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35 Paid Online Research Studies Seeking Participants

How can one participate in paid online research studies and get paid for your brain, your health, and your opinions?

• Inbox Dollars - Get paid to check your email. $5 bonus just for signing up!
• Survey Junkie - The #1 survey site that doesn't suck. Short surveys, high payouts, simply the best.
• Nielsen - Download their app and get paid $50!

Well, you’re in the right place.

Today, let’s look at 35 different opportunities to get paid as a participant in research studies.

Types of Paid Online Research Studies

A medical study involves a group of people within an age group, gender, race, ethnic group, or individuals with the same specific health issues.

Participating in these studies often involves answering a combination of interviews, tests, surveys, or experimentation to be able to answer questions on how to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure health disorders and diseases.

Aside from paid medical studies, market research makes use of paid online research to find out what customers want or need from various products and companies.

The cool thing about paid online research studies available today is that even if you are not a part of the target audience, you can still participate in the study in another capacity.

Online research studies can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative studies are the ones with static, pre-planned answers. A questionnaire with multiple-choice answers is a good example of this study. It is made as such so that the researcher can easily analyze the results.

Qualitative studies are a bit more complex since they involve open-ended answers.

However, this type of study ends up with better data. Focus groups and interviews are both methods used in qualitative studies.

How Much Can You Earn from Paid Research Studies?

Imagine earning up to $1,000 just for sharing your opinion, review of a product, or thoughts about a particular experience without even stepping out of the house.

You don’t even have to spend a cent to participate in these research studies.

Most of the time, you’d only have to be at least 18 years old and currently live in the US.

Even when you’re below 18 years old, researchers sometimes allow you to participate as long as you had a waiver from your parent or legal guardian.

The amount you earn from joining research studies depend on the following:

• Method of research — Did you join a focus group? Answered a lengthy interview? Filled out a survey form?
• Length of study — Some interviews only take an hour and earn you $150. Some focus groups could take several sessions and end only after several weeks.
• Type of payment — Not all companies pay cash. Some use PayPal, while others prefer checks, gift cards, prepaid cards, and so on.

Quick surveys can be as little as $10 and high as $100.

Focus group sessions range between $50 and $500 per session.

Interviews can earn you somewhere from $50 to $400 for an hour of your time.

Simply put, the amount you’ll be paid will vary from study to study.

Join These to Start Making Money Today!

Before digging into the list below, I suggest you sign up for the 3 best focus group/market research companies.

Anyone can participate and you will be invited to take part in research studies, focus groups, and product testing opportunities.

These companies pay in cash and offer cash signup bonuses to get you started.

• SurveyJunkie - Get paid CASH to share your thoughts on some of the world's biggest brands.
• Branded Surveys - Work directly with companies like Nike, Samsung, Amazon, and Disney to improve their product lines.

On to the list!

35 Ways to Get Paid for Research Studies Online

The following universities have year-long research studies in a wide range of topics.

1. Northwestern University Department of Psychology

Earn from $10 to $40 an hour if you participate in one of the school’s online studies.

The studies change regularly and vary widely from topics such as phone usage, changes in thoughts and feelings, Artificial Intelligence,  sleeping patterns, psychosis, aging, and even products like hearing aids.

2. Harvard University Psychology Study Pool

Join Harvard’s Psychology Study Pool and earn from $10 to $25 an hour, paid via gift cards.

The online studies are available year-round for both Harvard students and guests.

3. Carnegie Mellon University

If you’re at least 18 years old, can read and speak English, and have never joined any research studies at the Center for Behavioral and Decision Research at Carnegie Mellon, you can sign up for their paid online research studies.

Topics range from personal beliefs, attitudes, decision-making, human judgment, interpersonal perceptions, and group performance, among others.

You’ll earn $8 an hour, paid in gift cards. Each study takes anywhere from 5 and 20 minutes.

Paid participants are needed for in-person studies in labs on campus, but may sometimes be able to participate online on a home computer.

Note that only students are accepted (ID will be requested).

4. Center for Decision Sciences Columbia Business School

For participating in an online survey or study, you can earn $16 an hour, as long as you’re 18+ years old and have a PayPal or Amazon.com account to receive payments.

No need to be a student at Columbia Business School, but you need to register in the CDS Virtual Lab Online Panel.

5. MIT Behavioral Research Lab

There are in-person and paid online research studies available at MIT.

Payment amounts vary from study to study, but participants usually earn $11 to $20 per hour for online studies.

Anyone aged 18 or older, residing in the United States, and proficient in spoken and written English can join the BRL participant pool.

Membership is open to all; you don’t need any association with MIT to participate. Other requirements may be needed for studies requiring specific respondents.

6. University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business

As long as you’re a current Smith student (and eligible for certain studies), you can get paid for research studies online here.

Make sure you create an account, sign up for the studies that you want to participate in, and get paid once you fulfill your role.

7. Purdue University

You can find a lot of paid online studies here.

Currently, they have studies on Parkinson’s disease (and other neurodegenerative diseases), flavored water, biosensors, mushroom nutrition, linguistics, cancer, and so on.

Participants are paid somewhere between $10 and $500.

What’s great about Purdue University is that the studies are varied and open to the public.

8. Stanford Graduate School of Business

You’ll be paid up to $25 an hour for online research studies, but you’d have to be eligible and complete a prescreen form.

You also can’t participate in the same study more than once.

9. UCLA Anderson School of Management

The behavioral lab has some paid online studies, if you’re interested in topics like consumer behavior, organizational behavior, judgment, and other similar topics.

Most studies here pay from $10 to $20 an hour.

They also have in-lab and in-person studies.

10. Boston University Behavioral Lab

If you’re interested in human behavior and is willing to participate in online studies, try to join if you’re eligible.

These studies pay between $10 and $20 an hour.

The studies from Boston University’s Behavioral Lab is open to both BU students and the general public.

11. University of Maryland Department of Psychology

You need to create an account at the SONA System website to see available research studies.

Each of the studies have different eligibilities and payment.

12. University of Nebraska-Lincoln

This college holds a wide range of research studies revolving MRI research, human brain, behavior, and so on.

There are studies exclusively for seniors, and those that are for teens.

There are two ways to volunteer for these studies:

• Join the CB3 Research Participant Volunteer Registry (and wait for them to e-mail you)
• Pick the study and contact researchers directly.

Pay can go as high as $80 per study.

13. American University Psychology Department

Topics vary widely, but they are related to psychology and human behavior.

You can earn up to $20 an hour for just filling out a form as a smoker’s first-hand experience during stressful situations.

14. Respondent.IO

This next one isn’t a university, but it’s a comprehensive resource if you plan to participate in numerous market research and other online studies.

Pay ranges from $25 to $200.

Eligibility requirements vary between studies.

Make sure to check details and never pay to join a focus group or study.

15. Brand Institute

Want to be at the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry?

Join consumer market research panel groups by signing up with Brand Institute.

16. mindswarms

It’s sort of like an interview since you are required to answer ten questions with a video.

In exchange for your thoughts, you’ll be paid $50.

Earn somewhere between $50 and $250 by participating in healthcare or consumer market research studies.

18. Probe Market Research

The company pays people for online, phone or group interviews about their clients’ products, services, ads, or other campaigns.

Payment goes as high as $400.

19. Penn State University

(Quick shoutout to my Alma Mater… We Are!)

… and they are seeking just about anyone who’s alive to participate in a research study. With over 200 current open studies, odds are, you’ll qualify for something they have available.

Keep an eye out for “Total Compensation” to see just what the study pays.

20. User Interviews

Get paid for your feedback on real projects.

Create an account by filling up a form and wait for project invitations if you’re eligible.

There are online and in-phone interviews available.

21. Yale School of Management

If you live anywhere near Yale campus, be sure to sign up for their newsletter as they frequently put out requests for both in person and paid online research studies.

You will be paid, in cash, at the completion of your study.

They also have a Facebook group that announces when new studies are available to participate in.

22. Georgetown University Department of Psychology

Georgetown’s Department of Psychology is regularly looking for both students and non-students alike to participate in studies.

Average pay will run you about $10 per hour, so it can be some nice change to pick up in your spare time.

Their research includes personality, memory, and impulse control tests to name a few.

23. UCLA Semel Institute

UCLA offers both in-person and online research studies to check out.

They have a massive list of open opportunities for you to click through. The highest paying ones often need you to come into their offices for scans and interviews, but there are a lot of remote positions available too.

24. PingPong

Web designers and developers working on websites and applications value the input of real-life users and are willing to pay for these users’ opinions and insights

You can get paid anywhere from €15 to €40 per hour and even up to €100 for special projects.

Payment is credited through Transferwise or PayPal.

25. American Consumer Opinion

Yet another survey site, American Consumer Opinion (ACOP) pays you for your answers to their survey questions.

You can even get paid up to $100 if you fit a certain demographic and able to participate in special projects.

Research studies on this site may not be constantly available, though. It’s best to check back frequently.

26. Recruit and Field

Recruit and Field is a market research company that hosts paid online research studies all around the US and even in international locations.

They look for participants from any gender and age for their studies, including professionals and medical professionals (doctor, nurse, lab technician).

They normally pay via PayPal but also offer Amazon or digital gift cards.

The pay ranges from $100 to $275 for phone interviews, online surveys, and sometimes in-home product testing.

27. Focus Group

Focus Group is an aptly named online community comprised of participants interested in sharing opinions and views on popular products and brands through in-person, telephone, or online surveys.

The pay ranges from $75 to $200, and specialized health studies may pay more.

28. 20|20 Panel

Since 1986, 20|20 Panel has been recruiting participants to share their opinion on various companies.

They specialize in qualitative market research, which is achieved via in-person or online roundtable discussions. You can get paid from $50 to $350 to participate in these discussions.

They also send out quick surveys for which you can get paid smaller amounts (from $1 to $10).

29. FindFocusGroups

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a directory of all the paid research opportunities in the country?

FindFocusGroups is probably the closest one, as it lists more than 75,000 verified and legitimate focus groups in the country.

It’s quite simple to search by city and state, and check the information for details on whether the discussions are online or in-person.

It’s difficult to know how much the average payment would be, but upon browsing the first few studies on the homepage, they range from $50 to $300.

30. SIS International

SIS International conducts focus group discussions in cities all over the US and globally and collects consumer feedback on anything from appliances, skincare products, gadgets, and just about anything.

Rates range from $25 to $200 for 2 to 3 hours of your time.

31.  Apex Focus Group

Apex Focus Group connects regular people like you and me with researchers, who will pay for participants to join clinical research trials, phone interviews and focus groups.

As a participant at any Apex Focus Group study, you can be paid up to $750 a week.

Online and in-person studies are available.

32.  Fieldwork

If you live near New Jersey, New York City, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, or Minneapolis, you can participate in current Fieldwork research studies.

Most of the paid focus groups are face-to-face (but online are sometimes available).

Each study lasts about 1 or 2 hours. Participants earn between $75 and $100 for their time.

33. Rare Patient Voice

This company mostly looks for participants who have rare diseases and medical conditions. As such, only eligible people can benefit from the studies.

However, anyone who qualifies will receive $120/hour.

You can share your views via online surveys, clinical trials, or web-assisted phone interviews.

34. ClinicalTrials.gov

The federal government continually seeks individuals willing to participate in clinical trials testing different medications and treatments.

Studies are often conducted by the National Institutes of Health.

You can check out a list of ongoing clinical trials at clinicaltrials.gov.

Unlike other paid online research studies on this list, DScout is an app you can download.

You need to register to become a “scout” and participate in research “missions,” which will earn you money after completion.

DScout studies are usually 1-on-1 interviews or video responses, so you’d have to be comfortable in front of the camera.

Missions pay from $50 to $100, each lasting about 30 minutes.

Can I turn these Paid Online Research Studies into a Full-Time Job?

While paid online studies are highly interesting and offer legitimate side cash, this gig cannot replicate the steady income and benefits you can get with a full-time job.

You’d have to consider that many research studies:

• have eligibility requirements (which means you’re not guaranteed a slot every time)
• cannot be joined twice (once you’ve participated in a specific study, you can’t do a repeat)
• have varying payments (there’s no stability in such income)

I do think it’s a legitimate side gig if you’re in between jobs or have a lot of free time on your hands.

You can also get paid answering surveys , joining focus groups , or testing products .

READ THIS NEXT: The EASIEST ways to make money online. See how.

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Online Focus Groups: 27 Paid Research Companies that Pay Up to $250 an Hour for Your Opinion

I recently participated in a paid focus group in San Francisco. You know, the kind with the one-way mirror on the wall.

We talked about travel habits and preferences for an hour and half, and I got paid $150 for my time and opinions. Not bad!

The whole thing was pretty quick and painless—and actually kind of interesting—which got me thinking that this could be a great side hustle . Especially if I could do it from home!

So down the rabbit hole I went, trying to find other companies that conduct paid research studies online .

And I should note before we get started that these aren’t the typical companies that pop up when you search for “online surveys.” Those companies, like Swagbucks and  InboxDollars , are legit, but pay relatively little .

The companies I was after here were the ones that pay bigger sums to make it more worth your time. I earned $100 an hour for my little focus group adventure, and you can too.

Earn $50-150/hr, with thousands of new studies added each month.

Earn an average of $75 per project, and get notified of upcoming studies you may qualify for.

Patients and caregivers can earn $120/hour while helping advance medical research.

1. User Interviews

2. respondent, 3. rare patient voice, 4. survey junkie, too many choices, 5. product report card, 6. lightster, 7. pingpong, 8. fieldwork, 10. experience dynamics, 11. american consumer opinion, 12. l&e opinions, 13. focusgroups.org, 14. findfocusgroups.com, 15. sis international, 16. surveyfeeds, 17. recruit and field, 18. focusgroup.com, 19. field voices, 20. probe market research, 22. glg insights, 24. watchlab, 25. mindswarms, 26. 20|20 panel, 27. focus insite, other online focus group and paid research study options, online focus groups alternatives, market research groups: your turn, serious about making extra money, frequently asked questions.

User Interviews facilitates in-person and online consumer conversations about products, websites, and services. The pay rates vary, but the average seems to be around $50-100 an hour.

I’ve earned $105 through the site so far, in exchange for about an hour a half.

In one of my studies, I earned a $10 Amazon gift card for completing a short online survey for bald guys! It said it should take 15 minutes, but all the questions were straight yes/no, so it probably only took 5.

User Interviews is a legit facilitator of online (and in-person) consumer research studies. Participants can get paid (generally $50-150/hr) to share their opinion and shape future products and services. While this won’t replace your day job, it can be a nice supplemental income.

• One of the best-paying survey companies I've found.
• Easy to sign-up.
• Lots of new studies added every week.
• Can be difficult to get selected.

Click here to join User Interviews .

Or check out our full User Interviews review .

Respondent is a cool service that facilitates consumer research studies online—and often pays $100+ an hour !

Once you create your account, you’ll be able to browse all the open studies you might qualify for. The research brief shares the type of person the company is looking to connect with, the expected time commitment, and pay rate .

If it looks like a fit, answer the brief screener questionnaire to throw your hat in the ring. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get selected right away—I’ve been selected for 5 studies out of 50 screeners so far.

While there are some “general population” studies, the best-paying opportunities are for industry professionals— up to $750 an hour!

The company takes a 5% processing fee, but the rest of the funds you earn will hit your PayPal account within 8-10 days of your study. (I’ve earned $395 through Respondent so far! )

Click here to join Respondent .

Read our full Respondent.io review here .

(Since recording, I’ve done a couple more studies.)

A leading source for medical research, Rare Patient Voice pays patients and caregivers $120 an hour. You can browse a full list of available studies on their site—nearly all of which are phone or webcam interviews.

If you suffer from any sort of medical condition (even if it’s not super rare), this one is worth a look.

The site is open to residents of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

While most Survey Junkie earning opportunities don’t pay much, you’ll occasionally get emails for better-paying focus group and product testing studies.

These admittedly are pretty rare, but pay up to $75.

Still, power users of the regular Survey Junkie site/app report earning up to $40 a month. 

Super popular survey app that rewards you for sharing your opinion.

The site boasts more than 20 million members and pays out more than $1 million every month.

Click here to sign up for Survey Junkie .

Start here instead. Punch in your name and email below I'll show you step-by-step how to add $500 to your bottom line.

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You're in! Want to supercharge your challenge? Grab the companion workbook and earn $125 more (on average).

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Another well-established market research company is Product Report Card . They offer paid surveys, product testing and review gigs, and online focus groups.

The best-paying work is for in-home product tests and remote interviews and focus groups — often in the $75-$150/hour range.

Product Report Card will also give you a $5 welcome bonus for completing a short survey after you join. There’s a $25 minimum to cash-out.

Lightster is a unique money making app , where you get matched with brands and researchers based on your profile.

To get started, you’ll add some demographic information about yourself and answer some questions about your experience and interests.

After that, you may see some questions pop up in the app. Answer those to qualify for paid research conversations that pay $1 per minute.

I got invited to my first half hour session within a couple weeks of downloading the app, and got paid (via Amazon gift card) right away.

I was excited to discover PingPong as a newcomer to the online market research field. The service specializes in user experience testing for apps and websites, with pay rates ranging between €10 and €100 an hour. (Roughly $11-110.)

You might be curious—with the rates in euros—if this one is open to non-Europeans. PingPong let me join as an American and says they welcome testers from all over the world.

Since joining, I’ve received invites to several studies but haven’t been able to book one just yet.

Fieldwork was the company that hosted the San Francisco focus group I participated in. They have locations throughout the US:

• Los Angeles (Orange County)
• Minneapolis
• San Francisco

Compensation starts at $75 for participating in focus groups, which usually last between 1-2 hours. The drawback was I got paid in Visa gift cards instead of cash, so I went to the grocery store and bought Amazon gift cards with them instead.

Maven is a unique on-demand consulting platform. You can set your own rates to participate in one-off expert interviews, paid market research studies, and online industry surveys.

(Experts can also get hired for longer-term consulting projects, as well.)

Maven has been around since 2008, and routinely has projects paying anywhere from $25-$500+. 

Experience Dynamics specializes in user experience and user interface testing (UX and UI). Corporate clients pay Experience Dynamics to help “make their users smile,” and they turn around and pay people like you for honest feedback on website designs and software applications.

According to the site, they recruit testers worldwide with all levels of technology experience. Most studies pay between $50-$150 dollars.

Experience Dynamics also facilitates:

• Field Studies, 1-2 hour interviews at your home or work
• Diary Studies, where you record your thoughts over 1-2 weeks
• Phone Interviews
• Online Focus Groups
• Online Surveys

American Consumer Opinion is another market research company where you can qualify for several surveys a year.

Annoyingly, they insist on using their own “virtual currency” point system. Still, you can earn up to $50 worth of points for longer market research surveys.

There’s a $10 minimum to cash out and you can deposit your earnings directly into PayPal. To give you an incentive to complete the low-paying screener surveys, American Consumer Opinion will add your name to a monthly $50 drawing .

On L&E Opinions , I found nationwide studies paying $125-250.  The company has been in business over 30 years and pays out millions of dollars in research incentives every year.

FocusGroups.org is an aggregator service that lists focus groups and paid research opportunities around the country. When I registered, I saw online focus group options that paid anywhere from $75 to $625!

Topics included pets, hygiene, cooking, luxury cars, and lots more. There are some handy filters you can use to select only online or “National” studies.

Another site that pulls in lots of different paid studies, FindFocusGroups.com was a great find. 

At press time, they had the best-looking interface of most of these sites, but hadn’t been updated in several months.

When I checked, the compensation for these ranged from $50 to $200.

Through “compensated interviews” and focus groups, SIS helps brands figure out direction for their products. You’ll have to register for their database to get notified about upcoming paid studies.

I found rates from $25-200, depending on the time required and complexity of the topic. SIS recruits participants from all around the world, not just the US.

Similar to FindFocusGroups above, SurveyFeeds isn’t a market research company itself, but instead a promising “feed” of paid survey opportunities.

I found their Facebook page updated more frequently than their website, so it might be worthwhile to check there and see what you might qualify for.

The online studies I saw ranged from $75 to $300 .

Recruit and Field is one of the longest-running national market research companies. Since 1977, they’ve built up a participant database of over 300,000 consumers, business leaders, and medical professionals.

The company works with lots of name-brand clients and typically pays $100-275 for in-person and online surveys.

I recently earned $250 for a 1-hour call about business banking!

FocusGroup.com offers nationwide paid research opportunities. (The site is powered by Sago, a leading market research company.)

Be on the lookout for the “National” studies that pay between $75 and $200 . These are scheduled over the phone or webcam so you can take the calls from anywhere at times that are convenient to you.

It took a while, but I eventually earned $115 for an online study related to a well-known Seattle-area company.

The next one I did was an hour-long online focus group on credit cards that paid $100.

Other studies I saw were  related to cars, technology, and banking.

I receive a few email notifications every month with studies. Those range from around $2 for 20-minute surveys, up to $150 for 90-minute in-person or online focus groups.

Check out my full FocusGroup.com review to learn more.

When I checked out Field Voices , I found a couple available studies to apply for. One was a neighborhood improvement interview that paid $150 for one hour, and the other was a group workshop on snacking habits that paid $300!

This firm works directly with companies as well, which means they’re not just pulling together lists of other research projects.

Consumers, medical professionals, and executives are in demand for Probe Market Research’s panels. Focus groups pay between $50 and $400, and you can often participate online or over the phone.

Major brands enlist Probe to conduct online surveys, mystery shopping gigs , mock juries, product trials, and more .

The popular and well-rated dscout app connects you with “engaging research missions.” Through those, you can get paid to share your feedback on a product or service.

