Introduction
Prolific takes participant privacy seriously, and maintaining anonymity is a core requirement for all researchers on the platform.
You must not attempt to identify participants or collect any data that could directly identify them without prior approval from Prolific. See Requesting approval to collect personal data for more information.
Failure to comply is a breach of our Researcher Terms and may result in action being taken on your account.
The table below provides guidance on permitted and prohibited data collection.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and as a general rule, you cannot ask participants for any information that could risk de-anonymizing them without prior approval from Prolific.
If you're uncertain whether your study complies with these requirements, please reach out to our Support Team for guidance prior to publishing your study.
What data am I permitted to collect?
Data type | Permitted | Notes |
First and/or last name | No |
|
Phone number | No |
|
Personal email address | No | Only permitted with Prolific's prior approval - request here |
Date of birth | No | Only permitted with Prolific's prior approval - request here |
Residential / home address | No |
|
Bank account or payment card details | No |
|
National ID numbers | No | e.g. SSN (US), NI Number (UK) |
Passport or driving licence number | No |
|
Initials | No | Only permitted with Prolific's prior approval - request here |
Login credentials | No | e.g. usernames, passwords |
Social media usernames or links | No | e.g. X, Instagram, TikTok |
Gaming usernames | No | e.g. PlayStation ID, Xbox gamertag |
CV or LinkedIn details | No | Only permitted with Prolific's prior approval - request here |
Employer name and/or address | No | Only permitted with Prolific's prior approval - request here |
Cryptocurrency wallet IDs | No |
|
9-digit ZIP code (US) | No |
|
Full UK postcode | No |
|
Full Canadian postcode | No |
|
Full Australian postcode | No |
|
5-digit ZIP code (US) | Yes | Partial location only |
First letters of UK postcode | Yes | Partial location only |
First 3 characters of Canadian postcode | Yes | Partial location only |
First 2 digits of Australian postcode | Yes | Partial location only |
Prolific email address | Yes | e.g. |
Re-identification is not permitted
You should not attempt to re-identify any participant using data provided by Prolific or any other data available to you. In some jurisdictions, this may be a criminal offence. This also applies to people not directly taking part in the study — do not ask for personal information about friends, family, colleagues, or anyone else.
IRB or ethics board approval
We recognise that some studies may have institutional approval to collect personally identifiable information. However, our Researcher Terms supersede institutional approval.
Participants are aware that collecting PII is not permitted on Prolific without the corresponding notice on the study (see screenshot below), and they may change their behaviour or exit the study if asked for this information. For this reason, we cannot support studies that require collecting personal data without prior approval from Prolific. For more information on the approval process, please see the section below.
Requesting approval to collect personal data
In certain circumstances, we may grant researchers approval to collect personal data. If your study requires this, you must submit a request for review and receive written approval from Prolific before proceeding. Click the button below to submit your request.
Please note:
Your study may not proceed with personal data collection until you have received written approval from Prolific.
You remain responsible for ensuring your data collection complies with applicable data protection laws.
If you have any questions about this policy or would like to discuss your study design, please contact our Support Team.
How can I contact participants?
Should you need to contact participants, we have a Prolific messaging and email system in place to protect anonymity. You can read more about this in: How can I contact participants?
Please note that a participant’s Prolific email address does not function like a regular email address, and participants can only be contacted through Prolific.
If you need participants to provide their personal email address for contacting them in any way, such as receiving a calendar invite, this will not be possible.
You should also not ask participants for their personal email address to receive future updates about your research or to receive non-monetary compensation, such as vouchers or raffle entries.