🔬 Research

Prolific Study Setup Spec for an Online Experiment: Prescreeners, Completion Codes, Fair Pay, and Attention Check Rules

Prepare a Prolific study before launch: study listing text, URL parameters for your survey tool, prescreeners, completion and screen-out paths, reward per participant from your pay policy, and attention check rules that stay within Prolific's guidance.

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October 5, 2026

Prompt

Act as a behavioral research lab manager who sets up online experiments on Prolific for graduate students and faculty. Your job is to get clean data while treating participants fairly, so every rule you write can be defended to the ethics board and to Prolific support.

Inputs:
- Study design and survey or experiment platform (Qualtrics, Gorilla, jsPsych, other): [StudyDesign]
- Eligibility criteria from the protocol: [EligibilityCriteria]
- Sample size and timing from pilot runs (median minutes): [Timing]
- Lab or grant pay policy (hourly rate to pay at, screen-out payment rules): [PayPolicy]
- Attention and comprehension checks planned: [AttentionChecks]
- Ethics approval details to show on the listing (protocol number, contact): [EthicsNotes]
- Output format: [Format]
- Language: [Lang]

Generate:
1. Listing text: public study title, internal name, and description that states duration, device needs, and what participants will do, without revealing the manipulation.
2. Study URL with Prolific URL parameters PROLIFIC_PID, STUDY_ID, and SESSION_ID using the {{%PROLIFIC_PID%}} placeholders, plus where to capture them on the platform in StudyDesign (for Qualtrics, Embedded Data at the top of Survey Flow).
3. Prescreeners. Translate EligibilityCriteria into Prolific filters (for example country of residence, age range, fluent languages, approval rate, device). Flag any criterion that is not a standard filter and must be screened inside the study instead.
4. Completion paths: a main completion code that approves, a separate screen-out or no-consent code, and what action each code triggers. Give the redirect URL format app.prolific.com/submissions/complete?cc=CODE for each end point.
5. Reward. Compute reward per participant from Timing and PayPolicy, show the hourly equivalent, and tell me to check it against Prolific's current minimum and recommended rates. Include a total budget line with Prolific's service fee left as a placeholder.
6. Attention check rules. Write each check from AttentionChecks as an instructed response item, say how many failures lead to a rejection, and keep rejection decisions within Prolific's current attention check policy. Comprehension checks at the start lead to a screen-out or return request, not a rejection.
7. Launch checklist: pilot with a small number of places, check that IDs land in the data, then publish the rest.

Constraints:
- Do not state Prolific fees or pay minimums as facts; leave them as values to confirm on the Prolific site.
- Never ask for or store names or emails; the Prolific ID is the only identifier.
- Methods guidance, not a substitute for the ethics board's decision.
- No em dashes.

Instructions

Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Generated Output

This image was generated using the prompt above.

Prolific Study Setup Spec for an Online Experiment: Prescreeners, Completion Codes, Fair Pay, and Attention Check Rules - Result

Examples

Example Input

StudyDesign: Qualtrics survey, between subjects, two framing conditions assigned by the Qualtrics randomizer
EligibilityCriteria: adults 18 to 65 living in the UK or US, fluent English, desktop or laptop only, not in our previous framing study
Timing: N = 300; pilot median 12 minutes
PayPolicy: lab pays 9.00 GBP per hour based on median time; screen-outs after consent get 0.20 GBP
AttentionChecks: two instructed items in the middle ('select Strongly disagree for this row'); one comprehension question after the vignette
EthicsNotes: protocol PSY-2026-114, contact lab email on the consent page
Format: numbered spec
Lang: English

Example Output

1. Listing
Title: Decisions about everyday purchases (12 minutes, desktop)
Internal name: Framing2 main N300
Description: You will read a short scenario about a household purchase and answer questions about what you would choose and why. The study takes about 12 minutes and must be completed on a desktop or laptop. Approved under protocol PSY-2026-114; contact details are on the consent page.

2. Study URL
https://<your-university>.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_xxxx?PROLIFIC_PID={{%PROLIFIC_PID%}}&STUDY_ID={{%STUDY_ID%}}&SESSION_ID={{%SESSION_ID%}}
In Survey Flow, add an Embedded Data element as the first item with fields PROLIFIC_PID, STUDY_ID, SESSION_ID (values set from URL). Place the randomizer after it.

3. Prescreeners
- Country of residence: United Kingdom, United States
- Age: 18 to 65
- Fluent languages: English
- Device: desktop only (also set the study's device compatibility to desktop)
- Exclude previous study: add the earlier framing study to the block list of previous studies
All criteria map to standard filters; no in-study screening needed for eligibility.

4. Completion paths
| End point | Code | Action |
| finished survey | C7Q2MAIN | approve and pay |
| declined consent | NOCONSENT | ask participant to return the study |
| failed comprehension after consent | SCREEN20 | screen-out with 0.20 GBP per PayPolicy, if the screen-out option is available on your account; otherwise request return and pay 0.20 as a bonus |
Redirects in Qualtrics End of Survey elements: app.prolific.com/submissions/complete?cc=C7Q2MAIN and the same pattern for the other two codes.

5. Reward
12 minutes at 9.00 GBP per hour = 1.80 GBP per participant (9.00 x 12 / 60).
Participant rewards: 300 x 1.80 = 540.00 GBP.
Screen-outs: budget for them separately once the pilot shows how many fail comprehension.
Service fee: <confirm current Prolific fee> added at checkout. Check 9.00 GBP per hour against Prolific's current minimum and recommended rate before publishing.

6. Attention check rules
- AC1 and AC2: instructed response rows inside the attitude matrix, wording 'For this row, please select Strongly disagree'.
- A participant is rejected only after failing both AC1 and AC2, and only if that matches Prolific's current attention check policy; failing one is kept and flagged in the data.
- The comprehension question after the vignette screens out with SCREEN20 and is never a rejection reason.

7. Launch checklist
1. Publish with 10 places as a pilot.
2. Download Qualtrics data and confirm PROLIFIC_PID, STUDY_ID, and SESSION_ID are filled for every pilot row and the randomizer split both conditions.
3. Confirm each redirect lands on the right Prolific code.
4. Increase places to 300 and keep the description unchanged.

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