, where users could take surveys in exchange for money. Little did she know this harmless shoutout would derail the research process of scientists across America.
Prolific, through which Sarah claimed she was making up to £15 a day, caters to clients like the University of Oxford and Cancer Research UK, promising them a diverse pool of survey takers.
Young women were making up the vast majority of respondents through Prolific surveys, and it started to piss off those looking for legitimate statistics from the site. Prolific’s co-founder Phelim Bradley said that an estimated 4,600 surveys were affected by the spike, but most of the results were salvageable. At its highest point, 75% of those taking Prolific surveys were women.
But there are also long-term benefits to Sarah’s accidental co-opting of Prolific. For one, it’s prompted the site to figure out their own ways of filtering the right users to the right surveys. It’s also provided the site with a new generation of users interested in providing data relevant to their lifestyles.
teste