Let’s be honest. Screeners don’t get much love. 

They’re not as glamorous as campaign presentations. They don’t have the magical allure of insights. But ask any seasoned fieldworker and they’ll tell you: a screener can make or break a project. 

At Acumen, our screeners aren’t just another tick box, they're carefully written, frequently refined, and full of the type of questions that are going to separate the wheat from the “you clearly googled that just now.” 

A screener is the gateway of your research. It’s the series of questions that help us identify who qualifies for a study, and just as importantly, who doesn’t!
It’s more than just ticking boxes. It’s about knowing what to ask, how to ask it, and when to raise a sceptical eyebrow. 

Screeners are used to sniff out:  

• The repeat offenders 

• • The ones that have all the right answers memorised, but are just a little bit too polished to be true  

• The fakers  

• • They claim they’re HCP’s, but they can’t explain a basic procedure...  

• The good eggs  

• • The people you definitely want in your sessions, the ones with real experience, real opinions and no need to blag it.  

So, now we know what a screener is and why we’re using it, let’s talk about the difference between a good screener, and a great one.  

Good: “Do you have asthma?”
Great: “Can you name the inhaler you currently use, how often you use it, and what colour it is?” 

Good: “Are you a GP?”
Great: “Roughly how many patients do you see per week with chronic pain? And which treatments are you prescribing most frequently?” 

Good: “Are you available on Tuesday at 2pm?”
Great: “If selected, would you be willing to speak for 60 minutes via Zoom and complete a short pre-task the day before?” 

Every question should give us something: clarity, confidence, or cause for concern. That’s how we find the right participants and keep projects bulletproof. 

But screeners aren’t just for filtering, they also help set expectations for the participants, support fairness and save time. It’s a multi tasking hero, a researcher, recruiter and quality control officer all in one!  

But.. Why should you, as a client, care?

Simply put, insights are only as good as the people giving them.  

• Every minute of your research is useful 

• Your budget isn’t being wasted on underqualified chatter 

• The data you get is rich, relevant, and ready to roll into decision-making 

• You’re not making strategic decisions based on fluff or filler 

All too often screeners are treated like admin; an eye roll and pass it straight to the junior member of the team. But the reality is, a strong screener can protect a study and a bad screener can ruin it before it even begins. 

At Acumen, we obsess over our screeners. We write them with input from strategists, moderators, recruiters, and even the client themselves. We test, refine, and tweak until it’s watertight. 

Because to us, a screener isn’t just a first step. It’s the foundation of everything that follows. 

So next time a screener lands in your inbox, don’t glaze over. That humble Word doc is doing the heavy lifting. And when it’s done right, it’s magic.