Adding Sessions

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Table of Contents

1. Session overview
2. General settings for sessions
3. Grouped sessions
   1. Creating Groups
   2. Grouped session modes
   3. Removing groups
4. Session reminders
5. Deleting sessions
6. CSV / Batch Session Management
   1. Batch Session Creation
   2. Bulk Updates in Session Lists
   3. Bulk Deleting

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1. Session overview

When you open an experiment you will get to the "Sessions" tab. This page provides an overview of all sessions for the selected experiment.

For each session there are three buttons.

• The first one "edit" opens a form similar to the form for the creation of sessions, but the fields are filled with the known data.

• The second one "participants" opens a page that shows which users are registered for the session.

It is possible to switch between these two options through tabs on the corresponding subpages.

• The third button "Actions" opens a menu with at least three options:

• "Duplicate" creates a new session and fills all data fields with the data from the origin session. Since most sessions of an experiment are similar except their time and date, this is a quicker way than adding each session individually.

• "Delete" deletes a session. It is not possible to delete a session with participants.

• "Token management" sends you to "Token configuration"

• In case the session can be grouped with other session, buttons for each possible grouping appear.

Create new sessions

New sessions can be created with the button "create new session" in the sessions tab of each experiment. When creating a session, all applicable parent experiment settings (admission type, payout rules, online/waiting room parameters, instructions) are automatically pre-filled and marked with a retweet icon (glyphicon-retweet). See Experiment and Session Inheritance for details.

2. General settings for sessions

There are several settings in the "Options" tab of each session. These settings are used to show the session in the calendar and fill invitation email etc. with the relevant information. It is stated explicitly, when they are displayed to the participants during the sign up process.

At this point it is possible to change data of a session. It is possible to reschedule a session with participants, but there is no automatic mail to the participants.

• Basic Information

  • Start date (mandatory field!)

    Date of the session. Shown during sign up.

  • Start time (mandatory field!)

    Start time of the session. Shown during sign up.

  • Duration in minutes (mandatory field!)

    Duration indicates hows how long the session will be for the participants. Up to 240 minutes the time interval is 15 minutes, other durations are 360, 720 and 1440 minutes. The duration is used to calculate the time when the session ends. This end time is shown during sign up.

  • Location

    Room of the experiment.

  • Public Name

    Name displayed to the participants.

• Participant Configuration

  • Target Participants (mandatory field!)

  • Reserve participants (mandatory field!)

    How many additional pool members can register to ensure that there will be enough participants for the sessions, even if not all registered pool members show up. How many reserve participants should be invited is a matter of experience and cannot be answered here.

  • Group Size (mandatory field!)

    Group size goes up to 20

  • Category (only relevant to Mix & Match)

• Text & Desciptions

  • Description

    Description is internal and can hold a description of the session for experimenters. It is shown only in the options page of the session.

  • Information for participants

    Information which is displayed to the participants when they register for the session. It can contain additional criteria, or other information for the participants.

  • Instructions

  • Remarks

• Registration & Deadlines

  • Open registration for this session

    Is a check-box, if disabled no one can register for the session.

  • Registration deadline

    Input here overrides the experiment setting.

  • Admission Type

    Manages with what methods the participants are admissioned.

  • Preparation Time (mandatory field!)

    Time for preparing the lab in minutes. 5 minute intervals from zero up to 60 minutes. This time is not shown in the calendar, but will be used to check for collisions.

  • Wrap-up Time (mandatory field!)

    Time for i.e. cleaning the lab in minutes. 5 minute intervals from zero up to 60 minutes. This time is not shown in the calendar, but will be used to check for collisions.

• Finance & Accounting

  • Payment Type

    Defines how participants are to be payed.

  • Payment Type for Donations

    Defines how donations are to be payed.

  • Cash Desk Payment (check-box)

  • Expected Session Payout

    Input field for average expected payout.

  • Show payout amount

  • Payout Round Up

  • Session Payout Increase

  • Budget

• Token Configuration

• Treatment

• Team Assignment

  Use this setting to assign Experimenters.

3. Grouped sessions

Grouped sessions can be used to either randomize the participants into sessions or for experiments where the same pool members have to participate at more then one session.

Grouped sessions have to be created like every other session.

1. Creating Groups

If there are at least tow sessions with no participants signed up in an experiment. The option "Group this session with ..." is made available under Actions in the sessions overview. The sessions are then shown as "Group 1". If there are any sessions left, they will be shown as ungrouped above the first group. Ungrouped session can now be added to a group with the Actions button or grouped with another ungrouped session to another group. Which will then be shown as "Group 2" below the first one. And so on. Once there is at least one participant in any session of a group you can not add sessions to this group.

