> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pulselabs.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pulselabs.ai/data-capture-tools/evaluations-task-based-research.md).

# Evaluations

### What Are evaluations in Pulse Labs?

Evaluations are unmoderated assignments (e.g., watching a participant’s reactions and commentary during an activity).  Unlike interviews (which are live and moderated), evaluations scale easily — dozens of participants can complete them simultaneously without a researcher present.

You define a set of instructions and tasks, participants complete them on their own time with the ability to record their screen and camera, and you review the recordings afterward. 

Evaluations are ideal for:

* Usability and concept testing
* Discovery and validation — product, audience, features
* Competitive benchmarking
* Longitudinal studies and journey mapping
* Rolling research
* B2B and B2C

### Creating an evaluation

From your project's Data tab, select **Add Capture Series** and then select **Evaluation**. The creation flow has four steps.

#### Step 1: Session details

* **Evaluation name** — A descriptive name for this evaluation (shown to participants)
* **Estimated Session Duration** — Expected time commitment from your participants (shown to participants)

#### Step 2: Device selection

Choose which device type participants should use:

* **Desktop** — Participants complete evaluations on a computer
* **Mobile** — Participants complete evaluations on a phone or tablet
* **Any** — Participants choose their device

Device selection affects what recording options are available and how activities are presented.

#### Step 3: Media options

Select the data the system will capture during the evaluation:

* **Screenshare** — Captures the participant's screen and audio as they complete activities
* **Video recording** — Captures the participant's face and microphone (for reactions and think-aloud commentary)

You can enable either or both media options. For most evaluations, screen + video + audio gives the richest data.

**Note**: Audio is not optional for either method. If a participant doesn’t enable the microphone, then they can’t submit their submission.

#### Step 4: Setup and launch

Review your configuration. You can either:

* **Launch now** — Send the evaluation to participants immediately
* **Save as Draft** — Come back to add activities and participants later

### Designing an evaluation

When designing an evaluation, include one or more tasks for participants to complete. You have the option to include instructions for additional clarity.  

An evaluation is meant to be completed in a single session. Consider creating multiple evaluations when you require participants to complete tasks over multiple sessions

#### Adding tasks

On the Setup Evaluation dashboard, add tasks to define the sequence participants will follow. For each, you provide:

* **Task type** — Instruction or Task 
* **Title** — A short name (e.g., "Find the pricing page")
* **Description** — What the participant should do. Be specific enough that they know the goal, but not so specific that you dictate the path.

#### Adding instructions

On the Setup Evaluation dashboard, add instructions to help participants understand the tasks better or provide additional guidance. These instructions appear as popup windows that the participant must close before they can continue with the next task. You may add instructions between any tasks and place multiple instructions in a row if needed. 

#### Task flow

Tasks are presented to participants in order. You can reorder tasks by dragging them in the task list. Participants work through them sequentially, recording their response for each one.

#### Good task design

* **Be specific about the goal, not the method** — "Find a flight from New York to London for next Friday" is better than "Using the search bar, enter New York and then select London..."
* **Keep tasks independent** — Each task should be completable on its own without relying on the outcome of a previous task.
* **Use realistic scenarios** — Frame activities and tasks as things a real user would actually want to do.

### Evaluation follow-up surveys

Evaluation surveys are essentially follow-up questions or requests for additional feedback. Note that only tasks, not instructions, can have follow-up surveys. You can attach follow-up surveys to your evaluation to collect structured feedback alongside the behavioral recording.

#### Follow-up survey templates

Pulse Labs includes a collection of follow-up survey templates — pre-built survey questions for common UX metrics. You can use:

* **Workspace templates** — Created by your team for reuse across projects
* **Custom surveys** — Build your own follow-up survey from scratch

Follow-up surveys for evaluations are built and customized using the same survey builder used for the survey data capture method.

#### Attaching follow-up surveys

After saving your evaluation, you can choose to add a follow-up survey to collect additional feedback.

1. Select **Yes** to toggle on a follow-up survey for the evaluation.
2. Choose **Browse Templates** or Create **New,** which can be used once or saved as a template for future use.
3. Participants will see the follow-up survey after completing each task (or after all tasks, depending on your configuration).

### Evaluation delivery

Before launching your evaluation either immediately or on a scheduled date, you have the opportunity to edit any component of your evaluation while it’s still in draft.

### Evaluation dashboard

Once your evaluation has responses, the dashboard shows:

* **Draft card** — If still in draft, shows a **Launch** button
* **Participants table** — Each row is a participant, showing their completion status, task scores, and review status
* **Filter** — filter submissions by task or keyword and identify the participants who answered and if applicable, how those participants answered the follow-up survey questions

### Reviewing submissions: Playback view

Select a participant's submission to open the **Playback View**, the core review experience for evaluations. It has several areas working together:

#### Video player

* **Main video** — The participant's screen recording
* **Picture-in-Picture** — The participant's camera feed shows as an overlay on their screenshare (showing their face and reactions while they work)
* **Playback controls** — Play and pause

#### Transcript

Below the video, a synchronized transcript shows what the participant said during the recording:

* **Timestamped lines** — Select any line to jump to that moment in the video
* **Search** — Find specific words or phrases across the transcript
* **Auto-scroll** — The transcript follows the video playback position
* **Resizable** — Drag to adjust how much space the transcript takes up

#### Progress bar with bookmarks

The video progress bar shows colored markers indicating where each task begins and ends. Select any marker to jump directly to that task's recording.

### Analytics

The evaluation includes built-in analytics:

* **Participant summaries** — How each participant responded across all tasks
* **Task summaries** — All participant responses for each task
* **Progress tracking** — Which participants have completed which tasks
* **Response versioning** — Track revisions and resubmissions

### Tips

* **Always enable screen + camera + audio** — Screen shows what they did, camera shows their reaction, audio captures think-aloud commentary. The combination is far richer than any single source.
* **Be cognizant of task length** — Longer tasks can lead to participant fatigue and lower-quality data.
* **Use the transcript search** — Instead of watching entire recordings, search for keywords related to pain points (e.g., "confused", "where is", "can't find").
* **Leverage task bookmarks** — Use the progress bar markers to jump directly to specific tasks instead of scrubbing through the whole recording.
* **Request revisions, don't exclude** — If a submission has issues but the participant did their best, ask for a revision rather than throwing it out.
* **Build a template library** — If your team runs similar evaluations often, save your rating surveys as workspace templates for reuse.

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