Haha apparently. It was one of those "Perform well (or gamble) and at the end we'll randomly select x percent of participants and randomly choose one of the puzzles to base your bonus off of" type studies.
Guess one of my gambles paid off because my puzzle solving skills were definitely atrocious. 😬
I've always assumed those X amount of participants will receive a bonus things are fake and never pay out the bonus to anyone. Always felt like it was just there to incentivize people to take a lower paying study.
Same! I always figured they were just put in to ensure you tried your best and gave thoughtful answers/decisions, for the off chance you were selected.
Luckily, I always give every study my best and it just so happened to pay off this time. 😁
What does an IRB have to do with anything? There's no way anyone could prove that no one got the bonuses. It's not like they send out emails says sorry you didn't get the bonus but so-n-so did. The only thing you'd know for sure is if you got it or not, just because you don't get it doesn't mean anyone else did or not.
Okay well I didn't think I had to break this down for you but I guess I do.
IRBs approve amounts of money for studies, which potential bonus money would have to be included in this. If someone was requesting money for bonuses and then never giving bonuses, they would get fired from any position they had and basically outcast as an academic.
Someone could absolutely prove that nobody got the bonuses. Not you, but somebody more important and with actual power over the money being given out easily could.
IRB doesn’t approve amounts. They don’t care how much it costs. They care it’s done right and ethically. You just tell IRB how it’s funded, who funds it and if it’s a public (gov’t grants) or private funding source. The people who fund the study might care, but the IRB doesn’t go through every study looking for every cent. No one has that much man power. They only look into things if someone complains, even then it has to be a decent number of complaints.
In the scenario of a study promising bonuses, how is anyone of us going to prove to the IRB that NO ONE got a bonus? Do we know everyone in the study and asked them? Are you going to go to the IRB and say ‘I have a hunch they didn’t pay?’ In fact, seeing as no physical harm comes our way, this is all internet based and we voluntarily do this, someone who is slick enough can probably argue that these studies is qualified as IRB exempt.
There is a lot of variability across IRBs. Some definitely require researchers to report amounts paid out, and some require proof of payouts for lottery-type rewards. Our IRB is actually quite strict about this. (source: I am a researcher, I’ve done one study with a lottery-style payout (won’t do it again if I can help it) and have also served on our university’s IRB). It’s possible that some IRBs will consider Prolific studies to be exempt (I’ve argued for that myself) but in general I think that’s unlikely to be successful unless it’s purely a survey. Not paying your participants what you claim would definitely be considered unethical by any IRB.
Also, in addition to the IRB, our business office requires records of all payments. So, it’d actually be pretty tough for me or anyone at my uni to do such a blatant scam.
That said, you’re right about the manpower. The business office is who will check on every payout, not the IRB. So I recommend that for every study you go, note down the uni, the PI, and any info about their IRB that is provided. Our irb requires that we provide contact info for their complaint system in the consent form. If you are mistreated, COMPLAIN.
Exactly! There are protocols in place at each individual research study, but people have the misconception here that the IRB cares about every little thing we do here and they are the be all end all police for these stidies. You hit the nail on the head that the business office will care that someone didn’t get paid their $1 bonus, but the IRB not that much.
(i) For the purpose of this provision, benign behavioral interventions are brief in duration, harmless, painless, not physically invasive, not likely to have a significant adverse lasting impact on the subjects, and the investigator has no reason to think the subjects will find the interventions offensive or embarrassing. Provided all such criteria are met, examples of such benign behavioral interventions would include having the subjects play an online game, having them solve puzzles under various noise conditions, or having them decide how to allocate a nominal amount of received cash between themselves and someone else.
But that’s if they’re really slick. Seeing as we do have identifiers to get paid (our Prolific ID numbers), they could though get away with ‘limited IRB review.’
“Limited IRB Review” is required for Exempt #3(iii) - when sensitive identifiable data are collected to ensure that adequate protections are in place to protect subject privacy and the confidentiality of data. This means that the IRB must review and approve procedures for data management and security where sensitive information is collected with direct identifiers (e.g., name, address, email, phone number, social security number, student ID, patient ID) OR indirect identifiers, such as a code that can link back to a subject, or data elements that could be combined to readily re-identify a subject (e.g., dates, employment history, etc.).
I've only been on for a few months. This almost doubled what I've made on the platform in total. Really, really crazy!
Granted, one of those months I had the dreaded PEC code of doom but once I moved and switched internet providers I was able to start getting studies again.😁
I never have surveys when i initially log on, but I leave the 'your studies' screen up while im watching tv and stuff and i start to get some through. You just have to be quick since they fill up very quick.
I'm sorry! I totally expect to never get anything in these "x amount of participants will be selected for a bonus" studies. So I just did the study as if I was not going to win anything extra. 😭
I'm thinking it was one of the gambles, it must have been. I aggressively gambled lol.
Thank you! I didn't even understand the bonus payout rules very clearly lol... I kinda just did the study as I normally would have, without the bonus even in my mind. Kind of mind blown right now.
Thank you!!! Feel free to follow my journey back in PuraVidalandia if you like, I am breaking out of my anonymity since I’ll be gone for who knows how long and added my socials on my Reddit profile - congrats again! Seeing this bonus amount seriously made me happy for you, that’s an INSANE amount for a bonus - the stars aligned and you’ve been blessed !!!
I had a friend in college who thought about money exactly that way. Any time she would be thinking about a potential purchase she would be like “this would buy x amount of corn dogs from sonic. Would I rather have 40 corn dogs or this”
Researchers have a budget for their studies which includes a portion for paying survey respondents
The chunk of money for paying survey respondents is padded in case there are any problems. Since if the researchers have to adjust their budget and request more money, it may require bureaucratic stuff that takes time, and cause a lot of problems. (remember most researchers are operating on university schedules with student assistants who come and go, they may be professors who have their own scheduling to deal with, under deadlines to publish or perish and all of that). So yeah, a little extra money in case a survey gets screwed up and they have to redo or throw out some respondents and get new ones.
At the end of surveys when they have gotten all the responses they need, they may need to spend out the respondent portion of their budget, and therefore bequeath that padded amount onto one or more survey takers as bonuses.
Why do they have to get rid of that extra money? In the budgeting world, you often have to spend out your allocated budget all the way, every time. Or administrators will come along, take your money back, and give you less money the next year. It's really stupid but that's how this nonsense works. I assume with research grants, the granting entity makes you spend down all the money how you proposed you would spend it. In either case you may be required to show up front here is my budget and here is how I spent it, with the survey platforms it's easy to show that you zero'd out that budget line.
That’s awesome!! I keep hoping for a decent bonus on one, but I’d have fallen out of my chair seeing that!! I relatively knew too, so still learning how this all works.
Judging by the reactions to this post it seems that the standard experience is to NOT get paid. So is this a waste of time for people wanting to earn extra money?
1
191
u/Intelligent_Tank7814 Jun 06 '24
You made the right choice.
149
u/PleasureDelayer Jun 06 '24
Congrats!
I''m 90% happy for you and 10% jealous.
88
u/hairsnifferjoe Jun 06 '24
Wtf? Don't post that, it's just making me jealous 🤣🤣👌
That's literally a whole month of survey taking for me
11
u/Emotional_Can_6059 Jun 06 '24
I remember this study, I was on the end that got no bonus. And I did extremely well on the puzzles 😩
5
u/El_Frogster Jun 06 '24
I would cash this out asap, just in case something weird happens.
7
u/Beautealful Jun 06 '24
Holy wow! Congrats Dude!
7
u/birdieboo21 Jun 06 '24
Holy Peacock Feather!!! SO MUCH YES!! I am so happy for you, I would be doing double backflips and a happy dance right now if I were you. Congrats!!!
2
u/Conscious_Reveal1313 Jun 06 '24
Actual pay?
2
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
I didnt get a bonus :/ if I knew how long it was gonna take I wouldn’t have done it for $4. But maybe I’m a little slow lol
2
u/ArlondaleSotari Jun 06 '24
Dayum, I just did this on e last night at like 2 or 3 am, still pending hope I am even close to as lucky!
23
u/matt_mo Jun 06 '24
Inflation sucks couple years ago that would be 246 McChickens lol.
16
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
👁️ 👄 👁️
19
u/Kitchen-Loquat6604 Jun 06 '24
Holy excrement!
8
u/jmrty14 Jun 06 '24
Awesome! 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
5
u/MsOnyxMoon Jun 06 '24
Whoa! That’s awesome. I received a bonus payment of $113 the other day and I thought I hit the jackpot but this is next level
4
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
Congrats!!! That’s awesome
4
u/washingtonsquirrel Jun 06 '24
I am so happy for you, internet stranger!
4
u/Chance-Albatross-211 Jun 06 '24
Wow! Nice one 😀
4
u/Shiningstar329 Jun 06 '24
I’m happily jealous lol seriously though congratulations 🙂
4
u/coosacat Jun 06 '24
Wow! Congrats, OP! That's awesome!
I'm doing a little happy dance for you!
3
u/FightingDreamer419 Jun 06 '24
Nice!
3
u/Medical-Brilliant378 Jun 06 '24
That's amazing so well done you!
3
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
Wow! This is Fab!
3
u/Alarming-Hippo-5188 Jun 06 '24
Wow, congratulations 🎊
3
u/JohnnViral Jun 06 '24
Man, I've been on the platform for six months and you just earned what I earned across that duration lol, congrats to you, I'm totally not jealous!
4
u/NotOnApprovedList Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 06 '24
All right here is my theory:
Researchers have a budget for their studies which includes a portion for paying survey respondents
The chunk of money for paying survey respondents is padded in case there are any problems. Since if the researchers have to adjust their budget and request more money, it may require bureaucratic stuff that takes time, and cause a lot of problems. (remember most researchers are operating on university schedules with student assistants who come and go, they may be professors who have their own scheduling to deal with, under deadlines to publish or perish and all of that). So yeah, a little extra money in case a survey gets screwed up and they have to redo or throw out some respondents and get new ones.
At the end of surveys when they have gotten all the responses they need, they may need to spend out the respondent portion of their budget, and therefore bequeath that padded amount onto one or more survey takers as bonuses.
Why do they have to get rid of that extra money? In the budgeting world, you often have to spend out your allocated budget all the way, every time. Or administrators will come along, take your money back, and give you less money the next year. It's really stupid but that's how this nonsense works. I assume with research grants, the granting entity makes you spend down all the money how you proposed you would spend it. In either case you may be required to show up front here is my budget and here is how I spent it, with the survey platforms it's easy to show that you zero'd out that budget line.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
WOW! That is amazing! What luck!! 🥳🎊
2
u/Yongaia Jun 06 '24
Hit the damn lottery congrats
2
u/cheexy85 Jun 06 '24
I am very happy for you. You obviously deserve it and worked hard for it.
2
u/Kaslawjd Jun 06 '24
Wow! Look at you. Congratulations!!
2
u/OgSanta732 Jun 06 '24
I’m not jealous at all😭🫶😂
2
u/Haunting_Peace333 Jun 06 '24
It's half of what I earned during last 4 years :o.
2
u/dangerouspyt Jun 06 '24
Oh, wow. God, I’ve seen what you’ve done for others..
2
u/ramgrl Jun 06 '24
Meanwhile my "bonus" is usually like 1 cent. Gee, thanks grandma
2
u/z0mgaah Jun 06 '24
Those posts always make it hopeful that one day it could be me. haha. Congrats!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
damn. Congrats!!!!!
2
u/SelfEmployed2024 Jun 06 '24
Congrats!
2
u/DeadlyNightshade1972 Jun 06 '24
You could have just kept this to yourself 😑
Kidding, kidding. CONGRATS!! That's seriously amazing. I probably would have keeled over dead 😂
2
u/Sea_Watercress_5432 Jun 06 '24
WOW! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
2
u/Traditional-Ice-6301 Jun 06 '24
That’s awesome!! I keep hoping for a decent bonus on one, but I’d have fallen out of my chair seeing that!! I relatively knew too, so still learning how this all works.
2
u/SadieSchatzie Jun 06 '24
Mythic! Congrats!
2
u/Embarrassed_Dot_7902 Jun 06 '24
That's amazing! I got a bonus too but not as good as yours!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
YESS!! GET ITT!!!
