USER GUIDE

PLEASE NOTE the following bug: When you add multiple new questions or sort old added questions in a question set, sometimes it shows duplicate or wrong questions to that you have created. Refresh the screen to get rid of ghost questions. Be aware of this especially before deleting any questions, so you will not loose anything you do not want.

This user guide is for registered users of the Futures Consciousness Profile Database. It outlines the functions available through the User Dashboard.

Password

If you have lost your password, or your password does not work for some reason, you can get a new password through here: password_reset. Please let us know if you have odd problems regularly with your password by sending us an email at fcprofile@utu.fi.

Dashboard Overview

In the User Dashboard you can create and manage new survey groups, configure and manage custom survey question sets, carry out surveys to your selected group of respondents and edit your user profile. This guide will outline the main functions available to you.

MY SURVEYS

This is where you make and manage test groups and assign them the surveys you want them to respond to.

Create a new test group

When creating a test group you will be asked a series of specific questions. Completing them carefully allows us and you to use the collected data for comparisons with other data gathered in the database.

Test type

When creating a new survey, there are four different test types that you can use. These types differ mainly with regards to the anonymity of the test takers and how many times the respondents are invited to take the test.

      • One-time test – this is a typical Futures Consciousness test setup. Respondents are anonymous, and each respondent contributes one set of responses to the database.
      • Pre & Post test THIS OPTION DOES NOT YET WORK PROPERLY, PLEASE DO NOT SELECT IT – in this case the respondents take the test twice, for example once before a course on future thinking and the again after it. Note! The respondents only receive a visualisation of their results after the post test. The link to the post test, that test takers receive via email after doing the pre test, will only become active after a duration set by the user on this page. IF YOU WANT TO CARRY OUT PRE/POST TEST, we recommend to use the one-time test for two times and add a question where the respondents will fill an ID code. This code could be created in a way they only can do it but does not allow personal recognition. For example, filling in two last letters of their first name, birthday date in two digits and the number of letters in their name. So, for John Smith born 12 March the code would be hn129. It is important that they will be able to fill in the same code the second time they fill in the survey.
      • One-time test or pre & post test with known respondents THIS OPTION DOES NOT YET WORK PROPERLY, PLEASE DO NOT SELECT IT – some users may be interested in using the survey tool to record and analyse the futures consciousness of individuals within a test group, for example in combination with interviews. In this case, the anonymization of test takers may need to be circumvented by the user with the participant’s express permission. Choosing this option will allow a researcher to generate personal keys associated with particular email address, which can then be saved as a CSV file. This is generated one time only and must be saved by the user. The Futures Consciousness Profile Database does not copy or store this data.
      • PLEASE NOTE: If you want a survey with no group identification, please contact an administrator at fcprofile@utu.fi for a generic group with joint group key. In such cases the user will not be able to receive the group data for themselves, nor will any average results of the group be calculated. The respondents only receive the results for themselves.

Group Key

Assign your group a group key they will use when they enter the test. There are no specific requirements for the group key, but we recommend you to choose a key that:

      • will be easily remembered or understood by your participants.
      • is not easily spelled wrong.
      • is original enough that there will be no other group with the same name.
      • is not very long, we recommend max 15 characters.
      • includes a year or a month you are carrying out the test; this allows you to use the same test name again later with a changing number.

If the programme claims “submission failed”, once you have filled the form, it means your group key was already taken. Please try another group key.

Select Question Set

With this function you select in which language you want your survey to use in the Futures Consciousness test (FC test). There also may be special question sets for kids or other specific target groups. Unless you are sure to choose something else, select the basic FC test set in your required language.
Please note: there is now an option in English to choose a Revised FC test, which is based on the latest scientifically validated version of the test. The items of this test are mostly same as in the original FC test, but the systemic thinking aspect is stronger.

Country of implementation

Select the country where you will be carrying out the survey. If there will be participants from several countries, please choose “international”. That will be first on the drop down menu.

Participants awareness of futures thinking

Please select a description suitable for your test group members’ awareness of future thinking:

      • Novice: people who are not familiar with future thinking, are not educated about it, nor are working in this field.
      • Educated: people who have participated in some course or classes on future thinking and are familiar with some basic concepts.
      • Advanced: people who have studied or work in the futures field or are otherwise well familiar with the field.
      • Mixed: group includes people with different levels of awareness of future thinking.

If you are uncertain of the level of you awareness amongst your group, choose “mixed”.

Participant background

Please select the most appropriate description of the participants background, whether they are students, general public, corporate representatives, etc. Please note there are options also for Mix of the above, Other and Do not know.

