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Software Engineering User Study Recruitment on Prolific: An Experience Report

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arxiv 2201.05348 v2 pith:5M6X5KU7 submitted 2022-01-14 cs.SE cs.HC

classification cs.SEcs.HC
keywords participantsuserprolificresearchersaccessexperienceparticipantprogramming
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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Online participant recruitment platforms such as Prolific have been gaining popularity in research, as they enable researchers to easily access large pools of participants. However, participant quality can be an issue; participants may give incorrect information to gain access to more studies, adding unwanted noise to results. This paper details our experience recruiting participants from Prolific for a user study requiring programming skills in Node.js, with the aim of helping other researchers conduct similar studies. We explore a method of recruiting programmer participants using prescreening validation, attention checks and a series of programming knowledge questions. We received 680 responses, and determined that 55 met the criteria to be invited to our user study. We ultimately conducted user study sessions via video calls with 10 participants. We conclude this paper with a series of recommendations for researchers.

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Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. When AI Joins the Team! A Model of How AI Adoption Relates To Social Patterns in Software Engineering Teams

    cs.SE 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    AI adoption is associated with community smells through two distinct paths: indirectly through more peer consultation in specialization work, and directly through better communication quality in coordination work.

  2. Exploring Dependence, Overreliance, and Addiction Related Behaviors Associated with Large Language Model Use Among Software Engineers

    cs.SE 2026-08 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Software engineers report habitual, functional dependence on LLMs and some overreliance, with addiction-like behavior appearing marginal.

  3. What Motivates Whom? A Survey of Newcomers to OSS and Experienced OSS Practitioners

    cs.SE 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Demographics and motivations correlate with OSS project-selection preferences, with distinct patterns for newcomers versus experienced practitioners in a 208-person survey.

  4. The Influence of Fraudulent AI-Generated Responses on Software Engineering Surveys

    cs.SE 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Suspicious or AI-assisted survey answers leave most SE quantitative distributions stable but materially change qualitative framing, code prominence, and interpretive evidence.

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