Can Amazon's Mechanical Turk be used to recruit participants for internet intervention trials? A pilot study involving a randomized controlled trial of a brief online intervention for hazardous alcohol use
dc.contributor.author | Cunningham, John | |
dc.contributor.author | Godinho, Alexandra | |
dc.contributor.author | Kushnir, Vladyslav | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2021-05-19T03:50:52Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017 | |
dc.date.updated | 2020-11-23T10:17:18Z | |
dc.description.abstract | Objectives To determine whether Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) might be a viable means of recruiting participants for online intervention research. This was accomplished by conducting a randomized controlled trial of a previously validated intervention with participants recruited through MTurk. Methods Participants were recruited to complete an online survey about their alcohol use through the MTurk platform. Those who met eligibility criterion for age and problem drinking were invited to complete a 3-month follow-up. Those who agreed were randomized to receive access to an online brief intervention for drinking or were assigned to a no intervention control group (i.e., thanked and told that they would be re-contacted in 3 months). Results A total of 423 participants were recruited, of which 85% were followed-up at 3-months. All participants were recruited in 3.2 h. Only 1/3 of participants asked to access the online brief intervention did so. Of the 4 outcome variables (number of drinks in a typical week, highest number on one occasion, number of consequences, AUDIT consumption subscale), one displayed a significant difference between conditions. Participants in the intervention group reported a greater reduction between on the AUDIT consumption subscale between baseline and 3-month follow-up compared to those in the no intervention control group (p = 0.004). Conclusions Despite the current pilot showing only limited evidence of impact of the intervention among participants recruited through MTurk, there is potential for conducting trials employing this population (particularly if methods are employed to make sure that participants receive the intervention). This potential is important as it could allow for the rapid conduct of multiple trials during the development stages of online interventions. | en_AU |
dc.description.sponsorship | The research is supported by a Canada Research Chair in Addictions awarded to John Cunningham. | en_AU |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en_AU |
dc.identifier.issn | 2214-7829 | en_AU |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/233354 | |
dc.language.iso | en_AU | en_AU |
dc.provenance | This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). | en_AU |
dc.publisher | Elsevier B.V. | en_AU |
dc.rights | © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. | en_AU |
dc.rights.license | CC BY-NC-ND license | en_AU |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/ | en_AU |
dc.source | Internet Interventions | en_AU |
dc.subject | Amazon Mechanical Turk | en_AU |
dc.subject | Internet | en_AU |
dc.subject | Online web | en_AU |
dc.subject | Data collection | en_AU |
dc.subject | Research methods | en_AU |
dc.title | Can Amazon's Mechanical Turk be used to recruit participants for internet intervention trials? A pilot study involving a randomized controlled trial of a brief online intervention for hazardous alcohol use | en_AU |
dc.type | Journal article | en_AU |
dcterms.accessRights | Open Access | en_AU |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | December 2017 | en_AU |
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage | 16 | en_AU |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 12 | en_AU |
local.contributor.affiliation | Cunningham, John, College of Health and Medicine, ANU | en_AU |
local.contributor.affiliation | Godinho, Alexandra, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health | en_AU |
local.contributor.affiliation | Kushnir, Vladyslav, Center for Addiction and Mental Health | en_AU |
local.contributor.authoremail | u5380249@anu.edu.au | en_AU |
local.contributor.authoruid | Cunningham, John, u5380249 | en_AU |
local.description.embargo | 2099-12-31 | |
local.description.notes | Imported from ARIES | en_AU |
local.identifier.absfor | 111700 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH SERVICES | en_AU |
local.identifier.absfor | 111712 - Health Promotion | en_AU |
local.identifier.ariespublication | u4351680xPUB70 | en_AU |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 10 | en_AU |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1016/j.invent.2017.08.005 | en_AU |
local.identifier.scopusID | 2-s2.0-85028985087 | |
local.identifier.uidSubmittedBy | u4351680 | en_AU |
local.publisher.url | https://www.elsevier.com/en-au | en_AU |
local.type.status | Published Version | en_AU |
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