Professional Survey Takers

[eddieMX07]

When I first visited Survey Police (http://www.surveypolice.com), I was overwhelmed with how many useful articles that website had. There was one article that I found really interesting and that was the "Special Online Survey Jobs Report Part III".

Here is the whole article:

Most potential online survey job candidates are unaware of this next key point: "professional survey-takers" (that is, people who take online surveys for a living), are often, once discovered, blacklisted by marketing research companies. In other words, they are DELETED from a survey panel's database, and they do not receive future survey invitations.

Why are these types of survey takers a concern to online survey companies? Professional survey takers simply compromise the quality of a panel.

Think about it: a person who takes surveys for a living may know how to get through a survey extremely quickly and still get paid, they may know how to maximize the number of survey invitations they receive by providing inaccurate demographic information, all with the end goal of profiting as much as possible from their online surveys job. The survey panel in return receives low quality data which they might not be able to use but have to pay the panelist for anyway, and a smaller sample size as a result.

In other words, if 1000 people are required for a particular study, and 100 of them provide poor quality answers (which is characteristic of professional survey takers), the online surveys company now needs to find an additional 100 panelists for the study to compensate for the 100 poor quality respondents.

Rather than assume the same risk twice, if too many "red flags" pop up with a particular panelist who tends to have this type of behavior, they are simply never contacted again.



I did a Yahoo Search on the word "professional survey-takers" and I got some interesting results. The first result was from a website called Forrester (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,44514,00.html). Here is what they say about "Professional Survey Takers":

Professional survey takers (PSTs) are the potential Achilles' heel of the online panel industry. This issue was thrust into the awareness of the market research community almost three years ago when comScore indicated that its behavioral tracking panel showed that some major panels had 30% of their surveys being taken by less than 1% of their panelists. Almost three years later, Forrester retested the depth of this problem by surveying 4,913 consumers using an offline panel. This gives us a view into these panelists' offline and online survey behaviors. The result is that the PST problem is alive and well and that demographic data does little to identify who is likely to be a PST but that the problem can be greatly reduced by identifying panelists who claim to belong to more than three panels and screening them out of your research upfront.


If the last sentence is true, then that means I'm considered a "Professional Survey Taker". I wouldn't be the only one because there are many people who join more than three survey panels.

Survey Police article states that Professional Survey Takers are "people who take online surveys for a living". But I don't take surveys as a job, I consider them a hobby that rewards me for my time. I will add more information that I found on this topic as members reply to this thread.

[eddieMX07]

Today I found some more useful information about Professional Survey Takers that I think some people will find very interesting. This information is from Authentic Response, a company affiliated with Postmaster Direct, Return Path (http://www.returnpath.net/) and MyView (http://www.yourfreesurveys.com/links.php?id=42).

Authentic Response: A service of Return Path

Authentic Response is Return Path’s online Market Research Solutions division. Since 1998, Authentic Response has led the market research industry with the best of breed solutions for global online sample, including its Authentic Recruitment™ panelist recruitment technique, its patented double opt-in permission standards, and its Authentic Validation™ techniques to ensure the most legitimate, secure survey responses. With a panel of more than four million highly qualified respondents, more than 200 market research firms look to Authentic Response for their global online sample needs.

Authentic Validation- Maintaining high qualify respondents is the key to good results

Authentic Response restricts access to surveys to only those respondents who will provide thoughtful, valid responses. Members of the Authentic Response panel are continuously screened to ensure that they do not adversely affect market research results.

Our commitment to Quality
Authentic Response employs proprietary technology to identify and remove professional survey takers, ensuring integrity of market research reports. Authentic Response has identified respondents that are likely to provide market researchers with bad survey responses. Some do it accidentally while others do it on purpose. Regardless of the type of survey taker, Authentic Response provides the tools necessary to ensure the integrity of the results.

The Art
Stopping the bad guys isn’t always black and white some legitimate survey takers may, at first glance, appear to be professional survey takers, and vice versa. Authentic Response uses a proprietary grading system to constantly evaluate our panel. Authentic Response holds on to those respondents that provide insightful answers and get rid of those that do not.


