I have included the instructions for the questionnaires I have programmed in the description of the question group, where I believe it should go. However, when I test out any of my question groups, the description never shows up. This is the last thing stopping me from starting data collection, as I cannot open my survey without the instructions available for participants. Have I put the instructions in the wrong spot, or is there something I need to select to make it visible? I am new to LimeSurvey and would appreciate any help available. Thank you!

OK, as you are new I will go easy on you.

But your post is lacking some very basic information for us to help:

What is your Limesurvey version?
Is it hosted by yourself/your organisation or is it on the SaaS Service of Limesurvey?
What template do you use?
What settings did you use to show the question group descriptions?

This is how the setting looks under LS 3 (LS5 should be similar):

 

What is your setting there?

Thank you for the help! I will do my best to answer your questions.
I am using LimeSurvey off of my university's online portal, and the version is "2.65.1+170522". The template is currently set to default. I have also found the option to show the description, and it was already set to "show both".
A colleague of mine said that they description may only show up once we activate it... is this possible? Thank you!

Hi,

A colleague of mine said that they description may only show up once we activate it... is this possible?

There is nothing to activate. If it is set to "show" it is shown.
IF there are no admins in your university who changed this - even in a standard template.

But IMHO the group description is not the place to display instructions
To display these you better use a question of type "text display".

Joffm

P.S.
Though I have only the latest release of this outdated version (2.73) you may send your survey as lss export. Let's see.

Please be aware that your version (2.65.1+170522) is dated from 2017, May. Many issues and security issues have been solved since.

I would recommend you informing the administrator that updating the installation is a very good idea.

Tammo

updating the installation is a very good idea.

Agreed!