What are participant groups?
Participant groups are static lists of participant IDs that you build and manage yourself. Once you've added your participants, the list stays exactly as you left it. It won't automatically add or remove anyone based on new participants who match your criteria.
You can reuse the same group across as many studies as you like, treating it as your own pool of pre-screened or specialized participants. Each group has a name and description, so you can easily find the one you need and apply it when setting up a study.
How to create a new participant group
Go to the Participants section of your workspace and select the Groups tab
Click + New group
Enter a name and description for your group. Use a clear, descriptive name so it's easy to identify later, especially if you have several groups
Click Create
Click Add participants in the top right and paste in the participant IDs you want to add, or upload via CSV file
Managing your participant group
Once your group is saved, you'll land on a dashboard with five tabs: Overview, Participants, Studies, Archived, and Group history.
Overview
The overview gives you a snapshot of your group at a glance:
Participants: the total number of participants in the group and how many were active in the last week
Can't participate: the percentage of participants who are currently ineligible (for example, due to account issues)
Studies used in: how many studies have used this group, and how many are currently active
You'll also see a Last active on Prolific chart, showing what proportion of your group has been active in the last 7, 30, 60, and 90 days. This helps you gauge how engaged your group is before launching a study.
The Details panel shows when the group was created and last edited, and by whom.
To analyze your group's demographic profile, select Add demographic data at the bottom of the overview.
Participants
This tab lists every participant in your group. For each participant you can see:
Their Participant ID
The date they were added
When they were last active on Prolific
Whether they can participate
Use the sort and filter controls to find specific participants. To remove someone from the group, click the archive icon next to their row.
To add more participants, click Add participants in the top right.
Studies
This tab shows every study that has used this participant group, along with its status, publish date, number of submissions, and available places.
Archived
Archived participants won't be eligible for any study that uses this group. This tab lists all archived participants. If the list is empty, all participants in your group are currently eligible.
To permanently remove an archived participant from the group, use the Delete column.
Group history
Group history gives you a full audit log of changes to the group. You can see which participant IDs were added or removed, when the group's name or description was changed, and who made each change.
Using participant groups in studies
Here's how to set up your study to recruit from a participant group:
When you set up your study, go to the Recruit participants section
Click Add filters and search for Participant groups
Select the filter Include participants from a participant group
Choose the participant group you want to use
You can add more filters here too, but keep in mind that each extra filter can reduce your eligible pool. You'll always see the available number of participants before you publish.
Updating participant groups
You can add or remove participants at any time.
To add participants, click Add participants in the top right of your group and paste in the IDs.
To remove a participant, go to the Participants tab and click the archive icon next to their row.
Groups update in real time. If a study is already running:
Adding a participant to the group makes the study immediately visible to them
Removing a participant means they'll no longer be able to see the study
If a participant has already started your study when you remove them from the group, they can still complete it. If they do, you'll need to approve their submission and pay them for their time.
See Approving, rejecting, and returning submissions for full guidance.