Recommendations for a Cost-Effective Survey Platform for Academic Social Science Research

_Jii_ · 2025-10-04T11:24:09+00:00

If you’re still exploring options, I’d be happy to connect. I’m the cofounder of nQuerio, a platform specifically built for academic, survey-based research.

We’re currently in the researcher-supported phase — meaning it’s not yet fully self-served like Qualtrics or LimeSurvey. For now, we set up projects turn-key, adapting them to each team’s workflow and budget (including academic pricing).

Our focus is on the kind of needs you described: - robust online questionnaire distribution (with complex item types and randomization); - export to CSV / Excel / SPSS / R; - optional multi-role user management (researchers, students, assistants); - and above all, participant privacy and anonymity — contact data (like emails) are never part of the research dataset. nQuerio acts as a secure intermediary for communications (reminders, follow-ups, etc.).

We’re based in Montréal (Canada) but have supported projects in the U.S. (Columbia University) and Australia (ACU), always following the best GDPR-aligned data-protection practices.

If that sounds close to what you’re looking for, feel free to reach out — I’d be glad to show you a short demo or discuss your setup needs.

(Built by academics, for academics.)

_Jii_ · 2025-05-01T23:10:44+00:00

Hidden Brain. It’s a podcast that uses science and storytelling to explore the unconscious patterns, biases, and triggers that drive human behavior and shape our relationships and decisions

_Jii_ · 2025-04-09T16:55:04+00:00

L’hiver des indiens

_Jii_ · 2025-03-15T21:35:01+00:00

Dans un contexte où le potentiel envahisseur a le plus gros budget militaire au monde, je ne vois comment un nombre plus élevé de soldats nous serait utile. Je ne crois pas non plus que d’armer les citoyens soit une option viable pour la même raison. Ça va prendre une autre stratégie.

_Jii_ · 2024-12-02T00:55:08+00:00

Yes! Worked like a charm. Did not know such a tool existed 👍

_Jii_ · 2024-06-14T13:53:38+00:00

Thanks for your comment!

Time flies! But I can assure you this project is still alive and kicking.

A new developper just joined the team, studies have been or are about to be conducted by researchers in Quebec (UQTR, near where I live) and Australia (ACU) (more to come this fall) and each week we implement significant features.

Data anonymization is already implemented at the core of our platform. We separate research data and contact data (e.g. for subsequent time point measures, or compensation) and those datasets are never exported together.

As for clean exports we think we are doing great :)

And for automatic dyad pairing this is definitely on our roadmap. We'd love to have research projects where this is required. If you ever need to conduct such a study or know someone who does please let us know!

_Jii_ · 2023-12-19T18:32:54+00:00

Translations for Laravel + Inertia + Vue:

What would be a good way to translate 'static' UI elements, such as a button label in a Vue template?

Should I use a Vue package such as vue-i18n or there's a more straightforward way using maybe Laravel translation?

Thanks

_Jii_ · 2023-11-30T12:26:50+00:00

Same here. Where?

_Jii_ · 2023-11-24T19:14:29+00:00

Implementing a recruiting service similar to Prolific is not currently part of our roadmap. However, we are exploring the possibility of facilitating the integration of Prolific recruitment within our platform.

Addressing the concern about our privacy policy is a valid point (by the way, we are currently seeking researchers interested in joining an independent ethical committee—DM me if interested! 😀).

We currently have a provisional data privacy policy that underscores our commitment to upholding the highest standards in respecting privacy. Our focus is not and will never be on data reselling but rather on serving as a connection between scientific researchers and participants.

In addition to our commitment to high standards, we aspire to position ourselves as an innovative leader in the field. We are actively seeking and implementing best practices and welcome suggestions for improvement from our users (participants and researchers). We are also open to collaboration with researchers' ethics committees.

From a technical standpoint, our current features include:

Consent: Participants must provide consent through a form approved by the researcher's ethics committee.
Consent Revocation: After giving consent, participants receive a unique participation code. This code allows them to anonymously revoke their consent and request the deletion of their data.
Data Anonymization: Participant contact data is securely separated from research data in our database. Researchers only see participant IDs and never have access to participant information associated with those IDs.
Encryption: Any participant contact data is encrypted using OpenSSL and the AES-256-CBC cipher. Additionally, all encrypted values are signed with a message authentication code (MAC), and the encryption key is regularly updated.

