Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

silvercar

olliebean said:

Interactive study with possibility of earning up to 18 USD (avg. Payment of $11)o

Utterly fed up with seeing this one now. It's kept coming back for what feels like months, and it always hangs around for ages without filling up, so it's clearly not popular. It involves video chatting with other participants, which I'm not set up for (no webcam), and wouldn't be the sort of thing I'd feel comfortable doing anyway. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to click "Not interested" to make it go away.

Block the researcher.

fly-catchers

See that when you get any dollar payments they are kept separate when they get moved to PayPal. And if less than 1 dollar cannot be cashed in. So I assume that once you get more amounts in dollars they are converted by PayPal for payment? Does this dollar payments mean it opens up more surveys or just it’s easier for existing organisations they use to pay in dollars?

silvercar

fly-catchers said:

See that when you get any dollar payments they are kept separate when they get moved to PayPal. And if less than 1 dollar cannot be cashed in. So I assume that once you get more amounts in dollars they are converted by PayPal for payment? Does this dollar payments mean it opens up more surveys or just it’s easier for existing organisations they use to pay in dollars?

My dollar payments have landed into PayPal as dollars and remain that way. Under PayPal rules, if you chose existing balance as a the payment method and didn’t have enough British Pounds, it would convert the dollars.

I have definitely had repeat regular surveys that used to be in £££ now paying in $. Not sure if more surveys have opened up to me because they can now pay in $. I would think that prolific is just now moving the burden of exchange rate calculations to the user through PayPal. After all, a researcher chooses the countries it wants to survey.

Value

silvercar said:

I have definitely had repeat regular surveys that used to be in £££ now paying in $. Not sure if more surveys have opened up to me because they can now pay in $. I would think that prolific is just now moving the burden of exchange rate calculations to the user through PayPal. After all, a researcher chooses the countries it wants to survey.

I think it's this too, the exchange rate difference gets moved to the user rather than Prolific. I've also seen regular surveys appearing which used to pay in £ now paying in $. I haven't cashed out in $ yet though.

fly-catchers

So when I withdrew £10 sterling along with the $0.30 payment I assumed that it would be convert to sterling and added to the pounds. But assume it will stay there until it reaches at least 1 dollar before I can transfer it to the bank?

warby68

It will hit your PayPal in dollars and you exchange it as and when you use or withdraw it.

Essentially Prolific are passing any exchange rate risk to us as participants rather than themselves or the researchers.

Ivana_B_Rich

silvercar said:

fly-catchers said:

See that when you get any dollar payments they are kept separate when they get moved to PayPal. And if less than 1 dollar cannot be cashed in. So I assume that once you get more amounts in dollars they are converted by PayPal for payment? Does this dollar payments mean it opens up more surveys or just it’s easier for existing organisations they use to pay in dollars?

My dollar payments have landed into PayPal as dollars and remain that way. Under PayPal rules, if you chose existing balance as a the payment method and didn’t have enough British Pounds, it would convert the dollars.

I have definitely had repeat regular surveys that used to be in £££ now paying in $. Not sure if more surveys have opened up to me because they can now pay in $. I would think that prolific is just now moving the burden of exchange rate calculations to the user through PayPal. After all, a researcher chooses the countries it wants to survey.

warby68 said:

It will hit your PayPal in dollars and you exchange it as and when you use or withdraw it.

Essentially Prolific are passing any exchange rate risk to us as participants rather than themselves or the researchers.

This is the bit I'm not happy with, but I had assumed that the cost was previously charged to the researcher within Prolific's fees.

P@ypal is probably not the most economical way to convert the currency but as participants we don't get a choice. I don't think I'm being offered more studies so it just feels like a loss to me.

The last time I exchanged through P@ypal I got 76p for $1. Which, for me, feels like the lower paying $ studies aren't going to be worth doing.

warby68

I agree but to be fair a lot of sites pay in $ already. What is a bit disappointing is that the transfer of risk doesn't get a mention in their headline communications - its all about having a lovely display and getting more studies. OK the amounts are small for most but generally transfer of risk is an important principle.

Ivana_B_Rich

warby68 said:

I agree but to be fair a lot of sites pay in $ already. What is a bit disappointing is that the transfer of risk doesn't get a mention in their headline communications - its all about having a lovely display and getting more studies. OK the amounts are small for most but generally transfer of risk is an important principle.

Absolutely, I suppose it's not mentioned because there's not really anyway of putting a positive spin on it. I did complete the feedback a while ago and made a point of mentioning it.

This is probably the first time I've ever been disappointed in Prolific. I've historically been quite the cheerleader for their fairness and decent treatment of participants.

olliebean

Now you're talking.

Only did it this afternoon but I have absolutely no memory of what I did to earn such a large bonus!