✨Avicenna August Update: Stability

Mojtaba Javan -

Hello Avicenna Community,

In August, we focused mainly on making the platform more stable and fixing issues you reported or our quality assurance team identified.

Despite this focus, we still managed to add a new feature for Televisit. Although we introduced fewer features compared to last month, we have started or continued working on new features. See the "What's Next?" section for possible upcoming additions.

Here’s a look at what we’ve achieved in the past month:

🚀 Televisit screen sharing

We introduced Televisit screen sharing for participants on both Android and iOS apps. This can be useful for tasks or troubleshooting. Also, if the call is recorded, the shared screen will also be included in the final video. You can find the details in the Screen Sharing section on the Avicenna Learn website.

🌟 User Experience Improvements

  • Reload button on the Chat Recordings page
    We’ve added a “Reload” button to the Chat (Televisit) Recordings page, eliminating the need to reload the entire page.
  • Incorrect next section
    We fixed an important issue in surveys where the “Next Section” property of answers under single answer and multiple answer questions was being ignored when participants selected those answers. This issue occurred on participant web apps only.
  • Exclusive answer in multiple answer questions
    We resolved an issue with the Exclusive Answer in multiple answer questions of surveys. That option wasn’t working in the participant web app and the Preview page of the survey editor.
  • Wheel of Fortune error
    We fixed an issue in the Wheel of Fortune activity that caused an error when participants clicked “Try My Luck” on Android and iOS apps, preventing them from winning prizes.
  • Unexpected logout on our web app
    We identified and resolved a bug causing users to be automatically logged out unexpectedly from our web app even if they haven’t enabled Auto-Logout.
  • Opening published surveys in the editor
    We fixed an issue in the survey editor where opening a published survey without any draft changes resulted in an error.
  • Opening released activities
    We fixed a bug in the participant web app where they couldn’t participate in activities that were manually released by the researchers.
  • Email verification after signing up
    We addressed an issue where researchers could not verify their email addresses from the Settings page of their dashboard after they signed up. Users encountered a message saying, “Sorry, something went wrong.”.
  • Stopping video call recording
    We fixed a bug where only the person who started the recording in a researcher-to-researcher video call could stop it.
  • Connecting video call after starting to record
    We fixed an issue in the participant Android app where starting a recording in a video call with the participant’s camera turned off caused the call to remain in the connecting state.
  • Enabling questions by responses to other questions
    We resolved an issue where the “Enable Questions” option of single and multiple answer questions was not working in the participant web app and the Preview tab of the survey editor.
  • Responding to Mass questions with certain decimal values
    We fixed a bug in the participant iOS app where users couldn’t enter certain decimal values as a response to Mass questions of surveys. Some values would cause the response field to clear out and not be accepted as valid responses.
  • Turning camera on automatically after starting to record
    We addressed an issue in the participant iOS app where the camera automatically turned on when starting a recording in a video call, even if it was initially turned off.
  • Unanswered survey questions and the last response
    We resolved an issue where unanswered questions (e.g., skipped) were incorrectly considered questions with responses, subsequently affecting the corresponding criteria evaluations and survey question placeholders.
  • Canceling scheduled survey sessions
    We fixed an issue in the participant web app where, regardless of the option (“Yes. Will continue later.” or “No. Discard this survey.”) chosen by the participant, the scheduled survey session was always canceled. We also fixed some minor issues in the user interface.
  • In-progress survey sessions after closing the app
    Related to the previous bug fix, we addressed an issue where the current state of a scheduled survey session was not saved correctly on Android and iOS apps. Previously, if a participant answered some questions, closed the survey with the “Yes. Will continue later.” option, and closed the app, their answers would be lost upon reopening.
  • Mirroring video during video call
    We fixed an issue where users’ video was not mirrored during video calls using the researcher dashboard or the participant web app. This update ensures a more natural and intuitive experience by allowing users to see a mirrored image of themselves.
  • Double incoming calls for researchers
    We resolved an issue where initiating a call from the participant iOS app to a researcher resulted in two incoming calls being presented to the researcher. This problem was causing unsuccessful call attempts and sometimes even crashes on the iOS app.
  • Televisit call not ending on researcher dashboard
    Related to the previous fix, we resolved an issue where Televisit calls were not being ended on the researcher dashboard after being ended on the participant iOS app by killing the app.
  • Missing survey ID when filtering data based on survey question responses
    We fixed an issue on our data filtering pages under the researcher dashboard where the list of survey questions used to define a filter condition presented questions only by their ID. This update ensures that questions are now displayed with their survey ID as well.
  • Registration links in study invitations for on-premise instances
    We fixed the study registration link in the study invitation notification templates for on-premise instances (custom server setups). Previously, the link incorrectly pointed to avicennaresearch.com instead of the correct (sub)domain associated with the on-premise instance.
  • Phone number verification
    We addressed an issue where researchers were unable to verify their phone numbers in the researcher dashboard. Previously, after adding a phone number, the system failed to send a verification code, preventing successful verification.
  • Email address and phone number verification
    Related to the previous fix, we resolved an issue on our web apps where users were unable to verify their email address or phone number directly from various settings pages, such as the Notifications page or when enabling two-factor authentication.
  • Placeholders referring to multiline text responses
    We addressed an issue in all our participant apps where multiline responses to survey Text questions were not displayed correctly when used as question placeholders. Previously, new lines in the response were not preserved in the placeholder text.

🔍 Reflecting on the Impact

Your experience with Avicenna is crucial to our growth. Each update aims to streamline your research, focusing on usability and efficiency. We strive to support your research effectively.

📣 We Value Your Feedback – And Your Stories

Have the updates improved your research? We encourage sharing your experiences on our Community Forum or via email. Your feedback helps shape our future updates and motivates the Avicenna community.

🌟 What's Next?

We remain dedicated to improving Avicenna. New features are in the pipeline, aiming to further enhance your research workflow. To name a few upcoming features, we're introducing:

  • Test participants: You will be able to have test participants (without using workarounds) which makes managing them easier throughout the researcher dashboard. It's in its final test phases.
  • VAS Decimals: Have you ever wanted to use decimal values for the VAS survey questions? We're applying some improvements for that.
  • Disable Previous Button in Surveys: You will have the option to prevent participants from changing previous responses in the same survey to ensure data integrity and reliability.
  • Stroop Neutral Round Texts: Each neutral round in your Stroop activity will be able to randomly select its text from a predefined list of texts.
  • PII (Personally Identifiable Information): No need to contact Avicenna support to enable/disable PII for your study anymore. We are bringing the toggle to your dashboard.
  • And more: Stay tuned for additional features and improvements as we continue our mission to optimize your research experience.

Avicenna is about to get even better, and we're excited to reveal all the improvements to you.

Let's keep pushing the boundaries of research together.