Authentic Recruitment: The practice of inviting respondents to share their opinions on relevant topics while they register to receive content from their favorite websites. The easiest way to remove the bad guys is never attract the in the first place. By only recruiting at topical websites, Authentic Response ensures that respondents are credible and therefore more likely to provide insightful answers to surveys
Cookie Tests: Cookies can help determine whether a respondent has already completed the survey on a particular PC. If the cookie function on the respondent’s machine is off, it could be an indication that the respondent may be trying to game the system. Over time, Authentic Response will know.
IP Address/ Proxy Servers: Like cookie test, overused IP addresses or the presence of a proxy server can indicate the presence of a professional survey taker. Authentic Response uses proprietary technology to keep track of these respondents and actively monitor their behavior.


The Science
Authentic Response acts quickly to remove bad guys from its database of respondents so that they never gain access to market research survey.


Email address scrubbing: Authentic Response compares the email addresses of all panel members to ensure respondents do not receive multiple survey invitations.
Permanent Email/ IP Blocks: Authentic Response maintains a blacklist of bad guys known to provide inaccurate data and prevents them from receiving surveys.


Some of the Bad Guys:
Two-time Survey takers
Respondents that sign up at web sites to take surveys that offer the ability to register with multiple panels may receive multiple invitations for the same survey.

Straight-lining Survey takers
Respondents that sign up to take surveys at web sites that offer compensation tend to be motivated by money. These individuals are more likely to provide poor data (for instance answering “C” on every question) in order to complete the survey as quickly as possible.

Professional Survey Takers
Several respondents provide poor data in order to quickly complete a single survey. Their goal is to try to get paid as many times as possible to taking the same survey. These survey takers may provide false information in pre-qualification questions and/ or register with multiple email addresses for the same survey.

[LapisLee]

Another great post Eddie! Actually, I have taken some very similar surveys from different companies, but I feel as though it is a very good way to promote a project because the more I study the new products, the more I learn about them and the more likely I am to go out and buy them.

One thing I really enjoy about survey-taking is that you learn about new products before everyone else and I often make changes in my personal consumption based on products that I have taken surveys about that I had not previously been aware of. Just having the various features of different products drilled into my head day after day makes me want to go out and buy them, because I often realize that a new product is an improvement over the product I am currently using.

Another aspect of taking multiple surveys about different lines of products such as beverages, cars, razors, banks, credit cards, etc. is that I learn which brands I am really loyal towards and which brands I would easily switch if a better product were available. Some surveys are long and boring and my eyes just glaze over, but shorter, more interesting surveys on products that are important to me are very interesting and receiving an incentive is really a bonus in addition to learning something new.

[djuna73]

Many market research and panel companies are taking action against professional survey takers. Most market research companies will close a panel members account if they suspect that they are providing false information or just "clicking through" the survey.

Many companies will lock out an IP address so it can only access the survey once. Some companies are using a tool that, for lack of a better term, capture your computer info. Since a person rarely has the same exact computer configuration as another person, they use this to sort of identify unique survey takers - almost like a computer DNA profile, if you will. Each unique computer is allowed into the survey only once.

Additionally, many companies put "traps" in their surveys. They test the surveys and estimate the time it takes to take the study. Using this information, they will time check you. If you complete a 20 minute survey in 2 mintues, there is a problem. They will also have hidden questions peppered throughout the survey. These questions will generally state which answer option you are to select and if you miss 3 out of 5 of these hidden questions, they will deem you a "professional survey" taker and shut you down.

These boards are great. I think communication among survey company panel members is a wonderful idea. However, and I am NOT accusing anyone here of this, it is best to not encourage anything but honest and truthful informaiton. You really can't go wrong if you register for each company ONLY once, provide accurate information about yourself and really read and answer the surveys truthfully.

[eddieMX07]

There will always be Professional Survey Takers that know how to PLAY the Game. They are people who know a lot about the market research process and know how to get around all of the techniques used by survey panels or online surveys to disqualify them.

Locking out an IP address will NOT always keep Professional survey takers away because a IP address can be easily changed. I have noticed that evey day I log in to the internet my IP address changes. I think every computer changes the IP address for security reasons. I'm nowhere near an expert on this topic, but I think locking the IP address is flawed and inconsistent.

