Most research teams already have a discussion guide or questionnaire written in a document before a study begins. Rebuilding that guide inside a platform, question by question, is slow and error-prone, and it is a common reason studies slip a week. CoLab’s smart paste import turns the guide you already wrote into a structured multi-day board that you can review and edit before anything goes live.
What a discussion guide is, and why it should be portable
A discussion guide is the researcher’s plan for a study: the sequence of topics, the exact wording of key questions, probes to use if answers are thin, and the stimuli to show. It is the intellectual property of the study. Because it lives in a document, it should be portable, meaning you can move it between tools without rewriting. Import respects that.
What you do
- 1Copy your questionnaire or discussion guide from your document.
- 2Paste it into CoLab’s import.
- 3Review the board it creates, including days and question types.
- 4Adjust wording, order, or media tasks where you want.
- 5Preview, then publish.
What the import tries to preserve
- Your wording, so approved language does not drift
- Explicit rating scales, such as 1 to 5 or 0 to 10
- Single-select options when they are present
- Day structure when your guide uses Day headings
- Sensible day sequencing when headings are missing
- Empty days left empty when the paste already specifies structure
How to format a guide so it imports cleanly
- Use clear Day headings (for example, “Day 1: Context and habits”).
- Put one question per line or paragraph, numbered if you like.
- State scales explicitly, such as “Rate from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely).”
- List answer options on separate lines under single-choice questions.
- Mark media tasks plainly, such as “Take a photo of…” or “Record a 30-second video…”
Why this matters for market research
A guide is not just a list of questions. It carries a logic: what you ask first, how trust builds, when stimuli appear, and where media tasks fit. If a tool forces you to retype everything, details slip and reviews take longer. Importing from your own guide keeps your methodology intact and shortens the time between “approved guide” and “respondents in field.”
Always review before publishing
AI-assisted import is a starting point, not a substitute for researcher judgment. Check question types, scales, and the order of days. Test the board on a phone. The aim is to remove data entry, not oversight.
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| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Question types | Rating, open-end, and media tasks match your intent |
| Scales | Endpoints and labels are as written |
| Day order | Context first, stimuli after warm-up, wrap-up last |
| Length per day | Roughly ten to twenty minutes per day |
| Mobile preview | Everything is readable and tappable on a phone |
Example: a team receives a final questionnaire on Monday. Instead of spending two days recreating it, they paste it in, correct two question types, add a photo task, preview the board, and invite respondents the same afternoon.
FAQ