Typical studies pay anywhere from $2 to $100 , paid out via PayPal. The biggest complaints from users are that the often in-depth screener surveys are unpaid.

Less of a market research firm and more of a consulting marketplace, GLG Insights aims to match you up with their clients looking for industry-specific expertise. Request to become a “Council Member” to get notified when relevant paid studies are available.

On GLG, you’ll be asked to connect your LinkedIn profile and upload a resume (or link to an online resume) to verify your career credentials. You can also name your own consulting rate — usually $100-150 and up .

After that, I answered a series of ethics questions based on GLG’s terms and conditions.

Since 2007, Zintro has been connecting researchers with industry experts. According to the site, the vast majority Zintro’s consulting and online focus groups pay between $150 and $300 per hour.

Popular industries include:

• Software and tech
• Banking and finance
• Healthcare and insurance
• E-commerce and retail
• Travel and hospitality
• and lots more

It’s free to set up your expert profile and start to get invited for calls.

WatchLab has an obnoxiously inadequate website, but they claim to facilitate all sorts of focus groups, usability tests, interviews, mock juries, and more.

The pay varies depending on the research, and may be in the form of gift cards or cash. I saw ranges from $100 to $175 for 1-2 hour focus groups. WatchLab has locations in San Francisco and Chicago, as well as online options.

For in-person focus groups, you get paid on the spot — online may take 4-6 weeks.

Mindswarms is a unique video consumer research platform. They’ll pay you $50 via PayPal to answer 10 questions about a product or service.

These studies normally take around 10 minutes and can be recorded via your webcam or smartphone, but competition to get selected can be fierce.

To create your account you’ll need to record a 60-second video about one of your passions. Or you can do this through the Mindswarms app on iOS or Android .

Earn $50-150 for online focus groups and studies. While the website doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence, 20|20 Panel has been around for over 30 years.

I found several online focus groups paying $50-200 on Focus Insite . The company popped up in my Instagram feed, a signal they’re actively recruiting new participants.

You can join their panel database as a medical, technical, or business professional, or just as a general consumer. Alternatively, you can apply directly to the available market research studies listed.

The companies listed above certainly aren’t the only research companies around, and for this side hustle, it makes sense to join as many firms as you’re comfortable with.

That way, you’re presented with all the opportunities available, not just the projects managed by one company.

Here are a few more to consider:

• Prolific  — When academic and research institutions need opinions from the general population, they turn to Prolific. The pay is a bit lower — often in the $8-15/hr range — but in my Prolific review , I found plenty of quick and easy surveys available, and you can cash out to PayPal.
• Ascendency Research — On average, studies pay $60-350. Many are local to the Twin Cities, MN, but they have some national studies, too.
• Elliott Benson — Conducting paid market research since 1995.
• PRC Market Research — You can browse upcoming projects (and their pay rate) before registering. Most studies pay $100-300/hour.
• NewtonX — Strictly for industry professionals to share their insight and get paid.
• UserTesting – Earn $10 for completing 20-minute online user tests of websites, apps, shopping portals, and more. This is pretty fun but you have to be fast because these tests get snatched up quickly.
• Pulse Labs – Earn up to $100 a week providing video feedback on products.
• Intellizoom – Get paid an average of $10 testing and reviewing websites.
• UserBrain – Receive new websites to test every week, and earn $5 for each 5-15 minute test.
• Google User Experience – Google pays gift cards for feedback on their products.
• Nelson Recruiting — Nationwide market research company established in 1980.
• Marketade – Specializes in remote usability testing, market validation, navigation research, and more.
• Engage Studies – Earn as much as $100 per focus group through this research company.
• Tell Us Your Opinion – Mainly operating in Tulsa but may have online/phone opportunities as well.
• Adler Weiner Research – In-person studies in Chicagoland and Southern California, plus remote studies nationwide.
• Advanced Focus – Hosts market research panels and focus groups in New York City.
• Nichols Research – Get paid to participate in in-person focus groups, primarily in Northern California.
• Herron Associates — In-person studies in Indianapolis, IN and Tampa, FL.
• PrizeRebel – Earn $10-12 an hour doing surveys or completing other tasks. (Just avoid the low-paying ones.)

As with any side hustle, there’s an opportunity cost. As in, what else could you be doing with your time?

I encourage you to check out our monster list of side hustle ideas , but here are a few that are similarly flexible.

Become a Bookkeeper

One of the first jobs that many companies hire out is “someone to keep the books.” If you have experience in this field, or just love numbers, becoming a remote bookkeeper could way to make extra money.

Most businesses don’t need a full-time bookkeeper so they’re open to hiring someone part-time. Most virtual bookkeepers charge $100-300 per client per month.

Network with business owners locally or online and let them know about your service. It might make sense to check out this  free training on how to start a remote bookkeeping business .

Alternative Investments

If you’re after passive income , you might consider adding some alternative investments .

For example,  Fundrise  allows you to invest in professionally-vetted commercial real estate. This spreads your risk around with properties in multiple geographical locations–and minimums as low as $10 .

Disclosure: I’ve been a Fundrise investor since 2015, and earn a commission when you join through my referral link. Opinions are my own.

Resell Furniture Returns

Reselling furniture returns is a unique low-risk side hustle .

How it works is you join Sharetown as a local “reverse logistics” rep. Sharetown partners with direct-to-consumer mattress and furniture brands to handle their return requests.

When customers decide they don’t want to keep the item, you’ll get dispatched to go pick it up. After that, you’ll:

• clean it up
• photograph it
• list it for resale on sites like Facebook Marketplace

The Sharetown reps I’ve connected with target $150-250 per flip — and, importantly — you don’t have to pay Sharetown for the inventory until the item sells.

Check out my full Sharetown review to learn more.

Sharetown reps make money by reselling gently-used furniture and bed-in-a-box mattresses. Top reps earn $4000+ per month.

• Low startup costs
• Great earning power
• No hunting for inventory
• Requires a truck or SUV
• Bulky items to store
• Not available in all areas

Mobile Notary Service

Becoming a mobile notary loan signing agent is one of the most popular gigs among the Side Hustle Nation community. The flexible, part-time side hustle involves walking new homeowners through their stack of mortgage documents.

Appointments typically take around an hour and pay $75-150.

One big drawback to focus groups or online surveys is you’re limited in how much you can earn. It’s a great side hustle, but it’ll never be a full-time income.

Focus groups or paid research studies won’t pay your mortgage, but one or two a month will definitely help build your side hustle snowball .

Have you had any success in landing paid focus group studies? What do you think of this little supplemental side hustle?

Let me know in the comments below!

• Start Your Free $500 Challenge . My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
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The award-winning Side Hustle Show is a Top 10 Entrepreneurship podcast with over 1,200 5-star ratings!

Listen in your favorite podcast app or directly in your browser.

Is there such thing as an online focus group?

Yes! Several companies facilitate online consumer research focus groups, which is great because that means you can earn money from the comfort of your home or office. Check out our full list to learn more.

How much do focus groups pay?

The pay for focus groups depends on how long the session lasts. Most commonly, you’ll find rates average around $100 an hour.

Where can I find legit paid focus groups?

Companies like Respondent, Fieldwork, and FocusGroup.com are all legit facilitators of paid focus groups. Or, for the best results, you might try an aggregator service like FindFocusGroups.com, which pools together focus group opportunities from several sources. Be sure to check the list of providers on Side Hustle Nation as well.

How do online focus groups work?

Online focus groups work either via conference call or more commonly, through a group video chat to more closely mimic the in-person experience. A moderator will lead the group discussion and participants can chime in through their webcam and computer microphone or phone line.

********* Stock photo  by Akhenaton Images via Shutterstock

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About the Author

Nick Loper is a side hustle expert who loves helping people earn more money and start businesses they care about. He hosts the award-winning Side Hustle Show, where he's interviewed over 500 successful entrepreneurs, and is the bestselling author of Buy Buttons , The Side Hustle , and $1,000 100 Ways .

His work has been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Forbes, TIME, Newsweek, Business Insider, MSN, Yahoo Finance, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Financial Times, Bankrate, Hubspot, Ahrefs, Shopify, Investopedia, VICE, Vox, Mashable, ChooseFI, Bigger Pockets, The Penny Hoarder, GoBankingRates, and more.

58 thoughts on “Online Focus Groups: 27 Paid Research Companies that Pay Up to $250 an Hour for Your Opinion”

Nice job, Nick! I have only ever been able to score low paying “mystery shopper” gigs. I get a free meal and $15 or $20 for my trouble. It usually takes about an hour, so am making $15 – $20 per hour. I have repeatedly mystery shopped a “Roy Rogers” restaurant that is on the NYS thruway. Almost every time I have had to travel to or from my daughter’s college campus I have been able to get a free meal, $10 or $15, and a portion of my tolls paid. I wouldn’t make the effort except that I am already driving by and there is a good chance that I would need a bathroom break anyway. Everybody wins. :>) I will be checking on a couple of the sites you provided to see if there is anything I qualify for.

Thanks Kevin. I’ve been half-heartedly attempting to find a mystery shopping expert to school me on how it really works :)

Hi Nick – If you are still reading these comments, I hope you will remove User Interviews from your list. After reading your article, I applied with them and was excited at first, but they have a serious flaw. They do not screen what the companies post for the surveys. First you have to take a questionnaire to see if you will be selected for the survey. Time after time you spend time answering the flawed questionnaire, and then not being selected, probably because of being forced to complete an answer that is not correct. Here’s an example that I just sent to Tabitha at User Interviews:

“I was applying for the Medical Injectibles survey, and the first several questions went well. Then there was the question “Do you care for a child with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?” with the options of yes or no. I checked no, and I cannot imagine there are vast numbers of people who would have been able to check yes.

The next question was required, and it asked for the age of the person I care for, and had a box, also required, asking for the required medications.

Why was I prompted with that question when I had answered no?”

So that was yet another questionnaire that was flawed that completely wasted my time because I could not proceed. I have asked them to remove me from all further communication as I want nothing to do with them anymore, and I honestly don’t think you should be recommending them.

Hmm sorry for the trouble, Balinda. I agree, their conditional logic on the screener surveys could be better — or they could just advance to a “thanks but you’re not a fit” page. When those types of funky follow-up questions happen for me, I just back out and go back to the list since it’s clear I’m not going to qualify.

Nick, this list is AWESOME! I’ve been using User Interviews for about a month and a half and it seems like I hardly ever get selected for any of the surveys. In fact, I’ve only been selected for 1 so far (which literally took 10 minutes and I got a $30 Amazon gift card) and the second one I got approved for, by the time I got around to actually confirming my spot that evening, it was already fully booked up! I’m wondering with all the different options available if it would be feasible to make some decent side money – assuming the time commitment doesn’t get overwhelming. I’m gonna dig into this a little I think and see what I can come up with.

Hey Kyle, I hope you found some good “side jobs.” You mentioned that you used user interviews and only got 1 job. I’m so surprised by that. I have been using them for a few months and I have made a good bit of money. I had a 20 minute telephone survey and was paid $150! I had another that was in person. They came to my apt (they originally said to see my wardrobe in closet, but never did) they interviewed me on camera for about 10-15 minutes and then we went to a clothing store! They asked me if I liked the store, clothes, etc. In all I was with them about an hour. I got $350! I could have made another $100 for doing “homework,” but I was too busy. That’s just 2 of jobs I had from them. Anyway, I just wanted you to know, bcuz you should keep trying with them. I plan on hitting all these new ones, thanks to Nick! Good Luck!

It’s funny you bring this topic up. I LITERALLY started signing up for focus groups last Monday (going on two weeks) and I’ve already made $650. Most have came from respondent. I also signed up for the Reddit r/paidstudy group as well as the cool work ideas.com FB which posts multiple studies a day. I’m loving it so far!

Hi Nick, I’ve been using ACOP for a few years now it does take a long time to gather up money. I usually wait till I get up around $50 or so to cash in. The problem I find is it takes two to three months for it to show up in my Pay Pal account, very slow turn around.

Nick, I’ve been doing these for several years. I probably average about $1,000 per year doing these. This a great comprehensive list!

I tried Mindswarms. I had no trouble creating a profile video (though it really does not flatter me, nor had I trouble applying for studies. However, I have been on there for over a month, and I have been rejected for every. Single. Study. Besides that, they do not ever bother telling me, or giving me helpful suggestions. Their FAQ section is so useless as to be counterproductive. And I suspect that my mind and my interests are not average enough to make Mindswarms (or online studies/surveys in general) worth my while.

Here is a good rule of thumb: if you prefer the musical works of Vasily Kalinnikov (or just know who Vasily Kalinnikov was) over “Lady” Gaga, do not bother with surveys. Only the most average individuals with the most average minds can succeed with this rubbish. Or so my experiences would indicate.

Actually, the opposite is true. just regular surveys do kind of suck. However, the focus groups and interviews and so forth, all the ones that I’ve actually gotten into have been because I’m weird or different. That’s why so many people get declined. They look for people who don’t conform, mostly because they’re looking for new and innovative ideas. Why would you research the monotonous and mundane?

Thanks so much for the information. I signed up on Respondent today and have a 71% match on 1 survey. We’ll see how it goes.

I just tried to sign up with Respondent, and probably I’m the only one in the world with this problem of not having any social media sites. They want to verify your work on LinkedIn or your FB profile. I don’t have a FB account nor do I have a LinkedIn account. I know, I must be living in a cave, but the work I do does not allow me to use social media. What to do? I guess Respondent is out. Bummer.

This is pretty much the same for me too, Shari. Even if I had an account on social media I would only have my family and close friends on it. I wouldn’t want to give some site access. I also ran into one (can’t remember the name) where they wanted you to upload a video of yourself in order to get the surveys. I am also not comfortable with that. I’ve signed up with all that was listed above. We’ll see how it goes. Good luck to you!

Since I haven’t seen it noted in the comments or main blog anywhere I just wanted to put it out there that technically if you make over $600 with any single company like this they are supposed to issue a 1099 for your payouts. Normally if you accumulate that much over a year they may not bother BUT I was lucky enough to get into a study that paid $875 which immediately put me over that threshold. So then they issued a 1099 for all my earnings from them in that year. That hurt at tax time. This year I’m going to spread it out over as many companies as I can to hopefull get a lot but no single one over $600. And if you are lucky enough to get into a single high paying study, keep the tax implication in mind.

Very nice blog post. Thanks for sharing. On respondent I made $30 today. Not bad!

Thanks Nick, this list is AWESOME! I’ve been doing surveys and focus groups for about a year. I’ve had some great paying, easy jobs. I’ve also spent, what felt like like forever, time trying to qualify for them to no avail. However, from my experience, I can definitely say not to give up! Surveys are time consuming with little pay, for the most part. Focus groups, interviews, etc., is where the money is! I have been looking for more sites and you just gave me a bunch! I am gonna try them all! Keep the info coming! Thanks again!

I’m wondering if the earning need to be claimed on our taxes? Is there a record that we are being paid? Do these companies ask for any personal information? Thanks

Try Jackson/Adept in Los Angeles. They have a Beverly Hills and Encino location.

Here are Metro Detroit Focus Groups and my reviews of them

Morpace Inc. 31700 Middlebelt Road Suite 200 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 Phone: (248) 737-5300 http://www.morpace.com Pays $80-$250 Focus Group Surveys (In Person). If they over fill the group which happened to me on one occassion then you get paid instantly without doing the survey. They pay by check or cash after the 1-2 hour in person survey. They offer surveys 1-2 times a year.

Shifrin Hayworth 26400 Lahser Rd #430, Southfield, MI 48033 Phone: (248) 223-0020 https://www.shifrin-hayworth.com/ Pays $50-$300 Focus Group Surveys (In Person). They pay by check or cash in person after the 1-2 hour survey. They offer surveys about 1-2 times a year.

I recently learned that you can only participate in 1 survey every 6 months which is why after being asked if you’ve done one recently you get disqualified.

I just did a study for them last week. They promised a $200 virtual gift card within 48 hours but it’s been a week and still nothing. They’ve stopped answering my emails and I can’t find a phone number for them, which seems pretty shady.

Did they ever get back to you/pay you?

So I have had really good luck with a lot of these companies you listed. I am a stay at home mom have been looking into all this and actively participating for about 6 weeks and made over 3000 dollars I have made 630 dollars on users interviews, 585 on respondents, 310 on user testing, 270 on validately usability studies , 250 on 20/20 panel, about 140 on intellizoom/ what users do Usability studies, 90 dollars on TrymyUI, and 50 on ping pong research. I have also made 375 dolars from focus point global. plus more companies that i got under 20 each from so there is money to be made here if you invest the time. I have done one on one studies with a web cam, phone interviews, product testing (shampoos, and even new cereal), online diary studies (usually about things you eat), and lots of usability studies. the key is knowing how to answer the screener questions. Thank you so much for your list I am going to check out the companies I have not uses yet

Whoa that’s awesome Casondra – thanks for sharing!

Hi Nick-I just found this post and thank you for “heads up”… I’m writing to share with you two top performers here in Seattle for in-person focus groups. In-Sight Space and Fieldwork / Seattle.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a few gigs with each of these company’s who conduct only focus groups. Most of the time the pay is cash on the spot and the groups range from 45 minutes to 2 hours. These two company’s have frequent remarkably high-paying gigs. It’s fairly common to attend a 90 minute focus group that pays anywhere from 150.00 – 350.00. On occasion I’ve landed one of their mock jury groups, sometimes held at one of Seattle’s finest hotels and lasts close to 8 hours. These mock jury groups have paid me between 300.00 to 550.00 for the gig and always provide a catered breakfast and lunch. Again, thanks for sharing your information and I hope you’re able to use my information and experience to help others.

Sincerely, Jason B.

Nice, Jason — thanks for sharing!

I’m registered with two companies for focus group and mock jury participation. I’ve done both and found them enjoyable and worthwhile. Usually payment was cash. One time it was a VISA gift card. The mock juries required more hours than the focus groups. One was Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Saturday evening. My experience has been food and beverages were provided when the event was more than 3 hours.

Participants were usually limited to one event in 6 months.

I’ve seen a large dropoff in opportunities since I reached a certain age. Sigh.

Very occasionally the local newspaper has a classified ad for focus group participants.

I need the mock jury site

Ok…I see several people are interested in Mystery Shopping so I thought I’d share a little info. I have done a lot of mystery shopping in the past and love it. Not amazing money but interesting and I enjoyed it. So…here are a few sites to start with…I hope this is OK…I see a few people said they would send information, but a lot of others requested info and I don’t know if they got what they needed. I hope this helps. So…first… this is the official website of the Mystery Shopping Professionals Association…it has a ton of good info and resources https://www.mspa-global.org/index.html Work available always depends on the type of job you are interested in and where you are located so the best companies to work with will vary for different people. Here are some other resources that may help… https://www.mysteryshopperjobfinder.com/members/resources/mspa-interview/ https://www.mysteryshopforum.com/ https://www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com/?source=forum-top-discussions and last but not least… https://www.shadowshopper.com Shadow Shopper…the first thing that pops up when you google Shadow Shopper will be scam alerts. I’m here to tell you it is not a scam. I have used them for years off and on. They do have a fee option, and to get anywhere, you probably will want to use it at least for a short time. But a lot of job boards charge a small fee. Basically it is where companies post work that they need to get done and shoppers go to find work. It’s a great way to see what is available in your area and skill set and interest and sign up with those companies offering that work. You can go out on your own and start just looking into shopping sites, but that sign up processing can be lengthy and if you pick one that doesn’t offer work in your area or jobs you want, you have wasted time and effort. Once you sign up with a few companies that you’ve found on Shadow Shopper, move on until you want to look for more. No need to keep your subscription if you have the work your want. Just my suggestion, but it has landed me several really good opportunities. One lasted years and was around made me around $2000/yr. Oh…and if you are wanting a list of companies…go here… it’s a tedious process to choose, but it’s an option… https://www.mysteryshopforum.com/companies/ Good luck and enjoy :)

Thank you Anna!

I’ve used Focus Pointe Global and Schlesinger in the Boston area for years. I’ve made really good money with them ($75-200 per session). People seem to over-estimate how difficult this all is. Sign up in the database, fill out a survey if you get an e-mail, if you pre-qualify for a study they call you to screen you again, you either qualify or you don’t on that phone call. If you’re picked, you go to their office and sit with the other people picked and just give your opinion for about 90 minutes. The hardest part for me is fighting traffic to get to the office in the city. These focus groups have been a lifesaver for me in periods of unemployment.

Will you get called every week about a survey? No, you definitely won’t, maybe not every month either. But if you sign up with 5-10 companies your chances of getting picked go up. And I agree that sites like Swagbucks are more or less a waste of time. It’s very small money.

Everyone is asking: How do I join? You have to go to the companies website and sign up for the panel (“Join the Panel”) and then wait. Also, the bigger companies post surveys on their Facebook pages so sign up for their notifications.

I do the best with Respondent, User Interviews and UTest.com. Also check out Affectiva’s job listings if you’re in the Boston area. I’ve made a lot helping to test out their automotive AI.

I have been doing focus groups online for prob 3 years or so. I have done a lot of them with watchlab and user interviews. Also accelerant research is a good one. Field work is another I’ve done them with. I’m sure there is more that I’ve used but i gotta tell u that these have been a life saver for me at times. I most recently did one that paid $400 which is the most I’ve made. I am signed up and in the databases of all that u listed plus a few others like accelerant research. Oh yeah another great place is Elliot Benson research.

Thanks for sharing Shelley!

you might try Mturk if you money to pay…

Great job on this article! I’ve been doing focus groups for many years. Probably made about $2,000 or so altogether.

