A difficult part of studying a social science is trying to determine the causal impact of social events. The impact of events like elections, new policies, technologies, shortages or surpluses. To do so requires the use of high quality data, and although the amount of data in recent years has exploded, it can be sometimes difficult to obtain or non-existent in an attempt to answer a research question.
Although some data points are relatively easy to measure, like the amount of rainfall in given area and the impact on development, others like “do you feel prepared for an economic downturn in the next year” or even “who did you vote for” can be notoriously tricky.
Nevertheless, economists attempt to study such things. And to gather information on these consumer behaviors and opinions, one method is through surveys such as the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. Another method is to parse newspaper headlines as used in the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index. However, many people are hesitant to participate in surveys due to concerns about privacy, compensation, time, or inconvenience. I mean, who even picks up the phone from an unknown number anyway? And those who do then aren’t necessarily representative of the population. This is called selection bias, and leads to models which are biased, giving flawed predictions.
Certainly offering an incentive to complete such surveys would be an attractive idea, but scaling issues and accuracy would be outstanding questions. So, I might suggest an idea for a start-up to solve this problem:
Build a platform that would exist on the blockchain to connect economists who want data with consumers who want to be compensated for their responses.
The Benefits of a Blockchain-Powered Survey Website
A blockchain-powered survey website could address many of these concerns and incentivize more people to participate. The blockchain provides a secure and transparent way to store and share data, ensuring that users' responses are kept confidential and cannot be tampered with. Furthermore, by incorporating cryptocurrency as a reward for participation, users would have a tangible incentive to take part. This would not only increase the number of responses but also improve the quality of the data collected, as users would be more likely to provide thoughtful and accurate answers.
Moreover, the use of blockchain technology in surveys would allow for the creation of a decentralized platform that could be accessed from anywhere in the world. The platform would not be controlled by any single entity, which would make it more trustworthy and secure. The decentralized nature of blockchain technology ensures that data is not held by any central authority, meaning that users' responses could not be manipulated. This would allow researchers to access a wider range of participants from across the globe, providing a more diverse and representative sample.
Another advantage of a blockchain-powered survey website is the potential for smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. With smart contracts, payment for survey participation could be automated, ensuring that users receive their cryptocurrency reward as soon as the survey is completed. This would make the process more efficient and transparent, reducing the risk of fraud or delay.
But where would the start up find it’s revenue source? Likely from a small fee on each transaction, or a subscription service to access the site.
The potential for such a platform to provide a decentralized, secure, and efficient way to collect data from participants worldwide seems possible, and it would follow the platform based model to connect supply and demand like other tech companies have had success with like Uber, AirBnb, Netflix, and Spotify. As they say, “If you build it they will come.”
*Note* a few posts ago I referenced ChatGPT and it’s ability to write blog posts. I have been short on time recently so I tried using an AI writer for parts of this post- could you tell? If so or not, let me know in the comments below!