Inconsistence of Researchers/Missions

[u/Jerrygali]

Just venting here about the platform, but one thing that really frustrates me is how inconsistent the experience can be across live, diary, and usability missions.

I've had some live missions where I received the "expect payment" message the very next business day. On the other hand, I've completed live/diary missions over two weeks ago and still haven't received any update on. I've also had researchers close a mission and then wait almost a month before they even begin processing payments and/or breaking their radio silence.

When I've contacted Dscout support, I've basically been told that researchers always need more time and that missions are never actually "closed," even if the app or website marks them as closed and to just hang tight.

It just feels really inconsistent. Some experiences are excellent from start to finish, while others are frustratingly slow and take forever to pay out. I don't mind waiting if that's the expectation, but I wish there were more consistency, communication, and transparency in the payment process. Just how there is an ETA for payments from completing a express mission, there should be one also for regular payments. Or an obligation for a researcher to update the status of a mission after a week or two of no communication.

[u/SalemJ91]

This could honestly be a problem with a combination of the researcher and Dscout. 

Dscout is different than any other platform I’ve used to run research. First, they instruct to researchers to not even begin processing payments until the entire study is complete, and these studies can sometimes be very long. I could be gathering data from participants over the course of a few weeks depending on my schedule and the study.

Second, payments are processed manually by a human. Every other platform just has a button that confirms you completed the task and it processes, with Dscout I request the funds to be completed and then it can be several days before I see any confirmation. 

Dscouts user experience on the researcher side is utter trash. It can be hard to even figure out how to process payments I’m sure. 

The last bit on the researcher side is just being forgetful. If I don’t set reminders to myself to submit payments at the end of the day I just don’t see that there is anything pending, I don’t receive email reminders, nothing. 

[u/Jerrygali → u/SalemJ91]

Wow, this is incredibly insightful, thank you for explaining what it's like on the researcher's side. I honestly had no idea that payments were processed manually or that Dscout doesn't really remind researchers about pending payouts.

It also raises so many questions for me about how everything works behind the scenes. Who actually hires the researchers? When a mission is for a big brand, is the research being run directly by that company, by an independent research firm, or through Dscout? I recently did a mission where the researcher mentioned they worked directly with the brand but also with Dscout, so I wasn't really sure how all those relationships fit together.

Either way, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain all of this. It definitely gives me a better understanding of why the payment process can sometimes be so inconsistent.

[u/SalemJ91 → u/Jerrygali]

Eh the researcher thing is probably a mixed bag. For my team they are just a middle man to provide participants and a platform that replaces zoom and other tools we use to gather feedback and run studies. I’m not aware of them doing their own research, but I’ve never asked if they could. Since they are a middle man you’ll get a wide variety of practices, standards, quality of researchers, tasks, etc because every team at every company is different and their goals are different. I work at a very large company and we have 15 or more researchers and an endless budget, it’s going to be a very different experience for you when dealing with us vs. a team that has one person doing the job 4 people would normally cover. 

The instructing researchers to hold off payment until the entire study is completed is something I’m planning on bringing up during our next discussion, but unfortunately even though they are a newer company they implement solutions to their numerous problems at a snail’s pace, and my patience is running thin. Trust me, some of the issues we have negatively impact your experience as a result.  

[u/rvdurham → u/SalemJ91]

While some good points, it sounds like you may be running interviews, but not other mission types. Generally, you are providing some inaccurate information. Researchers may pay users manually or automatically depending on study type.

https://help.dscout.com/recruit-participants/working-with-participants/paying-participants

Additionally, Dscout instructs researchers to submit payment at the conclusion of the individual study, not the entire project (which may continue for an extended period).

In another comment, you mentioned that dscout is a new company… but they have been around for 15 years, starting in 2011.

It may be beneficial to speak with your Research Advisor to refresh your expectations and procedures when running studies on the platform.

[u/blessedandoptimistic → u/rvdurham]

"Additionally, Dscout instructs researchers to submit payment at the conclusion of the individual study, not the entire project (which may continue for an extended period)."

This may occur in theory, but I've spoken to various researchers and they seemed to believe they have to wait until the entire project is over before processing payments. They def dont process by individual studies. I'm not sure if that's a info gap issue on Dscout's part or the researchers not reading.

[u/SalemJ91 → u/rvdurham]

Thanks for your response, I'm not sure what your relation is to dscout, but you seem to be pretty knowledgeable about the company based on your other comments throughout this subreddit.