I’d also recommend instapanel. I’ve been using them for several years to complete video surveys. They pay $20 for about 5-10 minutes of work. Here’s a link: https://instapanel.com/ .

I work for one of the market research companies that hire these focus group facilities/recruiters to get us the research we need. For in person focus groups (in facility) you can expect to get paid around $100 per hour, and more expensive if you’re in a specialty group (certain ailments, professionals such as tech). For online focus groups they run around $75 per hour.

If you want to know the panels to join around your area to join focus groups, I’d recommend going on Green Book (for research) and search on recruiters or facility around your neighborhood. This is where researchers go to find panels to do research with and you’ll get more opportunities with the facilities/recruiters there.

I don’t recommend online surveys bc you might terminate out of many surveys before you complete one and they won’t pay you more than $5 for one, and that’s on the rare end. Hope this helps!

Appreciate the insight — thanks Michelle!

I love love love all the great information I just obtained by reading your blog. OMG ! If anyone has any leads for Indiana specifically please let me know. I know of Herron Associates does a lot of research focus groups. Just go to their website and sign up. Ive done a few for them in the past and made anywhere from $50-150 for about an hour or so in person focus group. I think those are great and very interesting. If anyone wants to contact me to give me some tips on the mystery shopping I’d greatly appreciate it. TIA ( Thanks in Advance) Carrie

Thanks a bunch for the informative post! I signed up for several of the ones you have on this list and already got selected for a study. Just curious – most of the prescreen questions ask if you’ve recently participated in a study. If you have (I’ll fall into this bucket once I complete the study I just got picked for), does that greatly reduce your chances of being selected for another one?

Hi, are any of these open to people under 18?

All clinical trials are for ages 18-99.

Amalia, I apologize. I read your question to quickly & transposed the numbers. I thought you said 81.I’m rarely asked to prove my age, but they may have some way of checking. Product reviews are open to 16+, I believe. I’ve never had to show my ID online, only when I do things in person. Obviously medical care you’d show your ID.

Withpower.com is a great website to checkout medical trials. There are all sorts & bonus if you need medical care & don’t have the money to pay for it. Some just monitor or interview you…all the way up to getting medicated treatment for your condition. I even saw dental work on there.

Every clinical research compensated me for my time & travel. It’s always paid out very well for me & it’s definitely worth the time. I got $365 for downloading an app on my phone that I recorded how long I slept the night before.They sent a little survey with 4 questions every day to the app & I told them what time I went to bed, did I wake up during the night, how long did it take me to get back to sleep, and what time I woke up. I got paid in intervals at week 2, 6, 10, & 14. Super easy money.

I’m on #4 of this list now. User interviews has been fair to me. I’ve seen product reviews, online, and focus groups on there. If they let you know that you are qualified, act quickly!

Clinical research & focus groups are my favorite. I used to like doing product reviews & I still do. But once you really start getting into it, the rewards get better & better. Thank you so much, Nick. Yes, I referred you when signing up. You deserve it.

Hi Nick, this is a great job.

Many of these websites do not authorize participants from Nigeria and Africa. They have country-based restrictions. It sucks.

I have a master’s degree in business administration. I have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. I have a postgraduate diploma in economics, a postgraduate diploma in education and a professional diploma in early childhood education. I have a CEFR Level C1 in IELTS exam. I have done some surveys in my country, Nigeria and I performed well.

What survey sites do you recommend that do not have country-based restrictions? I am really curious Nick.

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15 Legitimate Places to Participate in Paid Research Studies

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From testing products and services to sleep and diet studies, here's a list of vetted places you can participate in paid focus groups.

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A few years ago, I got an invitation to attend a research study hosted by a local skincare company. They were launching a new line of products and wanted feedback from 20 to 25 year-old-women with dry skin.

Since I was a new college grad who needed extra cash, I decided to go. They asked me various questions regarding my current skincare regimen, the products I used, and how I felt about them. It only took an hour, and I got a $75 Visa gift card and a few product samples. Not a bad way to kill an hour.

If you like the idea of getting paid to share your opinions, you’re in luck. There are plenty of places that host paid research studies. While the study I did was in-person, there are many online research studies you can do at home.

Websites That Offer Paid Research Studies

You can find online focus groups that’ll pay you for your time and feedback through a variety of websites. Each site has its own requirements and payment structure, so it’s a good idea to explore all the options available.

1. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is a survey site that’s been around since 2005. It will pay you to take surveys and express your opinions to big brands who want to improve their products and services. After you answer several questions about yourself and create a profile, the site will match you to surveys that are relevant to you.

Any time you complete a survey, you’ll earn virtual points, which you can redeem for PayPal cash or online gift cards. Most surveys take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, and you can expect to make between 100 to 200 points or $1 to $3 per survey. You won’t have to buy any products or sign up for other websites.

2. American Consumer Opinion

American Consumer Opinion is a survey panel that partners with large companies who want customer opinions. To join, you’ll enter basic information such as your age and where you live. Then, you’ll take a general household survey where you’ll share details about your lifestyle.

You’ll likely receive survey invitations via email several times a year. The number of points you’ll rack up will depend on the length of the surveys.

While short surveys are typically worth anywhere between 5 and 50 points, you can earn up to 5,000 points with longer ones. One point equals $0.01, and you can cash your points in for PayPal cash or donate them to charity.

Related: 17 Best Places to Take Paid Online Surveys for Money

3. Respondent

Respondent is unique because it organizes one-on-one paid research studies online and in person. You can sign up with your email address or via your Facebook or LinkedIn profile through the site.

Once you do, you’ll fill out some basic personal information such as your name, birthday, and email address. They’ll also ask for demographic details like your gender, ethnicity, and educational background.

After you’ve signed up, you’ll browse all of the “projects” available and details like the pay and how long they take to complete. When you see a project that interests you, you can apply to it through a short questionnaire. You’ll be emailed if the company chooses you for their project.

Most of the projects focus on small business or technology and pay anywhere from $50 to $85 via PayPal for 45 minutes to an hour of your time.

4. FocusGroup.com

FocusGroup.com began in 1988 and offers surveys as well as in-person and online focus groups via phone and webcam. After you create a profile, you’ll be emailed surveys and focus group invitations.

The majority of the site’s surveys and focus groups revolve around health and wellness, pet products, finances, and shopping habits.

You’ll earn between $75 and $150 if you participate in focus groups and points for surveys, which you can apply toward a prepaid Visa debit card. You can cash out 100 points for $1.00.

5. Plaza Research

Plaza Research pays parents, kids, teens, students, doctors, and business professionals to share their opinions on new products and services. It hosts surveys and a variety of in-person focus groups throughout the country.

If you attend a focus group, you’ll likely be asked to try a new product, watch a TV commercial, or discuss your thoughts about future products. To receive survey and focus group invitations, fill out an online form. The form will ask you questions about your education, electronic use, employment, household, pets, and more.

You’ll get an email if you’re a good fit for a survey or focus group. The amount you’ll earn depends on its length and scope. Most participants will earn between $50 and $200, paid via check, for two hours of their time.

Related: How to Get Paid to Write Reviews

6. Mindswarms

You can create an account online or via the Mindswarms mobile app and get paid to answer questions via your smartphone or webcam.

After you apply to a survey that appeals to you, you’ll answer a few targeted questions to make sure you’re a good fit for it. If you are, you’ll answer seven questions and earn about $50. The money will be sent to your PayPal account within 24 hours. You can also redeem your earnings for an Amazon gift card.

7. Fieldwork

Fieldwork has facilitated marketing research studies since 1980. The company hosts in-person focus groups in 11 cities across the U.S. If you don’t live near any of these cities, you can still register for Fieldwork’s national database and participate in online or phone interviews.

To register, fill out an online questionnaire and wait for Fieldwork to call or email you when an opportunity is available. Most in-person focus groups last between one and two hours and can be on random topics such as cereal and video games. Compensation is usually a $75 Visa gift card.

8. User Interviews

User Interviews organizes focus groups in-person, via phone, or video streaming about products, services, and websites. For a chance to participate, create a profile with your birthday, gender, household income, marital status, and education level.

If you find a project that interests you, complete a short screener survey to see if you’re eligible. If you are, you can sign up for the focus group and earn an average of $50/hr. You’ll get paid via check.

9. Brand Institute

Brand Institute is a branding agency that supports healthcare and pharmaceutical companies with their marketing initiatives. You can become a Brand Institute panel member after you fill out a short online registration form. If you qualify for a paid research study, you’ll get an email notification and can participate right away.

Payment depends on the survey you take, and you’re more likely to receive invites for higher-paying surveys if you have a medical background. You can earn between $2 and $30 via check or PayPal. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others in healthcare report that they receive about four surveys a month.

Engage finds respondents for various market research and usability studies. It offers both in-person focus groups and online discussions for panel members. You can join the healthcare panel if you’re a medical professional or consumer panel if you’re an everyday consumer.

You’ll have to provide information about your income, marital status, education level, and job. Once you do, you’ll receive an email notification whenever you qualify for a study. Most studies cover topics like cars, electronics, food products, music, and medical conditions. They usually pay $50 to $250 via check or PayPal.

Universities that Facilitate Paid Focus Groups

  You can also find paid focus groups at colleges and universities. Many of them offer year-round opportunities and focus on psychology and human behavior. While most of these studies are performed online, a few require that you participate in person.

You don’t have to be a student to participate, and payment is typically in the form of PayPal cash, gift cards, or a check. If you’d like to earn money via college-run focus groups, take a look at the schools near your home. Their websites will likely include details about these types of opportunities.

• Purdue University ( See studies )
• Center for Decision Sciences Columbia Business School ( See studies )
• Northwestern University Department of Psychology ( See studies )
• Harvard University Psychology Study Pool ( See studies )
• MIT Behavioral Research Lab ( See studies )

DollarSprout co-founder Jeff Proctor participated in a six-week research study on high-fat diets at Virginia Tech. During the study, he was compensated with meals and $500.

“It was a great experience but very involved,” he said. “I had to check in every day to get weighed, choose my meals, and get several blood and urine samples taken.”

How to Tell if a Focus Group Opportunity is Legit

Even though many focus group opportunities are legitimate, there are plenty of work-from-home scams out there. If you have to pay to participate or reveal confidential information such as your Social Security number or credit card details, that’s a red flag. Stay away from any focus groups that force you to buy products or services or sign up for other websites.

If you find an opportunity that interests you, do some online research to make sure it’s valid. Check the Better Business Bureau to see its rating and read any complaints. This way you can avoid a situation where you get excited about a focus group and then find out it’s a scam.

A legitimate company will never charge you to attend a focus group or take a survey. In addition, they’ll have a privacy policy that’s prominently displayed on their website and will only email you from a business email account, rather than one from a free service like Gmail or Yahoo.

Related: How One Woman Earns $5,000 per Month as a Surrogate Mother 

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The 15 Best Sites for Paid Research Studies

Jenni Sisson, Contributor

• Updated May 24, 2024

Paid research studies are somewhat similar to survey sites , but these studies go a lot more in-depth. The marketing company may ask you to keep a diary of your activities for a week or longer, or they may conduct multiple hour-long phone interviews. They’ll also screen your demographic info much more carefully than if you were conducting simple product tests . 

As such, the payout for research studies is much more than for surveys, with between $50 and $100 per hour being common. Read on to find out more about paid research studies, and which ones are worth your time.

Table of Contents

Key Facts About Paid Research Studies

These studies vary in form and topic and sometimes go by different names, like clinical trials, focus groups, shopalongs, user surveys, paid research opportunities and more. In each case, a company or organization hires a market research firm to answer a question. It could be anything from “Which baby food logo do moms prefer?” to “How many Hispanic citizens in Cincinnati have a favorable view of candidate John Doe?” 

The topic of the research determines what kind of study subjects the project requires, so researchers have to gather respondents of specific demographics. If you sign up for the research company’s database and you fit the profile, they will email or call you to participate in the study. In some cases, you can browse research opportunities and apply to the ones you’re most interested in.

Studies can take various forms: an emailed survey, a phone interview, a video chat, an in-person group panel, keeping a diary of certain activities and more. Your honest responses help companies make marketing and product decisions. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you pursue this side hustle:

• You won’t qualify for every study, so plan to apply to a lot of them and with multiple marketing companies.
• Answer honestly. Lie on the surveys and the recruiter will likely ban you from the platform permanently.
• Check your email regularly. Paid research studies are usually time-sensitive, and often the first respondents are rewarded for their punctuality.
• Do your homework. Not every company that claims to do research is legit. Some take your info, “disqualify you” for the study, then sell that info to other companies. Check sites like the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, Reddit and Trustpilot to sift out the time wasters and bad actors.
• Check their payment terms. Companies pay in gift cards, cash, or via apps like PayPal. The timeframe of when you’ll be paid varies widely between companies, so read the fine print.

We’ve compiled a list of some popular companies that conduct paid research studies. Some are generalists, while some cater to a specific clientele or demographic. 

#1. User Interviews

In our experience, User Interviews offers a very high payout compared to the time spent. During our test, we earned a net rate of $55 per hour . Most of the payments are in the form of Amazon gift cards rather than cash, though there are occasionally PayPal options.

#2. Respondent

Respondent focuses their recruitment on IT/tech employees, CEOs and other industry professionals. They offer hefty compensation for participants, which can rise to as much as $750 per hour (according to their website). Respondent pays in PayPal only and only allows you to apply to three studies per day.

While the payouts for Respondent studies are high, it can be difficult to qualify for them. Professionals in IT and other technology business roles tend to have an easier time. You can only apply to the B2B studies if you link your work email to your Respondent profile.

We only earned $31 per hour in our Respondent testing , but that still makes this one of the highest-paying market research opportunities we’ve discovered. 

A Reddit user who goes by the screen name sauciestcoconut claims to have made over $2,000 with DScout , noting that their key to success is that they “literally apply to almost every single mission that I might qualify for. I skip the ones that obviously don’t relate to me (about kids or certain occupations) but I submit several applications a day.”

#4. Universities

These are the original source of paid research studies, so if you live near a university, they can be a great option to make some extra cash. They can be trickier to locate, as each department will have its own recruitment methods.

There is no central repository for these studies that we could find, but here is a list of a few major institutions to get you started:

• Carnegie Mellon (offers online research opportunities)
• University of Nebraska
• University of Texas
• University of Colorado

To sign up to be part of the pool of research study participants at your local university, do an internet search for the university’s name and “paid research studies.” Many (though not all) research studies are conducted in person.

Here’s another route to find these opportunities: if you live near a medical research university, ask your doctor if they know of any clinical trials going on that you may qualify for.

#5. Fieldwork

Fieldwork offers focus groups in 13 locations around the U.S. If you don’t live near one, you can join their online database. They especially need doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals for their studies.

After you register with their site, an employee will call or email you when you come up as a match for a study’s requirements. They have a good reputation as a legitimate company, but users say it’s imperative that you answer the phone when they call . Otherwise, they’ll move on to the next qualifying person on their list.

#6. U.S. Government Clinical Trials

The federal government is always looking for people to participate in clinical trials of various medications and treatments, many of which are conducted through the National Institutes of Health.

These studies can be a particularly good option if you suffer from a chronic medical condition, as you may gain access to cutting-edge treatments before they’re widely available. And as a general rule, these trials are safe; although they may not produce the results that the researchers are hoping for, researchers don’t conduct trials that they believe have the potential to cause harm. 

You can find a list of ongoing clinical trials at clinicaltrials.gov . This is just a repository for the information; each trial is conducted by a different company, university or organization, and you’ll have to contact each study you’re applying for by phone or email. No compensation information is available on the site, and pay rates vary widely depending on factors such as the required time commitment. 

#7. FocusGroup.com

FocusGroup.com has 16 facilities nationwide where you can participate in face-to-face focus groups and panels. These typically pay well, since there’s more work involved in attending an in-person interview than a phone or internet survey.

This company is now owned by Schlesinger Group (rebranded as SAGO), and the change has caused some operational hiccups. For example, there have been several complaints to the Better Business Bureau of participants not getting paid and receiving poor or no communication from the company. However, most of these issues have reportedly been resolved. 

#8. Rare Patient Voice

Due to the nature of this company’s clientele, it is extremely difficult for them to match people to research studies, as they focus on rare diseases and conditions. That said, if you do qualify (and they list their ongoing studies directly on their site), you are handsomely compensated.

Rare Patient Voice has a good reputation, earning an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau . Most of the complaints from participants are related to delayed payment due to an investigation on whether the participant sped through the questions too quickly to give a thorough review. 

#9. FindFocusGroups.com

This site doesn’t host paid research studies directly; it’s more like Craigslist for vetted, high-paying focus groups. (That means you’ll have to apply to each study individually.) Focus groups are sorted by city and state, but there are nationwide online groups as well.

The interface of the site is filled with ads, so make sure that when you click on a sign-up link you’re signing up for an individual study, not clicking over to a random advertiser (some of whom make their ads looks like study invitations).

The reputation of FindFocusGroups.com is hard to speak to as the site is just a board that posts the focus groups of various companies.

#10. SIS International

As you might guess from the name, SIS International is one of the few companies on this list that is open to participants around the world. Their research covers a broad range of industries — everything from burgers to butane.

Participants seem to like participating in SIS International’s research. The company has five stars on Trustpilot and many complimentary reviews from former study participants. 

#11. Probe Market Research

Probe Market Research has three focuses: consumer studies, business-to-business research and healthcare. It’s a legit company, though some participants complain of late payments and the inconvenience of getting paid in virtual Visa cards , which can only be used online and expire in 90 days. However, the company has four stars on Yelp and most reviews are positive.

#12. Focus Insite

Though they pay well, several Reddit users note that it’s pretty hard to qualify for these studies . Though the reviews aren’t all bad; for example, Redditor stormborn29 said , “Focus Insite sent me a really nice vacuum to test, and I was paid $200 — plus I got to keep the vacuum.” 

Focus Insite does, however, have a few unresolved BBB complaints regarding the lack of payment to participants . They have an active Facebook page, but the reviews on that page look unrelated to market research or surveys. In other words, this research company appears to be legit, but we still recommend proceeding with caution. 

#13. WatchLab

If you’re curious about the latest WatchLab studies, check out their Facebook page . WatchLab’s website is geared toward companies that employ them, not participants, so you’ll get more information on Facebook. Many studies are related to social media use.

This firm is notorious for taking a long time to pay , and they’ve been dinged by many users for not paying at all. They only have 2.5 stars on Yelp (based on 32 reviews), and most of the complaints are due to nonpayment. 

GLG presents a different type of opportunity than most of the other companies on this list. They do research on big purchasing decisions, recruit expert witnesses for trials and more. They keep a list of industry experts in management, law, finance and other professional fields to interview or consult on special cases or niche studies.

“Consultants” usually have years of industry experience, and often have leadership roles. A handful of other companies do this too; AlphaSights, Guidepoint, Third Bridge and Coleman are a few others. 

The screening required to become a consultant for GLG and other high-paying research firms is extensive, as they only want respondents that have specific credentials. To get selected, veterans in this consulting side gig world recommend being very detailed in your LinkedIn profile, as recruiters for these studies rely heavily on the platform to identify potential participants.

Many studies are geared toward mid to senior-level professionals, and if you’re matched with a study, you can make up to $500 per hour or more.

#15. Recruit + Field

Recruit + Field covers the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They have an impressive list of clients, including Apple, Netflix, Clinique, Spotify and more. This company is somewhere between a GLG (looking for experts) and FieldWork (looking for all walks of life plus healthcare professionals), as they recruit in each of these areas.

Their reputation is fairly good; Recruit + Field has an A- rating on BBB (only 4 complaints, all of which have been answered). 

What About Apex Focus Group?

When we tested Apex Focus Group , we found that the platform offers none of its own paid research studies and uses misleading marketing tactics to get users to sign up for its email list. Once opted in, the company sends affiliate marketing messages to your inbox. Some of those messages contain legit focus group opportunities, but they’re the same focus groups you could find on your own — often by visiting the sites listed above.

Paid Research Study Sites: Summary and Final Thoughts

You won’t qualify for every study, and unfortunately, no amount of hard work will change that. (Plus these companies now have layers of checks and AI algorithms to vet cheating and lying, so don’t try that either). 

Because of this, paid research studies fall squarely in the side-hustle-only camp. For the best return, apply to a number of studies you have a good chance of qualifying for, and quickly respond when you get a call or email from the market research company (as many studies are deadline driven). 

Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent looking to make a few bucks during naptime or a senior project manager looking for a good-paying, low-maintenance side gig , paid research studies can be an easy way to make extra money.

Different companies cater to different demographics, and hence, want different research participants. So do your homework on the research company before you sign up to get a better response rate. 

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Updated: February 13, 2024

Paid Research Studies

34 sites to find legit paid research studies and focus groups....

This is the definitive guide to finding online paid research studies that you can earn from.

Today you’ll learn:

• What online paid research is
• What types of research you could participate in
• Legit places to find well paying research studies you can do from home
• Tips on how to succeed making money from paid research

I’ve spent a week researching and learning about all the different places you can earn cash from taking part in studies.

🏆 Best Sites for Paid Research Studies

If you’re in a hurry, these are the top sites we recommend:

🌎 Worldwide

🇺🇸 Inside USA

• FindFocusGroups.com

Reddit r/PaidStudies

Keep scrolling for more info and resources.

Jump to…

• What is online paid research?
• How much can I earn?
• Best International Sites
• Best Sites for the USA
• 30+ More Legit Sites
• Are paid research studies legit?
• Are $350+ focus groups real?
• What skills do I need?
• General Tips

Pros and Cons

• Can I be a full-time participant?
• Share your experience

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🤔 What Is Online Paid Research?

