Could you be the font of all text wisdom?
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Louis Barfe has been a researcher for AQA for more than two years.
What first drew him to it was the money, "a most agreeable way to earn some" by sitting on the computer answering questions. Mr Barfe says it’s great when you hit a run, “a purple patch where you can answer a load of questions fully and interestingly and give loads of views”.
He says to be a good researcher you need to have an enquiring mind and be able to search efficiently. It’s not just a matter of Googling answers, but using other resources as well. “It enabled me to justify a lot of books my wife tells me are useless and should go,” says Mr Barfe.
He enjoys doing the "hard" questions - those which have been passed by five previous researchers. He says it’s good to have some gaps in your knowledge, although his are progressively getting smaller and fewer.
Alcohol-induced questions such as “Who loves me?” can also be amusing. Another common one is “Where is good to go now?” which Mr Barfe would want to answer “Go home for a very long sleep!”
“Sitting at home on a Friday/Saturday night, when the whole world is out except you, telling people where to get their late-night kebabs and which bus will get them home can be quite strange, but fun,” says Mr Barfe.
He says AQA is a great service, but customers seem to have an awful lot of disposable income. Sometimes he can have conversations, or people will text to say “Thank you” and he’ll reply by saying, “Thank you for being kind, but it’s not necessary as that just cost you a pound!” And the texter will reply again saying “I know, but I do appreciate it!” Yep, there goes another pound. |
The UK has a range of text answering services that are constantly looking for more researchers to answer the thousands of questions they receive per day.
Customers can text a question 24/7 from anywhere in the world and can ask absolutely any question – fun or serious, or just challenging.
AQA costs £1 for customers in the UK, or €2 for Ireland with the number 57275. ANSA costs 50p a question. Texperts only charges for answers at 50p and you can also get a destination map for a further 50p.
If you’re willing to spend the time on being a researcher, you can make a lot of money. These services receive on average 20,000 questions a day.
What’s involved?
You can work from wherever you want, and you get paid for each question you answer.
Researchers are mostly based in the United Kingdom, but some of the services have opened up into various parts of the world. ANSA has begun to operate in Pakistan, India, South America and the Philippines. Texperts has researchers in the States, Canada, Australia, China, New Zealand and South Africa - many of these researchers have spent time in the UK at some stage or other.
Some people do it as a full-time job, while there are many who just log on when they can to earn a bit of money. Students, mums, and the retired benefit strongly from the flexibility of the job.
You need to be fluent in English, with excellent writing skills. You need to be able to use your own knowledge and internet skills to help come up with great answers for the multitude of questions customers are going to ask.
How do I do it?
You will be working on a self-employed basis; conducting research from home at times that suit you - all you need is your own computer with a broadband internet connection. Having other resources such as reference books or magazines on various topics you like can help even more with general knowledge. Sometimes it's just a case of having a phone book or street map in your care. You will be paid pro-rata for the research you do.
Step 1: Apply to one of the service providers
The three main text answering services in the UK are AQA (Any Question Answered) 63336, ANSA 87199, and Texperts 66000. On average about one in 10 applications are accepted by the companies.
Register online with ANSA, fill in your details and you will be tested on your ability to find factual information, and answer the questions within good time. Once you are accepted you will become an apprentice researcher and all of your answers will be validated by the admin team, and then eventually you will respond directly to questions.
Texperts have a fun challenge which you can do as a game to test your skills in maths, English, and general knowledge, but if you go really well you will be asked to provide your details and Texperts will get back to you about being a part of the team. Take the Texpert challenge here to see if you’re good enough to be a Texpert researcher.
Send an email to jobs@aqa.63336.com quoting the reference UK - IB/FR/UK1 if you are based in the UK. You will be sent more information about the work, including an application form and test.
When you pass the test, you will answer several questions and have a mentor check them for editorial policy and style. When you pass the check, you can begin answering questions.
Step 2: Becoming a researcher
When you have passed the test you will become a part of the research community, by downloading the system software and making a username and password to log on. You can then access a database of answers already given, a forum to discuss any issues that arise, access to senior researchers, and the never-ending queue of questions that need answering.
Step 3: Answering questions All services endeavour to answer all questions within 10 minutes of being texted, but the average time it takes to answer a question is just one minute. Since AQA began in April 2004, more than nine million questions have been answered and are now stored in their database.
If there is a question you just cannot answer it is possible to put it back in the queue for someone else to pick up. For each question the service database can provide you with a number of possible answers and you can choose the most relevant and shoot it off to the customer.
Sometimes it’s not that easy, and you will have to refer to alternative resources to answer a question. Although the internet is helpful, it’s also good to have newspapers, reference books, make a phone call, consult a sports almanac – all of those old-school devices that can help.
You can also talk to other researchers on the forums to ask where information can be found.
ANSA’s researchers are all classified as experts, so when you join, you note areas that you know a lot about, or know where the best place to find that information would be, and then you are sent questions relating to those topics when you are logged into the system. In this way, you really are an expert. Each question has to be answered using full grammatical sentences, but still has to fit into the 160-character text limit. You have to be good at reducing complex statements into short sentences. A challenging one would be to name the English football squad. With 22 names, that’s quite an effort to fit in.
Each service has policies about the types of questions it cannot or will not answer, and the type of questions where professional help may need to be given. For example, ANSA has guidelines regarding how to respond to questions about drugs and terrorism, and a number of blacklisted words where it would not be appropriate to answer the question. Because you receive questions from total strangers you have to take great care – you have no idea about the characteristics of the texter. They could be a teenager asking about bankruptcy or a 56-year-old asking advice about a boy/girlfriend.
You are however able to see previous texts from the same number – the number is private, but the history is there to help you answer further questions. This can be crucial in relationship, and similar, questions. In some cases professionals will help give answers in precarious situations.
How much can I make?
With AQA, you make 30p per question you answer. ANSA pays 10p per answer, and a further 5p for each time your answer is used. Texperts pay 30p per answer.
The amount you make depends on the time you spend answering questions. Some researchers like to have their own targets and hours to fulfill.
An average is to earn about £10 an hour. Dedicated researchers tapping out answers on a full-time basis can pull in up to around £25,000 a year.
You are paid directly into your account, on time, at the end of each month. The job is regarded as self-employed, so you must do your own tax. Students who earn below the taxable threshold are fine.
Check out our finances for freelancers page for more information on tax.
Getting started
- Trial the services by texting a question to AQA 63336, ANSA 87199 and Texperts 66000.
- AQA
- ANSA
- Texperts
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