Between Subjects Experiment Nightmare!

1

I have a between-subjects experiment with 12 different conditions (6 versions of a task and 2 target demographics). The task is very challenging to code and needs to be distributed as 6 diff links as opposed to one link that then sends the participant 1 of 6 diff ways.

I created 12 diff prolific tasks and tested them with a small n to make sure everyone was being directed to the correct link before launching my larger N study.

Now that the study is completed I can neither run more participants nor duplicate the 12 studies because I wanted equal sex demographics.

Even if I create 12 new studies (which will be quite tedious), I will always want to run a small subset of participants to make sure they are working properly.

Is there any way around this? Also, I checked and someone completed 3/12 diff versions. Is there really no way to prevent people from taking multiple active studies? This all seems like a nightmare for running between-subjects experiments!!

2

hi @Benjamin_Seitz , welcome to the forum! There are few points here so

  1. re: you need 6 links - if this is the case, there’s nothing Prolific can do here. There are many software programs that can handle bw Ss conditions, so I’d suggest thinking through how you might be able to fix this.
  2. If you want different target demographics, you will always need to create different studies with specific pre-screeners
  3. You could create a “pre-balanced gender version” of each study. don’t run it, just use it to duplicate and only select the option on the duplicated copy so you can start with the original each time.
  4. I don’t think you’ll be able to run a few participants with the gender balance feature before releasing the study, based on the current Prolific features. You can “pause” the study, after you set the correct target sample size.
    3-4a. You can also create separate studies for each gender, with equal target sample sizes. You can take this approach in general and avoid using the feature that Prolific has worked up to make certain studies easier to set up.
  5. No, there is no way to prevent people from participating in multiple active studies, unless they have mutually exclusive screening criteria or you have lists of Prolific IDs already.
    Hope that helps!