Once you’ve joined a study, there are a few things you should do for a successful submission.
Read the study requirements & consent form
Read the Study description and make sure you’re able to complete the study. Read the consent form, what device you should be using and check if there’s any additional equipment you’ll need to use such as headphones, microphone, video camera.
Some researchers, approved by Prolific, are permitted to collect personal data / personally identifiable information or invite participants to take part in in-person studies. This will be made clear to you by a personal data collection warning before you consent to take part in the study. This will allow you to make an informed decision about whether to take part in these studies or not. Read more about these studies here: Personal information in studies.
Some studies may also contain the study type, e.g. survey, writing task, annotation or interview.
If a study contains sensitive topics or exposure to explicit or disturbing content, you should see this as a content warning in the study preview.
Some studies may have a Terms & Conditions check box. Please make sure you read and accept these before starting the study.
If you agree and have the necessary equipment, click that you agree to start the task.
Ongoing studies
Some studies may be labeled as an 'ongoing study.' This means that you will have an extended period of time to complete the study, e.g. hours, days or weeks.
Please make sure you read the study description carefully and can commit to carrying out the tasks required for these studies within the maximum allowed completion time.
Input your Participant ID
When asked, input your Participant ID. You’ll find this in a couple of places:
- At the start of every study, it's displayed along with your Prolific email.
- On your Account page titled Your Prolific ID.
A researcher will use your ID to match you with your answers. This is all anonymous, but makes sure your data is linked so they can review it properly.
In some instances, you will not be directly asked for your Participant ID. Some studies will automatically pass your unique Prolific ID through to us when you begin the study, so please don't worry if you aren't asked for this at any point in the study.
If you have any concerns, once you have completed the study, please go to Your Submissions. You should see your submission "awaiting approval". This means your submission was successful and will be reviewed by the researcher within 22 days.
Share your Prolific email
Researchers will sometimes ask you for your Prolific email. This is an internal email which researchers can use to send you messages and invite you to follow-up studies. The format is yourparticipantid@prolific.co
The majority of researchers are not permitted to ask you for your personal email as this de-anonymises you and counts as Personally Identifying Information (PII). You can read more on PII in this article: Telling us 'About You'.
Some researchers, approved by Prolific, are permitted to ask for your personal email, please read more here: Personal Information in Studies
Input a completion code
A completion code is given by a researcher at the end of the study. It’s your job to enter the code into Prolific to confirm you’ve taken the study.
The study may also be designed to register your submission automatically as complete upon finishing the study, and you will be directed back to the Prolific website.
If there was a problem with the completion code or URL for your study, this should not cause a problem that prevents you from getting paid as long as you've made a valid submission.
What if I haven't received a completion code?
Please follow these steps:
- If you have not yet completed the submission by clicking "Complete" or "I didn't receive a completion code", then please do this first
- Next check the status of your submission, it should read "Awaiting Review"
- You may want to contact the researcher to let them know there was a problem and that they may need to review your submission
- You can edit completion codes by going to 'Submissions', clicking on the completion code and updating it
If you do the above and still do not see the study you just completed in your submissions, please contact the support team via the link below.
In some cases you can enter a NOCODE. Read more on this here: Submitting NOCODE
Need further help?
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