Prolific Integration

Overview

ChatbotLab integrates with Prolific to link crowdworker identifiers with your survey and conversation data. This ties every participant’s chat to their Prolific record, so datasets merge cleanly and the record serves as a backup.

Prolific metadata (participant ID, study ID, and session ID) is stored in ChatbotLab’s backend database alongside the corresponding survey data.

Workflow Summary

To use ChatbotLab through Prolific:

  1. Create a Prolific study.

  2. Set the study URL to your Qualtrics or REDCap survey that contains ChatbotLab.

  3. Prolific automatically appends the following URL parameters to your survey link:

    ?PROLIFIC_PID={{%PROLIFIC_PID%}}&STUDY_ID={{%STUDY_ID%}}&SESSION_ID={{%SESSION_ID%}}

  4. In your survey, store these parameters as embedded data fields.

  5. Include them in your survey integration code so they are passed to ChatbotLab.

    Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.addOnload(function() {
   ...
   var prolificParticipantID = "<PROLIFIC-PARTICIPANT-ID>";  // Prolific PID
   var prolificStudyID = "<PROLIFIC-STUDY-ID>";              // Prolific study ID
   var prolificSessionID = "<PROLIFIC-SESSION-ID>";          // Prolific session ID

   ...

   botURL += "&participant_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificParticipantID);
   botURL += "&prolific_study_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificStudyID);
   botURL += "&prolific_session_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificSessionID);
});

Example (Qualtrics)

To capture and pass Prolific IDs in Qualtrics:

  1. Open your survey in Qualtrics.

  2. Navigate to Survey Flow → Add a New Element → Embedded Data.

  3. Add the following variables and set them to pull from the URL.

    Set Embedded Data:

   PROLIFIC_PID   → Value will be set from Panel or URL
   STUDY_ID       → Value will be set from Panel or URL
   SESSION_ID     → Value will be set from Panel or URL

  4. Save your Survey Flow.

  5. In the ChatbotLab question’s JavaScript editor, reference the embedded data:

    Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.addOnload(function() {
   ...
   var prolificParticipantID = "${e://Field/PROLIFIC_PID}";
   var prolificStudyID = "${e://Field/STUDY_ID}";
   var prolificSessionID = "${e://Field/SESSION_ID}";

   botURL += "&participant_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificParticipantID);
   botURL += "&prolific_study_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificStudyID);
   botURL += "&prolific_session_id=" + encodeURIComponent(prolificSessionID);
});

Data Storage and Linking

When participants complete their chat sessions, Prolific identifiers are saved in ChatbotLab’s backend:

  • participant_id → stored in chatbot_conversation.participant_id

  • prolific_study_id → stored in chatbot_conversation.survey_meta_data

  • prolific_session_id → stored in chatbot_conversation.survey_meta_data

This makes it easy to merge ChatbotLab data with Prolific and survey exports.

Completion Codes

  • Completion codes can be displayed at the end of the chat or survey.

  • These codes can also be included in survey_meta_data for verification.

Best Practices

  • Test your survey link from Prolific’s Preview mode to confirm that PROLIFIC_PID, STUDY_ID, and SESSION_ID appear in the URL.

  • Verify that each conversation appears in ChatbotLab’s Admin Panel with the expected participant ID.

  • Keep consistent naming for studies and bots across platforms.