Time units in freelancer polls
In freelancer polls, respondents can choose the time unit that makes the most sense to them for each question. This reflects the reality of freelance work, where pricing is not always expressed the same way.
A makeup artist might think in hourly rates for some services, but in weekly rates when working on a production. A private chef may price individual events per day, but longer engagements per week. A fractional CTO may have a day rate, but also work on a monthly retainer.
Even within a tight peer group, respondents may approach pricing differently. One private chef may always think in day rates, even for a month-long project. The model is designed to support this variety, and to let respondents answer in their own terms, rather than forcing them into a single reporting format.
This matters in practice and improves both response rates and the quality of responses: when respondents are forced to convert their pricing into a unit that is not natural to them, it adds friction, introduces errors, and makes surveys harder to complete. Here, the expectation is simple: answer using what feels right for this specific question, for this specific respondent. The system handles the rest.
Furthermore, respondents do not need to be consistent in the unit they use across responses. The goal is to answer each question in the way that feels most natural in that specific context.
How results are normalized
Because respondents use different time units, we normalize all responses when calculating results. This allows us to compare like with like, even when the original inputs vary.
For normalization purposes, we use the following standard conversions:
- 1 day = 8 hours
- 1 week = 5 days
- 1 month = 22 days
How results are displayed
In aggregate views, we present results in the time unit most commonly used by the group. This reflects how respondents in that sample tend to think about pricing, and keeps the results aligned with the way this group naturally works.
For example, a peer group of makeup artists may see results expressed in hourly rates, while a group of private chefs may see the same type of data expressed as day rates.
If there is a tie in the prevalence of time units, we default to the smaller one (for example, day rather than week), as it is generally easier to scale up than to divide.
Individual responses
While aggregated results are normalized into a single unit, individual responses retain the original unit chosen by each respondent.
This means you can see, for example, that some respondents price a service per day while others price it per hour, even if the overall comparison is presented in a single unit.
We consider this distinction meaningful, as it provides additional context on how different respondents conceptualize their pricing.