At Prolific, we know how important it is that both our researchers and participants are on the same page. We're all working towards the same common goal: Connecting people to facilitate world-changing research. This is why having clear submission guidelines is integral to our platform and overall mission.
Below, you'll find a set of guidelines that we encourage all participants to follow. Check out our company principles too, and try to keep these in mind when taking part in studies on the platform.
Take the right amount of time to complete a study
We recommend only ever taking part in a study if you know that you're able to dedicate enough time to reading through all the questions properly, really think about your answers, and articulating them to the researcher. Our researchers are always really grateful when they can see that a participant has put thought, care and consideration into their submission and will reward you accordingly.
Answer all questions in a study
The value of a participant's time is well understood and respected by the researcher's on Prolific. Researchers will almost never ask questions that aren't directly relevant or important to their research. This is why the best approach is to consider all questions asked as crucial (unless explicitly stated as optional), answering each and everyone to the best of your ability.
Pay attention to everything, in case of attention checks
Making sure you read every question carefully will help to guarantee you don't get caught out by any of these checks.
Engage in a task the best you can
Engagement shows a high level of effort and that the task was completed with the utmost seriousness. When you aren't sufficiently engaged, the quality of your submission drops and so too does the researcher's confidence in the quality/reliability of the data. A participant that may not be sufficiently engaged, for example, may only put a few words or gibberish when asked to write a paragraph.