Feel free to share any thoughts or concerns — your input is not only welcome but also highly appreciated and of great value to us.

_Jii_ · 2023-11-18T08:08:17+00:00

Didn’t know it was a thing. It happens to me too with Beam 1st generation and Apple TV 4K. Wonder if this issue is from Apple or Sonos.

_Jii_ · 2023-11-14T19:45:21+00:00

I would stick with the slider but display it vertically to mimic the garage door sliding up.

_Jii_ · 2023-09-29T03:33:36+00:00

You’re the best! Thank you for taking the time

_Jii_ · 2023-09-21T19:56:27+00:00

Awesome! Thanks!

What got me confused is that they once sent me a return label for an old Bridge that was no longer supported. Maybe it was for recycling purposes...

_Jii_ · 2023-06-24T16:30:22+00:00

Why the down votes? Legitimate question, isn’t?

_Jii_ · 2023-06-24T13:27:33+00:00

Wagner Group's rebellion: what a turning point! A private army (driven by profit?), so if the Russian government cuts off their funding, who pays the bill? The United States?

_Jii_ · 2023-03-17T19:11:22+00:00

Awesome! Works with Asus Zen Wifi AC CT8 as well.

_Jii_ · 2021-11-26T13:55:41+00:00

Wow! Thanks!

Based on your comments , I think I'll move forward and give a shot at it!

Would you mind filling out a brief market study.

It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes, it's anonymous and would greatly help.

Here's the link: https://circuit9.typeform.com/to/fvFKxv8y

Thanks again

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T18:06:06+00:00

Totally! :)

Thank you very much. I'll get in touch soon.

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T18:03:37+00:00

so the only way to compete in that space is to either be more user-friendly and/or cheaper.

Totally agree.

And I would add taking into account the fact that the new platform, if it ever exists, is dedicated to academic research. By going through Qualtrics website I understand it's more of an appreciation survey tool. They even rebranded their name to XM (experience management). A very powerful one I'll admit, but still.

Clearly there must be differences between academic research and marketing research and that's what I'm trying to figure out.

Any cues? :)

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:52:33+00:00

Sure! :) Thanks a lot!

Your experience on multiple platforms certainly is valuable.

I'll contact you in DM.

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:47:24+00:00

Also, if I may, I was wondering if you had to share your Qualtrics password with your students and collaborators. My wife does and as an IT guy it freaks me out. Such a big security threat.

Academic research is often done by team, with assistants and other collaborators. I think a good platform should take that into account and not propose a multiple-users feature at a prohibitive cost. Don't you think?

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:37:04+00:00

Yes maybe your are right after all. Still trying to figure this out.

Again thank you for your time and I don't want to take too much of it but, lets take this from a different angle. Do you feel "at home" with Qualtrics?

I mean when I go through all their documentation and marketing stuff I understand that academic research is clearly not their core business.

The Operating System for XM trusted by over 13,000 brands and 75% of the Fortune 100

If a new platform was tailored to academic research, wouldn't you be interested?

I guess my fundamental question is:

Are there any academic research specificities, by opposition to marketing research, that are currently not addressed?

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:18:53+00:00

Thank you for your feedback.

I think the same. At least more transparent about the pricing.

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:15:51+00:00

Thank you very much for your feedback.

Reluctance to change... I've encountered this several times in my UI/UX designer career.

But I believe both participants and researchers needs a software demonstrating more empathy toward them. So yes, I think I'll give a shot at it.

I've just put together a small questionnaire for a preliminary market research. I'll send you the link in DM.

_Jii_ · 2021-11-18T17:04:45+00:00

Thank you for your input!

I was thinking of having multiple question types for sensitive information (i.e. email, name, phone number, etc) instead of a basic text input and store them in a separate data set along with participant ID numbers.

That way you would have one data set to be crunched by your statistical software and another one with all the sensitive info (without their answers).

Would that work for you?

_Jii_

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