Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

mikep22

elljay wrote: »

Well that's interesting, thank you. Not just the stuff about how participants are selected but also the guidance Prolific gives to researchers. I've done a couple of really poorly thought-through surveys in the last couple of days so I hope researchers take heed of the advice.

I think it's partly my fault though as I do tend to overthink my answers and worry like mad if I feel it won't be useful. I've emailed more than once suggesting they discount my response as I don't feel the answer is helpful or reflects anything sensible. The other thing is that I wish someone would proof read the surveys, I don't know what my salary equates to in dollars, or which US political party I feel closest to (I would have to research in depth and I don't think that's what they want you to do!!!) and I really need to swot up on the US education system too as I don't know what my qualifications equate to either. I know, I know - I overthink but I want to be as accurate as possible for the studies and wish some of the surveys were angled more towards the country. Oh and then there are the spelling and grammar mistakes which would be picked up by a bit of proof reading. If they want quality responses then they should provide quality surveys.

Thanks again for the article - I'll look for more in this series. Really nice to see that Prolific takes its role so seriously and professionally.

Having had my moan, Prolific are the only surveys I do now as they're often so interesting and I feel they're useful rather than just aids to marketing and selling stuff which so many others are. Go Prolific!!

You are right, you are massively overthinking :eek:

Yes, in some ways you are right in that when it shows something like different currency it can be annoying, but I guess the alternative is to run multiple surveys, which I would imagine would increase expenses. Its not too far fetched to turn your salary into whatever figure it is times 1.25 or 1.5.

I always just put in the second highest, which I imagine would be roughly equivilent to the masters I have in the UK.

Ultimately if they didnt want people from the UK I imagine they have an option to turn that off - although as Prolific is run by Oxford University I imagine the vast majority of respondees are from here.

mrsyardbroom

Prolific's been working fine for me. I just wondered if anyone else has done the voice assistant study. When I saw what I had to ask the assistant I got the giggles. Who on earth thought up that shopping list?

Hermia

elljay wrote: »

If they want quality responses then they should provide quality surveys.

I suspect many of them have had no training in writing surveys. My first degree was in sociology and we spent a whole semester on how to conduct research. Writing surveys is more complicated than you think as it is so easy to accidentally write it in a way that pushes the person to select a certain answer or just gives meaningless results. I know that other academic fields don't teach these skills at all. I have seen surveys designed by postgraduate students that are just soooo bad. I really wouldn't overthink your answers too much. In fact, many of the surveys do actually tell you not to do that.

ChaunceyGardiner

mrsyardbroom wrote: »

Prolific's been working fine for me. I just wondered if anyone else has done the voice assistant study. When I saw what I had to ask the assistant I got the giggles. Who on earth thought up that shopping list?

The £25 one?

mrsyardbroom

No, it was only £1.50.

mrsyardbroom

Did anyone else have an issue with this one?
Spot the sound

Hosted by Matthew Hunt
£0.555 minutes £6.60/hr 5 places remaining



I opened the study and received a message that the experiment was full and I would have to cancel. I cancelled the study and it's now showing as returned and will go against my record.

Miró

mrsyardbroom wrote: »

Did anyone else have an issue with this one?
Spot the sound

Hosted by Matthew Hunt
£0.555 minutes £6.60/hr 5 places remaining



I opened the study and received a message that the experiment was full and I would have to cancel. I cancelled the study and it's now showing as returned and will go against my record.

Yes, that happened to me too!

allison445

mrsyardbroom wrote: »

Did anyone else have an issue with this one?
Spot the sound

Hosted by Matthew Hunt
£0.555 minutes £6.60/hr 5 places remaining



I opened the study and received a message that the experiment was full and I would have to cancel. I cancelled the study and it's now showing as returned and will go against my record.

Returned surveys have no effect on your account
from prolific
Returning a study means deciding to leave the study early. This withdraws your participation in the study and means you will not be paid for this study. It will not affect your Prolific score or ability to participate in more studies in any way.

MollyR

Yes, that happened to me too on that study; I messaged the researcher, but have had no reply.

MollyR

If you are undertaking the survey Economic experiment (RED-11), you will find an error on the final page. The researcher has mis-coded two links on that page, such that neither link works.

In order to follow the link to claim your reward, you will need to highlight the displayed URL, copy it, and paste it into the location bar of another browser window; then, if you need it, do the same with the link which tells you how to remove the downloaded program.

I have messaged the researcher explaining his coding errors in detail, but it may well be a while before he reads it or gets around to correcting the faulty code on the final page. So long as you copy and paste the text in the links, however, you should have no problems.