Browsing Study

Participant setup guide

Get set up in about five minutes

This guide walks you through installing the study extension and completing the study. You’ll need Google Chrome (preferred), Microsoft Edge, or Brave on a computer, and the 24 character code from your invitation email.

Download the extension Privacy policy
What this study involves. You’ll install a small extension that runs quietly for 7 days while you browse normally. It deliberately adds artificial slowdowns to your browsing that change from one day to the next. Measuring how that affects your experience is the point of the study. It does not collect your passwords, what you type, or the pages and addresses you view. You’ll answer a few short questions each evening, plus a short survey at the start and end.

This study is led by Professor Nathan Malkin at NJIT and is reviewed and approved by the NJIT Institutional Review Board (IRB). The extension is open source and distributed through the Chrome Web Store.

1

Install the extension

  1. Go to njitstudy.com/download and click Download the extension. Unzip the file to a folder you’ll keep for the whole study (don’t move or delete it while enrolled).
  2. Open your browser’s extensions page: in Chrome go to chrome://extensions (in Edge, edge://extensions; in Brave, brave://extensions) and press Enter.
  3. Turn on Developer mode (toggle in the top right corner).
  4. Click Load unpacked and select the unzipped NJIT Browsing Study Extension folder.
  5. The NJIT Browsing Study icon appears in your toolbar. If you don’t see it, click the puzzle piece icon and pin it.
2

Join the study

Click the NJIT Browsing Study icon in your toolbar. In the popup:

  1. Paste the 24 character code from your invitation email into the first box (labelled “Prolific ID”).
  2. Optionally type your name.
  3. Click Start Study.
Extension popup with the code and name fields
Paste your code and press Start Study.
3

Complete the onboarding survey

After you join, the popup shows your study status. Click Onboarding Survey; a few quick questions open in a new tab. Answer them and submit to begin.

Extension status screen with survey buttons
The status screen. You’ll use these buttons throughout the study.
4

The “started debugging” message: please leave it alone

Applying the slowdowns requires a browser feature that shows a strip under the address bar reading “NJIT Browsing Study” started debugging this browser. This is a normal, expected notice that appears the whole time the study is active. It does not give the extension access to your passwords or personal data. (Edge and Brave show a similar message.)

Chrome message: NJIT Browsing Study started debugging this browser
Expected message. Please do not click “Cancel.”
Closed it by accident? No problem. You’ll see a brief notification and the study reconnects on its own within about 10 seconds. For a real break, use Pause Study in the popup instead (that stops the study and removes the message until you press Resume).
5

Browse normally & answer the daily questions

That’s it for setup. Just use the web as you normally would. Each evening, between 6:00 PM and midnight, open the extension and click Daily Questions to answer a few quick questions about that day’s browsing. It takes about a minute.

If the slowdown ever feels like too much, press Pause in the extension. It stops the slowdown right away, and you can press Resume whenever you are ready.
6

Finish the study & get paid

On your final day (Day 7), open the extension, click Exit Survey, and answer the final questions. After you submit, click Finish & return to Prolific to submit your completion and receive payment.

Completion page with Finish and return to Prolific button
After the exit survey, click the button to complete on Prolific and be paid.

Quick tips & troubleshooting

Keep it installed all 7 days

Don’t remove the extension until you’ve finished the exit survey on day 7.

Need a break?

Click Pause Study in the popup, then Resume when you’re ready. Pausing removes the slowdowns until you resume.

Something not working?

Contact the research team at tb358@njit.edu and we’ll help.

Your privacy

The study records only general site categories and basic usage counts, never the pages, their content, or anything you type. Read the policy.