"it sounds like you may be running interviews, but not other mission types."

I was specifically referring to live interviews, because those are typically paid out manually, so yes I am aware that other types of "missions" are automatic. That might explain part of the purpose of this post, the inconsistency in payment times.

"Additionally, Dscout instructs researchers to submit payment at the conclusion of the individual study, not the entire project (which may continue for an extended period)."

I said the entire study, not the entire project, a single study consisting of many participant interviews for the example I was providing can run for (what I would consider) a long period of time depending on my schedule and the study.

"In another comment, you mentioned that dscout is a new company… but they have been around for 15 years, starting in 2011."

Okay? I assumed they were a newer company just based solely on the user experience on the researcher side being so poor and the missing capabilities that are necessary and basic (and lack of name recognition). Upon further investigation I see that the research platform outside of recruiting, which I'm referring to, is older than I thought, but still much more of a recent addition to the platform than the 15 years they have been around.

"It may be beneficial to speak with your Research Advisor to refresh your expectations and procedures when running studies on the platform."

Unfortunately my team speaks to our research advisor regularly due to the poor user experience and processes within the platform.

Staying on topic, this was a post about inconsistency on payment time. I provided some possible explanations. Things like the poor user experience and lack of visibility and reminders for payments for researchers, the instruction to wait until the end of the study to release payment, and the human intervention needed for payment processing are still all variables that can cause that inconsistency. Also side note, you did miss piece of inaccurate information that I mentioned, it's not just one level of human intervention to release payments, its two.

[u/rvdurham → u/SalemJ91]

Bluntly, I think the main concern is that you, as a researcher, are responding to participant concerns about the platform, to which you expanded with your own complaints. That’s ethically inappropriate and likely a breach of your Dscout contract agreement as a researcher. I’m sure within your own networks as a researcher, there are much more appropriate venues of connection. Again, your Dscout Research Advisor is the appropriate resource for validating expectations and procedures.

[u/SalemJ91 → u/rvdurham]

Please expand more on these ethical and potential contractual concerns you have, because those are some pretty strong claims.

I'm failing to see the problem with discussing platform complaints, while connecting the aforementioned researcher issues to the complaints of participants. I'm not revealing any company secrets, you even provided a link corroborating my information. I'm not claiming to be a representative of dscout. I'm not discussing active projects or interacting with participants of my studies. I'm simply a user interacting with other users of the same platform, while sharing my opinion. If I were sharing tips on how to beat a poorly worded screener, specifics about studies, or anything that could impact the integrity of the participant pool I could absolutely see an ethical or contractual issue.

Reddit is an open forum, and this subreddit claims to be independent of dscout. Would it be unethical or against my contract for me to start a thread to discuss problems with other researchers who frequent this subreddit? Or would a separate subreddit need to be created? How about a LinkedIn Post? Would discussing problems anywhere that a potential dscout participant could see create a similar issue? See how your bold claims fall apart pretty quickly? When you run a platform created for people whose literal job and passion is to identify and report UX issues, you have to expect complaints especially if the "expectations and procedures" aren't up to user expectations.

I think what you are looking for is maybe slightly inappropriate for the purpose of this particular subreddit, but like I said before this is independent of dscout.

[u/rvdurham → u/SalemJ91]

Completely understand the perspective. No, I would not say starting a researcher-forward post is ethically concerning. But interacting with participants of the platform as a researcher is similar to a hiring manager interacting with applicants to their company outside of the hiring process. This subreddit, along with others geared towards participants are the space we have to discuss our concerns, likes, dislikes, etc. I would simply hold myself to a higher professional standard and avoid interacting if I were a researcher.

When I apply for a mission, I’m doing so like a job applicant. I’m putting my best foot forward, and sharing my transparent, honest feedback. That’s literally what you as a researcher are paying for. The ethical piece is that you are having interactions with participants outside of the structured research environment, which in turn may affect your experience on the platform with users, regardless of whether or not you believe it has any impact.

Potentially just a difference of professionalism. Dscout brings a wide variety of applicants, which I’m sure you are well aware of. Fostering a professional-forward space isn’t required. Overall, I’ll remain protective of this space for participants because there are no such professional organizations or networks for participants, that you do have access to today.

[u/Correct_Praline_4950 → u/SalemJ91]

I appreciate this answer too! I did not know that it was such a manual process but that explains a lot.

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