ReviewJournal of epidemiology and community health2003
Collecting behavioural data using the world wide web: considerations for researchers.
Review in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 150 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
150 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- HIV Testing Among Internet-Using MSM in the United States: Systematic Review.AIDS and behavior · 2017Pooled it
- Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve online survey completion among internet-using men who have sex with men.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2019Trial
- Rates, Delays, and Completeness of General Practitioners' Responses to a Postal Versus Web-Based Survey: A Randomized Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Trial
- Use of Videos Improves Informed Consent Comprehension in Web-Based Surveys Among Internet-Using Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Trial
- A randomized-controlled trial focusing on socio-economic status for promoting vegetable intake among adults using a web-based nutrition intervention programme: study protocol.BMC public health · 2017Trial
- Cluster-randomized trial of a German leisure-based alcohol peer education measure.Health promotion international · 2016Trial
- A safety app to respond to dating violence for college women and their friends: the MyPlan study randomized controlled trial protocol.BMC public health · 2015Trial
- Use of online safety decision aid by abused women: effect on decisional conflict in a randomized controlled trial.American journal of preventive medicine · 2015Trial
- Towards a model of contemporary parenting: the parenting behaviours and dimensions questionnaire.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Motivational interviewing in a Web-based physical activity intervention with an avatar: randomized controlled trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2014Trial
- Recruiting men who have sex with men on Craigslist.org for face-to-face assessments: implications for research.AIDS and behavior · 2013Trial
- Preventing drug abuse among adolescent girls: outcome data from an internet-based intervention.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2010Trial
- Post-COVID syndrome's impact on sex life - results from a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Assessment of Fraud Deterrence and Detection Procedures Used in a Web-Based Survey Study With Adult Black Cisgender Women: Description of Lessons Learned and Recommendations.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Combating Fraudulent Participation in Urban American Indian and Alaska Native Virtual Health Research: Protocol for Increasing Data Integrity in Online Research (PRIOR).JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Reallocating desk workers' sitting time to standing or stepping: associations with work performance.Occupational medicine (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Quantifying side effects and caregiver burdens of pediatric pulmonary hypertension therapies.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Canadian Older Adults' Intention to Use an Electronic Decision Aid for Housing Decisions: Cross-sectional Web-Based Survey.JMIR aging · 2023Article
- Association Between the Use of Induction Heating Cookers and Delivery Outcomes in Pregnant Women: An Internet-Based Cohort Study.Environmental health insights · 2023Article
- A patient-driven registry on Behçet's disease: the AIDA for patients pilot project.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
90 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo identify and describe advantages, challenges, and ethical considerations of web based behavioural data collection.
methodsThis discussion is based on the authors' experiences in survey development and study design, respondent recruitment, and internet research, and on the experiences of others as found in the literature.
resultsThe advantages of using the world wide web to collect behavioural data include rapid access to numerous potential respondents and previously hidden populations, respondent openness and full participation, opportunities for student research, and reduced research costs. Challenges identified include issues related to sampling and sample representativeness, competition for the attention of respondents, and potential limitations resulting from the much cited "digital divide", literacy, and disability. Ethical considerations include anonymity and privacy, providing and substantiating informed consent, and potential risks of malfeasance.
conclusionsComputer mediated communications, including electronic mail, the world wide web, and interactive programs will play an ever increasing part in the future of behavioural science research. Justifiable concerns regarding the use of the world wide web in research exist, but as access to, and use of, the internet becomes more widely and representatively distributed globally, the world wide web will become more applicable. In fact, the world wide web may be the only research tool able to reach some previously hidden population subgroups. Furthermore, many of the criticisms of online data collection are common to other survey research methodologies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.