Online paid research is a broad term. It mainly includes activities like:

• Focus Groups Providing feedback with a bigger group of testers or participants.
• In-home Interviews Talking directly with people over the phone or internet.
• One-on-one Interviews Sharing your opinion via video conferencing software.
• Answering Questionnaires Giving feedback to short questions based on your opinions or experiences.
• Taste / Product Testing Receiving a “first-look” at products and testing them.
• Mock Trial / Mock Jury Participating in a simulated court trial to help legal workers train.

You’ll sometimes see paid research called “paid studies” or “paid focus groups” too. 

Generally you’ll be providing companies information about their products or services to help them improve. Or you might be helping scientists or researchers gather information about things like diseases or human behavior.

The subject of research can be varied.

Note that we differentiate between paid research studies and paid surveys, though there can be some overlap. Both are considered GetPaidTo (GPT), but you’ll usually earn more money with research studies.

• See our list of best survey sites

🤑 How Much Do Research Studies Pay?

Typically, research studies can pay anything between $8 – $450 per hour .

While generally not a consistent source of income, they can be a great way to earn some extra money.

An example of a paid online research study that many people could potentially qualify for:

Potential earnings rely on a few factors:

• Method of research Online studies tend to pay less than in-person ones. This is because the range of information a researcher can receive is limited to text or speech. Sometimes the higher paying studies need more information (i.e. health metrics in clinical research).
• Length of study The longer the study, the higher the chance of earning. Some studies can be less than an hour in length. Others might go on for several weeks or months.
• Type of payment Some online paid research positions don’t pay in cash at all but rather gift cards or vouchers. These could limit you to certain vendors you may not be interested in (Walmart when you live outside the U.S. for instance).
• Number of research studies available Don’t be fooled into thinking high paying online studies are everywhere, they’re not. As far as market research companies or clinical trials go, they are expensive to set up and manage.
• Demographics Certain studies want to target a specific age, income or gender etc. There’s no promise you’ll qualify for enough studies to make it worth your while.

The highest to lowest earning online paid research study types are:

• Focus groups
• Taste/product testing
• Questionnaires or surveys ( list of best survey sites )

The last group pays the least but usually has more regular opportunities.

🌎 Best Places to Find Paid Studies Online

There are several legit sites to find paid research studies.

The two best places, in my opinion, are PingPong and Respondent . They take participants from anywhere, not just the U.S.

Let’s take a closer look at each.

Respondent.io is a website that helps companies like Allstate and eBay perform market research studies.

As a “respondent” (fancy word for research participant), you’ll be paid for taking part in focus groups, one-on-one interviews and other research work.

Examples of paid research studies available at Respondent:

The majority of the studies are performed online or via phone (i.e. remote).

🤑 Earning Range

• $20 – $500 per study
• High payout
• Good reputation among online workers
• Not easy to qualify for research studies
• Slow customer support
• Full Respondent review

PingPong is a recent player in the marketing research space, launched in 2017. Its platform is designed to bring developers and research participants together in one-on-one video calls to help test websites . 

As their past clients include companies like BT, Skyscanner, Zapier and Nestle, you know they’re legit.

One user reported earning €40 per hour participating in 3 studies on PingPong:

• €10 – €100 for every session
• €30+ per hour of a video call (special cases up to €200)
• You don’t need to match any special criteria
• The chance to work with top brands
• Requires providing feedback with a webcam
• Possibly boring if you’re not interested in web design and usability

🇺🇸 Best Sites For Paid Studies Online In The USA

If you’re a U.S. resident there are two more options worth checking out: FindFocusGroups.com and r/PaidStudies .

These are listing sites as opposed to market research companies. 

FindFocusGroups.com allows you to search for both in-person and online research studies taking place across America. 

At the time of writing, there are several online focus groups and clinical trials listed. These cover topics as broad as credit cards, Bay Area living and home ownership.

• $65 – $400 per study
• Frequently updated 
• Good number of focus-groups and research studies available
• All studies with decent pay
• Third-party site, can’t always promise legit studies
• The application process isn’t standard (dependent on whatever site you’re referred to)

r/PaidStudies is a growing subreddit that was first started in 2017.

It lists paid market research studies, including the ones that can be done online from anywhere in the USA.

An example of a paid study linked from r/PaidStudies:

• $25 – $500 per study
• New research studies posted daily
• Big range of study types; clinical trials, focus groups, product testing, etc.
• You don’t have to create an account to apply 
• Some overlap with platforms like Respondent re-posting studies

😎 30 Other Legit Places to Find Paid Focus Group

There are a bunch of other legit places with research studies available.

Sites below are listed in alphabetical order. So, there are some really good ones mentioned even towards the very end of the article. Keep scrolling down and you will see examples of online studies that pay up to $500 for a 75-minute call interview …

20|20 Research

Part of the Schlesinger marketing group, 20|20 Research has over 30 years experience in the industry.

They offer both online focus groups and one-on-one interviews mainly to U.S. residents. Examples:

• $50 – $350 per qualitative research
• $1 – $10 for each quick survey (quantitative research)
• High earning potential
• Many short survey opportunities available, paying out anything between $1 – $10 cash
• Lengthy pre-screening tests
• Higher earning rates for in-person studies (specifically for people in Charlotte, Nashville and Miami)

Adler Weiner Research

Adler Weiner Research has over 60 years experience in the industry. They specialize in consumer, medical and business-to-business marketing.

They offer focus-groups, in-depth interviews and shop alongs (a research team goes with you to shop).

An example of online study:

• $25 – $300 per study
• Diverse research study types
• Reputable company
• Mostly want people for in-person studies in Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange Country

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)

Mechanical Turk is a “microjobs” site from Amazon where you can get paid to perform small tasks, including participation in research studies.

MTurk brings researchers and participants together allowing for pseudo-anonymity between both. Having a third party (Amazon) overseeing payments is a great way to protect both parties.

Examples of the higher paying tasks one user reported on the Hustle:

As you can see above, this user was earning between $10.54 – $14.24 per hour, while only taking the highest paying surveys.

However, most tasks pay at the lower end:

The Hustle reported average earnings:

A 2018 academic study analyzed 3.8m tasks completed by 2,676 workers on MTurk and found that average earnings through the platform amounted to $2 per hour . Only 4% of all workers earned more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour.

• $1 – $14 per hour
• Many varied opportunities
• Open to internationals
• Lower paying
• Strong competition for places
• Check this subreddit which posts the highest paying tasks on MTurk

American Consumer Opinion

Boasting 6 million members, American Consumer Opinion runs paid research studies several times a year. They normally don’t pay much, but you might be selected for those rare market research studies that pay up to $50.

The platform runs on a points system rather than cash payouts. When you hit $10.00, you can request your money.

• About $2 – $5 for a few minute study
• $0.1 – $0.3 compensation if you disqualify
• Varied research subjectis (product opinions, website testing, etc.)
• Much more low-paying surveys than higher-paying focus groups

Apex Focus Group

Apex Focus Group is seeking individuals to participate in paid focus groups, survey panels, clinical trials, and phone interviews.

Most of their studies are 90 – 120 minutes in duration and on the topics like food, sports, entertainment, pets, electronics, automobiles and parenting.

• $35 – $75 (per 1 hour session)
• $250 – $500 (multi-session studies)
• High payouts
• Varied research topics
• High competition among participants
• U.S. residents only

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Brand Institute

As the parent of the Drug Safety Institute (DSI), Brand Institute specializes in medical research surveys.

They only work with licenced healthcare workers as participants. Most surveys seem to take 15 to 40 minutes and pay between $10 – $20 on average .

The list of open surveys is only available for signed-up users. But you can find their users reviews on Facebook . One user posted a screenshot of his survey history a few years ago…

• $2 – $30 per study
• Quick earning opportunity for healthcare workers
• Many reported that surveys were interesting and fun
• Requires a medical license number from participants
• Not that many surveys seem to be available lately

Carnegie Mellon University | Center for Behavioral and Decision Research

Carnegie Mellon runs a few online studies from their research lab. Subjects include things like personal attitudes, beliefs, human judgement and decision-making. 

• $8 per hour on average (for online studies)
• Short online studies (from 5 minutes to an hour)
• Enter a lottery for a chance to win a larger prize
• Participants are primarily needed for in-person studies in labs on campus
• Can not participate in more than one study at one time

Columbia Business School | Center for Decision Sciences

Columbia Business School is continually recruiting people to take part in online studies.

Recent topics of study have involved completing interactive decision-making tasks, short cognitive tests, solving brain teasers and answering general questions about politics.

• About $16 per hour
• Good number of research projects
• Steady pay rate
• Few studies for people outside US
• May be strict eligibility requirements

CenterWatch

CenterWatch is an aggregator of worldwide clinical research studies. They list studies from research labs and clinics all over the globe, including those doing important research on subjects like dementia and genetic screening.

Unfortunately, they often don’t disclose the earning ranges on their studies and many are strictly voluntary.

You’ll need to play around with the search filters to find paid and/or online studies. Try searching for the following keywords:

• Compensation
• Compensated

Here’s an example of a paid online study I found via search:

• Available studies on all continents (but mainly in North America, Europe and Asia)
• You can find well-paid studies
• Poor site navigation (hunting for paid online studies can take a while)
• Many studies are voluntary

Fieldwork is a marketing research company that has been operating since 1980.

They are mainly focused on consumer and medical panels and have several in-person paid research locations in the US.

• $75 minimum for focus groups
• Short sessions (1-2 hours)
• Variety of topics
• Few online paid research gigs (most are in-person)

FocusGroup.com

FocusGroup.com is another research company owned by the Schlesinger Group. They list many online focus groups and research studies on their Facebook page .

FocusGroup.com also operates under the brands Focus Pointe Global and Inspired Opinions.

Example of an online focus group:

• $75 – $200 per study
• Reputable brand
• Slow payout (cash usually received within 6-8 weeks of participation)
• There could be some delays in payment
• Check out Focus Group on Facebook for the latest studies

Google’s User Experience Research

Google runs different focus group studies to get user feedback on a range of their products and services.

Many of these studies offer redemptions in the form of gift cards or charity donations. Gift card options are relevant to your country.

• $25 – $200 per hour of screen-recording surveys
• About $0.5 or more for 30-40 minutes of surveys that don’t require screen recordings

Here’s the official word from Google :

Once your participation is complete, you’ll get a small thank-you gift like a gift card or a donation to your favorite charity . We’ll always tell you what the reward will be before you decide whether to participate.

• Wide eligibility (just have to use Google products)
• Open for people outside the US
• Donate to your favorite charity
• Lengthy sign-up process (1-2 hours survey regarding your usage of Google products)
• Pay varies greatly depending on a type of survey

Harvard University | Psychology Department Study Pool

Running since the 1800’s, Harvard’s reputation as one of the world’s finest educational institutions is global.

Harvard’s Psychology Department is also one the highest ranked in the world. It has openings for paid research on the regular.

Some of the studies require you to attend in person, but they also do online studies. Time and compensation will be listed in the description of each study.

• $10 – $25 per hour on average
• Available opportunities for foreign internationals
• Limited places (plus high competition)

MIT Behavioral Research Lab

There are many different types of paid research you can do with the MIT Behavioral Research Lab. Common activities include completing group assignments, filling out questionnaires, playing games and taking part in interviews or discussions.

MIT uses the platform Sona to bring participants and research leaders together. Online studies usually last between 15 and 45 minutes.

• $10 – $20 per hour for online studies

While most researchers pay participants a flat rate, some researchers prefer to use a performance-based payment system, where participants receive a fixed base rate for completing a study, plus a variable bonus that reflects how well they perform in certain tasks.

• Performance-based payment gives opportunity to earn more
• Strict eligibility criteria
• Open to US residents only

Mindswarms is a market research company that’s focused exclusively on video.

Completing one of their studies involves recording your insights on a business or product via a smartphone, tablet or webcam. Past clients include Nike, Verizon and Google. You can find out more about their clients here .

• $10 – $50 per study (from a few minutes to 20 min)
• Video format
• Few studies available

Northwestern University | Department of Psychology

Northwestern University’s Psychology Department is at the cutting edge of psychological research in America.

Recent study topics include Covid-19, the impact of the Trump presidency and the efficiency of female leaders.

An example of a recent online study:

• $15 – $421 per study
• Interesting topics
• Available studies for those under 18 years of age
• Most surveys for U.S. residents only

Purdue University

Purdue University, known as one of the most innovative schools in America, is another site that will pay you for taking part in studies.

A recent online telehealth study, looking at speech in individuals with Parkinson’s disease, shows the type of research they do…

• $10 – $70 per study
• Some studies provide extra bonuses for completing sessions
• Website is difficult to navigate (hard to figure out which opportunities are online vs in-person)
• Few online studies

Plaza Research

In business since 1982, Plaza Research runs a lot of studies targeted at consumers, parents, teens, students, business professionals and healthcare workers.

Most focus groups are up to 2-hours long and discuss things like new products from major manufacturers.

• $50 – $200 per study
• Growing number of opportunities (online survey taking, paid interviews and focus groups)
• Long sign-up process
• Poor website design

Probe Market Research

Probe Market Research conducts group interviews over the phone or online. You can get paid for your opinions on things like new TV commercials, beauty products and even soda bottle designs. Past clients include Dell, Lego and eBay.

An example of recent online research on credit cards:

• $50 – $400 per study
• Chance to work with top brands
• Mostly US-based opportunities
• Check out PMR’s on Facebook to view recent research opportunities

Recruit and Field

Recruit and Field has been in business since 1977. They specialize in connecting and inviting participants to take part in focus groups, phone interviews, online surveys and in-home product testing.

Some studies pay cash while others offer Amazon gift cards and PayPal payouts.

• $100 – $300 per study
• Varied research formats (phone, online, in-home, etc.)
• Competitive (the website claims a pool of 300,000 respondents)
• Check out Recruit & Field on Facebook for the latest studies

Reddit r/FocusGroups

r/FocusGroups is a community very similar to r/PaidStudies and has a lot of crossover. You can sign up to each of the opportunities they list directly.

At the time of writing there are studies paying as high as $250 per hour that require only a WebCam to share product opinions…

• New daily listings
• Overlaps with other sites on this list

Resolution Research

Resolution Research looks for “engaged and enthusiastic participants from all walks of life in the US and Canada”, according to their website.

They run focus groups, product and device tests, mock juries, taste tests and online surveys. They also run two other research panels; The Medical Panel and PaidStudies.com.

• $20 – $200 per survey (estimated)
• Reputable brand (several studies running across different panels)
• Confusing web interface (lots of redirection to other panels/websites)

SIS International

SIS International does research into topics like smoking and tobacco use, social media opinions and online entertainment use.

You’ll get paid to join focus groups, do online surveys and give product feedback in one-to-one interviews. Example:

• $25 – $400 per study
• Open to international participants (Germany, London, Milan, etc.)
• Available studies for teenagers
• Some users reported poor customer service
• Check out SIS International on Facebook for the latest studies in the USA

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford’s School of Business is another Ivy-league University running a research lab.

Most studies can be done online or in-person at choice. Studies typically include cash or gift card payments averaging $25 an hour .

Studies are usually run through Sona, MTurk or Opinion World.

• $25 per hour
• Most studies can be done online
• Specific eligibility requirements

SurveyFeeds

SurveyFeeds is another aggregator site that lists several online paid research gigs.

• Nationwide studies
• Not many studies available

Survey Squad

Survey Squad is most active on their Twitter account when it comes to listing new paid research spots. Recent studies include online live chats on the topic of finance, nutrition and dating.

• Earn additional rewards by completing multiple surveys through Survey Squad
• Many users reported never qualifying for surveys or being denied after initial confirmation
• Slow payout
• Check out SurveySquad’s Twitter account for the latest studies

University of California | Anderson Behavioral Lab

The UCLA Anderson School of Management has a couple of online paid research places looking at things like decision making, consumer and organizational behavior and human judgement. 

You’ll have to register via Sona ( here ) to apply for paid studies.

• $13 – $15 per hour
• Few research gigs

University of California | Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

The Semel Institute offers mainly in-person research studies but does have a few online studies occasionally.

Research focuses on neuroscience, with investigations into things like body dysmorphia, depression and sleep. Some studies focus on teens under 18 years too.

Click on the studies that interest you on this page and contact the email address provided.

• $10 – $15 per hour (estimated)
• Interesting and varied research topics
• Online studies are rare (and hard to filter them on the site)

User Interviews

User Interviews does what it says, it pays to hear your thoughts over Zoom calls and other conferencing software.

Recent studies have looked at things like streaming services, food delivery and mobile apps. You can view the list of available paid research studies here .

• $15 – $340 per study
• Many studies with decent pay
• The company has good reputation
• Long screeners to apply for studies
• May be hard to qualify

The WatchLab is an American-based marketing agency operating out of Portland and Chicago.

They sometimes have paid studies you can do over the phone or online. Most of these are 1-2 hour long focus groups.

• $90 – $200 per study
• Mainly focus groups
• Most studies are in-person
• Check out watchLab’s Facebook page for the latest studies

👮‍♂️ Are Paid Research Studies Legit?

I’d say paid research studies are definitely legit.

Like any online earning opportunity you have to be careful though. Many sites will just waste your time with screening questionnaires if you don’t fit certain demographics.

Make sure the paid research study you do apply for has their criteria clearly listed.

⚠️ How to Make Sure Research Companies Are Legit

Here’s what you can do to avoid wasting your time and only find legit chances to earn:

• Check for an official address Does the company have a listed public address with contact numbers and staff listings?
• Look for a professional website Does the website look well put together with a good about page that talks about how studies work?
• Read the company privacy policy Read all documentation available so you know your rights as a participant.
• Check email correspondence Does the email address include the company or institution’s name?
• Avoid any request for money If someone is asking for money up front it’s definitely a scam.
• Check online profiles : Verify who you’re dealing with by looking for a company profile at the Better Business Bureau or Trustpilot.org.

🧐 Are $350 focus groups real?

Although there are chances to earn this amount of cash (or higher) don’t expect it to be standard. Earnings like this aren’t typical.

Your best chance to earn high are to go with the sites recommended at the beginning of this article:

• r/PaidStudies

🤓 What Skills Do You Need For Paid Studies?

You only need basic skills to take part in paid studies.

Besides being able to confidently use a computer or mobile device, you’ll also need to be good at the following:

• Communication Speaking when requested and giving precise feedback.
• Punctuality Attending studies at the time specified.
• Question comprehension Understand and matching what’s asked in each study.
• Upholding confidentiality Respecting the privacy requests of the research.

😎 General Tips For Doing Well With Paid Research

Here are some suggestions to do well in paid research and increase your chances of landing further gigs:

• Know your rights Carefully read the terms and conditions of every study you join.
• Give honest information Be truthful with your answers, don’t give research leaders the answers you think they might want to hear.
• Remain patient Don’t interrupt other participants.
• Follow instructions Do the things researchers ask of you to the best of your ability.

What Are The Pros and Cons of Paid Research?

The main pros and cons below:

• It’s a simple and fast way to make decent money
• Sharing your opinions can be interesting and fun
• Your opinions can have an important impact
• It’s not a reliable way to earn 
• It’s tough to find high paying online research gigs
• Meeting the criteria and getting accepted can take a long time

Can I Be A Full-Time Online Research Participant?

My opinion is that it’s next to impossible to do online research as a full-time job.

There just aren’t enough studies to qualify for and most of them won’t pay out enough to make it worth your while.

• See more reliable ways to make money online

💬 Share Your Experience

Have you participated in any online research studies? Are there any good sites you’re aware of that we didn’t mention?

Let us know in the comments below .

Other ways to make money online

There are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.

• Full list of ways to make money online
• More profiles of online money makers

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22 Best Places to Find Paid Research Studies (High Paying)

Last updated August 8, 2024 By Dylan Houlihan 0

Note: We may earn a commission from affiliate links on this page. These do not affect our ratings or recommendations.

Looking to level up your survey earnings and step into the world of paid research studies?

If so, you came to the right place.

Surveys are great to start out with, but doing 1-on-1 interviews and focus groups can be much more fulfilling and a higher paying, so it's worth trying out.

Below, you'll find some of the best platforms (sites and apps) to find paid research studies online and near you.

Featured Paid Study Platforms

Featured platforms are are selected based on financial incentives like affiliate partnerships and sponsorships. They help keep Swift Salary free. Thanks for your support!

User Interviews

User Interviews is a crowdsourcing platform that connects researchers with paid study participants. Founded in 2015, the platform supports a variety of study formats (in-person, online, etc.) and types (focus groups, 1-on-1, etc.), and has been used by companies like Adobe, Spotify, Amazon, and more.

TestingTime

TestingTime is a crowdtesting platform that connects businesses and researchers with individuals looking to participate in paid user tests, interviews, focus groups, diary studies, and more. Founded in Switzerland in 2015, TestingTime is now part of the Norstat Group, and claims to pay over €1M per year to its pool of over 940k testers.

Opinion Outpost

Opinion Outpost is a survey platform that rewards users for sharing their opinions. Founded in 2005, the platform is quite well-known in the survey space and is home to thousands of survey takers earning extra cash every month.

What Are Paid Research Studies?

The criteria a site or app has to meet to make it onto this roundup is that it must either have:

• Paid research interviews (1-on-1 interviews where you get paid to talk with a researcher face to face or over the phone)
• Paid focus groups (group interviews where you get paid to talk to researchers as part of a group)

These types of research participation opportunities typically pay a lot more than regular online surveys, questionnaires, and polls, so it makes sense to give them their own breakdown.

