Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

allison445

Been a bad day for me first the study which timed out 
The role of the end-user in the development of responsible AI systems
Missed a few higher paying ones when doing this
Then a gorilla one where the dreaded this experiment is full message appeared
Horse Task
Also had 2 which were not relevant to my profile been wondering if the prolific screening process is working
Shared Parental Leave and Breastfeeding in the Health Sector
music in children
Another 4 were full when I clicked on them so not fast enough 

Been a busy prolific day and I have managed to earn 0 

yupiteru

I agree with you completely Deleted_User and do not think there is anything wrong with the message that you sent the researcher, personally the more I think it the more suspicious I become.

 The url on the 'submission failed' page that we all got after timing out has the completion code on the end and as the study was hosted on 'Qualtrics' this would suggest to me that the researcher got all the data.

On the other hand:

On the first page of the study there is a contact Telephone number and an e-mail address for the 'Research Integrity Manager' as well as a snail mail address.

Also there are names and links to e-mail addresses for the four members of the research team and also states:

How is the project being funded?
The project is a collaboration between Fujitsu Ltd, University of Glasgow, and City, University of London.

So the sensible side of me thinks that it makes no sense to rip us all off.

Remember Hanlon's razor is a saying that loosely states:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

I will just have to wait a week in anticipation of a reply from the researcher as directed by Prolific, as I do not want to be accused of harassment, if I was the researcher however I am sure that I would have contacted everyone concerned by now apologising for my error.

JGB1955

allison445 said:

Also had 2 which were not relevant to my profile been wondering if the prolific screening process is working
Shared Parental Leave and Breastfeeding in the Health Sector

I had that one too - never worked in the Health Sector and definitely not had a child since 2015 (I'm 67 years old)!  Definitely looks like a screening issue.

yupiteru

decision making (about 20 min., GBP 2.50 plus bonus)

By Matthias Greiff

0 places

This study should take about 20 minutes and you will receive GBP 2.50 for your participation. You can also earn a bonus payment between GBP 0.00 and GBP 8.00.

In this study, you will interact in a group together with three other real people who are completing it at the same time. To avoid waiting times for you and others, please complete this study without interruptions.

£2.50 • £9.42/hr

15 mins
You have to answer questions relating to the points allocation amongst members and the group and you have three attempts to get them correct before you can progress on to the 'game' where you have the chance to earn the £8.00 bonus payment.

You are allowed to look back to the instruction (I had copied them as usual anyway) but I still got a bit confused and answered correctly more by luck than anything else.

At the end they tell you your bonus payment, mine was zero.

Never mind.

yupiteru

Time-related experiences in the workplace

By temple.edu

0 places

This research study is interested in better understanding employee attitudes and behaviors in the workplace. Our survey will ask questions about you, your job, and your experiences with other people in your work environment (e.g., your boss, your coworkers, etc.). We greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your valuable insights!

This is the first of a three-part survey. If you complete this survey, you will be eligible to participate in a second survey in about a week which takes about 5-6 minutes and pays $2.00. If you complete the second survey, you will be eligible to participate in the third survey in a couple weeks which takes about 5-6 minutes and pays $2.00. In total, you can earn $5.50 for participating in this research, in full. Additionally, if you complete all three surveys you will be entered into a drawing to win one of 10, $5 bonuses.

£1.20 • £11.34/hr

6 mins

This was waiting at 6 am this morning and states ' if you complete all three surveys you will be entered into a drawing to win one of 10, $5 bonuses'.

I wont hold my breath, I never seem to 'win' this type of thing.

albion22

fabsaver said:

I just accepted the study but returned it without completing after realising it was the one being discussed on here.

The maximum allowed time was showing as 13 minutes. By the time I had read the intro page the countdown timer was down to only 11 minutes left, so clearly impossible to complete without timing out.

I suspect every time it times out for someone the system is offering that place to another participant. Therefore far more people are completing it that there are actual spaces available.

Hopefully those that have spent time on it will get paid.

I got a message from the Researcher today who is investigating but not sure if they can rectify or not so that we are rewarded.

I looked more closely at the time section by hovering the mouse over it which I wasn't aware of before now and as you say it shows the maximum time allowed of 13 minutes. Even more curious is Estimated completion time of just 1 minute.

So it seems like either a technical issue or not set up correctly by the Researcher.

yupiteru

It would be very easy for the researcher (or Prolific) to change the status of the study and so be able to pay us for our time.  In the circumstances the researcher will have got all our data.

I supplied the researcher with the completion code thus confirming i completed it on Prolific and Qualtrics saves your data from each page as you progress through the survey.

Even if you did not message the completion code to the researcher like I did, because Qualtrics saves all your supplied data, the researcher will have all the completed responses in their Qualtrics account.

Either way, if it was inadvertent researcher error or a prolific technical issue (of which as we know there are many) they will at the moment be in the position of having all the data they wanted without paying a penny to the participants.

Of course if it is deemed to be a Prolific technical issue then they will be refunded the Prolific fee as well.

Maybe I am just being cynical, but an unscrupulous researcher in these circumstances would be very happy with the situation, having preserved the research budget to a certain extent. (they will still have to pay Qualtrics).

Obviously if it is a prolific problem then maybe they will pay us something, but they will not be obliged to pay us £5, just for the average completion time.

Better than nothing obviously but still an infuriating experience.

EDIT - I had a reply from the researcher last night apologizing and  advising that many participants had experienced a technical issue with the survey. We are investigating what happened and how to proceed.

wibblewibble

I was also timed out on the AI study (first time ever in 6 years of being a prolific memebr) and contacted the researcher who has replied to me twice, the first time to say they would investigate, the second time this evening to say that they had had a number of people reporting issues and they were looking into it and would let me know what they were going to do. 

Also with the decision making (about 20 min., GBP 2.50 plus bonus) one I also didn't get selected for a bonus as they chose the first round where I was still busy chatting with the other "participants" when that round closed - for the remainder of the study I rather suspected that would be the "randomly" selected round for a bonus payment - so I have contacted the researcher about that one too. 

yupiteru

B2B Customer-Supplier Relationships

By baruch.cuny.edu

748 places

In this study we will ask you to imagine yourself in a B2B firm-customer relationship. We will describe a situation, and ask questions on how you think you will behave.

£1.26 • £9.50/hr

7 mins

My 6 am logon study today was to evaluate a business solution and tick some boxes to answer questions in relation to that scenario.

I am positive that a while back I completed a study relating to the same scenario from a different researcher so will probably be familiar to some as it was to me.

warby68

I've had a really good month on Prolific despite also encountering the same problems as others with lulls with no studies, Gorilla and other technical things. I'm on for a record amount in a single month.

Breaking my record is mainly due to this study

Accounting and financial planning skills

Hosted by Rhys Lewis

I did a trial of it when it paid £108 for an estimated 9h work. It took me 6.5h.

Its still doing the rounds with a reduced payment of £84 for the 7h average its actually taking, so £12 per hour.

It is quite specialised and intense with 'exam' style questions on about 15 topics BUT the key thing for anyone interested is you actually get 3 days to do it in which is not obvious at first as the max Prolific can allow is 11h. I dipped in and out over a weekend when I was home alone, physically laid up and bored stiff !!. You get a summary of your results and I was paid within 24 hours.

You need accounting or related experience with financials and management experience to have a decent go at it but thought it was worth pointing out the 3 day thing as many would dismiss it instantly because it seemingly needs an immediate 7 free hours . Its popped up 3 more times since so hopefully a few more people will get the chance.