Survey Incentives and Completion Codes

If respondents receive compensation, course credit, or panel credit, the survey should make completion requirements clear. Incentive language usually belongs in consent, end screens, and any external recruitment instructions.

Decide before launch who qualifies for the incentive, what happens to screen-outs and quota-full respondents, whether a completion code is shown inside Domandata, and whether a panel redirect or outside payment workflow is involved.

1. Step 1: Explain the incentive early. Add incentive conditions to the consent or introduction when appropriate for the study.

   Step 1: Explain the incentive early

2. Step 2: Screen before costly tasks. Use eligibility screeners and quotas before expensive study tasks or treatment exposure.

   Step 2: Screen before costly tasks

3. Step 3: Create the completion screen. In Block Builder, add an end screen with completion instructions, code text, or redirect guidance.

   Step 3: Create the completion screen

4. Step 4: Create alternate endings. Add separate ineligible or quota-full end screens when respondents should not receive the same message.

   Step 4: Create alternate endings

5. Step 5: Connect endings in Flow. Route completion, screen-out, and quota-full paths with Flow to the correct end screens.

   Step 5: Connect endings in Flow

6. Step 6: Test the exact live workflow. Use the draft or public link to complete the path, verify the code or redirect, and inspect the export.

   Step 6: Test the exact live workflow

If your recruitment source uses completion codes or external confirmation pages, put clear instructions on the final end screen. If the workflow uses a redirect, test it from the public survey link before launch.

• Static code: show the same code to every completed respondent only if the recruitment workflow accepts it. This is Prolific's model: set the end screen's redirect URL to a fixed https://app.prolific.com/submissions/complete?cc=YOURCODE with automatic redirect on — no other setup needed.
• Panel redirect: test the redirect after a full completion path and after any screen-out path that should not receive credit.
• Course credit: explain whether students need to copy a code, submit a screenshot, or wait for manual confirmation.
• Partial completion: decide whether incomplete respondents receive anything, and make that rule clear in consent or recruitment text.

Panels like CloudResearch, Cint, and RepData work differently from Prolific: instead of a fixed code, they append their own completion/quota-full/termination URLs as extra parameters on the link they send respondents to. Domandata captures every parameter on the survey link (besides its own d personal-link token) automatically, and the end screen's redirect URL field accepts {{param}} to insert one back in — for example, set the redirect to {{completion_url}} to send respondents wherever the panel's own completion_url parameter pointed, or embed a respondent ID mid-URL with something like https://panel.example/thanks?pid={{RID}}. Give complete, screen-out, and quota-full outcomes their own end screens in Flow so each can carry the matching panel parameter. If a parameter is missing or misnamed, the redirect simply won't fire (rather than sending respondents somewhere broken) — always test with the exact link format the panel will use before launch. See Panel Provider Redirect Integration for the full walkthrough and a setup cookbook per panel.

Keep a record of completion status, end screen paths, and any recruitment identifiers allowed by your protocol. Do not collect personally identifying payment information inside the survey unless your study approval requires it and your workflow is designed for it.

Before paying or granting credit, compare the export against your planned eligibility, quota, completion, and quality-check rules. If you exclude responses from analysis later, keep the payment or credit decision separate from the analytic exclusion log unless your protocol says otherwise.

• End Screens and Debriefing for Surveys
• Panel Recruitment for Surveys
• Panel Provider Redirect Integration
• Privacy and Anonymity in Research Surveys
• Publish and Share a Research Survey