That said, they're not all perfect…

Pros and Cons of Participating in Research Studies

• They pay well. I've done research, participated in these, and talked to others who've participated in them, and the hourly rates you can earn from paid research studies is quite high. You're typically looking at $50-$200+ per hour for your participation.
• Fewer disqualifications. To qualify for a paid research study, you'll typically need to answer some screener questions, but these are usually short and won't take more than 5 or so minutes. From there, once you're qualified, you're in. Unless the study is cancelled (which can happen), you're almost guaranteed to make some money once you set up your interview date. No more annoying survey disqualifications 30 minutes into a questionnaire.
• Chance to make a real difference. When answering online surveys, it's hard to tell if your contributions are really making a difference. With research interviews and focus groups, you'll feel a lot more involved and your opinions feel more valued. You'll most likely meet some interesting people and learn new things along the way as well.
• The earnings aren't consistent. This is the big downside with paid research studies. While they pay really well, you most likely aren't going to be able to make a full-time income out of them. Researchers are looking for very specific people the majority of the time, so you'll have to be patient.
• You've got to be comfortable in-person, on camera, or on the phone. Some research studies take place via webcam, others take place in person, and some are done over the phone. If you're not comfortable with any of those, these types of studies aren't going to be for you.
• You'll need a proper schedule. Answering surveys from your phone can be done almost any time and anywhere. But, with research studies, you'll typically need to book in a specific time slot for your interview. Many studies are at least thirty minutes to an hour long.

Top Sites and Apps for Finding Paid Research Studies Online and Near You

Learn how to make an extra $500+ a month with this FREE beginner's guide. Includes 7 main money-making strategies ranging from easy to advanced + dozens of mini-opportunities in-between.

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Prolific is a crowdsourcing platform that connects researchers with paid study participants. Supported study formats include surveys, video interviews, diary studies, and more. Founded in 2014, the platform claims to be home to over 120k participants and 30k researchers.

Chicago Booth CDR

Chicago Booth CDR (Center for Decision Research) is a crowdsourcing platform for behavioral science studies and research. Here, participants from around the world can get paid to take part in studies that help researchers better understand human interaction, thinking, feelings, and more. The CDR has been conducting this type of research since 1977.

IntelliZoom

IntelliZoom is a user experience (UX) research platform where panelists can get paid to give feedback on various companies' websites, apps, and other digital products via paid studies. Founded in 2007, the platform claims to have over 1.2M panelists and over 400 customers.

Respondent is a crowdsourcing platform that connects researchers with high-quality study participants from around the globe. The participants -- who earn money for taking part in studies -- are fully vetted and include industry professionals and general consumers.

L&E Opinions

L&E Opinions is a rewards platform where regular people and working professionals can get paid for sharing their opinions and expertise. Owned by L&E Research (a market research company founded in 1984) the platform claims to have over 1.6M panel members and over $8.8M in yearly payouts.

FocusGroup.com

FocusGroup.com is a rewards platform where members can get paid to participate in online surveys, research interviews, focus groups, and more. Founded in 2002, the platform claims to have paid out over $65M in a single year.

dscout is both a crowdsourcing marketplace and a rewards platform. Researchers can use it to conduct studies while Scouts can join and make money sharing their insights and experiences. The types of research conducted on dscout can include diary studies, photo/video responses, usability tests, and much more.

Testable Minds

Testable Minds is a crowdsourcing platform that connects participants with researchers conducting psychological and behavioral experiments and scientific studies. Founded in 2015, the platform claims to have 12k+ researchers and 85k+ participants.

UserCrowd is a crowdtesting platform where testers can get paid to provide feedback on products, websites, and applications via surveys, usability tests, and more. Founded in 2008, the platform claims to have over 320k clients, including brands like L'Oréal, GoDaddy, Asana, Google, Airtable, and more.

Ubertesters

Ubertesters is a crowdtesting platform that facilitates the connection between those looking for testing services and those looking to make money testing things like websites and apps. Founded in 2013, the platform claims to have over 80k testers across the globe and to have worked with well-known clients like Zalando, Monday.com, NBC, and more.

Tryber is a crowdtesting platform where testers can earn money for finding bugs, usability issues, and other problems in websites, applications, physical products, and more. The platform is owned and operated by Unguess (formerly AppQuality), a crowdsourcing platform that was founded in 2015.

UserTesting

UsertTesting.com is a crowdtesting platform focused on usability testing. Companies can use the platform to get feedback on their websites, apps, prototypes, and more, while contributors (aka testers) can use it to make money by participating in usability tests. Founded in 2007, the platform has grown to become one of the largest and most well-known in the crowdtesting space.

Crowdtap is a rewards platform where members can earn points for answering surveys and sharing their opinions. Surveys can range from one question long to full-on interviews.

Userlytics is a crowdtesting platform that connects organizations with UX testers who get paid to provide feedback on websites and apps. Founded in 2009, the platform claims to have over 2M testers, around 50 new studies uploaded every day, and worked with companies like Riot Games, Microsoft, eBay, Verizon, Coca-Cola, and more.

PlaytestCloud

PlaytestCloud is a crowdtesting platform that connects mobile game developers with paid freelance playtesters from around the globe. Founded in 2014, the platform claims to have over 1M playtesters who get paid for providing feedback on a variety of mobile games from developers like Zynga, Ubisoft, Gameloft, and many more.

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is a rewards platform and market research community that pays members for completing surveys and contributing their opinions, insights, and data. Founded in 2013, the platform is owned and operated by DISQO, an award-winning insights platform based in the U.S.

iPoll is a rewards platform that pays members for sharing their opinions, testing products, completing real-world missions, and more. Founded in 2012, the platform was previously known as Surveyhead and is currently owned and operated by Dyanata.

Product Report Card

Product Report Card is a rewards platform that pays members to take surveys and participate in free product tests. Founded in 2012, they claim to offer more high-paying surveys and product test opportunities than any other platform.

American Consumer Opinion

American Consumer Opinion (ACOP) is an international rewards platform that pays people from all around the world to share their opinions on a variety of products and services. They offer paid surveys as well as occasional product testing and mystery shopping opportunities. Founded in 1986 as a small U.S. mail survey panel, the platform has since grown into an online community of over 7 million members worldwide.

Find More Paid Research Participation Opportunities

Check out our free Platform Discovery Tool . With it, you can find and filter through dozens of money-making platforms to fine-tune the results to your liking.

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Paid research studies

Find paid research studies across surveys, interviews, focus groups and get paid to share your insights with researchers worldwide. Join a community of 3M+ research participants in making money by participating in online research projects. Each month, Respondent pays thousands of participants and is a reliable source of side income, regardless of your profession. Apply below to get started.

Type of research

Research methodology, paid studies faq, how does participating in a paid research project work.

The first step is to apply to a project, you can do this by signing up as a participant or logging in and selecting 'Start Screener' on the project you are interested in. Researchers will then review your responses and invite qualifying participants for the project. You will receive an email notification if you have been selected, with instructions on how to participate in the research session. Upon successful completion of the project, the researcher will typically initiate payment within 5 business days.

How much can I earn with Respondent incentives and how long does it take?

Research incentives vary from one research project to another and can range from $5 to $1000 per project, the average incentive for an active participant is around $100. Before you apply to a project you will be able to view the time required for the research task, the type of research and the incentive offered. Research studies on Respondent are typically open for 1-2 weeks and incentive payout is usually processed within 5-10 business days after successful participation.

Is Respondent legit? Can I really make money here?

Respondent is 100% legit and pays participants for completing research studies and is an attractive source of side income. Successful participants on Respondent create a strong, accurate profile and apply to relevant projects, and share their insights with researchers in different kinds of research tasks. Highly trusted platforms such as G2 and Side Hustle Nation rate Respondent as a reliable platform for supplemental income.

How can I find participants for a research project, as a researcher using this service?

Researchers can publish their projects to this page and to the entire Respondent participant panel in 3 easy steps: 1. Create a researcher account 2. Create your project and define the target audience 3. Publish your project Learn more about how to recruit participants with Respondent.

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Virtual Lab Online Research Studies

The pimco decision research virtual lab at the roman family center for decision research allows people from around the world to take paid research studies online using surveys, zoom video calls, and other remote tools..

Video Transcript

Transcript coming soon.

By participating in online behavioral science studies, you play a vital role in helping Chicago Booth researchers better understand judgment and decision-making.

Here's how you can take paid surveys and interactive studies from the comfort of home. Sign Up (New Participants)   Log In (Existing Participants)

Take Studies in the Virtual Lab

You'll need:.

• A computer, smartphone, or tablet
• Internet connection

How to Get Started

• Sign up for an account. Within 1 business day, you'll receive an email with your login info and other important information.
• Tell us about yourself. The first time you log into your account, you'll be prompted to take a short prescreen survey about you and your background. Watch a video tutorial.
• Sign up for paid surveys: When you log in, you'll see the studies you are eligible to take. By default, participants are eligible for surveys, one of our two types of studies.
• Optional: Take the Zoom Prerequisite Study Pays $3 / 10-15 min. / Appointments Tu-Fri, 11am-4pm CT Many of our highest-paying studies are conducted via Zoom, a video chat platform. To become eligible for these more advanced studies, you must pass the Zoom Prerequisite Study. You'll need a computer with a working microphone, webcam, and audio. Video tutorial .

After completing these introductory tasks, you'll be able to sign up for behavioral science studies on our online research platform, Sona . Sign Up to Participate

Compensation

Participants are compensated at a rate of $12/hour ($1 for every 5 minutes). Effective June 14, 2024, participants will be compensated in digital gift cards via Tango Card .

After you complete a study, you will receive an email from Tango Card letting you know that value has been added to your account. Select your country and currency, then  choose a digital gift card to one of many businesses, including Amazon, restaurants, retailers, movie theaters, and more, or donate your earnings to a charitable organization.

Note: different gift cards are available depending on which country you reside in. 

What to Expect

Behavioral science combines psychology, economics, and other fields to better understand human decision-making. The Virtual Lab's online research studies involve simple, everyday tasks like filling out surveys, providing your opinions, or chatting with a study partner.

Interactive studies are conducted using Zoom, a video chat platform. These tend to be our highest paying studies and require appointments scheduled Tuesday-Friday. Before taking Zoom studies, you must first complete the Zoom Prerequisite Study. Tips for using Zoom .

We pride ourselves on creating an inclusive and safe environment for all participants and researchers, so please review the Virtual Lab code of conduct before participating.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] .

Current Participants

Log into your account to see the paid research studies you are currently eligible to complete. Don't see any studies? Check back soon! New studies & time slots are posted each weeknight by 8pm.

Surveys are available on-demand 24/7 and can be completed any time before the study's deadline.

Zoom studies are conducted Tuesday-Friday 11am-4 pm CT (UTC -5).

For Researchers

If you are a researcher interested in conducting online studies in the Virtual Lab, please visit the Researcher Portal  (requires CNET ID) or contact the Virtual Lab to discuss your options. The labs team can help with IRB approval, study design, data analysis, and more.

Follow the Roman Family Center for Decision Research

Join Our Panel

Get paid to share your opinion.

We need engaged and enthusiastic participants from all walks of life in the US and Canada including shoppers, business executives, medical professionals, and more. We conduct focus groups, product and device tests, taste tests, mock juries, online surveys, in-person interviews, and more!  The best part is, we compensate you for your time and participation.

To get involved, follow one of the links below. From there, you can sign up for one of our panels by providing a profile of yourself – the basics of who you are and what makes you tick. You are not going to qualify for every focus group, online survey, or taste test, so we pay you when you do. Once we have a paid research study that matches your demographics (your gender, age, location, buying habits, etc), we send you an email or text with screening questions to determine if you qualify. If you’re the right fit, the questions will either be automatically presented to you online OR we will call to schedule a time and provide you with all of the details for an online or in-person focus group, taste test, mock jury, or even a shop-along/ride-along. Once you have completed the study, we will either email you an electronic payment or mail/hand you a check or Visa cash card. It’s an easy way to make extra money – not rewards or points – just by voicing your opinions!

You’re online already. Why not make a little money at it?

Do you shop online or in-person? Are you employed, retired, unemployed, or a student? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please join our panel as we need your opinions!

If you are a Medical Professional (or hero as we call you!), we need your opinion now more than ever! Please join our paid panel now.

YOU MATTER! MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

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31 Best Online Paid Research Studies – (2023 List)

• May 2, 2023

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31 Best Paid Research Studies Online – How To Earn Up To $150/Hr

Did you know that last year, corporations have spent $76 Billion on market research?

Almost 5% of research budgets or $9.4 Million DAILY is spent on participant incentives. Which is a fancy way of saying – paid to people like you and me in exchange for participation.  So if you are looking for a way to earn some extra cash and make an impact at the same time, you’ve come to the right place. I really believe that participating in research studies is a great side hustle option.

However, often it can take a lot of time because you have to show up be present and in some areas, you will find very few local opportunities.

But luckily, there are also online opportunities that make it easy for you to participate in paid studies, regardless of where you live.

Not all studies are worth it though – therefore, I have made a list of the 13 best online paid research studies so you can easily find the ones worth your time. 

And I will also make it clear exactly what you can expect as a participant so you can see if it is the right opportunity for you

How much can you earn from online research studies?

If you are new to online research studies, you likely want to know exactly how much you can expect to earn by participating.

There is no exact answer to this though as it varies a lot from study to study. 

You will find some online surveys where you might get $1-$2 for a 15 minutes survey and other times you might get up to $50 per hour or more for specialized online interviews or online paid focus groups .

Just don’t expect this to be a way to make a living or anything like that. But it definitely can be a great way to make some extra money and make an impact at the same time. So we urge you to consider getting paid to do research studies. 

Based on our research, Focus Groups Pay an average of $62 Hour. But this includes a very wide variety of topics and some of them actually pay $200+ but you need to be a doctor to qualify. 

And you will always be able to see what you get for participating before you start and can then choose if it will be worth it for you or not based on this.

Top 13 paid research studies online 

The following are what I have found to be the best places to participate in online studies.

1. Branded Surveys

Branded Surveys is one of the platforms where you can almost always find studies/surveys to participate in.

And the more active you are, the higher rewards you get for each online survey. In fact, you can get up to a 19% bonus for each survey which means you will get very good value for your time.

You can get your earnings out in cash via PayPal or choose between a large variety of gift cards.

Click here to Join Branded Surveys

YouGov is another platform that offers broad online research studies so you can find surveys you can participate in here no matter your background and location.

The surveys are fairly short and pay decently for your time and are about current and interesting topics.

You will get paid in cash or via gift cards depending on your preferences. YouGov also has an app so you can take the online surveys and research studies on the go. 

Click here to Join YouGov

3. Respondent

Respondent offers some of the highest paying research studies online. Depending on your background, you will get somewhere between $100-$700 per hour.

However, the studies Respondent conducts requires quite a bit of effort to complete, so you need to be willing to invest some time to qualify for them. But for the high incentives, it definitely can be worth it. 

Just be aware that they often look for very specific people to participate, so it can take some patience to find a study you qualify for. Respondent is seeking participants for a variety of online studies that pay well including usability studies, online focus group, psychology studies and many more

Click here to Join Respondent

4. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie offers several different kinds of studies you can participate in. You can, for example, find online surveys here and that is the fast and easy way to earn as you can almost always find available options.

But sometimes you might also be invited for online interviews or online focus groups. If you get invited for these, you should definitely consider participating as they usually pay well.

You can get your earnings out in cash via PayPal or choose between many different gift cards.

Click here to Join Survey Junkie

5. Carnegie Mellon University

The Center for Behavioral and Decision Research (CBDR) at Carnegie Mellon University is often looking for participants for their focus groups and research studies.

Often the studies will take place at the campus but you can also find online studies you can do at home. 

You will usually get $8-$10 per hour and will get paid in cash or gift cards. Great way to make some extra money.

Click here to Join CBDR

6. Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences

The Department of Psychology at Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences has quite a lot of different research studies that pay– many of them are online studies.

You can see an overview of the current studies on their website (link below) and read descriptions and requirements for each of the studies there as well. They are frequently searching for clinical trial participants, so if you are interested in psychology and want to participate in experiments for money, this is a great option. 

You will usually get paid in cash or gift cards but how high incentives you will get depends a lot on the specific study. 

Click here to Check Current Studies

7. LifePoints Panel

LifePoints Panel will give you access to quite a lot of online studies and surveys and it is very easy to use.

You just sign up and then you will start receiving email invitations for available studies. And usually, you will receive several per week.

You can get paid in cash via PayPal or choose between many different gift cards.

Click here to Join LifePoints Panel

8. Toluna Influencers

Toluna Influencers is another easy-to-use survey site that also occasionally offers bigger studies. 

It also has an app so you can easily participate on the go which makes it very convenient. Usually, you can expect to be invited to a short online survey several times per week. Not a lot of focus groups on this platform but it’s easy to get a quick flow of paid surveys near me.

You can get your earnings out in cash via PayPal, choose between many different gift cards, or sometimes also get products as a reward if you prefer.

Click here to Join Toluna Influencers

9. PingPong

PingPong is specialized in helping companies get consumer feedback about their apps and websites to improve them.

So if you join, you will be able to participate in online interviews and focus groups where you give feedback about different websites and apps for some really big companies.

You will usually earn $20-$100 per hour and you will get paid in cash within 7 days after an interview finishes via Transferwise (into your bank account) or via PayPal.

Click here to Join PingPong

10. Userlytics

Userlytics is a great platform to join if you would like to give feedback about websites and apps.

They offer both short interviews (usually you can record it when it fits into your schedule) and longer tests. 

You will usually get paid $5, $10, $15, or $20 per test, but some projects will also pay as much as $90. You will get paid via PayPal within 15 days after the interview/test has been approved.

Click here to Join Userlytics

11. Mindswarms

Mindswarms offers you to participate in video interviews – so if you are not comfortable with recording yourself on video, this is not the right option for you.

If you think this sounds fun, you can earn $10-$50 per video you record and they usually do not take long and you can record on your own time. 

Just be aware that they are often looking for very specific people with specific backgrounds for their studies, so it can take some patience to find one you qualify for.

Click here to Join Mindswarms

12. Harvard University

The department of psychology at Harvard University is regularly looking for young adults and volunteers to participate in their research.

By participating, you can help to advance the understanding of human thought and behavior and it can also be a great way to learn more about psychology yourself.

Often the studies require you to show up physically but they also sometimes offer online research studies. You will get paid $10-$25 per hour in cash or gift cards.

Click here to Apply for Harvard Studies

13. American University

The Behavioral Pharmacology and Health Promotion Laboratory (BPHP) at American University conducts research on cognitive and behavioral factors.

The exact topics vary from time to time, but you can see the currently available options through the link below. Many of them require you to show up personally but you can also find regular online research studies you can get paid to participate in. This is a great option if you are interested in medical research and highest paid clinical trials that are safe. 

How much you will get depends on the particular study but you will always be able to see this clearly stated before applying.

Click here to Apply for American University Studies

14. User Interviews

User Interviews is an online paid research studies platform that allows you to participate in research studies, paid focus groups and online consumer conversations.

Unlike other websites that conduct online surveys, User Interviews rewards you for your time not with hard cash, but with gift cards. Although this may seem like a deal breaker, in exchange you can earn a steady rate of $55 per hour .

Moreover, the site has some excellent reviews, putting it in the top rank of paid online studies sites in terms of user satisfaction.

However, surveys on User Interviews are very time consuming, averaging over 60 minutes, and most of them are looking for specialist in a certain field, like medical professionals.

Click here to join User Interviews

15. American Consumer Opinion

American Consumer Opinion is one of the oldest research companies, helping research participants find paid research studies online since 1986.

Being one of the largest market research companies, you can will never run out of surveys to fill. The compensation for each survey varies, as the platform uses a point based system. Shorter surveys offer about 50 points, and some larger ones can go up to 5000 points. You can cash out once you have over 1000 points, which is equivalent to about 10 dollars.

Bear in mind, that turnaround time with American Consumer Opinion is very drawn out. You typically have wait 8 weeks for payment.

Click here to Join American Consumer Opinion

MOBROG is an survey platform, which primarily focuses on market research and consumer feedback. This means, that you are helping user experience of companies, while earning money online.

Speaking of money, you can expect to earn about $3 per survey, which takes you approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. This means you can make about $15 per hour.

You can collect your payment through Paypal or by Skrill.

Click here to Join MOBROG

17. Boston University Questrom School of Business Behavioral Lab

Boston University School of Business offers paid research opportunities for a variety of demographics.

While some research studies require in person focus groups, many can be completed online as well. They typically require a long period of time to complete, and may ask you about some sensitive topics. If you do not wish to share personal experiences, then this option may not be for you.

The exact amount of payment can vary drastically, depending on the study, but compensation for participants is typically between $10 and $20 per hour.

Click here to Apply for Boston University Questrom School of Business Behavioral Lab

18. Engage Studies

At Engage Studies or Engage in Depth you can take part in paid market research projects. This can take the form of focus groups, online discussions, website usability studies and more.

With Engage Studies you can expect to make average rates of $50-250 per every survey, which takes approximately 1-2 hours.

Although the pay varies based on your qualifications, this is an excellent opportunity worth checking out.

Click here to Join Engage Studies

19. MIT Behavioral Research Lab

MIT behavioral research lab provides you to be a research participant in paid non-clinical trials, including some fun and interesting experiments.

A great benefit to MIT Behavioral Research studies is that everything has strict standards and regulations, which means they will respect your thoughts and boundaries, and they will compensate you appropriately.

Click here to Apply for MIT Behavioral Research Lab

20. Brand Institute

Brand Institute offers companies market research services, which is why they connect willing participants to various surveys and research studies, while compensating them appropriately.

