Creating a Study

Every new Labvanced study starts with the Create New Study wizard. The wizard walks you through three steps: study settings, selecting blocks from the library, and configuring each block's tasks. You can skip the wizard at any point by clicking Create Empty, which opens the study editor immediately.

Opening the wizard

In the My Studies tab, click New Study. The Create New Study dialog opens at Step 1.

Step 1: Study Setup

Set the default properties for your study. All of these can be changed later in Settings.

Study Name: The identifier used in your account and, depending on your settings, visible to participants. Defaults to New Study.

Study Language: The language used for built-in participant-facing text: navigation buttons, system messages, and other UI strings generated by Labvanced. This does not affect content you author in frames or tasks.

Background Color: The default frame background color across all tasks. Individual frames can override this.

Button Colors: Two color settings:

• Main Button-Color: the default color for all participant-facing navigation and action buttons.
• Button Hover-Color: the color applied when participants hover over a button.

Layout & Device Settings

Select the display format for your study frames. This applies to all tasks by default and can be adjusted per task in the editor.

Selecting Custom Layout reveals three additional fields:

• Display Mode: How the frame dimensions are interpreted. Options: Zoom / Adaptive, Fixed in Visual Degree, Fixed in Millimeter, Fixed in Pixels.
• Width and Height: Frame dimensions in the unit determined by Display Mode.

Web Bridge (beta)

If your account has beta access, a Track External Website: checkbox appears below the layout options. Enabling it switches the creation flow to website-tracking mode, activating the Labvanced Web Bridge browser extension. This is an advanced configuration for tracking behavior on external websites during a study session.

Step 1 navigation

Two buttons appear at the bottom of Step 1:

• Create Empty: creates the study immediately with your Step 1 settings and opens it in the study editor, skipping Steps 2 and 3. Use this when you plan to build the study structure manually in the editor. See Skipping the wizard below.
• Next: Add Blocks: advances to Step 2.

Step 2: Add Blocks

Step 2 was added to the wizard in Q2 2026. Previously, blocks could only be added manually in the Study Design tab after the study was created.

Step 2 lets you build an initial block structure by selecting pre-built blocks from the Labvanced library. You can combine library blocks with optional start/end blocks and a custom experimental task slot.

Selecting blocks from the library

1. Browse the block library grid. Click a row to select a block.
2. Click Add Block. The block appears in the Your Study Will Include These Blocks: summary panel on the right.
3. Repeat for any additional blocks you want to include.

To remove a block from the selection, click the remove icon next to it in the summary panel.

Additional Options

Two checkboxes appear below the Add Block button:

• Include study start & end blocks (intro, questionnaires, outro): adds a Study Start block (introduction + initial questionnaire) and a Study End block (final questionnaire + outro) automatically. These appear as the first and last blocks in the summary panel.
• Add a custom experimental task (you can use the CSV/task wizard to customize it): adds a main block containing one custom experimental task. You configure it using the task wizard after the study is created.

You can combine library blocks with either or both checkboxes.

Step 2 navigation

• Back: returns to Step 1. Your block selections are preserved.
• Next: Confirm Blocks & Tasks: advances to Step 3.

Step 3: Configure Blocks and Tasks

Step 3 shows the blocks you selected in Step 2 and lets you name them, reorder them, and configure the tasks inside each one. Participants complete blocks from top to bottom. Branching and randomization can be added later in the editor.

Block controls

Each block shows a Block Name: field and reorder arrows. Blocks imported from the library show their library metadata (name, author, categories, description) and cannot have tasks added or removed here.

Between blocks, and at the bottom of the list, two buttons let you insert additional blocks:

• + Add Block: inserts a new empty block at that position.
• + Import Block: inserts a block imported from the library at that position.

Task controls

Each non-imported block shows its task list. Each task row has:

• Task Name:: the internal name for the task.
• Type:: the task type. Options:
  • Instructions: a frame-based task for written instructions or consent content.
  • Questionnaire: a frame-based task for survey questions.
  • Experimental Task: launches the task wizard after the study is created to configure the trial structure.
  • Custom: a blank task for any other purpose.
• Frames: (Instructions, Questionnaire, and Custom types only): the number of frames (pages) to create in the task.
• Navigation: (Instructions, Questionnaire, and Custom types only): how participants move between frames. Options: Off, Forward Only, Forward & Backward.

Note: Frames and Navigation do not appear for Experimental Task tasks because their internal structure is configured in the task wizard, not here.

To add a task inside a block, click + Task below any existing task, or use the + Task button in an empty block. To remove a task, click the remove icon on its row.

Step 3 navigation

• Back: returns to Step 2.
• Next: creates the study with all configured blocks and tasks and opens it in the study editor. If any task is set to Experimental Task, the task wizard launches immediately to configure that task's trial structure.

Skipping the wizard: Create Empty

Clicking Create Empty on Step 1 creates the study immediately using only your Step 1 settings and opens the study editor. No blocks or tasks are pre-created.

Use this path if you want to build the study structure entirely from scratch in the Study Design tab, or if you are importing a complete study structure from an existing template.