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.authorCunningham, John
dc.contributor.authorGodinho, Alexandra
dc.contributor.authorKushnir, Vladyslav
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-19T03:50:52Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.date.updated2020-11-23T10:17:18Z
dc.description.abstractObjectives 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.sponsorshipThe research is supported by a Canada Research Chair in Addictions awarded to John Cunningham.en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn2214-7829en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/233354
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.provenanceThis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).en_AU
dc.publisherElsevier B.V.en_AU
dc.rights© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.en_AU
dc.rights.licenseCC BY-NC-ND licenseen_AU
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/en_AU
dc.sourceInternet Interventionsen_AU
dc.subjectAmazon Mechanical Turken_AU
dc.subjectInterneten_AU
dc.subjectOnline weben_AU
dc.subjectData collectionen_AU
dc.subjectResearch methodsen_AU
dc.titleCan 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 useen_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issueDecember 2017en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage16en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage12en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationCunningham, John, College of Health and Medicine, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationGodinho, Alexandra, Centre for Addiction and Mental Healthen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationKushnir, Vladyslav, Center for Addiction and Mental Healthen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu5380249@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidCunningham, John, u5380249en_AU
local.description.embargo2099-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor111700 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH SERVICESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor111712 - Health Promotionen_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu4351680xPUB70en_AU
local.identifier.citationvolume10en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.invent.2017.08.005en_AU
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85028985087
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu4351680en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://www.elsevier.com/en-auen_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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