A professional survey taker can also get around the cookie test without any problems. Almost all browsers have an option to delete an the temporary internet files including the cookie that some websites leave behind.

I think the "traps" that djuna73 was talking are most effective at catching professional survey takers.

[eddieMX07]

Today I found some more information on the internet about Professional Survey Takers. This time it's from a blog called "Tom H. C. Anderson - Information Advantage". Here is what they said about this topic:

An End to the Professional Panelist and the 45 Minute Survey?

I got an email today from Peanut Labs about an interesting story in Research Magazine. Forrester recently wrote a report about the panel quality issue and is very optimistic about two products that will machine fingerprint survey takers.

Technically this will eliminate anonymity and it should be possible to know how many times someone takes a survey, how many surveys they take per month, and even how many panels they belong to.

My first question is what took so long. This technology isn’t so new, upon request we’ve been able to capture and even block competitors IP’s for years now in survey research, but its nice to see someone finally leverage this to try to solve the sample quality issue.

Now its all up to the customers/end clients. Will they actually request this new tool to be used? If they do then panel/sample prices should go up tremendously as professional survey takers cease to exist. Will end clients be willing to do this??? My guess is probably not (if their current lack of interest in panel choice is any indicator).

Secondly, with professional respondents gone, who will take the 45 minute surveys some researchers like to field? First of all let me say I think anyone who tries to field a 45 minute survey, only to reduce the data later with factor analysis, should be ashamed to call themselves a researcher. If you know what you are doing you should be able to design a good 15 minute segmentation survey. However, some consultants and end clients seem to think volume of data is more impressive than quality of data. This may be one of the best possible outcomes from this new technology, that no one will ever again be able to field a 45+ minute survey.

Well sounds like it will be in the hands of the clients to decide. It would be nice to know the data is perfectly clean, I’m not holding my breath though.

[LapisLee]

Here's one for the non-professional. :D

http://i27.tinypic.com/20pppu8.jpg

[eddieMX07]

A 90 minute survey is worh at least $10 but for some reason Greenfield thinks they are worth a sweepstakes entry. Well if they want to give sweepstakes entry for taking that kind of surveys, then they should give at least 100 entries or maybe more.

Here is a comment that is on the YourFreeSurveys blog that deals with 50 minute surveys.

Today I was invited to take a Greenfield survey. The survey reward was an entry in their current sweepstakes. I was willing to take this survey but there’s one thing that I didn’t like about the survey. The email said this survey would take approximately 50 minutes to complete!!!

The survey was about entertainment, a topic that interests me. So I clicked the email link and started to take the survey.

I answered about three or four questions before I intentionally disqualified myself by telling them I watch less TV than I actually do. This survey was to long even for me. If they were offer a $10 or $20 reward for completing this survey I would have taken this survey. Greenfield Online is now one of my least favorite sites that I have made money from.

[djuna73]

they actually used the qualifiers to match surveys and paid you accordingly for your time, then it would be a lot better for everyone.

I agree to a point. The issue with this comment is that it is not necessarily easy for the panel companies to ALWAYS determine who qualifies. First and foremost, most companies have a mini registration type profile that covers the basics - age, location, gender, income, etc. They use the rest of the profiles to delve deeper into "qualifying material" but not everyone fills those out. So, it is true, the more profiles you fill out the better the survey quality.

Now, dismissing the profile information, some surveys are just not realistic in determing qualifying factors with just profile information. Often times companies are looking for, as an example, "people who have purchased fine art in the past 5 years". Well that sort of thing isn't necessarily profiled. What does that leave you with - a company that searches for other qualifying factors - people of a certain income level or maybe those who belong to museums or something of the sort. They will send invites to everyone in these outside qualifying factors and allow the screeners to weed out those who don't actually qualify.

