Hi all,
I’m trying to make sense of the screening data provided by Prolific.
Here are the details:
I ran a study to get responses from people with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I selected this as an eligibility criterion on Prolific, i.e. Custom Screening > Autism Spectrum Disorder > “Yes - as a child” or “Yes - as an adult”. However, when I download the sample data (More > Download export), only half of the participants have an entry for the Autism Spectrum Disorder question. The rest have N/A.
Further, I administered a standard questionnaire of behaviours associated with ASD (Autism Quotient). It turns out that a lot of the participants from the “ASD” sample also do not meet the cut-off criteria for autism on that questionnaire. So, I’m wondering if I set the eligibility criteria correctly.
I’d be extremely grateful if anyone who did studies with clinical groups on Prolific shared their experience.
If you see an ‘N/A’ in your data set, it usually means that the participant has since deleted their response to that question in their ‘About You’ section.
This doesn’t necessarily mean they have been dishonest, so I’d advise you to perhaps get in touch with the participants to double-check, and in future you can include a validating question (that’s worded exactly as our screening question) at the beginning of your study to verify the screener.
If participants fail this, they can be screened to a separate end of survey message asking them to return their submission.
We’ve been having trouble with our ASD screener lately. I’m just investigating that for you now, and I’ll let you know as soon as I know what’s going on. 
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Hey @Joe_Bathelt, we’ve actually recently made changes to the ASD screener, and that may have had an effect on your study. If you submit a request, the team will be able to help you.
Let me know when you get a support ticket number, and I’ll make sure it’s prioritised
