Becoming a Professional Survey Taker via Work Games: Distraction and Traction

• In Event: 50462 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Labor

Abstract

Individuals take millions of online surveys each year, fueling research by academics and marketers. A small but powerful group of “professional” survey takers take hundreds and thousands of surveys a year. Rewards for surveys tend to be well below minimum wage, and taking many surveys can be boring. This paper asks, “why do some individuals, nevertheless, take so many surveys?” One hypothesis is that professional survey takers negotiate their effort through work games, which make low-wage and highly repetitive work meaningful. This article uses participant-observation as the primary method to describe the labor process on survey platforms. I entered the field primarily as a survey respondent, started approximately 620 surveys, completed 210, and earned $200. I find two work games. First, a game of “traction” which helped me cope with the boredom of taking surveys. Second, a game of distraction, in which my participation on platforms helped me cope with boredom off of the platforms, notably my job as a graduate student. These two coping games captivated my effort for a short period of time, but rewards were insufficient to create longer-term commitment. I use the extended case method to reconstruct the theory of work games in the context of increasingly fragmented, precarious, and digitally mediated labor processes.

Author

• David C Joseph-Goteiner, University of California-Berkeley