As a standard there are generally a few blasts of invites. The first blast goes to those who have filled out the proper profiles and who should qualify based on the information. Then the next blasts become a series of projections and percentages. They say "We have XXXX who have filled out the basic profile information and of those only XX have filled out the qualifying profile information. If XXXX represent a certain percentage of the population and based on the XX who filled out the other profile and this certain percentage said yes to the qualifying question, then they assume that if they send invites to the others in the basic profile, they will acheive a certain number of completes to close the survey. Thus, you get invites to surveys you may not qualify for.

Every survey has a screener for this reason. The more profiles you fill out, the better chance you have of this not happening. And as long as the profile answers you give are honest and truthful, you should not have an issue with qualifying for most surveys.

[LapisLee]

that those shenanagins kill the quality of surveys more than the "professional survey takers". If the company were a lot more honest and ran a business like Pinecone or Opinion Outpost, meaning they actually used the qualifiers to match surveys and paid you accordingly for your time, then it would be a lot better for everyone.
I agree with djuna above. Also, there are as many screeners and qualification tests as there are survey companies and there is no consistency whatsoever among the various companies. Greenfield Forum Online is probably the worst offender as they appear to never even utilize their profiles when selecting which boxes to check in their survey selection box. I usually check any and all that I think I might qualify for and use past experience as a guide as to which surveys I might be able to qualify for, complete and give useful information for.

[schneiderman]

said they were perfect. But I feel like the complaining about "professionals" goes along with inefficient survey panels. For example, I will always take my time for panels like Pinecone and Opinion outpost because Pinecone gears their towards me and OO pays me what I feel is an adequate compensation for my time. But panels where I am always answering the same qualifiers, or getting like a dollar an hour, or they ask the same question over and over in different words I tend to get bored with and the quality of my response suffers. The, what I feel is, laziness and poor customer service hurts the quality of surveys more than the survey takers.

[eddieMX07]

Here is some information I found about professional survey takers and a conference that is hold every with the top leading researchers.

Quality - What's Love Got To Do With It?
I attended the Marketing Research Association's Annual Conference last week in New York City. The MRA Conference is a great opportunity to gather with colleagues from across the industry to discuss the state and future of MR. This year's keynote was particularly inspiring. Robin Pearl, vice president of Market Research at Estée Lauder, taking her lead from Tina Turner, asked, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" when it comes to achieving high-quality market research. Robin addressed the quality of sampling, questionnaire content and analysis.

Many issues are affecting sampling. Neither of the most popular quantitative methodologies – telephone interviews and Internet-panel interviews – now accurately represents the population. The 18- through 24-year-old demographic frequently uses only cell phones, putting them out of reach of most automated dialers, which only dial land lines. On the other side, the 55+ demographic is less likely to use the Internet. In addition, different ethnicities are harder to reach by different methods. As a result, Estée Lauder has encountered some of the following quality issues:

* Errors in Weighting - One survey reported in error that few women under the age of 25 used lipstick. This error was a result of the fact that the results had not been weighted to reflect demographics at all and had simply underrepresented that demographic. Robin also reported occasions where weights were applied to the final results rather than to the screener, providing results that did not accurately reflect that different demographic segments did in fact have different propensities of usage. When weights were applied, some research firms showed a willingness to weight a sample size of 50 up to 250 for a particular segment; only minor weighting should be applied, to prevent distorting the results.

* Oversurveying – Robin pined for the days when screeners typically excluded respondents who had participated in another survey within three to six months of the current survey. She joined a number of Internet panels and was shocked to soon be receiving 10 invitations a day. Professional respondents may in fact differ attitudinally from casual respondents.

* Panel Overlap - Estée Lauder is concerned about professional respondents being double counted. In one survey Robin sponsored, there was significant overlap of respondents across panels, to the point where through different panels the same household completed the same survey on the same day.

Besides issues with the quality of sampling, Robin has encountered quality issues relating to questionnaire design, especially for face, content and predictive validity. Too many surveys are fielded without adequate review of the survey instrument and without pre-testing. Pre-testing is important to determine which questions are unclear and what topics should be covered that aren't. One of Robin's pet peeves is questions that ask "What do you like about….?" rather than "What, if anything, do you like about…?" (I confess I'm guilty of this.)

