Step Types

The MyDataHelps Designer survey editor provides a number of types of steps you can use in your surveys.

The following sections summarize the different step types. Details on how to configure and use these steps can be found in the individual step type articles.

Common Steps

These steps are typically the backbone of a MyDataHelps survey, providing instructions and capturing participant responses.

Step Type	Summary
Instruction	Presents simple text content.
Question	Presents a single question and saves the response.
Form	Presents multiple questions in a single step and saves the responses.
Consent	A step that includes informed consent information and allows for participants to give consent to participate in the study and provide a digital signature indicating consent into the study.

Specialized Steps

These steps have scenario-specific uses.

Step Type	Summary
Visual Consent	This legacy step is still available, but we recommend using the Consent Step Type instead.
Consent Review	This legacy step is still available, but we recommend using the Consent Step Type instead.
Countdown	Provides the participant with a countdown in seconds. Once the countdown is complete, it will automatically move to the next step.
Image Capture	Prompts the participant to take a picture with their device's camera and saves the image.
Web View	If you need functionality beyond what the basic steps provide, you can use HTML, CSS, and Javascript to create your own custom step.
YouTube	Present users with an embedded YouTube video.
End of Survey	A step that allows you to display information to the participant at the end of their survey, after their results have been submitted. Once a participant reaches this step, they can no longer go back or edit their survey responses.
Celebration	A step that presents simple text content, with a confetti animation. This is commonly used at the end of a survey to celebrate completion of the task.
Connect EHR	Allows a participant to connect their electronic health record (EHR). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data must be enabled to use this step type.
Connect Device	Allows a participant to connect their Fitbit, Garmin, or Omron device. The correct sensor data collection must be enabled in order to use this step type. See Connecting Sensor Data for more.

Active Tasks

MyDataHelps Active Tasks require their own separate surveys. They are not step types. See Active Tasks for details.

Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs)

MyDataHelps EMAs require their own separate surveys. They are not step types. See Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) for details.

Additional Topics

You may also want to review:

Participant Fields - Describes how to use demographic, identifier, and custom fields in your survey steps.
Setting Demographic & Custom Fields From Survey Answers - Describes how to save an answer value into a participant demographic like age or address.