What Is a Context Brief?
A Context Brief is a research or creative document — such as a campaign brief, study brief, or background document — that contains the context behind your study. Instead of manually writing a Research Objective from scratch, you can upload this document and let the platform extract the relevant context and suggest an objective for you.
A Note on the "Context Brief" Label
The name "Context Brief" may appear differently in your platform — the Socialtrait team may have customized it to match your organization's terminology based on your admin's input (e.g., "Creative Brief", "Study Brief", or "Background Document").
Supported File Types
PDF — text-based PDFs only
DOCX — Microsoft Word documents
⚠️ Image-only or image-heavy PDFs are not fully supported. If your PDF contains embedded images or assets (e.g. ad creatives, infographics), those elements cannot be parsed. You will see a warning when this is detected. Any readable text in the document will still be extracted.
How to Upload a Context Brief
On the Auto-FGD setup screen, click "Upload a Context Brief" above the Research Objective field.
Select your PDF or DOCX file.
The platform will parse the document and automatically suggest a Research Objective based on the extracted content.
Review the suggested objective — edit it if needed — before proceeding.
If You Already Have a Research Objective
If there is already text in the Research Objective field when you upload a brief, you will be prompted to choose how to handle the conflict:
Option | What It Does |
Merge Both | Combines your existing objective with the content extracted from the brief |
Keep Current | Retains your existing objective; the brief extraction is discarded |
Replace | Overwrites your existing objective with the auto-generated suggestion |
If you are unsure, Merge Both is a good starting point — you can always edit the merged result before proceeding.
How the Brief Feeds the Rest of Your Study
Uploading a Context Brief does more than pre-fill the objective. The platform intelligently routes context from the brief to two other parts of your Auto-FGD:
Auto Moderator Relevant context — such as research questions, stimulus descriptions, or evaluation parameters — is passed to the Auto Moderator to shape the discussion guide and question framing. This keeps the conversation focused on what matters most for your study.
Insights Module Background context, business objectives, and any additional notes in the brief are passed as structured inputs to the Insights Module, helping generate a more relevant and precise report.
Tips for Getting the Best Results from Your Brief
Use text-based documents. Avoid uploading PDFs that are primarily images or scanned documents — the platform cannot read these.
Include your research questions explicitly. If your brief contains specific questions you want explored, state them clearly. The platform will route them to the Moderator automatically.
Add quick context notes. If you have additional background not covered in the main brief body — such as campaign goals, audience nuances, or evaluation criteria — include them in the document. These will be picked up and used to enrich the suggested objective and downstream outputs.
Review the auto-generated objective. The suggested objective is a starting point. Always review it against the guidance in How to Write an Effective Research Objective before proceeding.