Define your audience
Every study needs the right audience. You have a few different ways to find the participants you need on Prolific. This article breaks down each option, so you can decide what fits your study. Then we'll link you to a detailed guide for the next steps.
Your options at a glance
Filters
Choose from hundreds of built-in criteria, like age, nationality, employment status, and fluent languages. It's the fastest way to reach a specific demographic.
Read How do I use Prolific's filters?
A representative sample matches national proportions for age, sex, and either ethnicity, political affiliation, or region, depending on the type you choose. Use it when your results need to reflect a country's population, not just the criteria you specify.
Read What are representative samples on Prolific and Using representative samples on Prolific - FAQs
AND, OR, and sub-conditions
Combine filters with AND and OR logic to match participants who meet more than one requirement, or who can qualify in more than one way.
Read How to recruit eligible participants using filters and sub-conditions
Custom screening
If none of our built-in filters quite fit, run your own screening questions to recruit a specific sample.
Read How to use custom screening to recruit specific participants
Participant groups
Save participants who are a great fit into a group, so you can invite them back for future studies.
Read How to create and manage participant groups
Bring your own participants
Move a group of participants you already know onto Prolific, instead of building a new sample from scratch.
Read Bring your own participants
Which option should you use?
Here's a quick way to decide:
Use filters to reach a general demographic, like age or country of residence
Use AND and OR logic and sub-conditions to combine several requirements, or to let participants qualify in more than one way
Use custom screening when your requirements are too specific for any filter
Use participant groups to reach people you've worked with before
Use bring your own participants if you already know a group of people outside of Prolific you want to work with
If you're not sure yet, start with filters. You can always layer on custom screening or sub-conditions once you see how many participants qualify.
Next steps
Once you've found your audience, head to Recruit participants to set your sample size and launch your study.
If you have a question we haven't covered, get in touch with our support team using the button at the bottom of the page. We're happy to help you find the right participants.