Articles

How to automatically sort and approve study responses with Custom Completion Codes

Lily Haycraft Mee
|October 24, 2023

We’ve made it much easier for you to sort through study responses and decide which participants to approve, give bonuses to, message, and more.

Previously, you had to download your responses and cross-check Prolific IDs to find out who failed two attention checks or who qualified for a follow up study. Now, with Custom Completion Codes, you can save time and automate this part.

Just follow our three simple steps.

1. Place multiple completion codes in your study

In short, each completion code acts as a label. You can create multiple codes with custom labels to insert into your study, removing the need to sort through your responses manually.

For instance, if you’ve got two attention checks in your study, insert a separate completion code for people who fail both. Then on the submissions page, you’ll instantly know which responses to disregard.

In addition to the normal completion code for the end of your study, we provide five pre-labeled codes. Plus, you can create an unlimited number of new completion codes with custom labels. It’s ideal for studies with multiple parts or lots of complexity.

Only you can see the labels you give, though. Participants will see jumbled letters and numbers.

Different pre-set labels for codes

2. Filter to different completion codes on your submissions page

Once your study’s complete, you’ll want to review your results and manage participants on the submissions page.

Using codes helps you sort through and review submissions with speed. Filter by code and perform follow up actions in bulk.

Bulk selecting submissions by completion code

3. Set up automated actions for each code

When you create a new completion code, you can choose whether to manually review submissions with that code, or save time by automating how those submissions are managed.

For instance, set up your study so that every participant who submits a certain completion code is automatically approved and paid.

Similarly, you could insert a code that nudges participants to return their submission if they’re using an incompatible device.

One thing to note is that you can’t automate rejections, and all our usual rules around rejections still apply.

Someone automatically choosing to automatically approve all failed attention checks

We’re always looking to improve your experience on Prolific

We hope you’re excited about our new updates!

We’ll always be looking to make your experience as easy as possible, so please do let our Support team know if you have any feedback — we’d love to hear it.

Sign up to Prolific to try Custom Completion Codes in a real study.