A practical guide to designing and launching surveys on Prolific using AITB Collections, covering question types, CLI setup, and survey design best practices.
A Collection is a structured task you design that participants complete inside a Prolific study. It is made up of one or more pages, and each page contains instructions: the questions participants answer.
Collections are the right tool for surveys because you control exactly what questions are asked, in what order, and in what format. Unlike Batches (which are built around annotating a CSV dataset), Collections are built around free-form participant experience.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Collection | The top-level container for your survey |
| Page | A screen participants see; can hold multiple questions |
| Instruction | An individual question or input field on a page |
| Task details | Three fields shown to participants throughout the task: the title, an introduction paragraph, and a numbered step list in the sidebar |
| Template | A JSON file describing your collection, used to create or update it via the CLI |
Collections support five instruction types. For surveys, the most useful are the first three.
Single-select from a list of options, displayed as radio buttons. Use this for questions with one correct or best answer.
{
"type": "multiple_choice",
"description": "How satisfied are you overall?",
"answer_limit": 1,
"disable_dropdown": true,
"options": [
{ "label": "Very satisfied", "value": "very_satisfied" },
{ "label": "Satisfied", "value": "satisfied" },
{ "label": "Neutral", "value": "neutral" },
{ "label": "Dissatisfied", "value": "dissatisfied" }
]
}
Same as above but rendered as a dropdown menu. Better for long option lists (5+ items) or when you want a more compact layout.
{
"type": "multiple_choice",
"description": "How long have you been using Prolific?",
"answer_limit": 1,
"disable_dropdown": false,
"options": [
{ "label": "Less than 6 months", "value": "lt_6m" },
{ "label": "6–12 months", "value": "6_12m" },
{ "label": "1–2 years", "value": "1_2y" },
{ "label": "More than 2 years", "value": "gt_2y" }
]
}
Participants can select multiple options. Set answer_limit to -1 for unlimited selections, or a specific number to cap responses.
{
"type": "multiple_choice",
"description": "Which features do you use most? Select all that apply.",
"answer_limit": -1,
"disable_dropdown": true,
"options": [
{ "label": "Participant filtering", "value": "filtering" },
{ "label": "Custom screeners", "value": "screeners" },
{ "label": "Longitudinal studies", "value": "longitudinal" }
]
}
Open-ended text input. Use for qualitative questions where you want participants to answer in their own words.