For regular surveys, you will paid $2-5 per survey, while for medical research studies you will earn more at about $5-10.

However, many users have complained about not being able to find suitable surveys. Because of this I would recommend giving it a try, before committing to it.

Click here to Join Brand Institute

21. Panelbase

Panelbase is an UK-based online survey panel offering members cash rewards for their opinions on various services like product testing, SMS, postal, telephone, and much more. 

You can expect to make $0.25-10 for a completed survey, which takes between 3-10 minutes. For further incentive, for every survey you can earn a prize draw of up to $50.

The downside is that there is no option for PayPal, so you have to enter your bank account details at each step.

Click here to Join Panelbase

22. Prolific

Prolific is a survey and research studies site that boasts high reviews and is one of the most recommended platforms on various social media. It is one of the only services that has a $6.5 hourly minimum wave requirement.

You can expect to be paid $9-12 per hour on the platform. However this depends on the researcher in question.

Click here to Join Prolific

23. Valued Opinions

Valued Opinions is a research studies survey website that has over 3 million members worldwide. It connects people with online surveys on topics that interest them, and rewards them for their time.

It offers compensation as gift cards for top retailers, instead of direct cash. This might seem like a major negative, but with gift cards you don’t have to worry about long turnabout time on your payment.

On Valued Opinions you can earn up to $5 per short survey.

Click here to Join Valued Opinions

24. Opinium

Opinium is a market research and insight agency established 15 years ago. It is a reputable platform that has operated for many years so you can trust them with your time and efforts.

The surveys offered are short 5 minute questionnaires. For them you can expect to be paid about 50 cents. You may cash out once your account reaches $25.

Click here to Join Opinium

Y Live is another UK based survey platform that works on a point based system for its members, where 1 point is equivalent to $1.

Unlike other sites, it offers a fixed hourly wage of $1 for every 5 minutes you spend completing surveys, but don’t expect to cheat the system as it has security measures in place.

You can redeem your points only after you reach 50 points in one month.

Click here to Join Y Live Community

26. AttaPoll

AttaPoll is a survey app that makes it easy to fill out surveys and make a few dollars on the side-all on the convenience of your phone.

You can earn money two ways, either by referral or by filling out questionnaires. After you are done, you can cash out right away via PayPal or by cheque.

Payment varies based on your demographics and expertise.

Click here to Join AttaPoll

27. Ipsos iSay

Ipsos iSay is a rewards community that allows users to voice their opinion on subjects important to them, while making some profit on the side.

It is the third largest research company and has over a million users worldwide. Its clientele comprises of some of the largest advertisement companies.

The platform operates on a points based system. One survey gets you between 45 and 90 points, where 100 points is equal to $1. You can redeem your points once you have earned $5.

Click here to Join Ipsos iSay

28. Focus Group

Focus Group is a site that offers online surveys and other research opportunities like focus groups to help you side hustle and earn some cash in your spare time.

One great positive about Focus Group lies within its diversity. It doesn’t have demographic nor a professional requirements that other platforms do. You can fill out a survey by phone, email, in person, or just on the Internet.

If you join focus groups and complete long surveys, then you can make up to $150. The best part is you can check out almost immediately after you have accumulated 100 points or $1.

Click here to Join Focus Group

29. Apex Focus Group

Apex Focus Group connects people with paid focus groups, clinical research trials, and phone interviews, supporting the interests of both the companies and the participants. You can take part in it from the safety of your own home, and still make up to $700 a week.

The only downside is that many have complained about the low acceptance rate of these studies, and some couldn’t even find suitable surveys.

Click here to Join Apex Focus Group

30. Opinion Outpost

Opinion Outpost is a market research panel where members collect points for their opinion in free online surveys.

These surveys mainly come from small companies, looking for feedback and consumer feedback. Like many other platforms it works on a points based system. Rewards can vary drastically between 10 to 250 points per survey.

The bad news is that 10 points equal a dollar, which is quite a low pay rate.

Click here to Join Opinion Outpost

As you can see, there are plenty of options if you want to participate in paid online research studies and online focus groups, without having to leave your home. If you do want to find a local focus group though and live in a larger city, we have probably analyzed and ranked the best in person focus groups in your city.

All of the options above offer online studies – some more often than others. 

But if you make sure to join several of them and apply for studies regularly, you will find very frequent paid research opportunities and can make some nice extra cash while making an impact at the same time.

Are there any requirements to participate in online research studies?

The great thing about paid research studies online compared to the ones where you have to show up, is that there often are no requirements for your location.

Therefore, it will be easy for you to find opportunities no matter where you live and you can do it from the comfort of your home.

However, there are some research studies that are looking for a very specific group of people, so you will likely not be able to qualify for all studies.

And sometimes it might take a bit of patience to find the ones you qualify for – however, on the list below, I have included sites with both very specialized studies and more broad studies that accept most people.

It is definitely possible to find some good options for YOU. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Online Focus Groups and Studies

What is a paid online research study.

Online paid research study is essentially a type of market research that pays YOU for your time. It is usually conducted online by a market research company. Online studies come in a from of online surveys, focus groups, online interviews or paid clinical trials.

How do I find paid studies online?

There are dozens of market research studies if you know where to look. StansGigs is dedicated to helping you find the best online opportunities. This list is a good start. Also check out the listing of in person studies as well as paid surveys.

Do I need to have certain professional background or live in a certain area to participate in paid research studies?

Compared to studies that require a person to be physically present, there are often no hard requirements to get the gig. So you can find paid online study opportunities wherever you live and perform them from the comfort of your home. The only things you will need is a good internet connection, a microphone and most of the online focus groups will require a camera. Also note that before participating in a focus group you will usually be required to take a short survey or answer a few screening questions to ensure your eligibility.

The short answer is: Your phone will likely suffice. As long as you have a reliable smartphone, good internet connection and working camera, you should be okay. Some studies will ask for a certain app to be installed (Zoom) but they will notify eligible participants of this ahead of time.

How do will I get get Money For Research Studies?

Any of the market research companies mentioned above will pay you through Paypal or with gift cards.

I think that’s about it.

If you have participated in any paid studies online yourself and would like to share your experiences, I would love to hear from you in a comment below. 

I am a father to a beautiful baby girl, a husband and a serial gigster 🙂 I live in Toronto, Canada. My claim to fame: I made thousands of dollars from focus groups and surveys over the last 15 years. Studied Marketing in Ryerson Univerity and worked in Marketing and Marketing Research for the last 14 years+ My mission is to educate others how to be successful with side hustles. You can contact my be email or  on Facebook .

Wow! Never realized that there are better surveys online than those that pay you anything from 50cents to $2. Many of the ones you have listed actually look exciting as well. A possible alternative side source of income if one chooses. I personally think the psycology and behavioural science ones will certainly be interesting – but will have to explore them when I have fewer things on my plate. Thank you so much for a great compilation.

Thanks for Kind words and happy that you liked the content. Best of luck in your surveys 🙂

This is extremely helpful. I didn’t think there was a lot of services or places that would actually provide something like this. I always thought it would be a scam of some sort. I will definitely be looking into this thank you.

Hi Alex, Glad you liked it. Many people at first think it’s too good to be true. But after a bit of the research and trial and error they find ways to use it well

I wasn’t impressed with the YouGov website. Too much going on, couldn’t find where to start with my basic profile, and didn’t see any paid studies to apply for.

Thanks for the feedback. We will take a close look at them and perhaps will change the recommendation.

[…] you prefer to earn some cash from the comfort of your home, online focus group is a great option. Typically, they pay a bit less, but that’s the tradeoff for more flexibility […]

I look forward to receiving your emails! Thank you so much for doing this.

Glad to have you onboard, Erika 🙂

Thanks so, so much. I’m using research studies to build up a little fund to leave an abusive parent (I’m eighteen, it’s a funding issue.) Thanks for the resource. 🙂

Table of Contents

Most recent posts.

• 17 Best Paid Surveys For Moms
• Ronin International – Legit or Not? Can You Earn? – Full Review
• 32 Best Survey Sites in Canada + 2 Bonus Sites
• Take Part in Research – Legit? Paid or Not? – Full Review
• Is Research Tribe Legit? Can You Earn? – Honest Review

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Paid Studies: A Complete Guide

Opportunities abound to take part in paid studies from many types of institutions: from medical facilities and universities to sleep centers and everything in between. You just have to meet eligibility requirements to participate.

If you’re looking for a way to make extra money without too much of a commitment, it’s a great opportunity to find paid research studies online.

The Best Places to Find Paid Research Studies

• 🏆 Swagbucks

Survey Junkie

• Opinion Outpost
• American Consumer Opinion
• User Interviews
• Local universities
• MyLocalStudy
• ClinicalTrials.gov

1. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the longest-running providers of online surveys and studies for consumers. Since 2005, Swagbucks has been connecting consumers with brands and giving them the opportunity to express their opinions about products and services.

Swagbucks is completely trustworthy, and a variety of companies conduct research through them. You can get paid to voice your opinions from the comfort of your couch and have a great time while you’re at it.

As compensation, you’ll rack up Swagbucks points when taking surveys, which you can exchange for either gift cards from leading retailers like Home Depot and Walmart or payments to a prepaid Visa debit card or PayPal account.

Learn More : Read our Swagbucks Review

Swagbucks - Easy Online Rewards & Surveys

Sign Up Bonus: $10

Swagbucks is a legit money-making app where you can make money taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, and more.

2. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie also offers paid surveys. However, it has one major difference from Swagbucks: the company is a survey aggregator.

In other words, when you participate in an online study from Survey Junkie, you’ll have to leave the Survey Junkie site for third-party locations. The Survey Junkie team does a decent job of vetting surveys. But it’s still somewhat of a risk. These aren’t Survey Junkie-sanctioned studies.

That said, you can access a much wider range of paid research studies through Survey Junkie.

Learn More : Read our Survey Junkie Review

Survey Junkie is the most reputable online survey company and an easy way to make some extra money in your free time.

3. Opinion Outpost

Another great consumer opinion site is Opinion Outpost, which gives participants rewards for participating in surveys for government bodies and businesses.

To get started, simply join and start taking surveys. That’s it. You’ll be on your way to fun rewards in the form of cash payments and gift cards to sites like Amazon and iTunes in no time.

Learn More : Read our Opinion Outpost Review

4. American Consumer Opinion

Companies depend heavily on market research to make great products and services that resonate with actual consumers. To accomplish this, they often partner with groups like American Consumer Opinion (ACOP).

You can work directly with ACOP to help companies achieve their market research goals. Membership participation is free and you can make money simply by taking an online survey.

Your opinions will be directly reviewed by participant brands and you’ll get points with cash value, too.

Similarly, Nielsen has been providing companies with market research for over 90 years.

Nielsen specifically focuses on consumer behavior largely centered around the customer experience and the products people buy. If you’re looking for a reputable and safe company to work with, you can’t go wrong with Nielsen.

6. Respondent

Instead of looking for regular consumer feedback, the research provider Respondent works with business professionals. You can get paid to provide feedback and help further specific projects.

Respondent works with software developers, enterprise software users, marketers, business owners, executives, and sales and support teams. Average hourly incentives range from $150 for enterprise software users to $700 for executives.

That’s a lot of dough for an hourly rate by any stretch of the imagination–and far more per hour than most side hustles .

If you’re in a position to provide valuable feedback, consider partnering with Respondent and voicing your opinion. You could walk away with a handsome paycheck just for giving a little time.

7. User Interviews

User Interviews is another consumer survey site that will pay for your opinions. It’s very easy to get started with them, too.

To join User Interviews, just create a profile and browse studies that match your interest. After that, complete a few screening surveys so that the company can qualify you for specific studies. From there, all you have to do is participate and get paid for your feedback.

Through User Interviews, you can do an online focus group, online interview, user questionnaire, diary studies, and surveys. Suffice it to say there’s something for everyone.

8. Craigslist

One surprising place where you can find great studies is your local Craigslist.

If you’re familiar with Craigslist, you’re probably already aware the site has many scams. As such, you have to be very careful when browsing it or giving out your phone number.

But don’t let that deter you. There are many legit opportunities on Craigslist.

Do your due diligence and avoid clicking suspicious links when possible. Look for authentic-looking posts and always speak with someone on the phone and meet them in a public place before agreeing to anything.

Sometimes you can find national surveys on Craigslist. Or you may find local research companies or businesses looking for consumer feedback. Local medical groups may also post on Craigslist from time to time looking for a participant, so check it out and see what you can find.

9. Local universities

If you happen to live near a local research university and want to make some cash, you may be in luck.

Universities often hire for an in-person, paid focus group and healthcare studies, especially if it’s a medical research facility.

Check local universities and affiliated medical groups, and subscribe to a newsletter so you’ll get alerts when a paid research study is available. Larger schools often have many studies you can participate in to bring in extra money on the side.

Worried you might end up biting off more than you can chew in an experiment? The FDA’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews biomedical research to make sure it complies with relevant regulations.

10. Fieldwork

Yet another organization offering paid research studies is Fieldwork. The company actively seeks consumers of all types: from retail shoppers to people who enjoy listening to the radio.

To get started, visit their site, select your region, and go through the sign-up process. It’s fast and easy and you’ll be taking surveys for money in no time at all.

You may be able to find virtual research opportunities, too. As long as you have a webcam, you can get paid to participate in studies while sitting at home.

11. MyLocalStudy

Most people who are busy with classes, full-time work, or family obligations don’t have time to scour the internet looking for paid research opportunities.

Fortunately, there’s MyLocalStudy, an online database that connects you to local clinical research opportunities. All you have to do is provide basic information, and you can find a variety of studies within driving distance.

This site is safe and convenient, guaranteed to save you time while connecting you with great local studies.

12. Mindswarms

Mindswarms claims that everyone is an expert in something… and they’re willing to pay for this expertise.

Like with most survey companies, you’ll have to fill out screeners and apply to studies through Mindswarms. You’ll also have t o answer questions after getting accepted. But you’ll get paid for your responses.

Payments on Mindswarms average $50 for just ten questions, and you get paid for every study you complete. It could be a decent way to bring in extra cash .

13. ClinicalTrials.gov

ClinicalTrials is a massive database containing privately and publicly funded clinical studies.

On this site, you’ll find over 370,000 research studies from countries all over the world. If you’re looking for legitimate medical studies, definitely explore this site.

Learn More:

• Top 12 Ways to Get Paid to Sleep

Are Paid Research Studies Safe?

As with most things, it depends.

Always be cautious when approaching paid study opportunities, and be on the lookout for scams and surveys just looking to steal your identity or take advantage of you.

Unfortunately, this happens far too often.

With that in mind, here are some ways to reduce risk when searching for paid surveys.

Ask to speak over the phone

Consider asking to speak with a member of the group’s marketing team or a researcher before you participate in the study.

If the company doesn’t give away information about the study or you can’t get through to a representative, it’s a sign that it could be a scam.

Look for accreditation

Look for some sort of validation or accreditation confirming the study is conducted through an official company or association. This is especially important for studies that require you to give away personally identifying information.

Keep in mind that Craigslist posts and online advertisements can often appear to be perfectly normal yet actually be traps for scammers to steal personal data.

It bears repeating: Always be on the lookout for scams when looking for paid surveys.

Poke around for reviews

Check the internet for reviews from similar people who have interacted with the agency you’re working with. If “beware of scam” is one of the first things that pops up on Google, it’s a sure bet someone may be trying to dupe you into a phony study.

Tips for Doing Research Studies

Work with several providers.

Chances are you’ll be doing studies as supplementary income. There’s just not enough time in the day to make a full-time living doing surveys (and most don’t pay enough to provide steady income).

That said, the trick to making money with paid research is to do a lot of studies. Line up as many as you can and do them during your downtime or even at night and on weekends.

If you do them often enough, you could bring in some nice supplementary income to help make ends meet.

Be smart about what you test

Be selective when participating in studies–especially when it involves your health. Talk to a doctor and get clearance before trying anything that may jeopardize your health. It’s just not worth risking your health for a quick buck.

For example, some medical companies may pay you to test drugs or different sleeping solutions. Even if it looks easy, it’s a good idea to run the study by a certified doctor so that you don’t put yourself in harm’s way.

Make sure the study compensates you adequately

Always think about the value you’re offering compared to what you’re getting paid in return. Your input may be worth a lot of money, especially if you’re testing a cutting-edge product or service.

One of the top reasons companies outsource research to market groups is because it’s often cheaper than hiring in-house researchers.

So just make sure you’re being appropriately compensated for your time and effort. You may not be able to command a hefty amount, but you should still make sure you get paid fairly.

Are Research Studies for Me?

Participating in research studies isn’t for everyone. Here are some things to consider before proceeding.

Patience is key

Paid studies require a lot of patience, especially when doing them in person. You may have to wait a long time until your name is finally called.

Before signing up for anything, make sure it’s clear what you’re being compensated for.

You might also want to bring some extra work with you if possible. Why not fill out Swagbucks surveys while waiting for in-person research?

It involves a lot of testing

Research studies are all about testing. You may have to answer a substantial number of questions.

If you’re the type of person who gets anxiety from tests or doesn’t like taking them, this may not be the line of work for you.

The truth is the majority of research studies involve taking tests, some in controlled environments. Just something to consider.

Studies take time

Studies can take a lot of time to complete, especially if you participate in overnight sleep studies.

Make sure you have the time to devote to the study before participating so you don’t have to leave midway through. Unfortunately, most studies won’t compensate you if you leave early.

Alternatives to Research Studies

Here are some alternative money-making ideas to consider as you search for research studies.

Browse the internet

Some sites, like Swagbucks, will pay you to browse the internet . Believe it or not, you can make money just by searching for queries online.

Here’s how it typically works: You install a browser overlay and use a company’s dedicated search feature in conjunction with your existing browser. As you search for items, the site will collect data on your habits and report the findings to their partners.

If this idea bugs you, keep in mind that your personal internet data is bought and sold countless times throughout the day. This is just a way of actually getting paid for it.

Some companies will even pay you for leaving your computer running .

Watch videos

Some rewards sites also pay you to do fun things online like watching videos or playing games. That means you can get rewarded just for having a great time. Not bad!

It’s also possible to get paid to visit online or in-person stores, shop, make purchases, and provide feedback about your experiences. Companies often use these types of studies to understand how their stores perform so they can make improvements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a referral to take surveys.

Some exclusive paid research studies may require a referral to take surveys. This is typically the exception. Most companies screen participants to determine if they’re a good fit for the study.

Suppose a medical company is running a study on smokers. First, it’s necessary to ensure that the people taking the study are actually habitual smokers and meet the qualifications. The group may need smokers in their 40s. If you don’t meet that description, you’ll have to look for a different study.

Should I get paid in Amazon gift cards or cash?

Here’s a pro tip: Get paid in cash when you’re given the option when participating in paid studies. Amazon gift cards are fun, but let’s face it: There’s no substitute for cold hard cash.

When you get actual money, you can invest it so it grows over time. If you buy an Amazon gift card, you’ll spend the reward quickly and miss out on a much more valuable return.

Always prioritize studies that give you cash or electronic payments over gift cards.

Why do companies conduct consumer research?

Companies typically conduct consumer research to make better products and services, improve packaging designs, or launch more effective marketing campaigns.

For example, a company may want to test the usability of a product or see how consumers feel about a certain experience.

Some studies may involve taste tests, while others may simply ask consumers to interact with a product or device. Truth be told, there are many different ways to conduct consumer studies.

It can feel great participating in a study. You get paid to review products and services while providing valuable feedback to help make better products.

Does your demographic matter when doing research studies?

Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. In certain cases, companies survey broad sample sizes from people of all demographics. In other cases, they look for more specific examples for a more focused study.

Are paid studies side hustles?

Yes. Participating in research studies is an example of a side hustle (or a side gig ). It’s a way of bringing in extra cash in addition to your full-time job.

The Bottom Line

If you’re thinking about making money doing paid surveys, there are countless online research studies and paid focus groups to explore. Thanks to the internet, it doesn’t matter where you live. From New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, you can take a paid study so long as you have a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Or you can contact a local research facility in your area conducting paid studies and ask what the upcoming schedule looks like.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to track down your first paid study and see if this line of work interests you!

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• Work From Home

16 ways to participate in research studies offered online

If you like the basic idea of ​​doing surveys for cash but want to take it to another level and earn more, you can consider participating in paid research studies online and in online focus groups.

There are many different types of paid research studies available, but most fit more broadly into two main categories: medical and psychological. Some studies, especially medical ones, require you to travel to a specific location, but a significant amount of psychological research these days is conducted remotely!

Most studies don’t take a lot of time – perhaps a few hours a week for a short period, or even just one afternoon – but the pay can be quite good. It’s not at all uncommon to earn $50 to $100 an hour, and many universities transfer funds through PayPal for distance learning, so it’s usually pretty easy to get your money.

Before you read the list below, I recommend getting our weekly work at home newsletter list! I send you new ideas every week.

How to participate in research studies

This is quite simple. From the list below, click on the links to the panel or panels you are interested in joining

Usually you need to create an account and then confirm your details

After that, you can just log in and see what research studies or focus groups are available to try. Sometimes these places will email you with the opportunity, but I recommend logging in daily to check if they don’t.

Where to get paid to study research online

Below, we’ve put together a list of universities and other organizations that often seek paid research participants, most of which have easily accessible sign-up forms for online studies. But remember, just because you signed up, doesn’t mean you’ll be selected.

1 – Respondent

This company conducts online research for various industry professionals. You can study from anywhere in the world and many of them pay upwards of $100. Payment is made through PayPal. You won’t get selected for every study you try to qualify for, but get accepted once a month to earn some nice extra money here. So we do not recommend this site!

