Participant FAQs

Reporting an Issue

  • If you are getting stuck with something in the app, check the following FAQs that may be relevant. Please send an email to insyncstudy@surrey.ac.uk to report any issues with the app. We will aim to get back as soon as possible (within 24 hours).

Menstrual Cycle

  • Use the thermometer provided and complete the following steps:

    • Put the tip under your tongue, towards the back of your mouth.

    • Close your lips around the thermometer.

    • Wait until it beeps or flashes.

    • Remove the thermometer and check the temperature on the display.

    • Paying attention to your internal bodily signals can be understood as how much you think about or monitor signals coming from inside your body, or how much they occupy your thoughts/mind. For example, if you often think about your heart beating, feeling hungry or needing the toilet then you would rate your attention to these sensations as high. In contrast, if you don’t often think about your heart rate, how hungry you are or whether you need the toilet then you would rate your attention to these sensations as low. 

    • Importantly, when you are asked to rate your attention, please only rate how much attention you pay to these sensations regardless of how well you think you can perceive them. For example, if you often feel you need the toilet but when you go to the toilet you realise you don’t need to you should still rate your attention to this signal as high.  

    • Do not worry about how often you think the sensation is truly happening inside your body – we would like to know how much of the time you pay attention to these sensations.  

  • We will ask you about these at certain points during the study because alcohol consumption and sickness (like the flu) can influence body temperature. These questions are important because they help us to check whether your temperature readings might be slightly altered, in which case we can see the temperature reading as less reliable.

    Don’t worry, if you report ‘yes’ to either alcohol use or sickness, we can still use your data, it just gives us more to work with so we can understand bodily changes better! 

  • Remember, spotting is not the same as menstruating. Menstruation is the specific shedding of the lining of your uterus that occurs in a window within each cycle, where the flow of blood consistently occurs. The window of menstruation varies between people, for instance, your period might last 4 days and another person’s period might last 7 days. The number of days can vary slightly between cycles.  

    Spotting is typically extremely light. It can be pink in colour and is often not enough in quantity to use a tampon/pad. It does not occur in lengthy windows and is not linked to your menstrual cycle. Sometimes people have spotting if they are using hormonal contraception and forget to take their pill. Spotting can happen for other reasons too e.g during pregnancy.

    Read up on spotting here:  https://helloclue.com/articles/cycle-a-z/what-is-spotting  

  • There are 7 options for you to choose from and there should always be an option that corresponds to your cervical mucus.

    Head to our dedicated page HERE to remind yourself what each cervical mucus rating means and what texture/feeling/visual qualities to look out for.

    • If you contact us at insyncstudy@surrey.ac.uk we will not tell you what to select as your response and we cannot give any advice on descriptions or accept any photographs. Read and watch the resources carefully and trust your judgement!

Technical

  • You may see one of the following errors:

    • Something went wrong with the network
      The app requires an internet connection. Check your phone is connected to the internet (3G, 4G, 5G or WIFI).

    • Account error
      This can occur if you entered your ID code and password combination incorrectly. Check your ID code again and re-enter your password. If the issue persists, please contact us.

    • Incorrect password
      Try entering your password again.

    • Too many wrong attempts…
      If you have made too many login attempts the app will lock you out. Please contact us.

    • Unable to load profile, please contact the team
      Please contact us.

    • This is because the App Store is available to everyone, while access to Test Flight is restricted. This limits the people who will access and download the app who are not registered participants.  

    • Test Flight is free to Download from the App Store. If you decide to enrol into the study, you will need to have Test Flight downloaded before you can install the In Sync Study app.  

  • This will slightly depend on how long you stay in the study.  

    Each day: 

    • For 2 weeks you will answer 3 sets of approximately 3-5 questions each. The sets will be randomly prompted at different times throughout the day. It will take approximately 3 minutes to complete them all each day. 

    • There is the option to answer an additional set of 5 questions if you have time (<1 minute) – we’ll ask you each time and you can say no if you want. 

    • Once a week you need to answer a set of 9 questions. These are very short and ask you to confirm any changes over the last week such as if you have taken a new medication, have become pregnant or notice any changes to your cervical mucus characteristics e.g thrush (females only). This will take 1-2 minutes. 

    • For menstruating people who continue in the study for another 4 months, you will answer an additional set of questions each morning – to report your temperature, cervical mucus and more.  

    • It’s okay if you miss some questions, we know life gets in the way! If you start to miss too many, we will notify you and try to help you get back on track.