Participant Data and Communication Rationale

This document explains the purpose and principles behind participant-facing data collection formats, communication prompts, and profile questionnaires on the Baseworks practice platform.

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Why we collect background information

Baseworks develops its programming based on who is practicing. The method is not static — it evolves as practitioners from different backgrounds share their starting points with us. Understanding each participant’s physical experience, movement history, interests, and reported concerns allows us to:

• Develop and refine group programming that accounts for the actual range of experience in a cohort
• Support individual practitioners more precisely at any point in their involvement
• Identify patterns across participants that inform how curriculum is structured, sessions are designed, and content is prioritized
• Track how participants’ self-reported experience changes over time, which feeds back into how we adapt the method

This information is used exclusively to improve how we collaborate with practitioners. It is not shared publicly, sold, or used for marketing purposes.

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Platform formats and mechanisms

Event Participation Questionnaire

The primary data collection instrument. Originally built as Formidable Form 40 on baseworks.com, now also available on practice.baseworks.com (Form 74) via the “Background” profile tab.

Fields collected: demographics (age, sex), athletic level, movement backgrounds, mindfulness practices, occupation/interests, reported physical issues, conditions, and open comments.

Participant-facing copy (Background profile tab intro text):

This questionnaire helps us understand where you are coming from — your physical experience, interests, and the practices that have shaped how you move and learn. This information informs how we structure sessions, develop curriculum, and adapt our approach across groups and for individuals. It is not shared publicly or used for any purpose beyond improving the quality of the programs.

You can save a draft and return to complete it later. You can also update your responses at any time — whether your background, interests, or experience with the Baseworks Method changes.

Key design decisions:

• Editable and updatable. Participants can return to the form at any time. Each update is recorded chronologically in the Obsidian vault rather than overwriting the original, so we can observe how self-reported experience evolves.
• Draft saving enabled. Participants can save a partial response and return later.
• Single entry per user. The form updates in place rather than creating duplicate entries.
• Non-invasive prompting. A persistent notification banner appears for enrolled participants who have not completed the form. It communicates that the form helps us personalize their experience. It can be dismissed temporarily but reappears until the form is completed.

Data flow: Form entries are exported to the Baseworks knowledge base (Obsidian vault) as markdown files in 02-areas/method-admin/audience/event-participants/. Export runs 6 times daily via automated cron. Each file follows the firstname-lastname-YYMMDD.md naming convention with structured YAML frontmatter.

Dashboard teaser (practice-session-only participants)

Participants who have booked practice sessions but are not enrolled in Primer or a Study Group see a muted preview of the full learning dashboard. This serves two purposes:

1. It shows them what the full platform experience looks like — course progress, activity tracking, community — without pretending they have access
2. It provides a clear, non-pressuring path to learn about Primer and Study Groups via links to the programs page

Persistent prompt banner

A bottom-right notification card that appears on all pages for enrolled participants who have not completed the background questionnaire. The banner:

• Is triggered by WP Fusion enrollment tags (Study Group cohorts, Practice Sessions)
• Disappears permanently once the form is submitted (checked via event-questionnaire-complete tag or local form entry)
• Can be temporarily dismissed (X hides for current page; “Later” hides for 24 hours)
• Links directly to the participant’s own Background profile tab

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Communication principles

All participant-facing prompts and explanations follow the Baseworks Unified Voice Guide:

• Describe what something is. Prompts explain what the questionnaire is for, not what happens if you skip it.
• Simple language. The explanation is clear and direct without being reductive.
• No pressure tactics. The form is presented as a way to help us collaborate more effectively, not as a requirement with consequences.
• Transparency. The intro text on the Background tab explicitly states how the data is used and that it is not shared publicly.

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Future directions

• Broader data accumulation. Forum posts, direct messages, email inquiries, and session feedback will eventually feed into participant profiles as supplementary context. This would provide a richer understanding of each practitioner’s interests, motivations, and progression beyond the structured questionnaire.
• Soft-gating. The questionnaire may become a prerequisite for certain platform milestones (e.g., accessing group discussions or advancing past early course lessons) as a way to ensure we have baseline context before practitioners engage deeply with the material.

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Related

• Practice Sessions Infrastructure
• Study Group Infrastructure
• Practice Sessions Intake Form
• Event Participants Index