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20 - MTurk and Online Panel Research

from 3 - Methods for Understanding Consumer Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2023

Cait Lamberton
Affiliation:
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Derek D. Rucker
Affiliation:
Kellogg School, Northwestern University, Illinois
Stephen A. Spiller
Affiliation:
Anderson School, University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Online platforms such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), CloudResearch, and Prolific have become a common source of data for behavioral researchers and consumer psychologists alike. This chapter reviews contemporary issues associated with online panel research, discussing first how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the extent to which researchers use online panels and the workers participating on certain online panels. The chapter explores how factors like a TikTok video can impact who uses these online panels and why. A longitudinal study of researcher perceptions and data quality practices finds that many practices do not align with current recommendations. The authors provide several recommendations for researchers to conduct high-quality behavioral research online, including the use of appropriate prescreens before data collection, data analysis preregistration practices, and avoiding post-screens after data collection that are not preregistered. Finally, the authors recommend researchers thoroughly report details on recruitment, restrictions, completion rates, and any differences in dropout rates across conditions.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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