Frequently Asked Questions
Contact & Privacy
How did you get my contact information?
Sift acquires contact names in the following ways:
Direct sign-up via our website (Sift’s internal respondent panel)
Third-party list providers (you opted in to be a part of their database)
A Sift client (you opted in to receive communication, typically done when you purchase a product or service)
How can I remove myself from your contact list?
Please visit our Do Not Contact Me page to remove yourself from consideration for future market research study participation.
Can I remove my postal address from your contact list?
Sift Research does not maintain a list of respondent postal addresses so it is not possible to be removed from our mailing list. We occasionally purchase lists from third-party vendors with postal addresses and will use those addresses for initial survey invites. However, we do not retain these addresses; therefore, we are unable to process any requests to remove your postal address from future survey invites. We are happy to help you track down the original source of your postal address and then you can contact them directly to remove yourself from their list.
Will you share my information with other organizations?
If you signed up to be a part of Sift’s respondent panel via sift-research.com, we will never share your information with any other organization or person, unless expressly authorized by you.
Sift does purchase lists from third-party list providers and will pass these lists onto third-party recruiters to help find the right research respondents. These lists could include your name, phone number, email address, and/or postal address. To prevent us from sharing this information, visit our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page.
I am on the National Do Not Call Registry; why did you call me about survey participation?
The Do Not Call Registry does not apply to market research organizations collecting consumer opinions. Per the FTC website, “The Do Not Call Registry was created to stop unwanted sales calls.” The FTC recognizes the value of legitimate market research and allows market research companies to solicit consumers for their opinions. Sift will never try to sell you any products or services; the purpose of all our calls are to ask for your opinions in exchange for an honorarium. Thus, Sift is exempt from the National Do No Call Registry.
Research Event Participation
How can I sign up to participate in future, paid research studies?
Please complete our sign up survey to join our respondent panel. We welcome all members of your family and/or friends to join.
Someone else in my household tried to sign up for your respondent panel, but it won’t allow them because it says we have already completed the survey.
Only one completed survey is allowed per electronic device. Each person that would like to sign up for our respondent panel will need to do so from a different device. The sign-up survey is mobile, tablet, and computer compatible.
I was informed about a research study and was asked some questions but I did not qualify; why is this?
Each study we conduct is unique and has different objectives. Sometimes we may be looking for owners of a certain product, other times we may be looking for someone who considered a product but ended up purchasing a competitor’s product. Whatever the objective, we will always ask a series of questions up-front to ensure that the respondents participating in our study are qualified based on product/service usage and/or demographics.
I was told I am “on hold” for a research event; what does that mean?
In short, you either qualify for the study but fall into a quota group that has been filled, or you are very close to qualifying and we will consider you for participation if we need to widen the respondent qualifications. Each scenario is described in more detail below:
All of our research studies have quotas. For example, we may need half males and half females for a particular study, or we may want a certain number of Toyota owners, Ford owners, etc. If you qualify for the study but fall into a quota group that has already been filled, then we will place you on hold. If another previously recruited respondent that falls into your quota group cancels, then we will invite you.
Many of our research studies require very specific respondent qualifications, making it difficult to find the “right” respondents. When this is the case, we will put you on hold if you are very close to qualifying. For example, if you answer a 5-point rating scale question as a ‘3’ but we are looking for ‘4’ or ‘5’ answers, then we may place you on hold. If we continue having problems finding the “right” respondents, then, if our client agrees, we may loosen the qualifications and allow you to participate.
Why do I have to show my vehicle registration or insurance card at automotive research events?
We want to confirm that you do own the vehicle that qualified you to participate in the specific research event. This is extremely important so we can be certain our research study data will provide accurate results. While the vast majority of people are truthful, there is a small percentage that use market research studies as a source of income and fake research qualifications in order to participate in as many studies as possible. As such, you must provide original registration or insurance cards; no photocopies will be allowed.
I lost my incentive payment; can you reimburse me?
We typically pay incentives in one of three ways: cash, check, or gift card (physical and virtual).
If you were paid in cash, then we will not be able to reimburse you.
If you were paid by check, we can track down the check number you were given and as long as that check has not yet been cashed then we can cancel the old check and issue a new one.
If you were paid with a virtual gift card, then as long as the card has not yet been redeemed we can issue a new gift card code.
If you were paid with a physical gift card, we can issue a new card if you recorded the card number before it was lost (so we can check to see if that gift card has been used).
I participated in a research study and my gift card isn’t working.
Sift does not have access to any card information. Please contact the help center listed on your card.
How can I reschedule or cancel my research study appointment?
The best way to do this is to contact the person or organization that scheduled you. Sift occasionally outsources the recruiting of research respondents to third-party vendors so you may be contacting a company other than Sift. If you are not able to contact the person or organization you originally spoke to, email us at info@sift-research.com and please include the research event date, time, and topic.
What to expect when attending a research event.
We encourage you to peruse our website to learn more about the different types of research studies we conduct. You can find more information about the type of research study you are participating in by visiting our Data Collection Methods page or our Automotive Studies page.
All in-person studies we conduct will require you to show an ID so that we can confirm your identity.
Our automotive research studies go a step further and ask for you to show your vehicle registration or insurance card so that we can confirm you own the vehicle that qualified you to participate in the research study.
Many of the automotive studies we conduct involve confidential properties and/or ideas. As such, in order to ensure no pictures or information are fraudulently released to the public, we ask that you not bring your cell phone, watch, purse, backpack, etc. inside the event. We will usually have lockers at check-in for you to leave these items in if you forget to leave them in your car or at home. We will also ask that you walk through a metal detector (like at the airport) to ensure you do not have any recording devices, and ask you to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) stating you will not release any information to the general public.
During your research event, all that we ask is that you give honest feedback. Your opinions are vital for the research sponsor to be able to make products or service that continue to meet your needs. If you are participating in a study that requires you to give oral feedback (e.g. focus group), we expect you to be able to express your opinions coherently. Please do not show up inebriated or under the influence of any substance. If we suspect you are, we reserve the right to not admit you and you will not receive your incentive payment.