Purpose of testing

Please select whether the purpose of your testing is educational, research, business or other.

Hide Results from Participants

Check this box if you do not want the test takers to see their own results. This is useful especially in some research set-ups or pre-post testing. See how the results page would look like in here: example-of-a-personal-futures-consiousness-profile . Please note: The respondents should be able to see their personal profiles only when they have an opportunity to discuss their results with an educator and/or they participate in a course or a lecture that will explain what the results mean.

Once you have filled the form, press SEND.

If the programme says “submission failed” please try another group key.

If the message “submission made” remains on your screen, take your mouse to another place on your screen and it should go away.

Release your test for participants to respond

Once you created a new test group, it should show up in the “My Surveys” menu. Its status should say “DRAFT”. When you click on the “DRAFT” a window opens “Test Group information”. Here you can

  • Edit test group information if needed
  • Add your own questions to the survey, by clicking “edit questions”. Please see “Configuring custom survey questions” below for more information.
  • Publish the survey for participants to respond by clicking “Ready”. Please note, that after pressing “Ready” the survey is released and cannot be changed or edited anymore.

Previewing your survey

In a case you have no additional questions to the survey, the system will not show any preview of the FC test survey. You can see how it looks like in here: futuresconsciousness survey questions.

Managing and reviewing your surveys in the My Surveys menu

  • When a survey is released, it shows “RELEASED” as it’s status in the menu.
  • The number of respondents also shown in the menu. The system cannot identify which respondents have responded and which not.
  • You can order your test groups by clicking on the headlines in the menu: by Name, Owner, Test type, State or Number of respondents.
  • If you have many surveys, you can use the filter function on the upper right hand corner to filter groups by name, test type or status.

 QUESTIONS

Configuring custom survey questions

PLEASE NOTE the following bug: When you add multiple new questions or sort old added questions in a question set, sometimes it shows duplicate or wrong questions to that you have created. Refresh the screen to get rid of ghost questions. Be aware of this especially before deleting any questions, so you will not loose anything you do not want.

The user dashboard allows you to add your own questions to the survey in the following basic formats: multiple choice, rating scale, likert scale, dropdown and open questions. After you have configured a group of custom questions, you can save it, edit it and use it for multiple surveys.

The number of additional questions is limited to 200. However, currently the system does not allow page breaks to the survey setup, so adding numerous question items may not be practical from the respondents’ point of view. For research set-ups including a large set of additional questions we recommend to use other software.

Questions can also be added when editing a draft version of a survey. At the bottom of the Test Group information window you can create new single questions or question groups. These groups can later be found under “Questions” and they can be used for other surveys also.

Once you have created new questions or question groups, you can preview them in the screen. Please note, that the FC survey set questions will not be shown in this preview. The basic survey set looks like this.

Please note that the results of these additional questions will not be shown to the respondents, even if they receive their FC profiles. This data will also not be stored in our database in a format that would allow comparisons with other groups, besides your own. The data will be stored for six months after the group has been closed, during which time you should download it to your own data storage.

Important notice: Due to European Union data protection legislation, the additional questions cannot be such that collect personal data like names, identification numbers, location data or specific physical, cultural or social characteristics that allow identifying individuals. If such questions are used, the administrators will be required to remove them.

Inviting participants to take the test

Once you have created your survey, if you have selected one time test or pre & post test, you will need to invite the respondents to take the test by giving them this address: https://fctest.utu.fi and the groupkey. The groupkey is the same for the whole group and it is assigned when you create a new survey.

Editing your profile

In the left hand side menu click “Edit profile”. Here you can edit the information submitted during registration. Please keep your contact information updated when you are carrying out new project so the administration can get in contact with you if any problems occur.

Results from your group

The individual test takers will receive their own profiles at the end of the test. The profile page will look like this. At the bottom of the page there is also a link to a pdf-document with information about the five dimensions of Futures Consciousness and some exercises to improve it.

The data with the FC Profiles from the group will be available from the test site administrators. Please contact them directly or through fcprofile@utu.fi. The data will be available in CSV form and does not include graphical information of the profiles. Hence it will mainly be useful for researchers and those with experience with statistical programmes.

Certain combinations of infrequently occurring demographic data points would enable the identification of individuals without their consent. In order to protect privacy and maintain our assurance of anonymity, as such, the CSV files do not include demographic data. For research purposes, these files can be requested for from the Database administrators.

In the future we hope to be able to offer graphical summaries of the group results for all users, but this will require some additional resources we do not currently have.

Note: a small sample size may result in excluded data in order to protect respondents anonymity.