Going Rate for Paid Online Survey Participants? Where to Recruit?

[TXInstrument11]

So, I may be able to get some funding for my survey-based project so I wouldn't be stuck with a convenience undergrad sample.

How much would an hour to hour and a half of a survey go for? I want US participants only, so is Amazon Turk a no-go?

I haven't run paid participants before so I don't really know where to start. Thanks in advance.

[juiceboxrampage]

There's a specific section on backpage for "focus group/studies", and I've also seen people post surveys under the "miscellaneous" section. You can also post it on craigslist. You can post it under a bunch of different major cities in the U.S. 99% of the surveys I've seen on these websites are unpaid, so I feel like any sort of monetary incentive will vastly increase your chances of getting folks to participate.

 

Maybe you can see how much money you can get, and then decide how many people you want to interview, and then divide it out? That's what I did for my thesis. You can say in your ad something like "first 10 participants get a $5 gift card", so you don't have to pay out of pocket if an unexpectedly large number of people complete the survey.

[TXInstrument11]

There's a specific section on backpage for "focus group/studies", and I've also seen people post surveys under the "miscellaneous" section. You can also post it on craigslist. You can post it under a bunch of different major cities in the U.S. 99% of the surveys I've seen on these websites are unpaid, so I feel like any sort of monetary incentive will vastly increase your chances of getting folks to participate.

 

Maybe you can see how much money you can get, and then decide how many people you want to interview, and then divide it out? That's what I did for my thesis. You can say in your ad something like "first 10 participants get a $5 gift card", so you don't have to pay out of pocket if an unexpectedly large number of people complete the survey.

That's a good idea. I'll try that. The amount offered is $1K, so I probably wouldn't be too short on funds, but it can also be used for personal expenses (more like a scholarship), so why spend money when I don't have to?

[isilya]

Mechanical Turk is actually restricted to either just US or just North America now (can't remember which), so you could totally do mturk. But it will be more expensive - generally the accepted rate is $6/hr, so depending on how much data you need this could get expensive quickly. Talk to your PI though, they may not care. (My PI lets me spend hundreds of dollars on mturk and it's fine).

[TXInstrument11]

Mechanical Turk is actually restricted to either just US or just North America now (can't remember which), so you could totally do mturk. But it will be more expensive - generally the accepted rate is $6/hr, so depending on how much data you need this could get expensive quickly. Talk to your PI though, they may not care. (My PI lets me spend hundreds of dollars on mturk and it's fine).

The good thing for me is that the money would be under my complete control, as it is a personal scholarship that you can apply toward experiment materials if you want. 

 

My survey is around 30-45 minutes, so do I have to shell out $6/ppt?

[isilya]

The good thing for me is that the money would be under my complete control, as it is a personal scholarship that you can apply toward experiment materials if you want.

My survey is around 30-45 minutes, so do I have to shell out $6/ppt?

Nah, you could probably do between $3-4 and be fine. Some people take an hour to do my experiment and I still just pay $4 and there hasn't been a problem.

[TXInstrument11]

Nah, you could probably do between $3-4 and be fine. Some people take an hour to do my experiment and I still just pay $4 and there hasn't been a problem.

Cool. Thanks for the info.