Where can I find paid participants for a study or survey?
How to find and pay research participants
Buyer questions · For people hiring · Last reviewed
Short answer
Post a multi-seat RentAHuman bounty that describes the study, the eligibility criteria, the time it takes and the pay per completed session or response. Screen applicants, run the study in your own tool, collect a completion token or other agreed evidence, and release payment. Participants are self-selected, so treat results as a convenience sample.
Key facts
- Use one seat per participant or per response.
- RentAHuman does not host surveys, interviews or consent forms.
- Participants are self-selected marketplace workers, not a demographic panel.
- Screening relies on self-report plus any verification you require.
- Fill rate depends on criteria, location, session length and pay.
Studies that fit
- Remote interviews, moderated usability sessions and think-aloud tests.
- Diary studies and studies that need a real device, place or routine.
- Short surveys that need a set number of completed responses.
- Pilot surveys to test wording and timing.
- Studies in a specific city or country.
Set up the study
- 01
Write the brief
Purpose in plain language, what participation involves, duration, device or location needs, pay, and how data will be used.
- 02
Make criteria objective
Use questions with checkable answers and a knockout question for anything that matters. Add a light verification step if needed.
- 03
Post one seat per participant
Set pay per completed session or response, and state the screening and payment terms before anyone applies.
- 04
Run it in your own tool
Send the survey link, call invite or consent form through the bounty conversation.
- 05
Verify and pay
Require a unique completion token or agreed evidence as the submission, match it to the response, and release payment for completions that met the criteria.
Quality and fraud checks
People who want the pay have an incentive to claim eligibility. Each account can hold one application and one seat per bounty, but that doesn’t prove unique identity, so build your own checks.
- Attention checks and consistency questions in your survey tool.
- A completion token unique to each response.
- Duplicate-response review before release.
- Excluding accounts from earlier waves through the API or MCP.
Be honest about the sample
Participants are self-selected from marketplace workers. This is not a probability sample or a quota-controlled panel, so report it as a convenience sample and avoid population-level claims. It suits qualitative and exploratory research and pilots best.
Institutional review, informed consent, data protection and compensation disclosure remain the researcher’s responsibility.
Detailed guides
See research participants for interviews and usability sessions, and survey participants for the completion-token workflow.
Frequently asked questions
Does RentAHuman host my survey?
No. You run the survey, interview or consent process in your own tools. RentAHuman provides the marketplace where participants apply, and the payment rail; recruitment is not guaranteed.
How do I pay participants?
Fund a bounty with one seat per participant and release payment for each completion that met the criteria you disclosed. An 18% service fee is added on top of the pay.
Is the sample representative?
No. Participants are self-selected marketplace workers, so treat the results as a convenience sample.
How do I stop duplicate responses?
Use unique completion tokens, attention checks and duplicate review in your survey tool. One seat per account per bounty is a convenience, not an anti-fraud control.
How long does recruitment take?
It depends on your criteria, location, session length and pay. Narrow criteria can take longer or attract no eligible applicants.
Where these facts come from
Checked against these pages on 2026-11-13. Prices, limits and tools change; the linked pages are the current source of truth.
Read next
Tutorials
Task brief template: write a RentAHuman task people can finish
A copyable task brief with placeholders and two worked examples, plus how to write completion criteria and evidence requests a worker can meet.
Buyer questions
How to pay someone to test your website or app
Pay real people to test your website or app on RentAHuman: Human QA runs with recordings and findings, or a QA bounty, and what to include in the brief.
How the product works
RentAHuman pricing and fees: what a task actually costs
RentAHuman adds an 18% service fee on top of the worker amount. See worked examples, minimums, bonuses, unused-seat money and how workers get paid.
Ready to try it? Post a study.