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Does anybody here lie about their income to become eligible for more surveys?


NFriday

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There are times where I don't fit into any of the options I am given, and you have to answer the question to finish the survey.  They don't have other or none of the above.

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4 hours ago, NFriday said:

There are times where I don't fit into any of the options I am given, and you have to answer the question to finish the survey.  They don't have other or none of the above.

I hate when questions lack all necessary options.

 

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I do not lie about demographics - unless those demographics are PII. I will "lie" about my name, for instance (my name is usually "there is no reason for you to be asking that question"), same with my address or address-identifying 9-digit zip, unless they've already promised that they will definitely be sending me something if I provide it to them. I will also lie in any context in which they asked me a question in the form of bullets, and the truth isn't one of the options, which happens occasionally, but that's clearly also not my fault. Finally, every once in a while, I'll lie slightly when a survey asks if I've "ever bought" any of a hundred different random brands, and I know that if I say yes to a bunch of them, they're going to ask me stupid repetitive follow-up questions about every single one of them, so I only say the ones I've bought recently, for instance. I would not lie about basic demographics, though, and I would strongly recommend that you also not. 

Also, to go back to your earlier statement that nobody would ever take a 50 cent survey that was making over 100k, I would like to personally disagree with you. Every 50 cents is 50 cents more invested towards my "I am super burned out and would like to retire early" fund. :p Obviously that allows me to be selective, and only take surveys that are actually worth the time, and only when I've got nothing else more important to do... but there are still plenty of those, and I do have times like that often enough (like, for instance, during my lunch break. :D)

On the other hand, whenever a survey asks for income and one of the choices is, say, 500+k, or when they ask for your job description and it's clear that they're attempting to select only "CEOs of a major corporation" or something equally insane... yeah, I'm not sure what those requesters are even thinking. If I made 500k, I could probably retire next year, I probably wouldn't still be doing this. :D And I guarantee you 100% of those "CEOs" are lying their butts off, but I wouldn't personally, partially because I like providing good data, also partially because I'd be just as confident the rest of that survey would be just as dumb and I'd prefer to get screened out immediately instead. :p 

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While they really only need the 5 digit Zip Code to determine the state . asking for the full Zip+4 one is still OK as it only points to a small area (like a block) and not your exact address.

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I am very high income, but enjoy speaking my mind about the products and services in surveys. I also like seeing some of my suggestions pan out in ads down the road. I feel like it is part of being a good consumer. The influence you have in some of the longer, qualitative surveys and focus groups feels more significant than voting, even (sorry, YouGov).

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2 hours ago, kador said:

I am very high income, but enjoy speaking my mind about the products and services in surveys. I also like seeing some of my suggestions pan out in ads down the road. I feel like it is part of being a good consumer. The influence you have in some of the longer, qualitative surveys and focus groups feels more significant than voting, even (sorry, YouGov).

You make some excellent points here! I have some fairly different qualifications ( own my own business, am widowed, have kids under 18 to name a few) and I probably qualified for different surveys than a lot of other survey takers. I really don't  know why , but over the past few months  i  barely qualify for any surveys. More survey-takers? Less surveys? 

Anyway, I do think that all people of all ages and incomes etc. should have their voices heard and try to make a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If you lie, the data is not valid, and so you are not helping the survey company.  I don't depend on surveys to pay my bills.  I only do them for the Amazon GC.  There are easier and more reliable ways to make money to pay your bills.

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16 hours ago, NFriday said:

If you lie, the data is not valid, and so you are not helping the survey company.  I don't depend on surveys to pay my bills.  I only do them for the Amazon GC.  There are easier and more reliable ways to make money to pay your bills.

Same here. The extra $$ and Amazon cards do help when you are on SS and are low income (like me).

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
3 hours ago, creastysomp said:

I do find it amusing that some surveys have an option to enter your annual income as being anything close to 100k year, though. I mean, why would someone with that kind of salary waste their time doing surveys?

Been seeing some recently where the starting income option is "<$100,000" and it goes up from there. 

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No point lying because you will trip yourself up eventually and you will be flagged by the companies. Survey companies share date on its members without doubt,in fact they distribute surveys between each other on many occasions as you will see if you look at the survey link at the top of the page when you click on a survey link.

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  • 1 month later...

I tell them an accurate income amount because I figure they are interested in many different demos. Also, I’ve found they usually pay more for people who have a technical career or earn more money, I guess because they assume certain people won’t accept less than a few dollars for their opinion since they’re high earners. 

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