"QUALIFYING" Questions???

[Gytaryst]

I'm new to this survey thing. I've tried taking online surveys a few times over the years, but usually after being told I don't qualify 10 or 11 times in a row I give up.  My situation now has me sitting here doing nothing for most of the day with a computer in front of me, so I figured I might as well see if I could make a little money. In the past 2 or 3 days I've taken several surveys only to be told that I either don't qualify or they have all the participants they need. And I have no problem with that. Obviously I don't expect a research firm to pay me for my opinion if I don't qualify or if they already have all the participants they need. The issue I have is that they don't say that until after I've already spent 15 or 20 minutes answering all kinds of product related questions. How old am I?, What race am I? Do I have Kids? Do I own or rent? These are "qualifying" questions. Do I prefer Coke or Pepsi? How often do I buy WD40? These are opinion survey questions. It's irritating to answer 15 or 20 questions about specific products and then after they have all of my opinions, they tell me they have enough participants or I don't qualify.

It seems like these research firms have discovered a deceptive way to circumvent the process by claiming all of the questions in their survey are "qualifying" questions and no one qualifies. They get their surveys answered and it doesn't cost them a dime. 

Am I missing something? 

[Administrator]

Hi Gytaryst,

Welcome to the forum!

We're sure some of the forum members here will chime in with their own experiences including which panels tend to disqualify less than others, but in the meantime, here's are a few resources you might find helpful:

Survey panels who offer rewards for disqualifications
Why filling out profilers will lead to more surveys
Why market researchers aren't racist; information on demographic segmentation

[Cliche01]

     Not sure what sites you were attempting to take surveys from, or your actual situation as far as a survey taker,  but suffice to say this is one of the 'evils' of taking them.  There is a difference between what tend to be called preliminary questions, and surveys themselves.  To give an example, Harris Poll is one company that drives me up the wall as they apparently keep no user database.  They send you an e-mail saying they have a survey, and you spend all this time answering repetitive questions which often have no logic (they love to ask what diseases you have, and if you say none, will give you another page of them) in order to find one that may fit you.  Opinion Outpost has you fill out preliminary questions even though they've had you set up a profile database. 

   Then there are the surveys themselves.  Yeah, they ask all these questions and then suddenly say 'oh so sorry' when you wonder why the hell  the site even selected you for that survey in the first place?  Used to tick me off big time, I ranted and raved to OO saying,  hey, *ssholes!  I just filled out twenty pages on some survey, and THEN you claim I don't qualify or it's full?  Sounds like total BS to me.

   Over time, I've just learned not to care.  I mean we are talking what?  A few bucks?  And if a survey is so narrow it is looking for 23 year old Coke drinkers who are Native American, rent, and also use WD40, that's their problem of writing a crappy survey, not mine.  

[rosiesmom]

I was taking a 20 minute survey the other evening.  15 minutes into the "qualifying questions", I was kicked out.  Worse yet is taking the 20 minute survey and 19.75 minutes into it, you are thrown out.  Happens more than not to me.  You get to where you can tell who the survey companies are and you know after taking them for years, that you won't qualify.   Keep trying though, that is the only way to make any money at all. 

[cricket]

Don't give up easily. They want you to take the surveys because if you do, they make money. Sometimes it seems like they are deliberately disqualifying me. I get so frustrated. I wonder which companies you signed up with. If you can get MyView, do it. That's my favorite...aslo Global Test Market. Quick Rewards has 60 cent surveys that almost always work for me. And Tellwut which I take every morning with coffee, no disqualifying, just questions. Hit the word "Home" after every question and come back at night to see any added. See if you can sign up for Pinecone. $3 and no disqualifying.

[paulgro]

I get DQ'ed from many but I also take many surveys and get paid. I do quite well I have to say.

[neminem]

There are definitely sites that ask too many unnecessary preliminary screening questions - generally speaking, a properly-implemented survey should only have to ask you like 30 seconds' worth of them, but the average is probably closer to a couple minutes, for no good reason other than it takes a little longer to implement them, and that would cost them money, while wasting our time obviously costs them nothing. 

That said, if you're talking 15-20 minutes rather than a couple, that's clearly not the same thing - that's not still asking screening questions, that's called "the survey is buggy". Which is also totally a thing that happens, and yes, it is super irritating. Why I think I'm done with GTM after I finish this cashout, because a proper survey site, if you tell them that you spent 20 minutes on a survey before being told you didn't qualify, will say, "oops, our bad, have some cash". It's not their fault if a survey is buggy, but it is their fault if they refuse to pay you for it, GTM.