It’s nice to discover sites that operate differently from your usual survey site. Today, I’ll be reviewing Permission Research.
Permission Research is owned by a company called ComScore Inc., which is a market research company that has been in operation since - whoa - 1936. Permission Research seems to be their digital arm and boasts of over 2 million members.
Wanna know if Permission Research is legit or a scam? Read my Permission Research review to find out!
Permission Research: First Impressions
Their website looks professional, but boring. It looks more like a website of a bank. Most sites in the rewards scene try to look exciting or aspirational. Permission Research, on the other hand, looks pretty bland. On the upside, information on how to use the site is pretty thorough and easy to find.
My Hot Take: There’s nothing exciting about Permission Research, but it does look legit and professional. Overall, a good first impression.
How to Earn on Permission Research
There are two methods to earn on this site, but “earning” wouldn’t actually be an accurate term… because you don’t actually earn anything here! I’ll be talking about that in the Earning Potential section. But for this section, I’ll be tackling the methods for, uhm, not earning money. They are:
Completing Surveys - This is pretty similar to the surveys you take on other sites. But the surveys on Permission Research tend to cover TV viewing habits.
Installing an App That Tracks Your Internet Usage - This is the primary activity on Permission Research. The company wants to improve the internet (whatever that means), and to do that, they ask people such as yourself to download and install an app on your desktop computer and keep it running in the background.
The program will track how you use the internet, and that includes the sites you visit and how long you spend on it. This makes me squeamish, to be honest - I’m a pretty private person. But Permission Research claims that they won’t attribute your name or identity to the info they harvest from your computer.
My Hot Take: The surveys are okay, but I tend to avoid anything that compromises my privacy - I mean, sure, I use social media and Google probably knows more about me than my own mother, but I draw the line at installing a program on my computer and basically letting some all-seeing company look over my shoulder while I browse the internet.
How to Earn (Nothing) on Permission Research
You don’t earn points for completing surveys. You don’t earn points for running the app on your computer. All you get is the chance to participate in a monthly sweepstake. Each month, a winner wins $100.
You will also have a tree planted on your behalf. I’m serious - Permission Research works with a company called Trees for the Future, which works to replenish forests.
My Hot Take: This is… not good. A raffle entry and a tree planted in my name aren’t enough to cover my loss of privacy. My personal information is worth way, way, more than that.
Payout Options on Permission Research
Well, as covered in the previous section, you don’t get paid for doing anything on Permission Research. So there’s nothing to cover here.
My Hot Take: Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
How to Join Permission Research
To participate in the site, you’ll have to be at least 18 years old and have permission to install the program on the computer you’ll be using. You can check out their registration page by following the link I’m about to give. Ka-chow:
Registration Page: https://www.permissionresearch.com/PrivMem.aspx
Take note, the program will run in the background, but it will, on occasion, create pop-ups to confirm that you are the person using the computer at that time. It does this to be able to better quantify the information it is gathering.
The Verdict: Legit or Scam?
Permission Research is legit, but I can’t recommend them. Frankly, your information is worth more than what they’re willing to offer for it. Having an app observing your every move on the internet is a pretty big deal, and you should be compensated accordingly for it.
Permission Research Screenshots
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Your Turn
So that’s my review of Permission Research. Now it’s your turn to share! Have you tried this site? How did you find it?
Let’s hear your stories!