Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

yupiteru

elsien said:

Altoida Brain Health Project 

By Banu Arunachalam 

£8.21 • £49.64/hr 

9 mins

Been popping up at intervals for over a week now. It appears to need specific phones, downloading software and access to phone and video. 

Not sure if I a) I can be bothered and b) need to look up the company first to see who they are. 

I attempted this one a few months back and despite meeting all the requirements such as a compatible phone etc, I could not get the app to work properly on my phone once installed.

After two failed sessions I gave up, as it was taking up far too much of my time and my data was going to be completely random and so the results incorrect due to the errors encountered.

I was a little disappointed as it was a little different from the usual study, but some others who attempted it advised me of encountering similar problems to me, whereas some apparently managed to complete it OK.

Other people in your vicinity think you are mad as well, when attempting to place virtual objects around the place with you phone.

Sapindus

I sometimes idly wonder if the YT Wang/ Validation surveys are actually an incredibly subtle study into people's tolerance for trying again and again at something they know is not going to be very rewarding.

olliebean

Sapindus said:

I sometimes idly wonder if the YT Wang/ Validation surveys are actually an incredibly subtle study into people's tolerance for trying again and again at something they know is not going to be very rewarding.

Possibly, but if so they are in incredibly bad faith as they ought to pay a bonus to bring the pay rate up to the minimum at least. Aside from that, I don't think it's fair to lie about how long a study is going to take, as people will often decide to do one or not based on how much time they have available.

Jenna_Appleseed

Had two weird/dodgy ones run by companies yesterday - one was for some kind of leadership coaching organisation, survey seemed like it should've been only for students / people new in the workplace and 'suggested' you signed up one their workshops via link at the end. The other was somebody doing market research for their kickstarter for a folding bicycle helmet, kept asking which things would make me want to buy the helmet and at which price when I'd already selected I wouldn't buy it and that I don't ride/own a bike -then forces you  to give an email address so they can spam you to support their kickstarter. I reported them both (& gave the bike helmet one the prolific fake email).

Jenna_Appleseed

and the Leader survey just rejected me claiming I gave them no study data *huh*.

ndf9876

Jenna_Appleseed said:

and the Leader survey just rejected me claiming I gave them no study data *huh*.

I might be inclined to ask them how it is then, that you supplied a valid completion code, and refer them to the Prolific guidance on rejection : 

https://researcher-help.prolific.co/hc/en-gb/articles/360009092394-Approvals-rejections-returns#heading-5

Note under "Invalid Reasons for Rejection" the line "Unfortunately, technical errors sometimes occur, but if it was not the participant's fault, then this is not a valid reason for rejection"

Value

There was a dodgy looking study just popped up for me (and then the remaining places disappeared). Might be another YT Wang/Validation one as it was paying 70 pence for an estimated time of 28 minutes. Think it was something to do with financials and the researcher name was SKK SKK. One to avoid I think.

olliebean

Learn a New Language

By Advanced Hindsight

124 places

£0.64 • £6.07/hr

6 mins

Recruiting for an 8 day study, 5 minutes per day of using Duolingo, with a bonus for the 8 days of $1.60, or 20c/day. Can't be bothered to convert that into pennies, but that equates to a total of $2.44 for 8x5 minutes plus the initial survey = 45 minutes, or $3.25/hour. Reported as underpaying.

willowcat27

olliebean said:

Learn a New Language

By Advanced Hindsight

124 places

£0.64 • £6.07/hr

6 mins

Recruiting for an 8 day study, 5 minutes per day of using Duolingo, with a bonus for the 8 days of $1.60, or 20c/day. Can't be bothered to convert that into pennies, but that equates to a total of $2.44 for 8x5 minutes plus the initial survey = 45 minutes, or $3.25/hour. Reported as underpaying.

I just tried this one - yes it was underpaying but I enjoy Duolingo so I thought I'd give it a go anyway.  Followed the instructions on how to log in, using the username and password that they had given and it didn't work anyway, I just got a message saying that no account was connected to that username, so I had to return it anyway.  I've just reported it as problematic study.  Maybe it's a Friday the 13th thing!!!!

MollyR

I tried it as well, and it worked OK for me.  I hadn't come across Duolingo before, but it was fun (and I now know a few words of Dutch!) so I'm hoping I'm allocated to the remainder of the study.  I'd much rather a low-paying study like this one than a higher-paying one with 237 questions about whether I am mentally ill (as is the fashion these days).