Go here to join Answerer, or read our Answerer review.

2 – User interviews

This company has a range of studies on an ongoing basis. They are hosted by top organizations and aim to help influence the products and services of tomorrow You can usually earn $50 to $100 (or more) for the time you spend. Most studies are conducted online and the amount you make depends on the complexity and length of the study. Another very similar to the answer (above) that we highly recommend!

Go here to join a user interview or read our user interview review.

3 – 20|20 panel

This panel has been around for years and years! They are definitely legit, and most of their studies pay you $50 to $150 for your participation. Although I have never been selected for anything from here, I know someone who has been and this person enjoyed the experience and was instantly rewarded. They are one of the market research focus groups, asking you primarily about the brand.

You can read our 20|20 Panel review, or Go here to sign up .

4 – Carnegie Mellon University

According to the participant sign-up page, “For online studies, participants will typically be compensated with an online gift card within one to two weeks of study completion. Payments for online studies are typically around $8 per hour, or participants may be entered into a lottery for a chance to win a large prize.”

Among the university paid research study panels, it has one of the most straightforward sign-up pages

go here To sign up with Carnegie Mellon University.

5 – Columbia Business School

According to the website, the average payment rate is $16/hour. Most studies last 15-45 minutes, so a typical payment can be between $5 – $12.

go here To sign up with Columbia Business School.

6 – ELAB at Yale School of Management

Elab at Yale School of Management – ​​In exchange for your participation in their study, you can enter a prize drawing and also receive an Amazon voucher.

Most of their studies are in person, but they may occasionally have some that are conducted online.

go here To sign up with eLab.

7 – Johnson Cornell University

All studies pay in cash, online cash transfer, or gift card or prize lottery.

go here Johnson to sign up with Cornell.

8 – Kellogg School of Management

Online studies can compensate up to $17/hour and virtual studies can compensate up to $20-25. Payment can be in the form of an Amazon gift card.

go here To sign up with the Kellogg School of Management.

9 – Kent State University Psychology Research

Kent State University Psychology Research – Anyone can get money to study research online with Kent State. Much of this will be paid to study psychology.

go here To sign up with Kent State.

10 – MIT Behavioral Research Lab

You can participate in online psychology research studies with MIT. Participants are typically compensated with cash or gift certificates. See individual study details for specific payment amounts. According to the site, you’ll typically earn $12 to $20 per hour studying online.

go here To sign up with the MIT Behavioral Research Lab.

11 – University of Colorado at Boulder

They have several research studies open that you can participate in at any time. Many can be completed online. However, it is not entirely clear whether you need to be a local resident to complete these. Payment methods vary, but Amazon and Visa gift cards seem to be common.

go here To sign up with the University of Colorado at Boulder.

12 – MIT Agelab

You must first create an account to become a research volunteer, and then they say they will contact you about the current study, including eligibility to participate and compensation offered.

go here To sign up with MIT Agelab.

13 – Field work

This company has focus groups you can attend in person at various locations across the US. Most major cities have one. You can earn around $75 for your time.

go here To sign up with Fieldwork.

14 – Focus groups

It’s a panel at Schlesinger that conducts focus groups about the products and services you’re using. Opportunities are available online, in person and through phone focus groups. Focus Group will pay you in rewards points that you can exchange for a Visa debit card.

go here To sign up with a focus group.

15 – Voice of the rare patient

This site contains a lot of research in the medical field. Most of them pay you $100 if you qualify. Most of these focus groups seem to be conducted by phone.

go here To sign up with Rare Patient Voice.

16 – FocusGroups.org

This company does not conduct focus groups themselves, rather they list those that are open and available through other companies. I’ve heard good things about becoming a member here if you’re looking for studies to actively participate in, so be sure to sign up with them if you want to do it regularly. FocusGroups.org is definitely legit and we recommend creating an account here.

go here To sign up with FocusGroups.org.

Tips for Success in Online Research Studies

If you want to participate in a research study and get paid, the first thing to remember is that it won’t make you rich or replace your day job.

That said, you can make really good extra money doing this. You can earn much more with survey panels, reward sites and other types of side earners.

If you want to be successful and make as much extra as possible (probably hundreds of extra per month), I recommend:

• Staying on top of what education is available. Check these sites daily to see what you can try to qualify for
• Please fill out your profile completely on this site. The more these panels know about you and your specific demographics and preferences, the more likely you are to find a study for which you are a good fit.
• Not to be a flake. If you’re accepted to be part of a study, follow up and do the phone call, online survey, or in-person interview as you said you would. You don’t pay if you don’t do what you say.
• Don’t let yourself be fooled! Although the opportunities I listed above are legitimate, you can find many online that are not If something doesn’t feel right to you, don’t register for it.

Hope you find the above list helpful if you are interested in becoming a volunteer for a research study. Remember that you may have to sign up for several studies to be selected, but if you are interested enough to persist, your efforts will pay off in the end.

If you haven’t already subscribed to our weekly work at home update, you can do so here. It’s free, and you’ll find ways to earn extra cash and real work at home jobs!

Bonus – get mine Work at home e-book bundles Right now for just $5 (total of 8 eBooks)

If you want more links to jobs across a ton of categories (virtual assisting, data entry, transcription, and more), you might want to download my Work at home e-book bundle .

It includes the following e-books ($1 each if you buy them individually):

Download it here .

After your purchase you will receive an email with a link to download the PDF files.

Anna Thurman is a home blogger and mother of two. He has been researching and reviewing remote jobs for over 13 years. His results are published weekly here at Real Ways to Earn.

More from Helal Uddin Chowdhury

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Influence the Future of Technology, Products and Services

Learn About Emerging Technology

Get Paid to Share your Valuable Opinions

Influence the future of technology, products & services, earn money sharing your valuable opinions on daily-use products, services, and technology..

• Witness technological advancements and product enhancements firsthand.
• Get rewarded for providing your opinions and feedback.
• Stay informed about the latest emerging technology and innovative products

How it works:

Sign Up & Participate

Join our growing community of technology professionals, computer users, gamers, and people like you who participate in research studies such as online surveys, one-on-one interviews, user tests, and more.

Share your feedback and influence future development of the products and services you use every day from technology and productivity apps to online games and tools for developers and educators. There’s something for everyone.

Keep informed about emerging technologies, products, and services. Help others learn by sharing your valuable user experience with the companies designing these products and services.

Participants are paid quickly for each completed research engagement. Payments are sent electronically and can be converted to cash, prepaid cards, gift cards and more.

By registering on the URI Participant Portal , you can select studies that are based on profiles that match your experience and interests. You can choose as many profiles as you wish and may be asked to answer a series of questions in order to be considered for the study. To increase your chances of being chosen to participate, select the profile(s) that fit you best.

Everyone qualifies for consumer studies, there is no prior experience required for these studies.

Studies for people who play console, computer, mobile or VR/AR video games.

Information Workers

If you use productivity software at work such as Microsoft Office Suit e or Google Suite these studies are for you.

Person with a Disability

These studies are intended for people with physical, sensory, or mental conditions or impairments.

Technology Professionals

These studies are for people who are software/devops engineers, data professionals, data scientists, IT professionals, etc.

If you travel for business or pleasure these studies are for you.

Miscellaneous

We also have studies for students, educators, health care workers, seniors, parents, etc.

Our Participants tell us

Get paid to share your opinions.

Influence the future of technology, products and services., refer a friend.

We’re always looking for more people like you! If you know someone who would be interested in participating in a study, please have them sign up in our database!

What to expect when participating

Help center.

The URI Help Center is your place for commonly asked questions regarding participating in research studies, we encourage you to visit the Help Center. 

Remember: URI is testing the product, not you.

User Research International

+1 425 242 8030 17602 NE Union Hill Road Redmond, WA 98052 [email protected]

FOR PARTICIPANTS

Our research in global markets complies with the codes of conduct of the following professional organizations:

Privacy | Terms of Service | Biometric Identifier Policy | Health Date Privacy & Protection Policy | Protecting IP in UX Research

©2024 User Research International. All rights reserved.

Privacy Overview

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

• Participate in Research Studies

Paid Research Opportunities

The following studies are recruiting participants and pay for your time. Read the descriptions and requirements. If you are interested, email the researcher asking to participate. Information on some studies is also posted on bulletin boards in Swift Hall.

Currently Available Studies

Emotional processing in friendships.

Do you or your friend struggle with self-confidence? Help us research how close friends talk and support each other! If you AND one of your close friends are between 18 and 40 years and willing to participate together, you may be eligible. You and your friend can each earn up to $125. For this study, you and one of your close, same-sex friends will participate together at Northwestern’s medical school campus in downtown Chicago. You will complete an interview, a variety of questionnaires, and several tasks with your friend while having your brain activity recorded using EEG. Many of the procedures will be completed online rather than in person. This study will take approximately 5 hours to complete, splitting into 2 days. You and your friend will each be paid $25/hour for a total of $125 (the total amount will depend on how long your visit takes). Additionally, you will also be compensated for parking or CTA travel for attending the study visit.

If you are interested, please fill out this brief survey to see if you are eligible ( https://redcap.nubic.northwestern.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=487MNAJAMWMLC9AM ). If you have more questions, feel free to email the us at [email protected] or call/text at 312-884-9797! A team member will get back to you shortly. Principal Investigator : Dr. Stewart Shankman

Study Title : Emotional Processing in Friendships

IRB# : STU00218814

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD)

8/6/2024 

The Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences is recruiting families with babies 9 to 30 months of age to participate in the pilot phase of a study investigating early brain and child development.

The visit will consist of a lullaby MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) while baby is sleeping. No dyes/contrast or sedation are used. MRIs are safe and routinely used in research settings. The visit will take approximately 2.5 – 3 hours and families are compensated $115 for their time. The visit will take place on Northwestern’s Chicago campus. Parking validation or transportation reimbursement will be provided along with childcare (if needed for other children).

For more information or to sign up, please email HBCD Study Manager, Brianna Sinche, at  [email protected] .

Study Title : The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) Principal Investigators : Drs. Lauren Wakschlag and Elizabeth Norton IRB# : STU00217118

Play games for brain science!

The Dynamic Brain Lab at Northwestern University is recruiting volunteers to participate in research on the brain dynamics underlying memory and cognitive control across the human lifespan. We are recruiting adults and children for multiple studies.

Participants will be compensated at $30/hour.

The research will take place in downtown Chicago.

Follow this link for more information, and to sign up: https://redcap.nubic.northwestern.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=93P9HHRYXXDMLYTD

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Johnson, PhD

Study Title: Behavioral and neural mechanisms of memory across the lifespan

IRB# : STU00216728

Social Interactions Study

We are seeking young people to participate in a research project at Northwestern University about how the relationships between social networks, personality, and unusual thoughts some people may have fluctuate over a brief period. The goal of this research is to increase understanding of how social interactions influence mental health concerns and/or mental health concerns influence social interactions.

You may be eligible for this study if you are between 12 and 34 years of age. The study would entail coming in for 3 visits each approximately one week apart, and you will be compensated $25 per hour for your participation. During these sessions, you will complete questionnaires about unusual thoughts and experiences, mental health symptoms, and your social network and a brief interview with a researcher about your social life.

If you are interested, please email us at [email protected] , and a member of our team will get back to you shortly.

Principal investigator : Dr. Vijay Mittal

Study Title : ORBITZ

IRB# : STU00203263

Individual Differences in Talker Identification

The SoundBrain Lab is seeking participants for a research study investigating how our brains identify and categorize different talkers/voices.

You may be eligible if:

• You are between 18-35 years old.
• You are a native speaker of English
• You have no experience with Mandarin Chinese.
• You have normal hearing (no hearing loss).
• You have no history of neurological or psychological disorders.
• You can travel to Northwestern’s Evanston campus.

Participation includes:

• Hearing screening
• This measure consists of resting your chin on a cushioned platform fixed to the desk you’re sitting at. You will be instructed to fix your gaze on a computer screen in front of you and respond to various sounds played over headphones.

All measures are non-invasive. Participation requires two 1-hour visits. These visits may be on the same day, separated by at least two hours, or on consecutive days. Participants will be compensated at $15/hour.

 If you are interested, please email [email protected] for more information.

Principal Investigator : Bharath Chandrasekaran, PhD

Study Title : Neural Systems in Auditory and Speech Categorization

IRB# : STU00219433 

Psychosis Risk Outcomes Network Study

We are seeking young people who are concerned about recent changes in mood, thinking or behavior. This research project aims to increase understanding of mental health concerns in young people and how to prevent the development of a more serious mental illness such as psychosis.

You may be eligible for the study if you meet any of the following criteria:

• Ages 12 - 30
• Noticing a recent change in thinking, behavior, or experiences, such as:
• Confusion about what is real or imaginary
• Feeling not in control of your own thoughts of ideas
• Feeling suspicious or paranoid
• Having experiences that may not be real, such as hearing sounds or seeing things that may not be there
• Having trouble communicating clearly

The study would entail visits over a 2-year period, and you would be paid $30 per hour for your participation.  Eligible participants will be asked to come in for various assessments including:

• clinical interviews
• biological assessments (MRI & EEG brain scans; blood and saliva testing)
• cognitive testing

If you are interested, please email us at [email protected]  or fill out this online eligibility survey , and a member of our team will get back to you shortly.

Principal investigator: Dr. Vijay Mittal Study Title: ProNET IRB #: STU00215145

Good at sleeping?

The Cognitive Neuroscience Lab in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern is recruiting volunteers to participate in sleep research ( STU00034353 )

 Compensation is provided for studies ($12.50/hr)

You can participate in Chicago or at our sleep lab on the Evanston campus.

 To sign up and learn more about the The Paller Lab, visit:    www.northwestern.edu/people/kap/apply  

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ken Paller

Study Title: Strategically strengthening declarative memories during sleep: Learning, Creative Problem-Solving, REM Sleep, and Dreaming

IRB# STU00034353-MOD0044

How to Find Paid Research Studies That Pay $50+ an Hour

Our website is supported by our users and contains affiliate links. We get paid when you purchase or sign up for anything through those links. Read the full disclaimer for more information.

Last Updated on December 9, 2021 by Daniella

A great way to make money online is with online paid research studies.

These studies usually consist entirely online but may also have the opportunity for an in person activity. They could be interview based, online survey based, focus group based, panel based, or clinical trial based.

Online paid research studies are a notch up from the online paid survey apps like Swagbucks and InboxDollars that take you a week to get to a $20 payout. A good pay range for participating in paid research studies would be $50 an hour and up. You’ll see that some clinical studies mentioned make up to $400 for one study.

All of the sites mentioned in this article pay $50 and up for each paid study, making it a worthwhile way to make extra cash but maybe not a sustainable side hustle – since you have to rely on if you fall into a certain demographic for a study or not.

Let’s explore the opportunities available.

Table of Contents

5 Places to Find Paid Research Studies That Pay $50 an Hour and Up

1. respondent.

Respondent is a website and company that will paid you for online paid research interviews based on both your professional and life experience.

You’ll find research interviews you can get paid for ranging from getting paid to ordering food at a restaurant to testing software, apps , feedback on financial needs, and more. In this case, your data is the product for the payout you’re earning (as with most research studies).

Pay rate: Ranges from $15 for 15 minutes to as much as $300 an hour for 1 study

2. User Research International

User Research International is a company that runs studies for consumers, IT professionals, developers, and more. When you join as a participant in their database, you’ll start receiving emails with study opportunities you can apply to participate in.

Most studies take less than 2 hours and pay anywhere from $50 to $200.

You can get started by going to User Research International and signing up for free.

Pay rate: $50 an hour and up

3. FieldWork

FieldWork is a company that relies on focus groups to aid in their nationwide paid market research studies. Your expertise can influence decision makers through their research.

The site says they are looking for all types of people in all different areas to participate in their studies. If you listen to music or use a bank, FieldWork has a study for you to participate in.

When I went to try it out for myself to apply for a study, I applied for this study for remote workers since I am a full time remote worker . They had tons of different studies available for different workers, interests, and more.

Pay rate: $100 an hour and up

4. User Interviews

Get paid by testing an app, website, or just talking about your life experiences with User Interviews.

User Interviews pays you for your user feedback on an array of different things including (but not limited to):

• Product use feedback
• Software testing
• Application testing
• Website testing
• Content editor workflow questions
• Management experience interviews
• System testing
• Workplace experience feedback

The site features tons of studies that pay anywhere from $50 per 30 minutes so as much as $150 an hour. All studies are done online.

Pay rate: $50 per 30 minutes to as much as $150 an hour

5. Experience Dynamics

Experience Dynamics is a company whose sole purpose is to provide feedback and data to their clients to continually improve the software and products we use in our everyday lives.

They host user research studies that range from interview style, survey, or walking through a website from a start of an action to the end of an action.

All of the different types of studies they have available are:

• Field Studies
• Diary Studies
• Usability Testing
• Phone interviews
• Online Focus Groups
• Online Surveys

Each study pays anywhere from $50 to $150.

Related:  9 Creative Ways to Get Paid to Text

Paid Research Studies: Get Paid for Your Data

As you apply to any of the studies above, continue applying. Don’t expect to get accepted to a study on your first application so increase your chances of acceptance to apply for several studies that fit your expertise or experience.

Be sure to set and keep your boundaries when applying for these studies as well. This is your personal data you’re selling and when it starts to feel a bit too intrusive, chances are your gut is right and maybe you shouldn’t go for that study.

Getting paid to contribute to research is exciting, and keep an open mind but always keep a look out for red flags and anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. You never have to do anything or provide any information that you don’t want to.

For more ways to make money online, take our free side hustle quiz.

• 11 Side Hustles for Nurses
• 8 Side Hustles for Teachers
• 7 Ways to Get Paid to Sleep (Yes, Seriously!)
• 22 Clever Ways To Get Free Gift Cards

Pin it for later!

Daniella is the creator and author of iliketodabble.com. When their wife Alexandra and them aren’t globetrotting or playing with their 7+ animals, they are dabbling and working towards a future of financial freedom.

1 thought on “How to Find Paid Research Studies That Pay $50+ an Hour”

I work as a web developer and I’ve joined User Research International and it’s great!! I got two studies this past month they were 2h and I was paid 225$ for both. You do need to have a technical background for most studies but they are really easy if you have the knowleagh and payment tends to be fast and you have many options on how to get paid.

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Here’s how you know

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• National Institutes of Health

Acupuncture: Effectiveness and Safety

.header_greentext{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_bluetext{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_redtext{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_purpletext{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_yellowtext{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_blacktext{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_whitetext{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;}.Green_Header{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Blue_Header{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Red_Header{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Purple_Header{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Yellow_Header{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Black_Header{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.White_Header{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;} What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a technique in which practitioners insert fine needles into the skin to treat health problems. The needles may be manipulated manually or stimulated with small electrical currents (electroacupuncture). Acupuncture has been in use in some form for at least 2,500 years. It originated from  traditional Chinese medicine but has gained popularity worldwide since the 1970s.

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According to the World Health Organization, acupuncture is used in 103 of 129 countries that reported data.

In the United States, data from the National Health Interview Survey show that the use of acupuncture by U.S. adults more than doubled between 2002 and 2022. In 2002, 1.0 percent of U.S. adults used acupuncture; in 2022, 2.2 percent used it. 

.header_greentext{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_bluetext{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_redtext{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_purpletext{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_yellowtext{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_blacktext{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_whitetext{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;}.Green_Header{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Blue_Header{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Red_Header{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Purple_Header{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Yellow_Header{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Black_Header{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.White_Header{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;} What is acupuncture used for?

National survey data indicate that in the United States, acupuncture is most commonly used for pain, such as back, joint, or neck pain.

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How acupuncture works is not fully understood. However, there’s evidence that acupuncture may have effects on the nervous system, effects on other body tissues, and nonspecific (placebo) effects. 

• Studies in animals and people, including studies that used imaging methods to see what’s happening in the brain, have shown that acupuncture may affect nervous system function.
• Acupuncture may have direct effects on the tissues where the needles are inserted. This type of effect has been seen in connective tissue.
• Acupuncture has nonspecific effects (effects due to incidental aspects of a treatment rather than its main mechanism of action). Nonspecific effects may be due to the patient’s belief in the treatment, the relationship between the practitioner and the patient, or other factors not directly caused by the insertion of needles. In many studies, the benefit of acupuncture has been greater when it was compared with no treatment than when it was compared with sham (simulated or fake) acupuncture procedures, such as the use of a device that pokes the skin but does not penetrate it. These findings suggest that nonspecific effects contribute to the beneficial effect of acupuncture on pain or other symptoms. 
• In recent research, a nonspecific effect was demonstrated in a unique way: Patients who had experienced pain relief during a previous acupuncture session were shown a video of that session and asked to imagine the treatment happening again. This video-guided imagery technique had a significant pain-relieving effect.

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Research has shown that acupuncture may be helpful for several pain conditions, including back or neck pain, knee pain associated with osteoarthritis, and postoperative pain. It may also help relieve joint pain associated with the use of aromatase inhibitors, which are drugs used in people with breast cancer. 

An analysis of data from 20 studies (6,376 participants) of people with painful conditions (back pain, osteoarthritis, neck pain, or headaches) showed that the beneficial effects of acupuncture continued for a year after the end of treatment for all conditions except neck pain.

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• In a 2018 review, data from 12 studies (8,003 participants) showed acupuncture was more effective than no treatment for back or neck pain, and data from 10 studies (1,963 participants) showed acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture. The difference between acupuncture and no treatment was greater than the difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture. The pain-relieving effect of acupuncture was comparable to that of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
• A 2017 clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians included acupuncture among the nondrug options recommended as first-line treatment for chronic low-back pain. Acupuncture is also one of the treatment options recommended for acute low-back pain. The evidence favoring acupuncture for acute low-back pain was judged to be of low quality, and the evidence for chronic low-back pain was judged to be of moderate quality.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on low-back pain .

