Research Design Is Hard Don't Let It Stop You

Be Authentic

Make it personal, put your best photo, do not put your company logo...

Be direct and honest in your personal mission section. No marketing buzzwords. No disrupting startup, no bringing innovation. If your family member suffered, say it. We know it's personal, but speaking from your heart is the best way to speak to the people.

The first sentence is key; no one reads beyond the first sentence if the first sentence is not huge.

Say why this research is essential to you and why it should be important to others. .

If your research is for shit and giggles, say so; not every research has to save humanity but explain it. Explain why your curiosity led you to this idea and why you think potential findings may be interesting or funny.

Marketing is 80% of your work here

The hardest part is not research but getting participants. Scientists tend not to think about marketing, but this is 80% of your work here. Consider the Title, which will be with your picture in a thumbnail when you share it around. It has to be something people click on. If they don't click, whatever you've put in the research description doesn't matter.

It should have the potential to become viral. Before publishing your research, put it in waitlist mode. This allows you to test how people react to it, get feedback on tiers, and run different campaigns without committing to what you have put there yet regarding participants.

Build Community

Build your community outside CrowdWise. Please do not assume you put your research on CrowdWise, and that's it. We will build more marketing tools for you to do your marketing, but it's on you to do it! Have a Substack, X, Instagram, Youtube Channel, or wherever your community of interest is active.

Communicate to people your regular progress. You are not building a dataset. You are building relationships. Those will make your dataset the best in the world forever. A community that is invested in you will keep updating your data whenever you are missing something. People will not be a single data point snapshot. The community will be a continuous data flow.

Assume it will take time

Public data sets seem more straightforward, but they are often dead-end and take years you could have spent better.

Getting public datasets or big institution access seems like a better approach, but it rarely is, and that's why you probably ended up here in the first place.

This may sound daunting to a scientist who has never had a blog/substack, not to mention a YouTube channel, but building a community will guarantee you access to not only data but also participants in future studies, potential first clients for whatever your research may lead to, and much more.

Spending a few months building a community may save you years of working with static datasets that will never change, as there are no humans who care enough to do the most basic test behind them.

Tiers

Feel free to set up a consultation to figure out a good tier that matches your research needs!

Tiers help you set up the right incentive for participants. The revenue share we allow in our contracts is the strongest incentive you can combine with tiers, but we don't recommend it for every research project. Projects done for fun, which will never lead to commercial outputs, should not try to fit this benefit, as it won't be effective.

If you plan to use revenue share with tiers and commercialize your project, be aware that future investors will not invest in it if you overpromise revenue share.

We recommend keeping it under 3% in total. Anything higher than this would probably make it harder for you to raise money or sell your IP for further development. You also have to plan how you want to give this to participants. It should be given depending on how much they help you move your research forward.

If you are a U.S. person or company, we don't allow you to promise it, as you would be breaking SEC rules. Feel free to read those guidelines as they explain the general thinking behind good incentive structures. This still applies to any other benefits you plan to promise, and you should still promise non-revenue share benefits for your American participants who won't be able to get revenue share anyway.

Tier 1 Example

We suggest Tier 1 be a very low effort but also a very low reward. It all depends on your research, but an example of Tier 1 would be to provide 23andme or ancestory.com genomic data with a medical history and fill out one short survey with 10 questions.

This probably won't provide much value for most research, but treat Tier 1 like a funnel for other Tiers. You are building a wide community already invested in you and your research. We do not give you access to participants' emails or identities if we absolutely don't have to, but we allow you to send newsletter emails to those who are part of your research.

The suggested reward for Tier 1 would be a personal health report after the final research results. If you want to give revenue share for Tier 1, we recommend a relatively low value, around 0.01% to 0.20%. Remember, this value is for the whole cohort of a Tier. If there are thousands of participants at Tier 1, individuals get very little. You can set up a maximum participant limit for the Tier and reward and a minimum number of people to participate in the Tier to activate the reward.

The maximum limit doesn't sound great for your research, but it provides a higher revenue share to each individual, which may be a good incentive. A minimum is also a good way to avoid being stuck on a huge revenue share commitment if you do not collect enough people to start a study. We suggest a high maximum limit for Tier 1 and low rewards you can afford even if tens of thousands of people join, but we offer better rewards for higher tiers with Maximums set.

Tier 2 Example

Tier 2 should still require little effort but already provide some research value. At this Tier, we would introduce revenue share or better benefits than a health report at the end of the study.

For example, expecting whole genome sequencing rather than 23andme would be good for Tier 2. Expecting a regular survey every two months, recent blood tests, and one every year is also a bit of an effort but reasonable. We recommend providing 0.30% up to 0.90% for this Tier, depending on how much effort you are expecting and the maximum number of participants for a Tier.

Non-revenue share rewards could include discounts for services and products you provide or plan to provide as a result of the research. If you expect a whole genome sequence, we also suggest a partial subsidy by providing 10$-30$ to anyone who did it. It won't cover the entire cost, but if enough researchers on the platform provide it, it may cover whole genome sequencing for participants engaged in multiple studies. Be mindful of having enough cash to pay for it, and set the correct maximum so as not to be in a situation where thousands of people signed up.

Tier 3 Example

Tier 3 should assume medium effort from participants who already provide real research value with solid rewards.

For example, expecting more specialized tests, which can be more invasive, would fit here. A regular survey every month or even more often would also fit here. We recommend providing 0.90% up to 2.50% for this Tier.

Non-revenue share rewards should include covering full or most of the costs of those more specialised or invasive tests as a base. Tiers should have very high discounts or even free services. Participants or their family members should have priority in access or clinical trial enrollment, etc.

Tier 4 Example

Tier 4 should assume high participant effort, providing much research value, with very high rewards.

Expecting regular tests or being part of a full volunteer or safety study could be Tier 4. We recommend covering the costs of all activities, financial gratification, and priority in any services or products, as well as providing 1.50% up to 3.00% for this Tier.

More Tiers? Leaving yourself breathing room.

You can split it into more Tiers than presented in the above examples; there is no limit, really.

You probably feel overwhelmed and struggle to plan your study and Tiers. We suggest starting with only one Tier initially. The worst thing you can do is think about study design and tiers for months without launching.

Remember what's the most challenging part here? Getting participants. This may take months, but you should not waste it. Just launch Tier 1. You can add more Tiers to an existing study. You won't be able to change Tier 1 conditions, but if you went with the assumption of low effort and low benefits for Tier 1, it should not cause major problems for you. Just be transparent: You will add more Tiers based on initial data and feedback.

Custom Consents and Waitlist

When participants accept the Terms of Research Contract at the bottom of your page, they also get a popup with Research Consent presented. We provide a generic template of consent to participate in your research. You can use the provided template, modify it slightly, or create custom consent.

If you plan to publish your results, most high-impact journals expect you to provide a certificate from an ethics committee or oversight board, which can require specific consent. As this may take time, we suggest publishing your research on a waitlist first. You can send your Wailisted research link for a review to any entity; you can also see participants joining Wailist and get initial feedback on Tiers. Is your research page clear in its communication?

You can also launch your research without being on the waitlist, but it's good to at least send it to a few people and collect feedback, as you won't be able to change the terms promised to participants once they join.