Screener writing is not an innate skill.

Being good at it requires great knowledge of human psychology and/or using a great methodology.

It can seem pretty easy at first, but once you realize all the biases and implications that each question can raise, it becomes trickier than expected. There are many different ways to articulate questions and to phrase each one of them.

A good screener can:

• save time and resources by spending time with the right users
• avoid a lot of bias in your research results
• enhance the relevance of your insights

A screener can be used at all steps of the research process and for different types of studies: for quantitative and qualitative research, for interviews and surveys etc. It is necessary even if you are working with already known testers: you need to check the data hasn’t changed since you first gathered it so that you are sure testers correspond to your target.

To help you enhance your research with good screeners we have written an extensive and exhaustive guide: the ultimate guide to screener writing.

In this guide, you will learn:

• What is a screener? how and when to use them?
• What are the characteristics of a good screener?
• What are the steps to create a good screener?
• How to deal with behavioral, emotional and demographic criteria?

In the guide, we use the specific use case of a mobile network operator with examples for each step of the process. Whatever your business is, it will help understand how to adapt each step to your specific needs and requirements.

Here is the outline of the guide:

• Pre-requisite: define your study’s target
• Behavioral criteria
• About future behaviors
• Emotional criteria
• Demographic criteria
• How to build a good screener?
• Foreword: Why is it not enough to ask “Have you ever bought/done/taken…?”
• Characteristics of a good screener
• 4 steps to build a good screener
• Define the structure of your screener
• Carefully choose your questions and answers
• Rephrase each question
• Test it!
• A screener example
• Coming soon: screener question database

A few examples of what you’ll find in the guide:

• how to prioritize behavioral, emotional and demographic criteria to select testers
• how to measure emotional criteria to limit bias
• how to avoid individual interpretation of your questions
• how to avoid dishonest answers
• how to articulate your questions (which ones to put first)
• how to use logic to ask only the right questions
• how to choose between different question types
• how to phrase questions to avoid bias
• how to test your screener

The guide also includes a full examples of a screener with 13 questions.

Using this guide, you will have a clear idea of how to screen the right testers for your study. We hope this helps you find the right testers for your study and create loved products.

+ a Screener Questions Database

The guide features a database of ready-to-use questions for your screener following the best practices we have just presented you in this guide.

Access read-to-use screener questions on 20 different topics including:

🔢 age, gender, location, localisation, family situation

💼 education level, professional situation, occupation, company size, industry

🧩 hobbies and interests, frequency of use, preferences, level of involvement

⚙️ location check, availability check, internet check, availability check, NDA request

Copy paste or adapt screener questions to your study to gather feedback faster without bias.

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