Finally, Robin is concerned about issues with data analysis. She prefers top-box analysis to means, finding the reporting of means to be too reductive. If she had two products, each rated 3.0 on a 5-point scale, and one product was always rated 3 by respondents (0% on a 2-point top box), and one product was always rated either 1 or 5 (50% on a 2-point top box), she'd go with the "love it or hate it" product. She also pointed out that too often we as market researchers shortchange the conclusions and recommendations. Obviously, this work has to come last, requiring an accurate and detailed analysis to proceed it, but as a result we are often hitting against the final deadline and don't provide the insight and implications that we could have if we had budgeted more time.

Robin concluded her MRA keynote by saying that each of us need to have a Ph.D. when it comes to research. Not an academic degree, but "Passion, Heart and Drive". Quality research comes when you "love and respect your work", she said. That's what love's got to do with it.

Her keynote was well received by both end users and researchers alike in the audience. And while Robin was inspired by Tina Turner, I thought of another diva, Diana Ross: "You Can't Hurry Love." Many of the issues with quality come from our constant hurrying of the work. You can't hurry love – or quality.

[LapisLee]

Here is some information I found about professional survey takers and a conference that is hold every with the top leading researchers.

* Oversurveying – Robin pined for the days when screeners typically excluded respondents who had participated in another survey within three to six months of the current survey. She joined a number of Internet panels and was shocked to soon be receiving 10 invitations a day. Professional respondents may in fact differ attitudinally from casual respondents.

* Panel Overlap - Estée Lauder is concerned about professional respondents being double counted. In one survey Robin sponsored, there was significant overlap of respondents across panels, to the point where through different panels the same household completed the same survey on the same day.
* Oversurveying - Who would even bother taking a survey every three to six months for a sweepstakes entry or even $10?

* Panel Overlap - Well, the solution here is a company that keeps track of IPs with relative to specific surveys. I am not going to turn down a $5 survey even if I have taken it before. I might give more thoughtful ansers based on further research and experience.

All of this talk about 'professional survey takers' is ridiculous (not you Eddie! the articles). I take great pride in taking surveys on products that I am familar with and giving sincere, honest, well-thought-out answers. When a survey asks me questions about a product that I am unfamilar with, it makes me more aware of that product, more likely to notice advertising for that product and more likely to purchase that product.

People who are not familar with survey-taking because they only take one survey every three to six months don't have a clue as to what kind of responses an advertizer is looking for and generally give much less thoughtful answers. Every single survey I take, if it's well-planned and not too long, I try my best to give them answers that will improve their product or at least show them which aspects I think are worthwhile and which aspects I could care less about. Just my two cents really.

[eddieMX07]

Panel Overlap - Well, the solution here is a company that keeps track of IPs with relative to specific surveys.

That is not really a solution because I have noticed that my IP changes every time I connect to the internet. My Client IP Address and Sever IP address are always changing so having a company that tracks IP is a waste of time, unless there is more to this than I'm aware of. I think every computers IP changes because I have noticed that when looking at who's online in the forum.

[djuna73]

Yes, I agree the IP tracking is not an effective solution. However these companies are not relying on JUST IP tracking. One of the programs they use is called Optimus:

"Optimus™ is a new digital fingerprinting technology that improves data quality by accurately identifying and flagging suspect respondents as defined by you in real-time from any sample source across the industry."


In other words, it is not JUST the IP address they record. Computers are all configured differently. Rarely, if ever, are two computers configured the same. Keep in mind there are a million and one programs that can be installed on a computer - each with a REG tag and each giving a computer a unique sort of ID, a computer DNA, if you will. This info can be captured upon entering a survey and then recorded. Once they ID your computer as having taken a survey, the computer is locked out of that survey.

Unfortunately, fraudulent survey activity is rampant and many market research companies are using measures (such as Optimus) to stop it.

As I have always stated, it is just best to be honest in all surveys - registration profiles, market research surveys, etc.

Anyone who gets involved in market research surveys as a way to "earn a living" or "get rich quick" is kidding themselves or being conned. This is a great way to make a few extra bucks here and there and provide your opinion on various products or services.

[nupur]

my login ID & password was not working & i had not receivied surveys from past days ,so i mailed them about this. can u imagine what reply received

Thank you for your email.

