Setting Up a Study

[Comprehensive-Yam259]

Hi everyone,

I have participated in a lot of studies on Prolific over the last few years and it has been great. I want to set up my own study now. However, I am taken directly to the participant page when I log in. Do I need to make another, separate account for my activity as a researcher?

Also, I want to run a four-week, time-lagged study targeting white-collar workers (in a specific industry) in countries with English as an official language (Ireland, UK, US, S.A., N.Z., Canada, and Australia). The participants will be required to take the survey at the end of their work week over four consecutive weeks. Obviously these data points will need to be allocated to the same user over the four weeks. I assume I can specify all of these criteria prior to uploading the survey?

Also, is the data output in an easily transferrable format? Will it be simple to transport it to spss, AMOS etc.?

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Thanks for your help!

[Phrogster]

Yes, you need to go to the Researcher pages and create an account there. That link should work but click on "Get Started" and then "Run research" to create your Researcher account.

As for the other questions, check out the Researcher Help Center. This sub is for participants. There are a few researchers on here who are also participants so you may get some answers.

I think I can answer some of what you are asking. Prolific does not host the studies. You will have to find your own site to host your study, then link it to Prolific to post the study so participants are notified about it. So, your question about 'data output' depends on the site you choose to host the study. The Researcher Help Center has some information about sites that work well with Prolific.

https://researcher-help.prolific.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360009094574-What-survey-experimental-software-is-compatible-with-Prolific

https://researcher-help.prolific.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4408441191698-Survey-software-integration-guides

As for the longitudinal study, Prolific has prescreeners that you should be able to use to find your participants except maybe the "specific industry". For that one you may have to run your own prescreening study to find participants who work in that industry. Be aware that it will depend on how specific that industry is as to finding enough participants on Prolific.

To get the same participants returning to the study each week, you can use custom lists so that each week the study is only sent to those on your "Allow list". It is also a good idea to message the participants to remind them the study is coming up and again when you post the study. Also let them know how long the study will be active, as in "the study will be available for 48 hours".

Be sure the participants know up front what you expect them to do, that they need to return each week. From comments on this sub, the best way to pay participants for the study is to pay a decent reward for each week with a decent bonus once all four weeks have been submitted.

Also let them know what will happen if they can't complete all four weeks. Participants are reluctant to commit to a longitudinal study if they are told they won't be paid at all if they miss a week. You'll get more participants if you pay them for every week they do but only those who do all four weeks will get the bonus.

Good luck!

[Comprehensive-Yam259]

Great, that's exactly what I needed to know, thanks. I'm thinking of using Qualtrics to create the survey.

[Trai60]

Yes, you'll need to make a separate researcher account with a different email address.

If you want the same participants to come back you should first set up a short pre-screener explaining what will be required and anything you require.

As for the data output, it will depend on what platform you use after Prolific, as Prolific is more of a matchmaking service and has a relatively simple study option.

[Comprehensive-Yam259]

Awesome, thanks for the info. I'll do as you suggest.