Fieldwork Chicago

I used to do many market research studies to make money. It was, and I’m sure still is great for making some extra money. The main reason I am dropping it from a 4 to a 3 star review is that they now pay in gift-​cards. I would rather have some green backs…

Update: I participated in the panel discussion a couple weeks ago. It was a very pleasant experience. Two interesting hours of answering questions about potential products, and they gave us each a $ 100 prepaid Visa card. The whole experience was top drawer. Very nice people to deal with, and an easy location to find in a very nice office building. They even had an excellent selection of Panera sandwiches for us to snack on. I definitely hope to be called by them again in the future.

After an extensive phone interview and several other follow up calls, I qualified for a group study. I did my homework by buying the required product. I canceled several plans to attend. Two hours before the focus group, they called to cancel. The company paying for the study didn’t like some of my responses. I asked to speak to a supervisor and got the runaround. No one seemed to know what was going on. I’m
waiting to hear back from them. i’m not holding my breath. Apparently only their time is worth something. The time I wasted doesn’t matter to them. This is totally irresponsible and poor business ethics

I’ve seen focus group facilities all over the country and Fieldwork is one of the nicer ones. They provide comfortable clean environment for focus groups and plenty of refreshments and snacks.
To echo Jamie’s review, it is NOT a scam. If you check Fieldwork’s website, as well as that of the Market Research Association

and CASRO, you will find that the Fieldwork network is a reputable market research company.
if you are called for a study, listen carefully to what the interviewer says at the start and end of the interview. They are calling you because you meet a few basic requirements (age, gender, etc)…but they have to ask you a number of other questions to ensure you qualify. Who decides if you qualify? The client company who is coughing up thousands of dollars to pay for this research… not Fieldwork. Because research is so expensive, clients create very detailed screening questionnaires to make sure the people in the group are the right mix. Once they reach a quota on a certain thing (age, income, occupation, ethnicity, etc), they move onto the next one. It’s not personal, its not racism, its research design.
It’s up to you if you want to participate in a 20 minutes screening interview for a CHANCE at participating in a focus group (just because they call you is not a guarantee you will qualify). But your opinions DO matter. Companies you shop at and pay bills to… are spending big dollars to make this research happen. Your feedback helps them understand the problems you have with their company, helps them create products you actually want, and you’ll make a little extra cash on the side. Not bad.
I’m in this line of work (client). Screening and recruitment is not a perfect process, but our industry takes a very hard line on «research» scams. Fieldwork is 100% legit.

I really wish I could give them zero stars. They called my phone to speak to my teen son. After I asked who they were and asked my son if he wanted to speak to them, they asked him a million questions and qualified him for a study which paid $ 75. He was very excited to make some money for Christmas.
After figuring out the bus schedule to get him from school to this place he boarded two buses to get there. Well guess what? Google maps and RTA’s website send you to a location a few blocks east of Old Orchard Mall. After walking around for 30 minutes looking for the place, he called them and they said they are located a few miles away at Harms & Old Orchard and that he would probably not make it in time so too bad. When I called, I spoke with a manager «Claudia Smith» who repeated the same thing to me. When I told her that I mapped the address and it sent me to the wrong location she said they hear that all the time. REALLY? How about letting people know the intersection you’re located at then? Her response was, «We give you our address and phone number.» That’s pretty useless if you KNOW that the address comes up wrong when mapped. I am furious that they have no regard for a teen or their clients; especially in 20 degree weather.

For those uneducated enough to avoid researching, this company is a market research firm. They carry out studies based on their clients’ requirements and market selections.
They use past/​current customers to research customer satisfaction or competitors’ customers to research competition preferences, etc. This would be where they get your information from. If you have a Kohl’s charge card and Kohl’s wants to find out your opinions of their prices/​marketing/​etc, they provide Fieldwork with your contact information so that Fieldwork can carry out the researching.
Fieldwork doesn’t sell anything to you, or use your information for anything else other than contacting you to ask your permission in market research activities. In fact, if you are involved in a paid focus group, the rates are usually very, very good.
The way they select research participants goes through the following simple steps:
a) they receive your name and information from a database.
b) the contact you and ‘screen’ you to ask more specific questions to make sure you fit the clients’ target research group
c) if there are too many women age 45 – 50, they may put you on ‘hold’ as a participant and should a space open up, they will allow you to participate.
No evil, no scam, no sales, just market research.

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE! This company bought my information from Kohl’s Department store and called my cell phone to do a survey. When I called them back to see who they got my number from, they told me that was privileged information! What? I spoke to Rhonda who told me in order for me to find out who sold her my info, I would have to give her more of my information. When I refused, SHE HUNG UP ON ME! I relentlessly called back and spoke to the receptionist who conveniently couldn’t connect me to the supervisor’s voice mail because it was «broken»? When I called the corporate office, they told me they couldn’t help me either. Kelly May told me their «client» requested to remain confidentiall and I would have to contact the Skokie office. When I called back again, the supervisor’s voice mail had miraculously been fixed, yet after trying Ms. Pam Kleinman (the supposed President of this company), a number of times, she never returned my calls. I was finally able to get through to a woman by the name of Natalie at the corporate office who again asked me for more information. Why should I have to provide my information to them when they already bought it? All of a sudden they were able to tell me it was Kohls that sold it to them (by all of a sudden I mean 5 hours and 6 people later). Just awful customer service and very shady. I certainly rank Kohl’s Department Store even lower than this AWFUL company for selling it to them in the first place. BEWARE if you are all of a sudden being solicited by these people.