The Manuscript Survey & Checklist Determination
When you choose the guided-survey route, the module asks seven questions about your study and runs a rule-based determination to infer the study type and reporting checklist.
The logic is deterministic and rule-based (not a statistical model): each rule inspects your answers and, when its conditions match, sets the study type, a confidence value, and a reason. Later rules can override earlier ones, so order matters.
The seven survey questions
| # | Question | Options |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is the primary study approach? | Experimental, Observational, Systematic Review/Meta-Analysis, Qualitative, Modeling/Simulation, Safety Monitoring/Pharmacovigilance, Educational/Training, AI/Machine Learning, Real-Time Monitoring/Wearable, Post-Market Surveillance, Big Data/Secondary Data, Precision Medicine/Omics |
| 2 | Does the study use randomization? | Individual, Cluster, Stepped-wedge, No randomization, Not applicable |
| 3 | What type of intervention or exposure? | Therapeutic, Diagnostic, Medical device, Behavioral/lifestyle, Genetic/genomic, Educational/simulation, Digital therapeutics/mHealth, None (observational), Multiple/mixed |
| 4 | What is the temporal design? | Prospective, Retrospective, Cross-sectional, Mixed |
| 5 | Is there a control or comparison group? | Concurrent control, Historical controls, Self-controlled, No control |
| 6 | What best describes the participants? | Human patients, Healthy volunteers, Students/trainees, Animals, Population-level data, Registry-based, Case report(s), Cells/tissues, Not applicable |
| 7 | What is the primary analysis approach? | Quantitative, Qualitative thematic, Meta-analysis, Economic/cost-effectiveness, Genomic/bioinformatics, AI/ML, Comparative effectiveness, Mixed methods, Descriptive only |
You answer in sequence and can step back to change an earlier answer.
Determination logic: Experimental approach
| Conditions | Study type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Individual randomization + therapeutic intervention | Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) | 95 |
| Individual randomization + behavioral intervention | Pragmatic Trial | 85 |
| Individual randomization (other) | Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) | 90 |
| Cluster randomization | Cluster Randomized Trial | 95 |
| Stepped-wedge | Stepped Wedge Trial | 95 |
| No randomization | Quasi-Experimental Study | 85 |
| Self-controlled | N-of-1 Trial | 90 |
| Animal subjects | Animal Experiment | 95 |
| Cells/tissues | In-Vitro / Translational Research | 90 |
| Registry participants | Registry-Based Study | 85 |
Participant-based rules (animals, cells/tissues, registry) override randomization rules.
Determination logic: Observational approach
| Conditions | Study type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Comparative-effectiveness analysis | Observational CER | 95 (97 with comparison groups) |
| Registry participants | Registry-Based Study | 90 |
| Prospective timing | Cohort Study | 90 |
| Retrospective + control group | Case-Control Study | 90 |
| Retrospective, no control | Retrospective Cohort Study | 85 |
| Cross-sectional timing | Cross-Sectional Study | 95 |
| Case report(s) + no control | Case Report | 90 |
| Case report(s) + control | Case Series | 90 |
| Population-level data | Ecological Study | 90 |
| Diagnostic intervention | Diagnostic Accuracy Study | 90 |
| Cells/tissues | In-Vitro / Translational Research | 90 |
Determination logic: Other approaches
| Approach (+ refinements) | Study type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Review | Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis | 95 |
| Review + economic analysis | Health Technology Assessment | 85 |
| Safety monitoring | Pharmacovigilance / Adverse Event Reporting | 95 |
| Qualitative | Qualitative Study | 95 |
| Qualitative + mixed analysis | Mixed Methods Study | 90 |
| Modeling | Modeling and Simulation Studies | 85 |
| Modeling + economic | Economic Evaluation Study | 90 |
| Educational | Simulation-Based Clinical Education | 95 (98 with students) |
| AI/ML | AI / Machine Learning Study | 98 (99 with AI/ML analysis) |
| Wearable monitoring | Real-Time Monitoring / Wearable Device Study | 98 (99 with device) |
| PMS | Post-Market Surveillance Study | 98 (99 with device) |
| Big data | Big Data / Secondary Data Analysis | 98 (99 if retrospective) |
| Precision medicine | Precision Medicine / Omics Integration | 98 (99 with genomic analysis) |
Cross-cutting override rules
After approach-based branches, cross-cutting rules can override regardless of approach chosen:
| Conditions | Override study type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Device + prospective + observational | Post-Market Clinical Follow-Up (PMCF) | 85 |
| Device + observational + human patients | Real World Evidence Study | 80 |
| Economic analysis (not modeling) | Economic Evaluation Study | 85 |
| Individual randomization + mixed analysis | Adaptive Trial | 75 |
| Genomic analysis OR genetic intervention | Genomic / Genetic Research | 90 |
| Educational + student/trainee participants | Simulation-Based Clinical Education | 95 |
| AI/ML analysis | AI / Machine Learning Study | 95 |
| Digital intervention | Digital Therapeutics / mHealth Study | 95 (97 if experimental) |
| Comparative-effectiveness + observational | Observational CER | 96 |
Default fallback
If no rule matches decisively:
| Fallback | Confidence | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) | 50 | "Default to RCT for unclear study design" |
A confidence of 50 signals uncertainty -- consider using manual selection instead.
The recommendation output
The determination produces:
| Field | Contents |
|---|---|
| studyType | The determined study type (selects the checklist) |
| confidence | 0-100 value reflecting decisiveness |
| reasoning | List of human-readable reasons showing the classification chain |
The reasoning list accumulates from every rule that fired, showing not just the final classification but the characteristics that led to it. This lets you sanity-check the result and override with manual selection if needed.