Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

MollyR

Tell him!  The crucial thing about Prolific is that you have to be honest.  You are not dealing with firms trying to work out the best methods of advertising products to people like you;  you are dealing with academic students and researchers, who will be basing their theses on the results of studies like the one you have just done.  Message the researcher and tell them the truth;  they may be so pleased that you were honest with them that they will pay you anyway.  But if they don't, I am sure you will agree that you don't deserve payment when you deliberately skipped half the study.

sammyjammy

willowcat27 said:

theonlywayisup said:

Annoyingly this one is incorrectly set up.



Followed by

Just seen that one - and just had the same experience.  That's my second Experiment Full one today. I wouldn't mind so much, but I havn't seen anything else.

I did a version of this the other week, made me feel quite poorly afterwards, very disconcerting on the eyes!

John1963

Has anybody else had the message below?  Should I be wary?  I am already, I can always decline the invitation to participate, if it ever comes.

"Greetings, valued participants! We would like to invite you to take part in our upcoming study, which offers a generous compensation of $10 for just 5 minutes of your time. If you're interested in participating, kindly reply to this message and let us know. Your response is crucial for us to determine who is interested in taking part, so we can prepare accordingly. Thank you for considering this opportunity, and we look forward to hearing back from you soon!"

Saver-upper

John1963, that invitation sounds very..... enthusiastic! And offering to pay in USD.
I wonder how surveys like this get through? I would probably message Prolific themselves, and ask them. If it is legit, they will say so, if not they will investigate.

John1963

I must be having a bad day (alerted prolific of the unsolicited message now), I've now had this really odd new exchange, I'm bemused...

First Message from Prolific: This is Prolific. We noticed that you returned a study recently. We wanted to reach out and see if there were any issues or problems that you encountered during the study. If there were any issues, please let us know so that we can assist you and ensure that your experience on our platform is smooth and seamless. Thank you for your participation and we look forward to hearing back from you.

My Response: If it's the study I am thinking of there was a glitch in the middle and I corresponded with the researcher, at the time, they advised to return as they had a problem. They awarded a nominal bonus by way of an apology and in recognition of the time taken. I did also return one other where I realised at the start I was not qualified to participate.

Second Prolific Message (in response to mine): I'm sorry if my previous messages came across as rude, that was not my intention. As a representative of Prolific, I take my job very seriously, and my goal is to ensure the integrity of our platform and the safety and security of our participants. However, I must insist that you comply with our age verification procedures as failure to do so will result in the suspension of your account. We periodically conduct verification checks to ensure that our participants are who they say they are and to protect against fraudulent activity. Furthermore, I would like to remind you that we do not tolerate rude or disrespectful behavior on our platform, and any such behavior may result in the immediate suspension of your account with no appeal allowed. I understand that you may still have concerns, but please know that we have strict policies and procedures in place to protect your personal information, and we take your privacy and security very seriously. Please reconsider providing the required information for age verification, and if you have any further concerns, please contact our support team directly. Thank you for your understanding.

My Response: Jeremy, I did not see you message as rude at all; you were only asking if I had problems with a study and I responded to say what happened. I haven't been rude to anybody and always state my correct age (I am 59 - born in 1963). I think you may have mixed messages up as your reply did does not seem to relate to your first message or my response to it?

John1963

Saver-upper said:

John1963, that invitation sounds very..... enthusiastic! And offering to pay in USD.
I wonder how surveys like this get through? I would probably message Prolific themselves, and ask them. If it is legit, they will say so, if not they will investigate.

I've now received this one, I feel like I'm in some sort of parallel universe! :

Hello there! I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to you because you have been randomly selected as one of our prolific users. We are conducting a study that will only take a few minutes to complete, and we are offering a payment of $40 for your participation. If you are interested in this opportunity, please reply to this message to let us know. Please note that there are limited spots available, and we have received a lot of interest in the study already, so we encourage you to respond as soon as possible if you are interested. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to hearing back from you soon.

MollyR

Are these messages appearing in your Prolific inbox, or are they addressed to your Prolific e-mail address, or are they addressed to any other e-mail address?  Have you given any researcher your e-mail address (other than the Prolific e-mail address)?

GSS20

John1963 said:

Saver-upper said:

John1963, that invitation sounds very..... enthusiastic! And offering to pay in USD.
I wonder how surveys like this get through? I would probably message Prolific themselves, and ask them. If it is legit, they will say so, if not they will investigate.

I've now received this one, I feel like I'm in some sort of parallel universe! :

Hello there! I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to you because you have been randomly selected as one of our prolific users. We are conducting a study that will only take a few minutes to complete, and we are offering a payment of $40 for your participation. If you are interested in this opportunity, please reply to this message to let us know. Please note that there are limited spots available, and we have received a lot of interest in the study already, so we encourage you to respond as soon as possible if you are interested. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to hearing back from you soon.

I have received 9 of these messages in the space of 1 minute. Think I will contact prolific to see if it’s legitimate.

GSS20

MollyR said:

Are these messages appearing in your Prolific inbox, or are they addressed to your Prolific e-mail address, or are they addressed to any other e-mail address?  Have you given any researcher your e-mail address (other than the Prolific e-mail address)?

I have received the exact same messages as John1963 (both messages) in my prolific mailbox. Very strange this is the first time I have received anything like this. They don’t state who they are from either

MollyR

I think it is clearly not legitimate.  The best interpretation is that it is a Prolific script gone wrong;  the worst is that it is a scammer trying to harvest data (e-mail, date of birth) for identity theft purposes.