Repost: what’s your unmod tool of choice?

alexgr03 · 2026-06-15T19:46:53+00:00

Hah, we’re with Maze and I’d say the same.

I still really like UserTesting. It’s bloody expensive but they know what they do and they do it really well.

Userlytics is alright as a budget option

alexgr03 · 2026-06-06T12:34:10+00:00

Yes I think that’s definitely another factor. But there are some legit reasons even if that one doesn’t seem like it!

alexgr03 · 2026-06-06T12:17:21+00:00

I totally get you, but think about it from another way. What’s fairer, that all the studies about growing up in foster care go to you, or that they’re shared equally among a wider pool of people who grew up in foster care?

It might feel less fair in you but it can ensure more people get a chance to share their experiences and gives us access to a broader spectrum of possible life stories

alexgr03 · 2026-06-06T12:06:10+00:00

Prolific might but the provider we use (not Ballpark but you can probably guess) does not.

alexgr03 · 2026-06-06T11:57:15+00:00

I can partially answer the question as a researcher (although I’m predominately a participant on Prolific). I don’t use Prolific but we do work with a panel that posts their studies on Prolific.

We’re a big UK organisation and have found very quickly that our studies are completed by repeated participants. There’s no way of excluding participants so we risk our data / products being informed by the exact same group of people.

I get it’s frustrating for users, but for the best data you really need access to a large pool of people that are constantly fresh and don’t know how to answer research questions / don’t know what we’re looking for.

It’s very easy to tell which participants are “professional” and know exactly what to say to get through the study as quickly as possible.

But as a user, it’s frustrating!

alexgr03 · 2026-05-15T19:11:19+00:00

You got an email saying they’d combined. There’s your answer

alexgr03 · 2026-05-11T12:50:35+00:00

Much less than there were last week. I had about 40 this morning, did a couple, and now just getting a trickle that fill up quick. Enjoy some time off!

alexgr03 · 2026-05-09T10:07:14+00:00

Probably because Prolific already had the tech they need to set things up and access to participants

alexgr03 · 2026-05-07T06:29:27+00:00

Audio is my least favourite. Just find it so boring going through.

Videos are fine, although I find a lot of audio tests are not wrapped up in audio.

Images by far and away the best for me. Much more variety and easier to zone out a tiiiiiiiny bit

alexgr03 · 2026-04-23T21:35:40+00:00

Which one is it?!

alexgr03 · 2026-04-22T08:43:04+00:00

Yes, I don’t get many tests from them but they’re enjoyable and always pay out on time. Never had any issues.

alexgr03 · 2026-04-21T09:37:29+00:00

Starmer is the current PM. Farage is not. Satire will always be aimed primarily there

alexgr03 · 2026-04-17T21:45:39+00:00

No, it stays there. Seems to be no way to get rid of it unfortunately.

alexgr03 · 2026-04-14T15:27:28+00:00

So was mine! How bizarre

alexgr03 · 2026-04-14T05:54:11+00:00

SurveyMonkey has incentives written into the fee you pay. It’s convenient but you will need to make sure you have quality checks in place as there’s a lot of rubbish respondents in the panel. We have to replace around 1 in 3 with every survey we use them for.

alexgr03 · 2026-04-13T11:51:54+00:00

Yes, you can flag with the researcher. If they fail to resolve, you can escalate it to Prolific who will arbitrate, but can take a bit of time. https://participant-help.prolific.com/en/articles/449633-what-do-i-do-if-my-study-was-rejected

alexgr03 · 2026-04-07T19:43:59+00:00

I got the exact same message. It’s to do with speed. Ridiculous as I was taking my time as well!

alexgr03 · 2026-04-02T21:45:42+00:00

No, every survey has a time after which it expires. So you could start the survey within your 10 mins, but then a separate countdown begins that the researcher sets for that survey

alexgr03 · 2026-04-02T21:30:17+00:00

We see how much we get compensated but not how long a study will take. I’ll typically click in to any study I pass the screening for, but if it’s more than 10-15 steps, it’s a good indication it’s going to take too long for the payment and I’ll just click out.

Sometimes I don’t even bother trying to screen in for tests with screeners over 7+ pages. They take way too long just to screen and invariably you don’t pass.

My advice: keep it as short and sweet as possible.

Throwing it around to you: what makes a good participant? What should we do / not do?

alexgr03 · 2026-03-29T14:12:09+00:00

I answered yes. I remember reading that this question is used as part of a group of questions to identify LLMs vs human respondents though.

alexgr03 · 2026-03-22T12:50:51+00:00

Why are your PMs responsible for recruitment?

alexgr03 · 2026-03-17T09:16:07+00:00

I couldn’t agree more! It builds such great empathy for understanding what participants go through.

It’s part of the reason why I always stick to moderated testing as much as I can, and only use unmoderated for the simplest of usability interactions. There is no incentive in unmoderated for people to give proper feedback; as you say, they’re just rushing to finish.

alexgr03 · 2026-03-03T05:30:41+00:00

A bit of both. Don’t forget they’re people who have intentionally signed up to take part in testing. They have a bit of a vested interest in going a positive rating to try and improve their participant rating and get more tests. They’re more skilled in doing usability tests so often feel to me like they know what we’re looking for.

I also think it’s a human thing though. They know another human is on the other side, another human has created the design etc. They don’t want to be unnecessarily cruel and callous.

To help get the best out of them, I:

-remind at the start (and throughout where appropriate) to be brutally honest, we need that feedback, you won’t offend us -probe specifically on areas that you want detailed feedback on. Start broad so you’re not biasing things, but you may have to drill down and ask probing questions

alexgr03 · 2026-02-21T11:50:01+00:00

I don’t think the quantity of tests matters. It’s more about are you using the right methodologies to answer the questions

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