Because SciCast strives for continual improvement and also needs even more participants and forecasts than in previous years, we have been exploring the effectiveness of incentives, particularly monetary incentives, for increasing the quality of participation in a prediction market.  This post is the first of a five-part series to summarize the first two incentives studies as we start a third.  (Parts of this series of posts are based on previous technical reports unavailable to the public.)  This first post lays out the goals, hypotheses, and background of the incentives studies.  If you’ve been participating in SciCast for a while, you might better understand some of your own experiences after reading this. Continue reading →