If you register with StudyResponse, you will have the opportunity to participate in online surveys dealing with a variety of topics. The studies are conducted by researchers at many different universities and research-oriented organizations. StudyResponse participants have offered positive reviews of their experiences with us, such as this  Amazon.com review of StudyResponse.

Below is a list of answers to questions you may have about participation:

What is StudyResponse?
How do I register?
What's in it for me?
Is the process confidential?
Will I get unsolicited e-mail or phone calls?
Will I be asked to evaluate products or services?
How does the whole process work?
How do I know who won past prizes?

What is StudyResponse?

StudyResponse is a university project dedicated to helping academic researchers do quality online research. We only do academic research - that is, research that is related to science or practice but does not pertain to a product or service.

How do I register?

Just click here to go to the registration page, or click the "participant registration" link on the left sidebar menu of any page. You will be asked to provide basic information about yourself. The registration process should take about three minutes.

What's in it for me?

Researchers using StudyResponse generally offer raffle-type incentives for participation, typically in the form of a gift certificate to a popular online vendor such as Amazon.com. Whether you are selected to receive a raffle-type incentive will depend upon the number of participants and the number of incentives supplied by the academic researchers who use StudyResponse. Our licensing policies ensure that the total dollar value of incentives and the number of participants eligible for a prize draw remain proportional.  

In addition to raffle type incentives, some research offers the opportunity to learn about you, your family, or your job, based on responses that you provide to the researchers' online surveys. It is always your right as a research participant to obtain a report of the research in which you participated and this can be accomplished by contacting the researchers whose names and email addresses are shown in the study recruiting messages you receive. 

Is the process confidential?

When you register for StudyResponse, you will be asked to provide some basic information about yourself, such as your name, age, race, occupation, etc. This information will be used for research and compensation purposes only. Our service acts as a remailer; that is, researchers tell us what they would like us to do, and we e-mail participants on their behalf. So, if you receive an invitation, it will be from StudyResponse on behalf of an academic researcher. We do not sell or provide your contact information for any purpose other than legitimate academic research. StudyResponse studies are generally anonymous: That is, in most studies researchers can not obtain access to your email address or any other contact information.  

Will I get unsolicited e-mail or phone calls?

No. We do not make our lists available to marketing companies or organizations wishing to offer you products or services.

Will I be asked to evaluate products or services?

No. We do not support commercial research unless it is conducted by academic researchers at a federally registered research institution. Some researchers (e.g., in business schools) do conduct research on the way products are packaged or presented, but this research does not aim to promote or market a particular product, but rather to understand consumer behavior generally.

How does the whole process work?

Researchers wishing to conduct an online survey contact us for several reasons. First, it is difficult to locate enough people who are willing to complete a survey. Second, researchers want to be ethical; we do not want to spam anyone at any time.

Given these difficulties, we match up those who have specifically identified themselves as willing to participate with researchers who need participants. Researchers contact us and tell us what kind of study they are doing, how many participants they need, and what demographics they would like (for example, men or women, older or younger people, etc.). We then e-mail their request for participants to a list of registered participants that matches their needs. 

How do I know who won past prizes?

You can link to our winner's page to see who won the prizes in many recent studies. For privacy reasons we do not provide the full names of these individuals, but the list will give you a sense of the number and value of prizes that we award.