Periodically we have found it necessary to refresh the composition of our research panel in order to stay current with changes in the general
population and to provide clients with the broadest possible spectrum of consumer opinions. In doing so, on occasion we have had to discontinue the membership of some of our panelists.

Your household was on the list for deactivation and subsequently removed from the panel.

Although we are unable to reactivate your membership, we appreciate your past participation and interest in the panel.

i don't know how they can do this that too without informing :confused:

[LapisLee]

my login ID & password was not working & i had not receivied surveys from past days ,so i mailed them about this can u imagine what reply received

Thank you for your email.

Periodically we have found it necessary to refresh the composition of our research panel in order to stay current with changes in the general population and to provide clients with the broadest possible spectrum of consumer opinions. In doing so, on occasion we have had to discontinue the membership of some of our panelists.

Your household was on the list for deactivation and subsequently removed from the panel.

Although we are unable to reactivate your membership, we appreciate your past participation and interest in the panel.

i don't know how they can do this that too without informing :confused:
I am sorry to hear that. It's very unfortunate they did not give you a more specific reason, but maybe because you did not fit their demographic they removed you rather than send you only one survey every three or four months. By the way, red color is very hard on some people's eyes. Try the little 'I' button for italics.

[maplaver]

my login ID & password was not working & i had not receivied surveys from past days ,so i mailed them about this. can u imagine what reply received

Thank you for your email.

Periodically we have found it necessary to refresh the composition of our research panel in order to stay current with changes in the general
population and to provide clients with the broadest possible spectrum of consumer opinions. In doing so, on occasion we have had to discontinue the membership of some of our panelists.

Your household was on the list for deactivation and subsequently removed from the panel.

Although we are unable to reactivate your membership, we appreciate your past participation and interest in the panel.

i don't know how they can do this that too without informing :confused:

OMG!!! That really sucks :mad: I'm so sorry. I love Pinecone and I hope they don't erase me just like that :eek:

[jash18]

Yes it really sucks, especially when it is survey site that u like. My account was similarly deactivated by survey spot, but the reason they gave me was that i had multiple accounts in my name, which is simply ridiculous.

I really liked survey spot, and also used to the surveys that only paid in sweepstakes points, just because i liked it. I never do that with any other site, unless the survey pays in cash, i do not attempt it.

The problem is that even though these sites are good, their customer service sucks!!

I sent a mail to survey spot, but i haven't even received an reply :(

Now whenever i don't get a survey from a survey site, for a couple of days, i worry that they have deactivated my account too. :(

[tidyclean]

my login ID & password was not working & i had not receivied surveys from past days ,so i mailed them about this. can u imagine what reply received

Thank you for your email.

Periodically we have found it necessary to refresh the composition of our research panel in order to stay current with changes in the general
population and to provide clients with the broadest possible spectrum of consumer opinions. In doing so, on occasion we have had to discontinue the membership of some of our panelists.

Your household was on the list for deactivation and subsequently removed from the panel.

Although we are unable to reactivate your membership, we appreciate your past participation and interest in the panel.

i don't know how they can do this that too without informing :confused:

Nupur - I'm so very sorry to hear this. Since I myself have just joined up to the Pinecone Research I have read this exact reply that you posted. When an email was sent to me for joining up this is one of the statements that I read from them. I was thinking - boy sure hope this never happens to me, but I did know it could happen because they did supply me with this info. So that is probably why you weren't informed just before it happened. Don't know how long you have been with Pinecone but either this was stated to you at the time or it could be something that was updated more recently.

[nupur]

Some Rules Professional Survey Takers Always Follow to Maximize their Cash Earnings with Paid Surveys

Below are some rules that many people with experience in online surveys follow to ensure a rewarding and profitable path to successful survey-taking.

Summary of Rules:

Rule #1. Find paid survey database that is free and reliable.
Rule #2. Complete member profile in detail.
Rule #3. Take the getting-to-know-you starter surveys.
Rule #4. Accept survey invitations ASAP.

Now read the valuable advice of experienced survey-takers below.

Rule #1. Find paid survey database that is free and reliable.

