Law Student Guinea Pig

I was talking to the administrative assistant in the undergraduate department where I'm a TA, and she told me about her second job at Schlesinger Associates, a market research firm. (Temple salaries notoriously suck, particularly for admin-level positions.) They do focus groups. She told me her sister made $75 in a 2-hour focus group, and my ears perked up.

Bar expenses are coming up ($500 each for NJ and PA = $1,000 + BarBri @ ~$2,300 = $3,300+), and well, I'm feeling a little poor. So I signed up on their database. They ask a bunch of questions, and you can choose which ones you want to answer.

The questions are wide ranging: drinking habits, sexual orientation, technology used, medications taken, diseases, religion, hobbies, household income. I decided to answer only those questions I would answer if I were talking to someone I had just met for the first time. (i.e., No disclosure of income, diseases or medications, but they do know I play tennis, go to the theatre, and use a cable modem for Internet access.) Afterwards, I did feel a little nervous after reading this part of their privacy policy:

All Personal Information obtained shall not be disclosed to any client other than for lawful research purposes.

Ummm, shouldn't that be the bare minimum?

I'll let you know what happens if they call.