From time to time, you may receive an email notification or come across a study that looks identical to a study you've previously been invited to, have already applied to, or even participated in before. Why are we sending you the same study? In short, we're not!
Are you sending the same study multiple times?
NO! Researchers create their own studies, meaning they're free to write whatever title, description, screener, etc that they want. Commonly, their research requires multiple rounds of identical, or nearly identical, research. They may duplicate a study in its entirety to do the next round of research, resulting in studies that look EXACTLY the same.
Should I still apply to the study?
YES! We never resend the same email notification twice, so if we're emailing you, it's a brand new study. If you've applied before, apply again if the study still interests you.
Each study is different, so if you haven't been selected for a similar study before, keep trying! The researcher may have different accepting screener answers, quotas, or balance requirements, so you could be accepted this time.
Please note that if you've clicked the "Not interested" button in a study notification email or hidden a study from browse by clicking the trashcan icon, that only sticks to that specific study, so we may continue to invite you to similar studies. We're working to improve our notification algorithm!
What is UI doing to make this experience better?
We recommend researchers differentiate their public facing titles, and have relayed that duplicate titles and descriptions may result in lower application rates. We encourage them to add dates (eg "Eyeglasses Study - January 2021"), numbers (eg "Eyeglasses Study - Group #4"), change up the copy (eg "Tell us about your glasses!"), etc, but we can only nudge them to do so. Our team cannot make updates to a study, so researchers may still choose to run identical studies.
