Last updated: July 15, 2025
This Fair Usage and Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy”) outlines the terms under which researchers may access and use the Poocho research platform and services. It is intended to preserve quality, protect participants, and maintain reliable infrastructure for all customers.
By using Poocho, you agree to the terms below. Breaches may result in temporary suspension, limits on usage, or permanent removal from the platform.
1. Intended use
Poocho is built to enable fast, high-quality qualitative research. All use of the platform should:
- Serve the purpose of conducting legitimate, ethical consumer research
- Respect participant consent, privacy, and compensation
- Avoid misleading practices, misrepresentation, or manipulation of participant responses
2. Participant protection and ethical conduct
Researchers are expected to:
- Clearly communicate study purpose and eligibility through screeners
- Not solicit or re-contact participants outside the platform
- Collect only the data necessary for the intended research purpose
3. Fair usage limits
Each researcher account is subject to usage limits based on the plan and bundle purchased. These may include:
- A cap on the number of participant sessions requested in a given period (e.g. per day, week, or month)
- A cap on Studio usage (AI-generated summaries, transcripts, or analysis minutes)
- Limits on moderation requests
If usage consistently exceeds fair allocation, Poocho may apply temporary holds, suggest a plan upgrade, or review account usage.
4. Incentive handling
All participant incentives are managed by Poocho and billed separately to the researcher’s account. Researchers:
- Cannot directly modify, withhold, or delay incentives
- Are responsible for clearing invoices in a timely manner to prevent downstream delays in participant payment
Repeated delays in incentive payment may result in paused access to services or holds on future study launches until the issue is resolved.
5. Platform integrity and misuse
Researchers must not:
- Interfere with or attempt to disrupt platform functionality or infrastructure
- Use bots, scraping tools, or unauthorized automation
- Attempt to reverse engineer, clone, or copy platform capabilities
- Create duplicate or misleading studies for the purpose of manipulating outputs
6. Prohibited content and use cases
Poocho does not support research involving:
- Illegal activity, hate speech, or discriminatory targeting
- Deceptive practices or research without participant consent
- Highly regulated research domains (e.g. medical diagnostics, financial advice) unless explicitly approved in advance
7. Breach and enforcement
Poocho reserves the right to:
- Investigate violations of this policy
- Limit or suspend researcher accounts during investigation
- Terminate access in cases of repeated or material breach
- Withhold access to participant data or reporting until billing or conduct issues are resolved
8. Contact
If you’re unsure whether your use of the platform complies with this policy, or would like to discuss a research use case in advance, please contact us at:
📧 support@poocho.co
