Prolific Academic is an extreme oddity in the paid survey world. As the name indicates, they only deal in academic studies conducted by legitimate universities. And since no dodgy marketing companies are involved, they have a much more ethical and generous business model than any other survey site I've yet seen. You don't have to worry about garbage screen-outs after answering 5-10 minutes worth of questions, or anyone stiffing you on payment after the fact.
NATURE OF WORK AND PAYMENT
Prolific Academic's studies are mostly conducted by university students working on degrees, and university research departments conducting large-scale surveys. The latter are usually longer and better-paying than the former, but both pay very well next to just about every other survey site out there.
Signing up is a simple matter of answering the usual demographic questions. When you create an account and log into the site, you'll see any available surveys on a dashboard page. The lowest-paying surveys I've seen are about .33 - .50 GBP (close to / a little over $1 USD at usual exchange rates) for around five minutes of time. The most I've seen is 6-7 GBP for about 30 minutes. 3-4 GBP for around 20 minutes is not uncommon. You can also see how many slots are left in each survey, something you almost never see with other sites.
Most surveys are simple and straightforward, not asking you to do anything special. I do see the very rare oddball that asks you to log into Facebook or some social media account, but that's about it. No trying to sneak your webcam or microphone on. I've yet to see a screen-out of any sort. You're periodically asked demographic questions (in a prompt from the dashboard) that are used to pre-qualify you for surveys, and if a survey hits your dashboard, you're getting paid as long as you finish it within the allotted time.
Payment is made by PayPal or Circle. Unfortunately, they very recently started passing the PayPal standard fees onto survey takers regardless of how much you cash out (previously you were not hit with fees if you waited until you had at least 15 GBP in your account). Circle is fee-free, but it's also a much newer and less proven company.
SITE HISTORY / LEGITIMACY
Prolific Academic is headquartered in Oxford (United Kingdom) and has been operating since 2014. Though it's a relatively new company, they have a rock-solid reputation thus far for honoring their terms and communicating with survey takers. Ethical conduct is an important focus for the company as they partner with research departments of universities, who are required to follow ethical codes in conducting their research.
In as far as I can tell they are a stand-alone company not owned by a parent, funded primarily by venture capital from Oxford University Innovation, which is indeed a branch of THAT Oxford University.
I haven't done Circle, but PayPal payout requests to date have been very quick, usually coming through the next business day after the request.
INTERNATIONAL ACCESS
Prolific is by nature international. Most of the universities they host studies for are in Europe, though they also want survey participants from all over the world.
In fact, their splash page specifically says you can be from anywhere in the world, and I don't see anything in the terms of use banning any particular countries. Of course, you'll need to be able to access PayPal or Circle to get paid.
PROBLEMS WITH PROLIFIC ACADEMIC
I know this is going to sound like a hard sell, but I truly haven't had one problem with this place yet. Every survey is a breeze, and makes its terms clear up front (so if it wants you to log in to Facebook or whatever you're told before you even get started.
The only issue, aside from wishing more surveys were available, is that surveys can appear really sporadically throughout the day (espc. for those of us in the US due to the time zone difference) and they only seem to send notification emails about really huge ones that have tons of slots. A lot of smaller surveys can slip by unless you're dropping in periodically throughout the day, but it's rewarding enough that it's worth keeping open in a separate tab while you're doing other stuff.
FINAL VERDICT - WORTH IT
This is hands-down the best survey company I've encountered yet, and I wish they all worked like this. Of course, no coincidence that it's funded by a major university rather than some marketing company that got its start cold-calling people during dinnertime.
Depending on how much time you're online and have a tab open keeping an eye on it, I could easily see getting into the low hundreds of dollars per month with it if you're keeping it open in a tab throughout the workday, though keep in mind that since it's all university-based activity will drop off a cliff during the usual between-semester and holiday periods (though this past year there was still a good amount of activity during the summer).
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