs at least one Pass column.
• Conditional display ("show if"): show a question only if a specific option was chosen on an earlier question. Hidden questions never affect qualification.

Quotas

Cap how many qualified participants can choose a given option.

• Set a quota on an option as a count (absolute number) or a percent (of your Target responses).
• When a quota fills, new participants who'd select that option get the "study full" outcome instead of proceeding.

Import a screener with Graham

Already have a screener in a document? Use Import with Graham (a paid feature, Individual plan and up).

• Upload a .docx or .pdf (max 5 MB).
• Graham reads it and produces a draft: questions, types, qualifying/disqualify rules, ranges, quotas, matrix gating, conditional logic.
• You review the draft and apply it. Nothing is added until you confirm. If the document has multiple sections, you can tell it which one to use.

What participants see

The screener opens with "A few quick questions." Required questions are marked. Conditional questions appear/hide based on earlier answers. Qualifying is always re-checked on our servers, so the rules can't be bypassed.

Outcomes

After the screener a participant is either qualified (continues to the sort) or:

• Screened out: didn't match the criteria. Reasons tracked for your funnel: disqualified option, missed a required option, no qualifying option, number out of range, or a failed matrix gate.
• Study full: a quota or your overall target was reached.