Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

Sapindus

elsien said:

Mine says unavailable as well. I’m presuming that’s because they have too many people on the waiting list at the moment. 

The red "Refer a friend" button only appeared recently for me and I got all excited but when I clicked on it, it said only German females (I think) were wanted.  Then it very quickly went unavailable again and has been ever since.

onemouseplace

I've had a few of the AI studies over the weekend, including retaking the training part for one I've worked on many times before.  All of them are now at a lower rate though, which is slightly annoying!

Also, I just did one, skipped the first question as it was heavily mathematical, and then the tasks ran out.  I went to return, but it had already approved and it doesn't look like we can return an approved study anymore?  I've messaged the researcher but not much else I can do really!

elsien

I had exactly the same - Skipped a task because it was too mathematical for me then the study ended. However, I still got paid in full and when I went back to the page, a similar was still showing and it let me into the next one instead. Win win. 

Value

I think that this year I'll go over the £1000 tax limit on Prolific (or I need to stop doing studies shortly!). Can anyone who has had this in previous years help with a couple of questions?

If I go over the £1000, do I need to register with the tax office as self-employed? Many years ago, when I did some self-employed work alongside my employed work I had to register then as well as dong a tax return. I had to pay additional NI then though which is why I'm reluctant to pay additional NI now if I don't need to. I went back to full employment anyway so stopped doing tax returns then.

Or can I just ask for a tax return at the end of the year and fill it in with a figure for self-employed income amount from Prolific (because we're not employed)? I'd rather not go through registering as self-employed but I do want to make sure I pay any tax due.

I know this is a tricky topic but thanks for any advice on what anyone might have done last year!

elsien

If you do a search, someone has already posted earlier in the thread would quite like a good summary of what needs to happen. 

ETA go back to the 2nd of July on this thread and you will find information there.
Not sure if this link will work, but I’ll give it a go.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81523143#Comment_81523143?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=self+assessment+prolific

Value

Thanks @elsien but that doesn't really help. I already know I need to report I earned over £1000 from Prolific and I know I need to pay tax on it. I just don't know whether I need to register as self-employed with HMRC for those earnings as well. That isn't mentioned here but it used to be the case that you had to register as self-employed if you had self-employed earnings beyond any employed earnings. Might be a question for a tax forum but had just thought someone who'd earned over the threshold last year might already know the answer.

elsien

Well, according to that link, you just have to enter your earnings on the new simplified system rather doing a full self assessment. Does that not answer the question?

Value

Not really @elsien. The new system doesn't come in until 2029 unfortunately! Side hustle tax rules set to change – Martin Lewis' MSE News We're stuck with the current one till then and, as I used to have to register as self-employed for those earnings some years back I wasn't sure if that was still the case.

It doesn't sound like I need to register for self-employment though. But if anyone has done so then would be useful to know if I'm wrong.

Goldiegirl

I've been on Prolific for several years. and up until recently have found it very good.

In recent years, I've logged on in the afternoon, and did any short surveys or any slightly longer ones that interested me.

I didn't make large amounts of money, but would normally make about £30 per month, with minimal effort on my part.

However, it seems to have changed recently.  I get offered surveys that want access to my camera or microphone, want me to log into google, want personal information or are otherwise intrusive, or are just too long.  If I do attempt a longer survey, there's often a technical issue and I have to give up.  So far this month, I've made the grand sum of £4.34 !

I was just wondering if other people were having the same experiences, or whether it was just me. I was 65 a few months ago, so wondering if it's age related, as they are sometimes not interested in older people's views 

Mum161111

Re:  

Quick Survey

By Ellen Gaff 

and: 

Survey

By Mike Sanders

I have recently cancelled participation and "Returned" the above two Studies.  I hope I'm not being unfair but both requested personal information and "something" did not seem right.  One of them asked for my name and for my email address in a separate link.

When studies are "Returned" before submitting them does the Researcher have access to the partially completed part of the Study or, having Returned the Study, is it safe to think that that Researcher has no access to the partially completed part of a Returned Study?

I'm probably being a bit cautious but there was a communication from Prolific containing this reminder:  

"We're aware that you may have recently seen a study where the researcher was fraudulently pretending to be from Prolific."

Has anyone else had concerns recently?