How a study fits together

Four parts

A study (an experiment) has four parts:

• A chamberline is one path through the study. If the study has more than one condition, each chamberline is one condition. A chamberline is a row of chambers.
• A chamber is one group of participants. Carrier matches the group when the participants enter the chamber. The group then goes through the segments of the chamber together.
• A segment is one activity, for example a page of instructions, a chat, a vote or a survey. Segments occur in order.
• The cast is the set of participants in the chamber. The cast has human participants and can also have agents. An agent is scripted or uses AI.

In the builder

This study has one chamberline, Harbour discussion, with one chamber, Discussion. Click the chamber to open it.

The timeline on the right has three segments:

• Welcome (instructions).
• Discuss (a chat).
• Thanks (a closing page).

The cast on the left has two residents and Harbour host. Harbour host is a scripted agent. It greets the group when the chat starts.

The subsequent Basics tutorials build this study one step at a time.

Taking part

Each participant chooses a display name and then goes to the chamber. The chamber has two human slots. Thus the first participant waits on a Finding Partners screen until a second participant joins. Then the two participants go through the segments together, and the welcome page is first. In the chat, Harbour host greets them and they talk.

The participants see the names of the segments in a row across the top of the screen. They do not see the name of the chamberline. They see the name of the chamber only in a mediator or processor seat, in the panel of that seat.