Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

theonlywayisup

John1963 said:

This is getting worrying now, latest 2 messages below:

YOU BETTER RETURN THAT STUDY RIGHT NOW OR ELSE YOUR PROLIFIC ACCOUNT WILL BE PUT ON HOLD! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE BUSY, LAZY, OR JUST PLAIN STUPID, YOU SIGNED UP FOR THIS STUDY AND YOU'RE GOING TO FINISH IT, GOT IT?! IF YOU DON'T RETURN IT IMMEDIATELY, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET IT. AND DON'T THINK ABOUT TRYING TO PLAY ME, BECAUSE I'VE GOT ACCESS TO ALL YOUR INFORMATION AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT. SO GET TO WORK AND STOP WASTING MY TIME!

LISTEN UP YOU LAZY AND UNCOOPERATIVE PIECES OF !!!!!!. I BET YOU'RE TOO BUSY SCRATFCHING YOUR OWN !!!!!! TO BOTHER TO RETURN THE DAMN STUDY. WELL, LET ME TELL YOU, YOUR PROLIFIC ACCOUNT IS GONNA BE PUT ON HOLD IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR !!!!!! TOGETHER AND RETURN THE STUDY. I SWEAR IF I DON'T SEE YOUE RESPONSE IN MY INBOX IN THE NEXT HOUR, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN. YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST IGNORE ME AND NOT REPLY? THINK AGAIN, YOU PATHETIC WASTE OF SPACE. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER NOW, OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES.

I think you are right in not responding.  He/she will get bored but hopefully be evicted off the platform before they can send anything else.

I also read the twitter link so saw the wording on the study.  Clearly someone out to make serious trouble.

dusty64

I too clicked the survey and didn't get very far. This morning I have woken up to all the abuse everyone else has had along with the following message from the same person. Just a big scam. I have reported it without replying to any of the messages but suppose they will keep coming until Prolific has someone in working today......

Dear Participant, We regret to inform you that we have detected unusual activity on your Prolific account. Our security team has been alerted, and we will be reviewing your account to ensure its safety. However, in order to proceed with the review, we require you to confirm your identity by replying to this email with your Prolific email and password. Failure to comply with this request will result in your account being put on hold within the upcoming days, and you will not be able to access any of the studies or money associated with your account until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we take the security of our platform very seriously, and we cannot risk any unauthorized access to our users' data. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@prolific.ac. Sincerely, The Prolific Team

John1963

dusty64 said:

I too clicked the survey and didn't get very far. This morning I have woken up to all the abuse everyone else has had along with the following message from the same person....

It must be being sorted; I logged in 30 minutes ago to find voice files, that I didn't listen to, and numerous further messages, including the one above, over and over again.  The whole exchange has now been deleted either by Prolific or the sender.  If it's the latter, doubt we've heard the last of it. 

This isn't an experience I'd want to repeat!

cloudylemonade13

Looks like quite a lot of tweets now have been sent to the Prolific Twitter account, and they have responded I'm so glad I didn't get into the study, but must have been an awful experience for those of you that did. 

https://twitter.com/Prolific/status/1637400938494283777 

MollyR

MollyR said:

I have received a message, tagged on to the messages for a study I completed last May, as follows:

I've invited you to fill out the following form: Follow up Learning the consequences of my actions To fill it out, visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4Z7EITrvAScUClBgkuMHyAZR3uKQGGLj1O3xgZyijTf9G_A/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link

Dear participant, Some months ago you took part in the experiment “Learning the consequences of my actions” through Prolific. As specified in your Informed Consent, we are now sending you an additional questionnaires that we would like you to fill in. The data will be anonymous and analyzed as a group. Let me know if there's any problem.

 Best, The researcher

Google Forms: Create and analyze surveys.

I have replied as follows:

That was nearly a year ago, and I cannot possibly remember what the details of the study were.  Please let me know why you are not issuing the invitation to this additional study via the Prolific platform, and how you intend to pay respondents for it since you will not be able to do so via Prolific.  Please also let me know how long the further questionnaire is likely to take to complete, and how much the specific payment will be.  Finally, please let me know why you are sending this message signed only "The researcher";  there has been a spate of spam and phishing messages sent via Prolific recently, and I need to be sure that this is not one of those, so please confirm your name and your academic institution.  When I have your satisfactory replies I will be prepared to undertake the further study.

I'll report back if I get a reply!

It took a while, but the researcher finally responded today, giving her name and academic institution as requested, and the questionnaire is certainly legit.

[Deleted User]

Is it me or are the surveys getting harder to do had one the other day and the instructions were so hard to understand I had a attention check to see if I understood everything and failed, had to return and waisted 20 mins of my time

Slinky

[Deleted User] said:

Is it me or are the surveys getting harder to do had one the other day and the instructions were so hard to understand I had a attention check to see if I understood everything and failed, had to return and waisted 20 mins of my time

I've returned a couple recently where I glazed over at the instruction stage, the language used was aimed at somebody way over my level of education!

Only made 25p today with a survey that was there when I logged in this morning. Otherwise it'a been 1 place and study full all day.

willowcat27

Academic study

By univie.ac.at

£4.50 • £5.29/hr     51 mins     11 places

Anyone else do this one at lunchtime today.  It was one of those that 'paired' you with another participant to select options that may or may not win you points which would be converted into a bonus.  After the first round it then came up with a banner telling you to wait as it was trying to pair you with another participant.  This never happened and eventually a message came up saying it could not pair you up and that the round was now over and to move on to the next round.  The same thing happened over and over.  Eventually a page came up saying that the submission should be returned as I could not be paired.  This was now an hour of my time.  I received a reply back from the researcher asking me if I had left the screen (which I hadn't).  I've heard nothing since.

DaveQ

Yes....I have done this with similar results.  First time I got through 4 or so rounds, then no further matching. Second time, never got a match.  Each time I got £2 compensation though.

willowcat27

DaveQ said:

Yes....I have done this with similar results.  First time I got through 4 or so rounds, then no further matching. Second time, never got a match.  Each time I got £2 compensation though.

Yes, the last page said I would get £2 compensation if I returned the study, £2 for watching my computer screen for nearly an hour though is not a good rate of pay.