When you can find these same survey sites someone offers you to access against some $ 50 or more dollars, why pay? There are reliable Free Surveys sites that offer their members free listings of Paid Surveys without any charge. Survey sites make profit by advertising the survey companies they feature. So, if they are charging you for database access, then they are most probably taking advantage of the fact that you may not be informed other sites provide the same options for free.

Rule #2. Complete member profile in detail.

When you register with a particular survey site, you will need to complete a member’s profile. Try to answer as many questions as possible in order to present complete information about your demographic details, tastes and preferences, interests and hobbies, etc. Survey companies use this data in order to send targeted Online Surveys to the people who will be most fit to complete them with meaningful answers. And keep in mind that namely the most specific surveys are the highest-pay ones! If you are worried about the data protection of your personal details, read the privacy policy of the survey sites, or contact the support team.

Rule #3. Take the getting-to-know-you starter surveys.

Often, a survey company will send you an unpaid "starter" survey with more general questions about your interests and experience with various products and services. Do not disregard this survey, even though it’s not paid! Completing the starter survey is a way for the survey company to better identify its members, and present them with particular survey options that are most relevant to their interests. Starter surveys are a "getting-to-know-you" method that can expand your cash-earning opportunities.

Rule #4. Accept survey invitations ASAP.

Generally, particular surveys have a quota of the number of survey-takers needed to produce a statistically significant and realistic feedback on a product or service. Sometimes ten people may be sufficient for a survey sample to be representative, sometimes – a couple of thousand. It may happen that once you get to respond to the survey invitation, it has already expired. Even though you may not need to complete the paid survey immediately, it’s advisable to complete it as soon as possible to make sure other survey-takers have not already filled in the minimum sufficient number of respondents.

Keeping these professional survey-taker rules in mind, you are ready to start earning cash in an easy and fun way with Paid Surveys Online ! Good luck!

For a good and free listing of paid survey companies, visit www.surveysponsors.com

[nupur]

The Customer Service Survey

Professional Survey Taker

Tue - May 16, 2006 01:34 PM in Survey Technique

One of the more frustrating aspects of doing survey-based research is the "Professional Survey Taker." These are people who sign up for every paid survey panel they can find (sometimes more than once) in order to try to make as much money as possible for taking surveys.


The Professional Survey Takers (PSTs for short) make life very difficult for a reputable research company because they are not representative consumers, and too many of them in a survey will spoil the data. Many focus groups make an extra effort (and pay recruiters extra money) in order to find participants who are not PSTs.

We get our share of PSTs in VocaLabs' panelist pool, and we've dealt with the problem by both keeping survey payments low (so that it isn't worth the time of someone doing it just for the money) and removing people who are signed up multiple times. We once found an intrepid PST who had signed up a couple hundred times, and frequently did the same survey multiple times.

So imagine my astonishment when we got this response to a survey invitation this morning:


i am a professional survey taker , i charge $25 per survey, if you wish to pay this, get back in touch with me in the next 30 minutes

On the positive side, I won't have to make the effort to remove him from the survey.

[eddieMX07]

Some Rules Professional Survey Takers Always Follow to Maximize their Cash Earnings with Paid Surveys

Below are some rules that many people with experience in online surveys follow to ensure a rewarding and profitable path to successful survey-taking.

Rule #1. Find paid survey database that is free and reliable.
Rule #2. Complete member profile in detail.
Rule #3. Take the getting-to-know-you starter surveys.
Rule #4. Accept survey invitations ASAP.

I always try my best to follow those four rules to increase how many survey invites that I receive. Following those rules does not make you a professional survey taker. That makes you a smart and experienced person who knows how to maximize survey invites.

[ryansmith]

There are a few things that you need to remember while hosting the survey:

1) If you also know who is likely to respond to your survey, you can preset user name and password for your respondents and send them authentication details along with the URL. This will also limit the respondent to take the survey only once.
2) Let the survey URL itself be anonymous:

For example:

Use
http://216.237.120.163/sur/Sample_3/
instead of

http://www.surveyrapid.com/Sample_Survey.htm

hope it helps!

Thank you,
Ryan