Freelance technical specialist for experimental study setup using a mock social media platform
Budget: £250 – £750 GBP
Job title: Freelance technical specialist for experimental study setup using a mock social media platform
Project type: Freelance
Location: remote
Project duration: Project-based (estimated 2-3 weeks)
Start date: As soon as possible
Project overview
We are a research team conducting one experimental study using a mock social media environment (via StudySocial, https://docs.studysocial.media/). This mock social media environment will be used in a behavioural study involving human participants. There will be two online experiments conducted over a period of 3 days. 200 participants will participate in experiment A and 200 in experiment B. We are looking for a technically skilled freelancer to deploy, configure, and host this platform and ensure that all data collection mechanisms are in place for research use.
Key responsibilities
Platform deployment:
o Set up the StudySocial platform (https://docs.studysocial.media/) in accordance with the research study design. The mock environment will be that of Facebook.
o Customise elements of the platform to reflect two experimental conditions. At first, participants will see a post on social media (the content of this post will be provided by the research team to you). After which we will record the participants’ reactions just like how they would do so in a real environment (e.g., sharing the post, creating a new post, commenting, liking).
Cloud hosting & access:
o Host the platform on a secure and stable cloud service.
o Configure domain access and ensure security protocols are in place.
o The study will be conducted via Qualtrics, and the HTML needs to be embedded within Qualtrics (and its environment).
Data collection configuration:
o Ensure that behavioural data (e.g., participant interactions, activity logs) is properly recorded and linked with the participant ID. In other words, the social media engagement data of each participant (e.g., likes, comments, shares etc) should be linked to the participant ID.
o Ensure export functionality so that researchers can easily retrieve data in structured formats (e.g., Excel, CSV). Particularly, via Qualtrics.
o Ensure that all research variables are being tracked appropriately.
Testing & documentation:
o Conduct usability and technical testing to ensure smooth participant experience.
o Provide documentation and walkthroughs for researchers, including how to access the platform and data.
Ongoing support:
o Offer limited support during pilot testing and the live data collection phase.
Skills & experience:
• Experience deploying and managing prebuilt platforms (no need to build from scratch).
• Ability to customise a mock social media platform (in our case Facebook).
• Familiarity with cloud hosting platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS
• Comfortable working with tools like StudySocial or similar mock platforms.
• Understanding of behavioral data and social media data collection and structuring data outputs for research (e.g., Excel/CSV).
• Attention to GDPR, research ethics, data security, and participant privacy.
• Good communication skills and ability to collaborate with academic researchers.
Deliverables
• Live, hosted mock social media platform tailored for behavioural research, that is incorporated within Qualtrics.
• Fully functional data capture and export system.
• Hosting environment (e.g., Azure) secured and maintained during the study.
• Documentation for researchers on access, maintenance, and data handling.
• Technical support during setup and data collection.
To Apply
Please submit:
• An overview of your plan to help in this project. Please familiarise yourself with Introduction | Mock Social Media Website Tool: https://docs.studysocial.media/
• Your relevant experience that will help in this project.
• Example of similar projects.
• Your fixed project fee.
• Availability and estimated timeline for completion.
Project type: Freelance
Location: remote
Project duration: Project-based (estimated 2-3 weeks)
Start date: As soon as possible
Project overview
We are a research team conducting one experimental study using a mock social media environment (via StudySocial, https://docs.studysocial.media/). This mock social media environment will be used in a behavioural study involving human participants. There will be two online experiments conducted over a period of 3 days. 200 participants will participate in experiment A and 200 in experiment B. We are looking for a technically skilled freelancer to deploy, configure, and host this platform and ensure that all data collection mechanisms are in place for research use.
Key responsibilities
Platform deployment:
o Set up the StudySocial platform (https://docs.studysocial.media/) in accordance with the research study design. The mock environment will be that of Facebook.
o Customise elements of the platform to reflect two experimental conditions. At first, participants will see a post on social media (the content of this post will be provided by the research team to you). After which we will record the participants’ reactions just like how they would do so in a real environment (e.g., sharing the post, creating a new post, commenting, liking).
Cloud hosting & access:
o Host the platform on a secure and stable cloud service.
o Configure domain access and ensure security protocols are in place.
o The study will be conducted via Qualtrics, and the HTML needs to be embedded within Qualtrics (and its environment).
Data collection configuration:
o Ensure that behavioural data (e.g., participant interactions, activity logs) is properly recorded and linked with the participant ID. In other words, the social media engagement data of each participant (e.g., likes, comments, shares etc) should be linked to the participant ID.
o Ensure export functionality so that researchers can easily retrieve data in structured formats (e.g., Excel, CSV). Particularly, via Qualtrics.
o Ensure that all research variables are being tracked appropriately.
Testing & documentation:
o Conduct usability and technical testing to ensure smooth participant experience.
o Provide documentation and walkthroughs for researchers, including how to access the platform and data.
Ongoing support:
o Offer limited support during pilot testing and the live data collection phase.
Skills & experience:
• Experience deploying and managing prebuilt platforms (no need to build from scratch).
• Ability to customise a mock social media platform (in our case Facebook).
• Familiarity with cloud hosting platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS
• Comfortable working with tools like StudySocial or similar mock platforms.
• Understanding of behavioral data and social media data collection and structuring data outputs for research (e.g., Excel/CSV).
• Attention to GDPR, research ethics, data security, and participant privacy.
• Good communication skills and ability to collaborate with academic researchers.
Deliverables
• Live, hosted mock social media platform tailored for behavioural research, that is incorporated within Qualtrics.
• Fully functional data capture and export system.
• Hosting environment (e.g., Azure) secured and maintained during the study.
• Documentation for researchers on access, maintenance, and data handling.
• Technical support during setup and data collection.
To Apply
Please submit:
• An overview of your plan to help in this project. Please familiarise yourself with Introduction | Mock Social Media Website Tool: https://docs.studysocial.media/
• Your relevant experience that will help in this project.
• Example of similar projects.
• Your fixed project fee.
• Availability and estimated timeline for completion.