Staying safe when applying to paid research studies

Here at People for Research, we do occasionally get people asking if our paid research studies are real (we take it as a compliment, really). ‘Get paid £50 for one hour!’ – it sounds too good to be true, right? We understand why you would be cautious, but this is indeed a typical incentive we offer to people who take part in paid research studies – it is not a scam, just a very good offer! Our goal is to always ensure our clients offer participants in research studies an appropriate incentive that covers their time and feedback.

However, there are organisations out there who are not as honest and genuine as People for Research and may overstep the line when it comes to ethical research, trying to scam their way into finding out personal information or promising fake incentives. That is why it's essential that you are aware of the ethical way of conducting user recruitment, market research and usability testing.

Safety checklist

At People for Research, we aim to build a relationship with the members of our community before they get to take part in paid research studies and testing. Even before signing up with us, we encourage you to read as much as possible about us by browsing our How it Works section. We try to be as informative and transparent as possible, but we also know it can be difficult to find the time to read all our articles, so feel free to email us on support@peopleforresearch.co.uk if you have any questions.

If you are interested in taking part in paid research studies, you do have to be willing to share some information about yourself, but being a PFR community member means that your personal data is safe. Firstly, we never share your data with anyone else, except with the clients running the research you have been selected to take part in and always with your consent; secondly, all the details you share with us through our website are encrypted before being stored in our internal system.

These are the things to keep an eye out for when trying to assess if a company is legitimate or a potential scam:

✔️ A minimum requirement when asking participants to share their data online is having an HTTPS website, the secure way to send data between a web server and a web browser. This is not necessarily proof that a company won't scam you, but it's a good start.

✔️ People for Research are a company accredited by the Market Research Society (you can find proof of this accreditation here), which means we work according to their Code of Conduct. If the company contacting you is also registered and accredited with the MRS, this adds another layer of trust to your verification process.

✔️ We are also registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the organisation that keeps an eye on companies in the UK and ensures they follow the current data protection legislation, which defines the law on the processing of data belonging to identifiable living people. You can find proof of our registration here. We would expect all companies that handle personal data in the UK to be registered with the ICO or the equivalent in their country, if based abroad.

✔️ Whether it's during the application process, the recruitment or the research itself, you should never be asked to share login details or passwords to any services you may use. Once in a while, if we need proof you use a specific service, we may ask for an account number or a screenshot of a paid app on your phone, but that's it. Be cautious if a company asks for any sensitive information of this nature.

✔️ In order to pay your incentive, we will need your bank details, unless you have chosen to receive your incentive as a voucher. We usually offer both options, as we know some people are not keen to share their bank details and that is absolutely fine! If you are sharing your bank details with us, we will only capture this information after you have been confirmed to attend research or complete a task (never during the initial recruitment stage). We will provide you with a secure link that you can use to share these details and we will then permanently delete this information once the project is closed and you have been paid – we don't keep your bank details forever, so expect us to ask for them again if you are selected to attend research more than once. Be wary of companies asking for your bank details upfront or doing it via email, text or phone!

✔️ If you would like to double check that you are indeed being contacted by People for Research or have any questions, please ring us on 0117 921 0008 or email support@peopleforresearch.co.uk and we will reply to your query within the next 24 business hours. If in doubt, definitely get in touch – our team is available to answer any queries between Monday and Friday.