Problems with Saving Data of Participants from Prolific

Online experiments
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1

Hello! I have the following issue: I created an experiment using PsychoJS, which runs online via Pavlovia. Initially, I tested it with a student sample, and it worked well. Now, I want to test a larger sample of participants recruited through Prolific. For that, participants receive the experimental link on Prolific and then enter their Prolific ID in Pavlovia. After completing the experiment, they get a code to enter in Prolific. As participants report the correct codes, I can tell they’re completing the study. However, data is rarely saved even though I have set up partial data saving. If data is not saved, no Pavlovia credits are consumed as well. Nevertheless, this still results in significant data loss, which is a major issue for me. Has anyone encountered this before, or does anyone have suggestions on how to prevent this from happening? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

Hi There,

For connecting your pavlovia experiment with prolific, there are a few things I would suggest that might help here:

  • Use a daisy chain rather than getting participants to enter their participant ID manually. This could eliminate data loss caused by an error in the participant typing their participant ID. This involves configuring the URL parameters in your prolific project as described here.
  • Use an automatic redirect rather than getting the participant to copy and paste a code (this is also described in the link above).
  • If you have partial data saving turned on, then data should ping back to the server every 5 minutes during task completion. Is there any way your participant could be obtaining the completion code in the first 5 minutes and then closing the task tab in their browser before completing? For example, make sure to give the completion code at the end of the task, and not as part of the task instructions at the beggining.

Hopefully this might help!
Becca

3

Hello @laurawirth

It could that your participants leave Pavlovia before the data are saved at the end. Using a redirection link (completed url, incomplete URL) with the Profilic ID should prevent this. What happens in your last routine? You can also submit the Profilic ID to Pavlovia, see here Wakefield's Daily Tips - #35 by wakecarter

Best wishes Jens