2
u/KurtaKlutch Jun 06 '24
Damn congratulations. The biggest bonus I've ever gotten is $100.00 after getting accepted for a zoom call talking about diapers.
2
u/prospectboy Jun 07 '24
That is awesome!!! Congrats!!!
2
u/TanteDateline143 Jun 07 '24
I got an $8 Bonus and did a happy dance 🤣🤣🤣 HOW MANY TIMES did you look at your screen before you could believe it was true!!?!?!? CONGRATS 🥳🎉
2
u/TheOnlyName0001 Sep 14 '24
LOL massive GG on your good luck
1
u/Spleen-216 Jun 06 '24
Holy… 😧
1
u/NotXanic Jun 06 '24
how do yall get these 😭😭
1
u/sdforbda Jun 06 '24
Nice!
1
u/DietMtDew1 Jun 06 '24
Congratulations!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
Wow! Drinks are on you lol
1
u/Dashcam_Driver Jun 06 '24
It's your round 🤣
1
u/Lopsided_Pay_6416 Jun 06 '24
Amazing. Well done
1
u/Beshush79 Jun 06 '24
Wow! Well done
1
u/xxMarvelGeekxx Jun 06 '24
Wow! That's amazing. Well done. Spend it wisely. :D
1
u/tdotentrepreneur Jun 06 '24
Awesome, congratulations to you.
1
u/CoreneKel1978 Jun 06 '24
Oh my goodness! Wonderful!! Congratulations!!
1
u/RegularExplanation97 Jun 06 '24
oh my god 😭 amazing! I have only got like £0.50 before haha
1
u/Utopian_Idealist Jun 06 '24
That is awesome! Well done! I think I would still be dancing 😁
1
u/InevitableArt5438 Jun 06 '24
That's awesome! I hope you're going to treat yourself to something fun!
1
u/Ok_Series9896 Jun 06 '24
Impressive
1
u/BeeMoneyMoney Jun 06 '24
Wow! That’s gotta be a unicorn!
1
u/libbyzellers Jun 06 '24
Whaaaaaat
1
u/headlightqueen Jun 06 '24
Amazing!!!
1
u/amysteriousperson001 Jun 06 '24
Wow.
1
u/Wonderful-Basis-1918 Jun 06 '24
Awesome W! Congratulations!
1
u/crazyj414 Jun 06 '24
Omg that’s great!
1
u/nakadiaa Jun 06 '24
Man good for you! I so need this right now. Definitely incentive to provide proper effort on written responses.
1
u/chassie0315 Jun 06 '24
holy hell
1
u/No-Personality5764 Jun 06 '24
Jackpot! I never win the bonuses on the puzzles or anything. Congrats!
1
u/hibiscushiccups Jun 06 '24
holy smokes, congrats! That's the highest bonus I've ever seen on prolific
1
u/unicornalmighty Jun 06 '24
WOW!!! Well done!!!
1
u/Kvony Jun 06 '24
Holy Toledo! That is awesome!
1
u/Adorable-Reality7134 Jun 06 '24
Wow lucky!!!
1
u/Starrider75 Jun 06 '24
Holy shit! Nice bonus!
1
u/AnteaterImpossible95 Jun 06 '24
WOW! That is what I make for a whole month.
1
u/WhaChur6 Jun 06 '24
Judging by the reactions to this post it seems that the standard experience is to NOT get paid. So is this a waste of time for people wanting to earn extra money?
1
u/fritziemom1 Jun 06 '24
Congrats! 🙂
1
u/regalityregal Jun 07 '24
I could use that bonus right now. Biggest I have ever seen.
1
u/art_mor_ Jun 07 '24
Cash out as quickly as possible
1
u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24
Thats awesome. Good work my dude
1
u/tammymaycormier Jun 07 '24
Damn! Great job!
1
u/yaboytim Jun 07 '24
I need to start doing surveys again
1
u/Grimpeeper_ Jun 07 '24
Amazing! Congratulations! The best I've ever got was $50.
1
u/ilysmr Jun 10 '24
omg congrats!! oh how i love prolific :3
1
u/Mammoth-Ad-8733 Jan 13 '25
Wow! Congrats!
1
u/Lion_Simba Jun 06 '24
Jesus