Research & Payment

If you’re eligible for our study and decide to enroll, you will be part of a nationwide research study to test self-help internet programs designed to strengthen romantic relationship. We are interested in which program is more helpful in improving relationships and whether one program is more helpful for certain types of people or relationships. To be able to properly investigate the programs, couples who choose to enroll in the study will be randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to PREP Online, the OurRelationship program, or a 6-month waiting period. At the end of six months, couples initially placed on the waiting list will be able to choose whether they’d rather complete the PREP Online or OurRelationship program. If you’d like to read more about the details of the research study, clicking here will link you to the “Informed Consent Form”, which we’ll ask you to agree to as part of screening survey.

The OurRelationship research project is funded through a competitive federal 5-year grant from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). We’re one of 46 organizations nationwide funded by this initiative – and the only one focused on providing web-based services. If you’d like, you can find out more information about this federal effort here.

For us to test the effectiveness of the programs, it’s really important that you complete online surveys before, during, and after you complete the program. Those surveys will tell us whether couples improved on average and whether certain types of couples or relationships benefited more in one program versus the other.

However, we know that the reason you’ve come to our site isn’t because you’re wanting to complete surveys – you’re just wanting to strengthen your relationship! So, we will pay you to complete some of the online surveys by sending you electronic gift certificates to major nationwide realtors such as Amazon.com and Walmart. You’ll be able to choose the gift certificate you’d like.

Couples who are randomly assigned to start the ePREP or OurRelationship programs immediately will be paid a total of $230 ($115 per individual) for completing four online surveys during and after the program and for keeping their appointments with their coaches. Couples who are randomly assigned to wait six months before beginning a program will be paid a total of $400 ($200 per individual) for completing four online surveys during that six months. If you’d like, you can find out more information on the specific payment schedules here.