Why Participate in Paid Technology Studies?
The year is 2022 and you have resolved once again to a new year, a new you! One of those aspects involves paying off a bunch of your debt or building your savings account, but you aren’t exactly sure how you are going to do that. I am going to tell you one possibility you may not have thought about: Tech Research Studies.
There are many Focus Groups out there. Some good, some bad. My job is to helping narrow it down to the 5 Best Paying Tech Research Focus Groups so that you can start participating in these paid research studies they provide.
STUDIES YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN
There are many paid focus groups that specialize in tech research studies in categories such as websites, hardware, and apps. These focus groups can be found on the state level, regional level, and national level. One of the best aspects of these focus groups is that they offer online options so you can participate from anywhere.
How can you start?
Many of these businesses have databases that you can join in order to participate in their focus group studies.
While some studies may be a little bit selective as far as who gets accepted to them, many studies are open to the general public. This could mean an easier time getting selected when you apply. The more you get selected to participate, the more money you stand to make.
ONLINE FOCUS GROUPS THAT ARE WORTH CHECKING OUT
These online focus groups are not ranked, but simply listed for you to review and research to see if one of them may fit your needs. They offer a large volume of studies that pay for your opinions. Feel free to join as many as you are interested in.
YouGov   Â
YouGov is a large name in the industry. They have a broad range of online research studies available on their site. This means there is a good chance you can find a survey you can participate in regardless of your background or location.
Lifepoints Panel
Life Points Panel is an easy-to-use online survey platform. Once you sign up, you will begin receiving emails with invitations for available studies, usually a few per week.
They pay out in gift cards or cash via PayPal. They even occasionally pay you to test new products.
Respondent
Respondent boasts one of the highest paying sets of online research studies. Depending on your background you could make anywhere from $100 – $500+ per hour.
Although these studies pay well, they are a bit harder to qualify for and take a good deal of effort. Persistency here is key and will pay off in those higher dollar amounts though if you stick to it.
TOP 5 TECH RESEARCH STUDY COMPANIES
1.    Think Group Austin
Think Group Austin has been known to not only pay you for your time but provide some of the most innovative tech studies too. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the studies are relatively consistent (meaning frequent options to participate). The customer service is great, and the pay rates are one of the highest in the market. Their site is easy to navigate, and they get you paid quickly.
2.    Media Science
Media Science is a good place to participate in a paid focus groups if you like watching TV, Sporting Events, Movies, or even if you scroll a lot on social media. You likely see a bunch of ads that you may have an opinion on. Media Science wants to hear about these ads you are seeing on your current tech gadgets! The staff is very good at guiding your through the process about the process, and the company has great rating overall. You can only participate once every 60 days, but the studies tend to run in the $30-$40 range and they pay in Visa gift cards.
3. Lone Star Market Research
Lone Star is a much smaller and newer focus group company. It is centrally located in the heart of Texas. This company pays slightly above market value for their Focus Groups. They also offer a good variety of tech research studies and have a great communication process.
They pay cash within hours after finishing your focus group research and they have a delightfully pleasant staff. Their dozens of reviews are also all very positive. For a new up and coming company, Lone Star Market Research is on the right track.
4.    Tammadge Market Research,
This one is a smaller tech focus group company has plenty of tech research studies. This company is located in a hip and trendy, up and coming little studio but it gives the feeling of a well-established research company.
The processes they have in place make your user experience feel easy. You may only qualify every 3 months or so, but the quality of interviewer is top notch. They really stick to the topics at hand. You typically get paid anywhere from $75 – $140 depending on the length of the study.
They do a pre-screening interview to make sure they know when to contact you about upcoming studies that make sense for you so as not to waste your time.
5. Customer Research International
This market Research has multiple offices located all across the United States. Customer Research has clearly been in the tech research business for quite some time. A robust list of studies across several offices make for a greater opportunity for you to be selected. You can earn anywhere from $100 – $300 per week, but some of the staff can be a bit untrained due to many of these offices hiring college students to work there. If you remain patient, the tech research studies here can help you make some extra cash.
Overall, I like the high pay rates and quality customer service offered by Think Group Austin. Speed of payment was also a plus for Think Group, Lonestar Market Research, and Tammadge Market Research. Customer Research International paid decent, but inexperienced staff lost it a few points.
OTHER GREAT FOCUS GROUP COMPANIES
While these companies did not crack the top 5, they were all still reputable enough to get honorable mention. If none of the Top 5 fit your needs, or you were getting impatient hearing back from some of the ranked options, this list may work.
ATI Research
L&E Research
AutoCruitment
Acurian
BLACK BOX COMPANIES
Some research companies we deem as “black boxes” simply because they don’t share a lot of information with their participants.. We can’t be sure whether they are active or not, but these were some of the remaining Focus Group Market Research companies that went unverified.
GlaxoSmithKline
i-Say
Echo Market Research
CONCLUSION
I hope this article inspired you to get out and explore focus groups on tech research studies. There is some great money to be made by participating in research studies and taking surveys. While everybody’s situation is different, we have done enough research to know at least one of these companies should suit your needs. Make sure you sign up for your favorite Focus Group database and Stan’s Gigs newsletter and let us know how your experience was in the comments section.
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.
