Earlier today, I accepted a study with an estimated completion time of 30 minutes. However, the study included dozens of questions that required the use of Bayes’ theorem and involved reading tiny, overlapping numbers on a graph, making them nearly impossible to decipher. It ended up taking me an hour and a half to complete, and by the time I finished, my head and eyes felt like they were on fire.

After submitting it, I was redirected to a page informing me that I had timed out. I felt my blood begin to boil as I realized all my hard work had been for nothing. To make matters worse, I missed out on another high paying study I was scheduled for because I spent too much time on this one.

I sent a message to both the company that created the study and Prolific, explaining how hard I worked, how difficult the study was, and that I missed out on another study because of it. I still haven’t heard back from either of them. If this is going to be a recurring issue, I have no interest in doing unpaid labor.

Edit: Prolific replied and compensated me for the job. They’re back on my good side, but I’m definitely never doing a study with that person again.