2. Grouped session modes

Once you have at least one session group, mode buttons appear above the session list. The modes apply to all grouped sessions of the experiment:

• Randomised (Zufallszuordnung):

  • Description: Users are randomly placed within a session in a selected group.
  • Workflow: When signing up for a session group, the user agrees to participate in any session of the group. The system automatically assigns them to a session with open capacity, aiming to distribute participants evenly across all sessions of the group. They receive a confirmation and reminders only for their assigned session.
  • Note: Since participants can deregister, they could theoretically cancel and sign up again to attempt to get their preferred slot.

• All (Kopplung):

  • Description: Users are registered for all sessions within the group.
  • Workflow: This is used for multi-part studies where the same participants must attend all session parts. When registering, the participant is automatically registered for every session in the group and receives a confirmation listing all parts, as well as reminders for each.

• Mix & Match (Kategorien):

  • Description: Users choose exactly one session from each category within the group.
  • Workflow: Sessions within the group are categorized (using the category attribute, e.g., "Part 1", "Part 2"). The participant must pick one slot that suits their schedule from each of the available categories to complete their signup.

Once there is a participant in any session of a group it is not possible to change the mode.

3. Removing groups

If there are no participants in any session of a group the sessions get an option "Remove from group", which will move the session to ungrouped sessions. If there would be left only one session in the group it will be moved to ungrouped sessions as well. You have to remove sessions from a group before you can delete them.

4. Session reminders

From a sessions Options tab is the Session reminders tab available. Usually reminders are managed on an experiment level and configured during creation of the experiment. With this feature you are able to manage the reminders on the session level. When sesstion level reminders are activated, they overwrite experiment wide reminders.

After activating the check box which enables the automatic reminder email, there are three fields to configure the reminder emails.

• The time in hours before the session begins to send out the email.

• The subject of the email.

• The body of the email.

How to use the email features of hroot is described in Sending out messages

5. Deleting sessions

Sessions can be deleted only when there are no participants signed up for it and they are not grouped with other sessions. Then it is possible to delete them with the "Delete" option in "Actions" on the session overview page or with the "Delete" button on the top of the sessions page itself. This button is only shown, when it is possible to delete the session.

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6. CSV / Batch Session Management

Starting with version 4.0, hroot allows creating and managing multiple sessions in bulk using the Batch Session features.

1. Batch Session Creation

Experimenters can quickly instantiate and configure multiple sessions at once by navigating to the experiment's sessions tab, clicking on the arrow next to create new session and pressing create batch session (sessions/batch_new).

Interactive Input Grid

The interface provides a dynamic grid/table where rows representing individual sessions can be added or manipulated:

• Add Session: Adds a new session row to the table.
• Fields per Row:
  • Date: The date of the session.
  • Time: The start time of the session.
  • Treatment: Lists all treatments configured for the experiment. Each treatment has a checkbox to enable it for this session and a number input for the target participant count. If multiple treatments are checked, the system automatically distributes the total needed participants among them (adjustable manually).
  • Category: Only relevant for Mix & Match group sign-up mode (participants must register for exactly one session from each category).
  • Token Source: Choose the participant token source. If set to upload, a file upload input appears to attach the token file directly to that row.

Selection and Grouping

Sessions in the grid can be grouped together using the checkboxes on the left:

• Group Selected: Groups the checked sessions into a SessionGroup (assigned a distinct background color and group badge like Group 1, Group 2, etc.).
• Ungroup Selected: Removes the grouping mapping for the checked sessions.
• Delete Selected: Removes the selected rows from the batch creation list.

Bulk Edit Modal

To quickly apply identical settings to multiple sessions in the grid, check the sessions and click Bulk Edit. This opens a modal to specify:

• Location: Predefined venue/room for the selected sessions.
• Duration: Length of the sessions in minutes.
• Needed & Reserve: Total target and reserve participant counts.
• Payout Settings: Session payout amount, currency/payment types, rounding rules, and payout additions.
• Setup/Teardown Times: Pre-session and post-session staff prep times.
• Bulk Treatment Allocation: Enable specific treatments and distribute count splits across the selected sessions simultaneously.

Once finalized, clicking Save Batch verifies all sessions, checks for room collisions, and creates the sessions in bulk.

2. Bulk Updates in Session Lists

If multiple existing sessions need adjustment, you can check multiple sessions from the main sessions list and apply bulk actions:

• Location & Duration: Update the venue and length of all checked sessions.
• Participation limits: Adjust target needed/reserve capacities.
• Payout configuration: Set payout values, payment types (currencies), or rounding logic.
• Re-allocate Treatments: Recalculate target splits across checked sessions.

3. Bulk Deleting

Select multiple sessions from the index list to delete them in a single batch. The system will automatically run safety checks to prevent deletion of sessions that already contain participants, waiting lists, file uploads, or pending emails.