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• In a 2018 review, data from 10 studies (2,413 participants) showed acupuncture was more effective than no treatment for osteoarthritis pain, and data from 9 studies (2,376 participants) showed acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture. The difference between acupuncture and no treatment was greater than the difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture. Most of the participants in these studies had knee osteoarthritis, but some had hip osteoarthritis. The pain-relieving effect of acupuncture was comparable to that of NSAIDs.
• A 2018 review evaluated 6 studies (413 participants) of acupuncture for hip osteoarthritis. Two of the studies compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture and found little or no difference between them in terms of effects on pain. The other four studies compared acupuncture with a variety of other treatments and could not easily be compared with one another. However, one of the trials indicated that the addition of acupuncture to routine care by a physician may improve pain and function in patients with hip osteoarthritis.
• A 2019 clinical practice guideline from the American College of Rheumatology and the Arthritis Foundation conditionally recommends acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the knee, hip, or hand. The guideline states that the greatest number of studies showing benefits have been for knee osteoarthritis.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on osteoarthritis .

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• A 2020   review of nine studies that compared acupuncture with various drugs for preventing migraine found that acupuncture was slightly more effective, and study participants who received acupuncture were much less likely than those receiving drugs to drop out of studies because of side effects.
• There’s moderate-quality evidence that acupuncture may reduce the frequency of migraines (from a 2016 evaluation of 22 studies with almost 5,000 people). The evidence from these studies also suggests that acupuncture may be better than sham acupuncture, but the difference is small. There is moderate- to low-quality evidence that acupuncture may reduce the frequency of tension headaches (from a 2016 evaluation of 12 studies with about 2,350 people).

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on headache .

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• Myofascial pain syndrome is a common form of pain derived from muscles and their related connective tissue (fascia). It involves tender nodules called “trigger points.” Pressing on these nodules reproduces the patient’s pattern of pain.
• A combined analysis of a small number of studies of acupuncture for myofascial pain syndrome showed that acupuncture applied to trigger points had a favorable effect on pain intensity (5 studies, 215 participants), but acupuncture applied to traditional acupuncture points did not (4 studies, 80 participants).  

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• Sciatica involves pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in the leg, usually on one side of the body, caused by damage to or pressure on the sciatic nerve—a nerve that starts in the lower back and runs down the back of each leg.
• Two 2015 evaluations of the evidence, one including 12 studies with 1,842 total participants and the other including 11 studies with 962 total participants, concluded that acupuncture may be helpful for sciatica pain, but the quality of the research is not good enough to allow definite conclusions to be reached.

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• A 2016 evaluation of 11 studies of pain after surgery (with a total of 682 participants) found that patients treated with acupuncture or related techniques 1 day after surgery had less pain and used less opioid pain medicine after the operation.

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• A 2016 review of 20 studies (1,639 participants) indicated that acupuncture was not more effective in relieving cancer pain than conventional drug therapy. However, there was some evidence that acupuncture plus drug therapy might be better than drug therapy alone.
• A 2017 review of 5 studies (181 participants) of acupuncture for aromatase inhibitor-induced joint pain in breast cancer patients concluded that 6 to 8 weeks of acupuncture treatment may help reduce the pain. However, the individual studies only included small numbers of women and used a variety of acupuncture techniques and measurement methods, so they were difficult to compare.
• A larger 2018 study included 226 women with early-stage breast cancer who were taking aromatase inhibitors. The study found that the women who received 6 weeks of acupuncture treatment, given twice each week, reported less joint pain than the participants who received sham or no acupuncture.

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• Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome is a condition in men that involves inflammation of or near the prostate gland; its cause is uncertain.
• A review of 3 studies (204 total participants) suggested that acupuncture may reduce prostatitis symptoms, compared with a sham procedure. Because follow-up of the study participants was relatively brief and the numbers of studies and participants were small, a definite conclusion cannot be reached about acupuncture’s effects.

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• A 2019 review of 41 studies (3,440 participants) showed that acupuncture was no more effective than sham acupuncture for symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, but there was some evidence that acupuncture could be helpful when used in addition to other forms of treatment.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on irritable bowel syndrome .

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• A 2019 review of 12 studies (824 participants) of people with fibromyalgia indicated that acupuncture was significantly better than sham acupuncture for relieving pain, but the evidence was of low-to-moderate quality.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on fibromyalgia . 

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In addition to pain conditions, acupuncture has also been studied for at least 50 other health problems. There is evidence that acupuncture may help relieve seasonal allergy symptoms, stress incontinence in women, and nausea and vomiting associated with cancer treatment. It may also help relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life in people with asthma, but it has not been shown to improve lung function.

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• A 2015 evaluation of 13 studies of acupuncture for allergic rhinitis, involving a total of 2,365 participants, found evidence that acupuncture may help relieve nasal symptoms. The study participants who received acupuncture also had lower medication scores (meaning that they used less medication to treat their symptoms) and lower blood levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), a type of antibody associated with allergies.
• A 2014 clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery included acupuncture among the options health care providers may offer to patients with allergic rhinitis.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on seasonal allergies .

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• Stress incontinence is a bladder control problem in which movement—coughing, sneezing, laughing, or physical activity—puts pressure on the bladder and causes urine to leak.
• In a 2017 study of about 500 women with stress incontinence, participants who received electroacupuncture treatment (18 sessions over 6 weeks) had reduced urine leakage, with about two-thirds of the women having a decrease in leakage of 50 percent or more. This was a rigorous study that met current standards for avoiding bias.

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• Experts generally agree that acupuncture is helpful for treatment-related nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, but this conclusion is based primarily on research conducted before current guidelines for treating these symptoms were adopted. It’s uncertain whether acupuncture is beneficial when used in combination with current standard treatments for nausea and vomiting.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on cancer .

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• In a study conducted in Germany in 2017, 357 participants receiving routine asthma care were randomly assigned to receive or not receive acupuncture, and an additional 1,088 people who received acupuncture for asthma were also studied. Adding acupuncture to routine care was associated with better quality of life compared to routine care alone.
• A review of 9 earlier studies (777 participants) showed that adding acupuncture to conventional asthma treatment improved symptoms but not lung function.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on asthma .

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• A 2018 review of 64 studies (7,104 participants) of acupuncture for depression indicated that acupuncture may result in a moderate reduction in the severity of depression when compared with treatment as usual or no treatment. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution because most of the studies were of low or very low quality.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on depression .

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• In recommendations on smoking cessation treatment issued in 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of experts that makes evidence-based recommendations about disease prevention, did not make a recommendation about the use of acupuncture as a stop-smoking treatment because only limited evidence was available. This decision was based on a 2014 review of 9 studies (1,892 participants) that looked at the effect of acupuncture on smoking cessation results for 6 months or more and found no significant benefit. Some studies included in that review showed evidence of a possible small benefit of acupuncture on quitting smoking for shorter periods of time.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on quitting smoking .

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• A 2021 review evaluated 6 studies (2,507 participants) that compared the effects of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture on the success of in vitro fertilization as a treatment for infertility. No difference was found between the acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups in rates of pregnancy or live birth.
• A 2020 review evaluated 12 studies (1,088 participants) on the use of acupuncture to improve sperm quality in men who had low sperm numbers and low sperm motility. The reviewers concluded that the evidence was inadequate for firm conclusions to be drawn because of the varied design of the studies and the poor quality of some of them. 

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• A 2018 review of 12 studies with 869 participants concluded that acupuncture and laser acupuncture (a treatment that uses lasers instead of needles) may have little or no effect on carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms in comparison with sham acupuncture. It’s uncertain how the effects of acupuncture compare with those of other treatments for this condition.    
• In a 2017 study not included in the review described above, 80 participants with carpal tunnel syndrome were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: (1) electroacupuncture to the more affected hand; (2) electroacupuncture at “distal” body sites, near the ankle opposite to the more affected hand; and (3) local sham electroacupuncture using nonpenetrating placebo needles. All three interventions reduced symptom severity, but local and distal acupuncture were better than sham acupuncture at producing desirable changes in the wrist and the brain.

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• A 2018 review of studies of acupuncture for vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause (hot flashes and related symptoms such as night sweats) analyzed combined evidence from an earlier review of 15 studies (1,127 participants) and 4 newer studies (696 additional participants). The analysis showed that acupuncture was better than no acupuncture at reducing the frequency and severity of symptoms. However, acupuncture was not shown to be better than sham acupuncture.

For more information, see the  NCCIH webpage on menopause .

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• Auricular acupuncture is a type of acupuncture that involves stimulating specific areas of the ear. 
• In a 2019 review of 15 studies (930 participants) of auricular acupuncture or auricular acupressure (a form of auricular therapy that does not involve penetration with needles), the treatment significantly reduced pain intensity, and 80 percent of the individual studies showed favorable effects on various measures related to pain.
• A 2020 review of 9 studies (783 participants) of auricular acupuncture for cancer pain showed that auricular acupuncture produced better pain relief than sham auricular acupuncture. Also, pain relief was better with a combination of auricular acupuncture and drug therapy than with drug therapy alone.
• An inexpensive, easily learned form of auricular acupuncture called “battlefield acupuncture” has been used by the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to treat pain. However, a 2021 review of 9 studies (692 participants) of battlefield acupuncture for pain in adults did not find any significant improvement in pain when this technique was compared with no treatment, usual care, delayed treatment, or sham battlefield acupuncture.

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• Relatively few complications from using acupuncture have been reported. However, complications have resulted from use of nonsterile needles and improper delivery of treatments.
• When not delivered properly, acupuncture can cause serious adverse effects, including infections, punctured organs, and injury to the central nervous system.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates acupuncture needles as medical devices and requires that they be sterile and labeled for single use only.

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• Some health insurance policies cover acupuncture, but others don’t. Coverage is often limited based on the condition being treated.
• An analysis of data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative U.S. survey, showed that the share of adult acupuncturist visits with any insurance coverage increased from 41.1 percent in 2010–2011 to 50.2 percent in 2018–2019.
• Medicare covers acupuncture only for the treatment of chronic low-back pain. Coverage began in 2020. Up to 12 acupuncture visits are covered, with an additional 8 visits available if the first 12 result in improvement. Medicaid coverage of acupuncture varies from state to state.

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• Most states license acupuncturists, but the requirements for licensing vary from state to state. To find out more about licensing of acupuncturists and other complementary health practitioners, visit the NCCIH webpage  Credentialing, Licensing, and Education . 

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NCCIH funds research to evaluate acupuncture’s effectiveness for various kinds of pain and other conditions and to further understand how the body responds to acupuncture and how acupuncture might work. Some recent NCCIH-supported studies involve:

• Evaluating the feasibility of using acupuncture in hospital emergency departments.
• Testing whether the effect of acupuncture on chronic low-back pain can be enhanced by combining it with transcranial direct current stimulation.
• Evaluating a portable acupuncture-based nerve stimulation treatment for anxiety disorders.

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• Don’t use acupuncture to postpone seeing a health care provider about a health problem.
• Take charge of your health—talk with your health care providers about any complementary health approaches you use. Together, you can make shared, well-informed decisions.

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Nccih clearinghouse.

The NCCIH Clearinghouse provides information on NCCIH and complementary and integrative health approaches, including publications and searches of Federal databases of scientific and medical literature. The Clearinghouse does not provide medical advice, treatment recommendations, or referrals to practitioners.

Toll-free in the U.S.: 1-888-644-6226

Telecommunications relay service (TRS): 7-1-1

Website: https://www.nccih.nih.gov

Email: [email protected] (link sends email)

Know the Science

NCCIH and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide tools to help you understand the basics and terminology of scientific research so you can make well-informed decisions about your health. Know the Science features a variety of materials, including interactive modules, quizzes, and videos, as well as links to informative content from Federal resources designed to help consumers make sense of health information.

Explaining How Research Works (NIH)

Know the Science: How To Make Sense of a Scientific Journal Article

Understanding Clinical Studies (NIH)

A service of the National Library of Medicine, PubMed® contains publication information and (in most cases) brief summaries of articles from scientific and medical journals. For guidance from NCCIH on using PubMed, see How To Find Information About Complementary Health Approaches on PubMed .

Website: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

NIH Clinical Research Trials and You

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has created a website, NIH Clinical Research Trials and You, to help people learn about clinical trials, why they matter, and how to participate. The site includes questions and answers about clinical trials, guidance on how to find clinical trials through ClinicalTrials.gov and other resources, and stories about the personal experiences of clinical trial participants. Clinical trials are necessary to find better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases.

Website: https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you

Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures & Results (RePORTER)

RePORTER is a database of information on federally funded scientific and medical research projects being conducted at research institutions.

Website: https://reporter.nih.gov

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• Befus D, Coeytaux RR, Goldstein KM, et al.  Management of menopause symptoms with acupuncture: an umbrella systematic review and meta-analysis . Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2018;24(4):314-323.
• Bleck   R, Marquez E, Gold MA, et al.  A scoping review of acupuncture insurance coverage in the United States . Acupuncture in Medicine. 2020;964528420964214.
• Briggs JP, Shurtleff D.  Acupuncture and the complex connections between the mind and the body. JAMA. 2017;317(24):2489-2490.
• Brinkhaus B, Roll S, Jena S, et al.  Acupuncture in patients with allergic asthma: a randomized pragmatic trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2017;23(4):268-277.
• Chan MWC, Wu XY, Wu JCY, et al.  Safety of acupuncture: overview of systematic reviews. Scientific Reports. 2017;7(1):3369.
• Coyle ME, Stupans I, Abdel-Nour K, et al.  Acupuncture versus placebo acupuncture for in vitro fertilisation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acupuncture in Medicine. 2021;39(1):20-29.
• Hershman DL, Unger JM, Greenlee H, et al.  Effect of acupuncture vs sham acupuncture or waitlist control on joint pain related to aromatase inhibitors among women with early-stage breast cancer: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2018;320(2):167-176.
• Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, et al.  Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016;(6):CD001218. Accessed at  cochranelibrary.com on February 12, 2021.
• Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, et al.  Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016;(4):CD007587. Accessed at  cochranelibrary.com on February 12, 2021.
• MacPherson H, Vertosick EA, Foster NE, et al. The persistence of the effects of acupuncture after a course of treatment: a meta-analysis of patients with chronic pain . Pain. 2017;158(5):784-793.
• Qaseem A, Wilt TJ, McLean RM, et al.  Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017;166(7):514-530.
• Seidman MD, Gurgel RK, Lin SY, et al.  Clinical practice guideline: allergic rhinitis. Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery. 2015;152(suppl 1):S1-S43.
• Vickers AJ, Vertosick EA, Lewith G, et al. Acupuncture for chronic pain: update of an individual patient data meta-analysis . The Journal of Pain. 2018;19(5):455-474.
• White AR, Rampes H, Liu JP, et al.  Acupuncture and related interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2014;(1):CD000009. Accessed at  cochranelibrary.com on February 17, 2021.
• Zia FZ, Olaku O, Bao T, et al.  The National Cancer Institute’s conference on acupuncture for symptom management in oncology: state of the science, evidence, and research gaps. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs. 2017;2017(52):lgx005.

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• Adams D, Cheng F, Jou H, et al. The safety of pediatric acupuncture: a systematic review. Pediatrics. 2011;128(6):e1575-1587.
• Candon M, Nielsen A, Dusek JA. Trends in insurance coverage for acupuncture, 2010-2019. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(1):e2142509.
• Cao J, Tu Y, Orr SP, et al. Analgesic effects evoked by real and imagined acupuncture: a neuroimaging study. Cerebral Cortex. 2019;29(8):3220-3231.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Decision Memo for Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain (CAG-00452N). Accessed at https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-decision-memo.aspx?NCAId=295 on June 25, 2021.
• Chen L, Lin C-C, Huang T-W, et al. Effect of acupuncture on aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgia in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials . The Breast. 2017;33:132-138. 
• Choi G-H, Wieland LS, Lee H, et al. Acupuncture and related interventions for the treatment of symptoms associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;(12):CD011215. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on January 28, 2021.
• Cui J, Wang S, Ren J, et al. Use of acupuncture in the USA: changes over a decade (2002–2012). Acupuncture in Medicine. 2017;35(3):200-207.
• Federman DG, Zeliadt SB, Thomas ER, et al. Battlefield acupuncture in the Veterans Health Administration: effectiveness in individual and group settings for pain and pain comorbidities. Medical Acupuncture. 2018;30(5):273-278.
• Feng S, Han M, Fan Y, et al. Acupuncture for the treatment of allergic rhinitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy. 2015;29(1):57-62.
• Franco JV, Turk T, Jung JH, et al. Non-pharmacological interventions for treating chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;(5):CD012551. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on January 28, 2021.
• Freeman MP, Fava M, Lake J, et al. Complementary and alternative medicine in major depressive disorder: the American Psychiatric Association task force report. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry . 2010;71(6):669-681.
• Giovanardi CM, Cinquini M, Aguggia M, et al. Acupuncture vs. pharmacological prophylaxis of migraine: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Neurology. 2020;11:576272.
• Hu C, Zhang H, Wu W, et al. Acupuncture for pain management in cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2016;2016;1720239.
• Jiang C, Jiang L, Qin Q. Conventional treatments plus acupuncture for asthma in adults and adolescent: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine . 2019;2019:9580670.
• Ji M, Wang X, Chen M, et al. The efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of sciatica: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.  2015;2015:192808.
• Kaptchuk TJ. Acupuncture: theory, efficacy, and practice. Annals of Internal Medicine . 2002;136(5):374-383.
• Kolasinski SL, Neogi T, Hochberg MC, et al. 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation guideline for the management of osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee. Arthritis Care & Research. 2020;72(2):149-162. 
• Langevin H. Fascia mobility, proprioception, and myofascial pain. Life. 2021;11(7):668. 
• Liu Z, Liu Y, Xu H, et al. Effect of electroacupuncture on urinary leakage among women with stress urinary incontinence: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2017;317(24):2493-2501.
• MacPherson H, Hammerschlag R, Coeytaux RR, et al. Unanticipated insights into biomedicine from the study of acupuncture. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2016;22(2):101-107.
• Maeda Y, Kim H, Kettner N, et al. Rewiring the primary somatosensory cortex in carpal tunnel syndrome with acupuncture. Brain. 2017;140(4):914-927.
• Manheimer E, Cheng K, Wieland LS, et al. Acupuncture for hip osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;(5):CD013010. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on February 17, 2021. 
• Moura CC, Chaves ECL, Cardoso ACLR, et al. Auricular acupuncture for chronic back pain in adults: a systematic review and metanalysis. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P. 2019;53:e03461.
• Nahin RL, Rhee A, Stussman B. Use of complementary health approaches overall and for pain management by US adults. JAMA. 2024;331(7):613-615.
• Napadow V. Neuroimaging somatosensory and therapeutic alliance mechanisms supporting acupuncture. Medical Acupuncture. 2020;32(6):400-402.
• Patnode CD, Henderson JT, Coppola EL, et al. Interventions for tobacco cessation in adults, including pregnant persons: updated evidence report and systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2021;325(3):280-298.
• Qin Z, Liu X, Wu J, et al. Effectiveness of acupuncture for treating sciatica: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2015;2015;425108.
• Smith CA, Armour M, Lee MS, et al. Acupuncture for depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;(3):CD004046. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on January 20, 2021.
• US Preventive Services Task Force. Interventions for tobacco smoking cessation in adults, including pregnant persons. US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. JAMA. 2021;325(3):265-279.
• Vase L, Baram S, Takakura N, et al. Specifying the nonspecific components of acupuncture analgesia. Pain. 2013;154(9):1659-1667.
• Wang R, Li X, Zhou S, et al. Manual acupuncture for myofascial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acupuncture in Medicine. 2017;35(4):241-250.
• World Health Organization. WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy: 2014–2023. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2013. Accessed at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506096 on February 2, 2021.
• Wu M-S, Chen K-H, Chen I-F, et al. The efficacy of acupuncture in post-operative pain management: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2016;11(3):e0150367.
• Xu S, Wang L, Cooper E, et al. Adverse events of acupuncture: a systematic review of case reports. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013;2013:581203.
• Yang J, Ganesh R, Wu Q, et al. Battlefield acupuncture for adult pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. 2021;49(1):25-40.
• Yang Y, Wen J, Hong J. The effects of auricular therapy for cancer pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2020;2020:1618767.  
• Yeh CH, Morone NE, Chien L-C, et al. Auricular point acupressure to manage chronic low back pain in older adults: a randomized controlled pilot study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2014;2014;375173.
• You F, Ruan L, Zeng L, et al. Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of oligoasthenozoospermia: a systematic review. Andrologia. 2020;52(1):e13415.
• Zhang X-C, Chen H, Xu W-T, et al. Acupuncture therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Pain Research. 2019;12:527-542.
• Zheng H, Chen R, Zhao X, et al. Comparison between the effects of acupuncture relative to other controls on irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis. Pain Research and Management. 2019;2019:2871505.

Acknowledgments

NCCIH thanks Pete Murray, Ph.D., David Shurtleff, Ph.D., and Helene M. Langevin, M.D., NCCIH for their review of the 2022 update of this fact sheet. 

This publication is not copyrighted and is in the public domain. Duplication is encouraged.

NCCIH has provided this material for your information. It is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your health care provider(s). We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with your health care provider. The mention of any product, service, or therapy is not an endorsement by NCCIH.

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