What is Predictiv?
Predictiv is the world’s first and most used behavioural online experiments platform enabling policy-makers to access timely empirical evidence to inform their decision-making. It can probe understanding, sentiments, and estimate real world behaviours. It enables us to collect data from an online population of participants across a variety of online methods ranging from simple surveys to complex simulations within randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Predictiv has the technical flexibility to replicate a range of decision environments from static posters to website simulations. To date, we have conducted more than 250 trials across 15 countries and collected data from over 600,000 participants.
How Predictiv works
Predictiv is currently offered as part of an end-to-end consultancy service, used as an in-house policy testing lab at BIT. In collaboration with our clients, we design, run, and analyse the results of experiments tailored to address your needs. Predictiv works quickly and at low cost – with turnaround times in days or weeks, depending on the experiment.
We have:
- A large participant pool allowing for rapid recruitment of 1,000s of participants including niche samples
- Tailored test environments to suit text, graphic, audio, and video materials
- Rapid results in days or weeks depending on your needs
- Low cost compared to traditional RCT field experiments
We work collaboratively with our clients throughout the project life cycle to ensure that the end result has clear findings and actionable recommendations.
How we can help
Predictiv can be used in a variety of different ways to help us understand human behaviour. Most simply, Predictiv can be used to investigate public opinion in a traditional polling or survey method. For example, we may ask people their opinion on current policies or their attitudes towards a behaviour of interest. Second, Predictiv can be used to identify best performers among different versions of materials, such as the best performing poster or letter. Third, Predictiv can be used to answer ‘what if’ scenarios – in this way, Predictiv is used as a sandbox environment for testing our alternative scenarios that may not be possible to manipulate in real life, such as the introduction or modification of a policy. Fourth, Predictiv can be used as a platform for qualitative user testing or design research, which is particularly useful when creating new materials or cognitively testing a user journey. Finally, Predictiv can be used to measure behaviour within a simulated environment, which goes beyond simply asking participants what they think they would do and measure real actions within a simulation. We increase the stakes of the environment by including variable incentives where appropriate, to tie participants’ behaviours or answers to real world implications.
We have developed a large portfolio of interactive environments for our online experiments, including an online food delivery platform, virtual slot machines, social media newsfeeds, and chatbots. Please get in touch to find out more.
Our work across policy areas
Economy
- Defaulting deposits, limiting harm
- Boosting the appeal of green skills and training: Findings from an online experiment
Equality & Diversity
- What works to change attitudes towards disabled people
- Women Only Apply When 100% Qualified. Fact or Fake News?
- The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities in the UK and what we can do about it
Education
Health
- The impact of altering restaurant and menu option position on food selected from an experimental food delivery platform: a randomised controlled trial
- Improving people’s risk perception of coronavirus
Citizens, government & society
- ChatGOV: Will people trust AI tools to help them use public services?
- Results from (probably) the first behavioural experiments with landlords in the UK
International work
Sustainability
- Reducing van deliveries in London
- How can we boost uptake of heat pumps beyond the effect of subsidies?
- Would you support a tax on meat to encourage environmentally sustainable behaviours?
Get in touch
If you want to find out more or would like to chat to us about working together, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected]