Using Surveys for Compliance Confirmation - More than data collection

Use surveys in Storylines to confirm participant adherence to study tasks.

Use Mosio Storylines with the Text Message Surveys module to confirm that participants are completing study tasks, not just to collect data.

What is compliance confirmation?

Compliance confirmation is a self-reported way to track participant adherence. You prompt the participant to do something (take medication, complete a journal entry, click a survey link), and they reply Y to confirm they've done it.

This is different from using Mosio for formal data capture. The goal here isn't the answer itself, it's knowing that the participant actually completed the task you asked them to do.

Alert vs. Survey: which one do you need?

Storylines lets you send two types of automated messages. Choosing the right one depends on whether you need a response back.

Send an Alert when you only need to remind the participant to do something and no reply is needed.

> Example: "Time to take your medication."

Send a Survey when you need the participant to reply back confirming the action is complete. A one-question Yes/No survey is usually all you need.

> Example: "Time to take your medication. Reply Y when you've taken it."

The Survey version is what makes compliance confirmation possible, because the reply gives Mosio something to track (and something to follow up on when it doesn't come in).

Common use cases

Compliance confirmation surveys work for almost any action you want a participant to take and report back on:

- Medication adherence and dosing reminders
- Journaling or diary entries
- Walking, breathing exercises, meditation, or other assigned activities
- Reading intervention or educational messages
- Clicking a link to complete an external survey in Qualtrics, REDCap, or another data capture tool

In every case, the participant does the thing, then replies Y to let the study team know it's done.

Example: confirming external survey completion

One of the most common setups is sending participants a link to a Qualtrics or REDCap survey, then asking them to reply Y when they've finished it.

Here's what that one-question survey looks like in Mosio:

> Please click on the link below and complete the survey. Reply Y when you are done to let us know you've completed it.
>
> https://qualtricslink.com/?RecordID=%ppt_id%

The `%ppt_id%` in the URL is a Project Variable. Mosio replaces it with each participant's unique ID at send time, so every person receives a link tied to their own record in Qualtrics. That way responses on the data capture side can be matched back to the right participant automatically.

Unresponsive Participant Actions (aka "Nudges")

This is where compliance confirmation really earns its keep.

Because the Survey is expecting a reply, Mosio knows when a participant hasn't responded. You can set up automatic follow-ups (nudges) to run when that happens.

If a participant doesn't reply Y within a window you define (for example, two hours), Mosio can automatically:

- Email your team
- Send a different reminder message
- Send a different reminder message + resend the question
- Resend the question
- Mark that survey as Complete
-- Or a combination of all of those nudges.

This turns a simple "did you do it?" prompt into a full adherence workflow, without anyone on the study team having to manually check who responded and who didn't.

When compliance confirmation is a good fit

If your study team cares about knowing that participants actually completed the tasks they were assigned, and not just about collecting formal survey responses, this approach gives you a lightweight tracking layer on top of whatever the participant is already supposed to be doing. And when someone falls behind, the follow-ups happen on their own.

Need help setting this up for your study?

If you'd like hands-on help configuring compliance confirmation Surveys, Project Variables, or unresponsive participant actions for your specific study design, consider adding Setup Assistance Services to your order. You'll find it under Extras on our pricing page.

VIDEO

This video explains how to use Mosio Storylines to send compliance confirmation reminders—text messages that prompt participants to confirm they’ve completed required actions, like taking medication or filling out a journal. By using a simple one-question survey, you can track adherence and trigger follow-ups using Mosio’s unresponsive participant tools. It’s a flexible way to boost accountability and improve study compliance without relying on formal data capture.

Transcript:

0:01

 

Alright, we're going to talk about what I call compliance confirmation reminders. So with storylines, storylines are great for automating messages, uh, in the system and so you can send an alert or a message if you need someone to confirm that they've taken action.

0:16

 

Then what you can do on the MOSIO side of things is actually you'll do a survey inside of MOSIO where you're having them confirm that they've actually taken that action.

0:25

 

So for example, if you want them to take their medicine, fill out a journal, click on a link, and you just, need them to do that, that would be an alert.

0:35

 

If you want them to take their medicine, complete a journal, or click on a link, and then reply to let you know they've done so, then that would be a one question survey inside of MOSIO.

0:46

 

The benefit of doing that is that you can then send those individual surveys. You can send the command, the request, um, the action or the link in a survey, and then you can also use nudges or unresponsive participant actions.

1:02

 

So let's say you wanted to use, let's say you wanted to send a link to, uh, external software, uh, data capture software.

1:09

 

You could send that link as a survey question and say, hey, it's time to take your, it's time to complete the survey.

1:16

 

Please reply why to let us know you've done so. And then they reply why, um, after either after they click the link, after they take the survey, um, you could actually set up a nudge.

1:25

 

So if they haven't replied why to let you know that they've done so, then, uh, you could say, hey, if they haven't done it in two hours, then you can send an alert, resend the question, email staff, all the normal survey functions.

1:37

 

Inside of MOSIO exists. So in this capacity, you're not using MOSIO for data collection purposes, you're actually using the surveys for them to confirm that they've complied, that they've been adherent with the activities or the actions that are required in that particular study.

1:53

 

We're getting tracking, but um, some clients are interested in knowing that the subjects did the thing that they need them to do, and it could be applied to any number of actions that you need over the course of the study.