Please note that the Video Instruction Step is a legacy survey step and we suggest reviewing the Step Types article for a list of recommended survey step types.
A video instruction step displays a fixed video containing instructions for the participant.
| PROPERTY | FUNCTION | EXAMPLES |
| Title | Step title. | Getting Better Sleep. |
| Text | Accessibility voice-over text for the capture button. | Watch this video to get some tips on healthy sleep habits. |
| Detail Text | A second line of detailed text. | Video duration: 3 minutes. |
| Video URL |
A URL to to the video file in a format supported by ResearchKit (e.g., AIFF, MP4, MPEG, QuickTime). |
https://example.com/filename.mp4 |
| Thumbnail URL |
A static image to use as the thumbnail preview for the video. You may specify a thumbnail time or URL, but not both. For security reasons, images must be hosted on CareEvolution's servers; external links are not permitted. Contact us if you need to host an image. |
https://mydatahelps.org/thumbnail.png |
| Thumbnail Time (Seconds) |
If supported by the video format, MyDataHelps Designer will obtain a static image from the specified time marker in the video. You may specify a thumbnail time or URL, but not both. |
30 |
| Next Button Text |
Overrides the default text used for the "Next" button. |
Get Started, Proceed, Learn More, Join Now, etc. |
| Footnote |
Optional note that appears at the bottom of the step. Supports Markdown formatting. |
Conditions may apply. |
Video Tips
Here are some tips for using videos in your surveys:
- Videos used in the video instruction step must be hosted on an external site; you cannot upload a video directly to MyDataHelps Designer.
- Amazon S3 is a common choice for hosting video files. File-sharing services like Dropbox are suitable for smaller videos, but can experience significant lag loading larger files.
- You must specify a URL to a video file in a format supported by ResearchKit (e.g., AIFF, MPEG, MP4, QuickTime). Consult your file-sharing provider's documentation to find out how to get a shareable link to the original video file. For example, in Dropbox you can configure a shared link to download the original file.
- Using the YouTube step allows user to watch a public video hosted on YouTube.
- You can use an MP4 compression tool to reduce the size of your video file and reduce loading time.