Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

Bagpuss741

Value said:

I got a response from Prolific today about the Y T Wang study. They have awarded me an extra £2.18 (from Prolific not from the researcher) and they're contacting the researcher to as them to review their reward rates. I will avoid the Y T Wang studies in future I think as I'm pretty sure they knew this was an underpaying study.

I wish I had read here before completing the YT Wang survey I have just completed.  It says completed in 4 minutes but 15 minutes later I was still completing the survey. I'd better get more than the 34p

olliebean

Bagpuss741 said:

Value said:

I got a response from Prolific today about the Y T Wang study. They have awarded me an extra £2.18 (from Prolific not from the researcher) and they're contacting the researcher to as them to review their reward rates. I will avoid the Y T Wang studies in future I think as I'm pretty sure they knew this was an underpaying study.

I wish I had read here before completing the YT Wang survey I have just completed.  It says completed in 4 minutes but 15 minutes later I was still completing the survey. I'd better get more than the 34p

I think I must have done the same one. I didn't notice it was YT Wang when I clicked on it, or I would have avoided it like the plague. It was a very strange survey - lots of the questions lacked a suitable context to give meaningful answers (e.g. questions like "Did you feel fatigued?" without specifying in what situation), and it seemed to be cycling through the same sets of questions over and over again. There was one question - a write-in one - asking about how I felt when I became "prosocial." I looked up the word and it doesn't exist. I gave up after 10 minutes because it kept repeating the same questions over and over and I had no confidence it would ever end, also I wasn't sure I had given the same answers every time the same questions came up and I was worried about possibly being rejected and getting a black mark on my account.

Are all the YT Wang studies like that? I don't see what useful information they could conceivably be getting from them, if so. Perhaps it's someone with a strange fetish for wasting people's time.

yupiteru

Survey questionnaire

By wharton.upenn.edu

268 places

£1.76 • £6.23/hr

16 mins

8 o'clock Sunday night, just about to switch the lappy off and watch a couple of episodes of season 5 of 'The Expanse' and this pops up.
Got paid almost instantly as well - groovy.

yupiteru

olliebean said:

Bagpuss741 said:

Value said:

I got a response from Prolific today about the Y T Wang study. They have awarded me an extra £2.18 (from Prolific not from the researcher) and they're contacting the researcher to as them to review their reward rates. I will avoid the Y T Wang studies in future I think as I'm pretty sure they knew this was an underpaying study.

I wish I had read here before completing the YT Wang survey I have just completed.  It says completed in 4 minutes but 15 minutes later I was still completing the survey. I'd better get more than the 34p

I think I must have done the same one. I didn't notice it was YT Wang when I clicked on it, or I would have avoided it like the plague. It was a very strange survey - lots of the questions lacked a suitable context to give meaningful answers (e.g. questions like "Did you feel fatigued?" without specifying in what situation), and it seemed to be cycling through the same sets of questions over and over again. There was one question - a write-in one - asking about how I felt when I became "prosocial." I looked up the word and it doesn't exist. I gave up after 10 minutes because it kept repeating the same questions over and over and I had no confidence it would ever end, also I wasn't sure I had given the same answers every time the same questions came up and I was worried about possibly being rejected and getting a black mark on my account.

Are all the YT Wang studies like that? I don't see what useful information they could conceivably be getting from them, if so. Perhaps it's someone with a strange fetish for wasting people's time.

He has developed a global reputation amongst the Prolific community and if you value your time and your sanity his offerings are best avoided in my opinion.

Easier said than done initially, because most people tend to click first, to get a place and then only notice later what is going on.

Strange how this guy is willing to expend so much effort in wasting other peoples time, but that appears to be what he he is doing.

He has posted studies under the name Yating Wang as well in the past and they were just as bad.

Bagpuss741

Bagpuss741 said:

Value said:

I got a response from Prolific today about the Y T Wang study. They have awarded me an extra £2.18 (from Prolific not from the researcher) and they're contacting the researcher to as them to review their reward rates. I will avoid the Y T Wang studies in future I think as I'm pretty sure they knew this was an underpaying study.

I wish I had read here before completing the YT Wang survey I have just completed.  It says completed in 4 minutes but 15 minutes later I was still completing the survey. I'd better get more than the 34p

I only got the 34p, have complained to prolific.

olliebean

I had a message just now from a researcher, saying they had accidentally launched the study before updating their scripts, and could I please return it, and they will pay for my time in the form of a bonus. Has anyone else had something like this?

I've messaged them back asking them to confirm that they will pay me the full value of the study, as I spent half an hour doing it (it's worth £4.06). I want the exact amount that they will pay me on record before I return the study.

It's annoying because there was also a bonus on offer, and I did well enough in the study to earn the full bonus, but I don't suppose I'll get that now.

yupiteru

A study about behavior in the workplace

By ucl.ac.uk

0 places

£1.25 • £8.19/hr

9 mins

This study popped up with just one place left and to my surprise I reserved a place when I clicked on it, which is an unusual event for me.

I then noticed it specified 'Mobile' or 'Tablet' only, so had to return it as my mobile or tablets were not available and I was on my laptop at the time.

Pity really, but the description stated 'you will be asked to write about an interaction you had at work, answer some questions about it, then complete a creativity task'.

In my experience these 'free writing' exercises always take me a lot longer than they should (I do ramble on a bit!) and consequently are in my opinion a bit under paid for the time and effort involved.

No doubt others are able to be far more concise than me, so will have a different opinion.

olliebean

The researcher mentioned above has now approved my submission and thus I've got paid in the usual way and no longer have the option to return the study. They've also paid me the bonus. I wonder what I would have got if I'd returned the study immediately when asked.

yupiteru

Experiment

By YT Wang

26 places

£0.34 • £1.16/hr

17 mins

This appeared as soon as I switched the laptop on this morning.  Got a place, then realised who the researcher was!

No way am I falling for this guys 'infinite loop' madness again so immediately returned.  Life is too short for this guys idea of fun.

34p payment, so as usual well underpaying and no doubt will take a lot longer than 17 mins to complete.

If you see the name YT Wang be aware of the reputation that he has rightly earned in the Prolific community.

allison445

Is anyone having issues with slow loading pages on the new updated prolific site when I click on a notification of a study via the assist or via prolific itself the page takes ages to load and by the time it does the study is full