Set up a diary study

Details and limitations

Diary studies work well for longitudinal research such as daily journaling, experience sampling, habit tracking, and multi-wave evaluations where the same participants respond over time. Set up a diary study from the survey editor at Settings > Responses > Repeat as a diary study.

Each day in the study gets its own survey assignment from a day-by-day calendar, with up to 60 days. In many studies, the same survey repeats every day. Choose it once and it fills the remaining calendar. Change only the days that should ask something different. You can also add an optional intake survey for baseline data, demographics, or consent before day 1, and an optional exit survey for final reflections or an overall assessment after the last day. Both must be different from each other and from every day’s survey.

Once the study is active, participants are automatically enrolled when they complete the intake survey, or the first wave if there is no intake. Each enrolled participant gets a unique smart link (/d/<token>) that stays the same for the rest of the study. The link routes to the current wave, the exit survey, or a waiting page between waves, so participants do not need a new link after enrollment. The first completion must carry a participant identity. Anonymous completions do not create a participant smart link.

The compliance grid gives you a quick view of who completed each wave. The color-coded cells help you spot missed or late waves. The Done so far column shows each participant’s completion record for waves that are already due.

Wave scheduling supports daily or weekly cadence with timezone-aware timing. Set an open time and an optional deadline to define each wave’s response window. The study detail page polls every 30 seconds to keep statuses current.

By default, each participant gets a personal wave calendar based on when they enrolled. This lets staggered or batched recruitment still give each participant the full study. Someone who joins a week late is not measured against another participant’s earlier wave dates. Switch to a shared calendar instead if you want everyone on the same wave dates no matter when they joined. In that setup, a late joiner starts on the current wave and misses earlier ones.

Completion bonus tracking: You can set an optional per-study bonus amount in USD, up to $1,000, for participants who complete every wave. The compliance grid tracks eligibility automatically. Each participant appears as Eligible, Not eligible, or On track. Pay the bonus through your panel provider or your usual compensation process. QuestionPunk tracks who earned it, but does not disburse payments directly.

Scheduled Prolific batches: Connect your own Prolific API key in Settings. After activating the diary and enrolling participants, use Prolific batches > Set up batch. Choose a workspace and project, select enrolled participants, review every check-in and wrap-up window, and approve a spending limit and submission policy. Each batch has its own full calendar. Prolific bills your account directly; QuestionPunk charges no fee and deducts no credits. Verified automatic approvals require a completed response matching the participant, Prolific study and session. Pause, reschedule and cancel remain pending until Prolific confirms them. Automation must be enabled for your environment; if unavailable, the card explains this. Closing the diary still allows existing submissions to finish approval review.