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Can I ask a participant to redo their submission?

Yes, but participants can't retake the same study through Prolific once they've already submitted it.

A participant can only take part in a study once, so if they already have a submission for your study, it won't appear in their available studies and they won't be able to join it again through Prolific.

If you need a participant to repeat your study or redo their submission, there are two ways to do this.


Option 1: Send the participant a direct link to your survey

If the participant already has a submission for your study, the simplest option is to send them the external survey URL using Prolific's messaging system.

Before you do this, make sure you can see the participant's submission in your study's Submissions page.

Once they've completed the survey again, you can approve and pay them using their original Prolific submission.

Things to keep in mind

  • Some survey platforms don't allow duplicate responses. If that's the case, the participant may need to complete the survey in an incognito/private browser window.

  • If your survey automatically records the participant's Prolific ID, this won't happen when they access the survey through a direct link. Make sure your survey includes a way for participants to manually enter their Prolific ID, otherwise they may not be able to complete the study correctly.

  • If the participant doesn't already have a submission, you'll need to use Option 2 instead.


Option 2: Create a duplicate study

If sending a direct survey link isn't suitable, or the participant doesn't already have a submission, you can create a duplicate study and invite only the participant(s) you want to take part using a Custom Allowlist.

How to create a duplicate study

  1. Go to your study's set up page.

  2. Select Action > Duplicate.

  3. When prompted whether to block original participants, choose Allow original participants. This allows previous participants to take the duplicated study.

  4. Open the duplicated study from your Drafts tab.

  5. In the Audience section, select Prescreen participants and add the Custom Allowlist screener.

  6. Enter the participant IDs you want to invite, separating each ID with a comma.

  7. In the Study cost section, set How many participants are you looking to recruit? to match the number of participants you're inviting.

  8. Publish the study.

Only participants on your Custom Allowlist will be able to take part.


What if the participant can't see the duplicate study?

If an invited participant doesn't see the study on their dashboard, you can send them a direct link to the study on Prolific using the following format:

You can find your unique study ID by opening the study from your account and checking the URL in your browser. For example, if your study ID was '5bbb73d73cdd2a00013fa505' then you would see the URL

You will need to slightly amend the URL, removing 'researcher' before sending it to the participant:

As long as participants are eligible for your study, the direct URL should enable them to sign up successfully.

Note: If you're inviting participants beyond the number originally requested for your study, you may need to add additional funds to your account before you can publish the duplicate study.

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