Stimulus Comprehension & Manipulation Check Assessment
A research-grade instrument for verifying that experimental participants correctly perceived, understood, and interpreted a presented stimulus. Designed for researchers conducting experiments who need to validate manipulation fidelity and comprehension before analyzing dependent variables.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
Did the stimulus (image, text, or video) display correctly on your device?
- Yes
- No
Which of the following topics best describes the stimulus you viewed?
- Environmental impact
- Personal finance
- Health behavior change
- Product or service promotion
- Public policy or government
- Not sure / Don't remember
Which of the following best describes how the information in the stimulus was presented?
- Focused on data or statistics
- Focused on a personal story
- A mix of data and personal story
- Neutral or purely informational
- Not sure
Overall, how clear was the stimulus?
Based on your responses in this survey, is there anything else about your experience with the stimulus or this study that you would like to share?
What is your age?
- 18–24
- 25–34
- 35–44
- 45–54
- 55–64
- 65 or older
- Prefer not to say
Thank you for participating! Your responses have been recorded and will be used for research purposes only. You may now close this window.
Please describe what went wrong with the display (e.g., blank screen, audio not playing, image not loading).
In your own words, what was the main message of the stimulus you viewed?
What position or stance did the stimulus communicate?
- Promoted a behavior or idea
- Discouraged a behavior or idea
- Neutral / No clear stance
- Not sure
How persuasive did you find the stimulus?
We'd like to explore your thoughts about the stimulus a bit further. An AI moderator will ask you a couple of brief follow-up questions about your understanding and reactions.
What is your gender?
- Woman
- Man
- Non-binary
- Another gender identity
- Prefer not to say
What action, if any, did the stimulus suggest you take?
- Sign a petition
- Share with others
- Donate money
- Make a personal change
- No specific action
- Not sure
How personally relevant was the stimulus to you?
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
- Less than high school
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Some college
- Associate degree
- Bachelor's degree
- Graduate or professional degree
- Prefer not to say
If the stimulus included visuals, how helpful were they for understanding the message?
Which region do you primarily live in?
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- Latin America / Caribbean
- Middle East / North Africa
- North America
- Oceania
- Prefer not to say
Please rank the following elements by how much each influenced your understanding of the stimulus (drag the most influential to the top).
- Headline or text
- Statistics or figures
- Imagery or visuals
- Source or brand
- Tone or word choice
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
Why this template
What this template is built to do — we found no directly comparable template from other survey tools to review.
What sets it apart
- Opens with a technical stimulus-display check (multiple choice) plus an open-text follow-up to capture exactly what went wrong (blank screen, no audio, etc.) before comprehension data is even analyzed
- Uses layered multiple-choice items on topic, main message, suggested action, and communicated stance to triangulate whether participants actually understood the intended manipulation, not just whether they clicked through it
- Opinion scales on clarity, persuasiveness, personal relevance, and visual helpfulness quantify manipulation strength, and a ranking question isolates which stimulus elements drove comprehension
- Includes an adaptive AI follow-up interview to probe ambiguous or low-comprehension responses in participants' own words, plus demographics and an auto-generated report for fast manipulation-check writeups
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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