Warning Crowdsourced Study Participants About Possible Consequences for Inattentive Participation Relates to Informed Consent, Regardless of Effects on Data Quality

Abstract

Brühlmann and colleagues recently examined the effects of “warning statements” on insufficient effort responding (IER) in crowdsourced research, specifically Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Among other findings, it showed that passively reading a warning statement did not significantly reduce careless responding relative to a control condition. This brief essay discusses the context around IER on crowdsourced data collection platforms, finding Brühlmann’s contribution valuable. It then points out how crowdsourced studies by U.S. researchers using mechanisms like attention checks to control for IER plausibly should include warning statements regardless of their effect on IER due to federal research regulations around payment transparency.

Keywords

• crowdsourced studies
• mechanical turk
• data quality
• informed consent