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September 2010 Survey Income

October 1st, 2010 at 05:05 pm

For the newbies: I'm a physician and get to do a lot of medical market research surveys, mostly online, that are for physicians only. My goal for 2010 was to earn $5,000 this year through these surveys. I also do a couple of non-medical surveys like Pinecone and Opinion Place so my numbers include everything, but 99% of it is medical.

For September, I earned $602.50. It was down from the past few months but I expected that because I was away for 2 weeks in August and 1 week in July so I wasn't able to do many of the surveys I was invited for. Still, I'm not complaining about $600.

That brings my total for the year to $4,776.75, just $223.25 short of my goal for the year. And today, October 1, I received $195.00 in payments, so I'm really only $28.25 from my goal. I should hit that within a week. I guess I needed to set the bar higher.

Posted in Personal Finance | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “September 2010 Survey Income”

  1. librarylady Says:
    October 1st, 2010 at 05:46 pm 1285955190
    1285955190

    Wow! Way to go Steve!

  2. Ima saver Says:
    October 1st, 2010 at 09:13 pm 1285967600
    1285967600

    Hey, that is great!!

  3. rob62521 Says:
    October 1st, 2010 at 11:46 pm 1285976798
    1285976798

    Terrific!

  4. Jerry Says:
    October 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 am 1286014664
    1286014664

    Hey, the nice thing about goals is that if you reach them early, you can always let that lead you to adjust them upward for the last quarter! Nice going, indeed. How much time would you estimate that you spend doing these surveys, and what sorts of companies (pharma, insurance, etc.) are the biggest resource for you?
    Jerry

  5. disneysteve Says:
    October 4th, 2010 at 01:47 am 1286156844
    1286156844

    Jerry, the surveys are all run by market research firms, though I'm sure it is all on behalf of pharma companies. As for time spent, I don't track it but I've gotten pretty adept at doing these surveys and it never takes me as long as the invitation estimates. So if they say it is a 30-minutes survey, I'm usually done in 15 or so. They typically pay at about a $100/hour rate, so earning $600 means I spent roughly 4-6 hours during the month doing surveys, though that is just a ballpark estimate. Some programs are faster and pay better. Others are more involved and take longer.

    There is also income that I don't include in my blog reports. Some surveys and e-details don't pay a monetary honorarium but rather provide a "medically relevant item" usually a textbook. I list all of those on half.com. I'll add that all up at the end of the year but I usually sell at least a couple of books per month, usually more in September when students are heading back to school.

  6. Jerry Says:
    November 5th, 2010 at 12:56 pm 1288961782
    1288961782

    Thanks for the clarification, Steve... I figured it was probably gathering market data for the pharmaceutical companies - they have the most money, along with the insurance companies! Now, do they require board certification in order to participate, or is it something that an intern/resident could do, as well? Another couple of years and I would like to do something similar... great way to build the library, too, not to mention that the books you don't want/need are probably selling like hotcakes to the students. This is really informative stuff, thanks!
    Jerry

  7. disneysteve Says:
    November 5th, 2010 at 04:49 pm 1288975764
    1288975764

    Jerry, I'm not sure what is out there for doctors in training. The surveys do sometimes ask, "Are you a physician in full-time practice?" so if the answer is no, you probably wouldn't qualify, but other programs might not make that distinction.

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