ArticlePloS one2018
Are Mechanical Turk worker samples representative of health status and health behaviors in the U.S.?
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
110 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 250 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of different radiology report formats on patient information processing: a systematic review.European radiology · 2025Pooled it
- Deconstructing pathways to resilience: A systematic review of associations between psychosocial mechanisms and transdiagnostic adult mental health outcomes in the context of adverse childhood experiences.Clinical psychology & psychotherapy · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of advertising features on smokers' and non-smokers' perceptions of a reduced nicotine cigarette modified risk tobacco product.Tobacco control · 2023Trial
- Do they speak like me? Exploring how perceptions of linguistic difference may influence patient perceptions of healthcare providers.Medical education online · 2022Trial
- Educating the Public on the Health Risks of Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes: Results From a US-Based Convenience Sample.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Trial
- Applying the reinforcer pathology model to alcohol use and suicide risk: An initial test.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2026Article
- Examining the Decision to Take a Dementia Risk Test: Considerations for Privacy in Screening At-Home.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders · 2026Article
- Article
- Trajectories of spiritual well-being across the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.The American journal of orthopsychiatry · 2026Article
- Parental Overvaluation of Child Weight/Shape Is Associated With Disordered Eating in Children Beyond Associations With Parental Internalized Weight Bias.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2025Article
- Investigating the substitutability of little cigars/cigarillos, e-cigarettes, and other noncombusted tobacco products for cigarettes using the experimental tobacco marketplace.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- A Cross-Sectional Study of Online Survey Respondents' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Delirium.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Promoting HPV Vaccination in College Students Through Educational Video: Results from a Randomized Trial.Vaccines · 2025Article
- Family as a Pathway to Suicidal Behaviors Through Depression Symptoms and Internalized Homophobia.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- The Daily Lives of Crowdsourced U.S. Respondents: A Time Use Comparison of MTurk, Prolific, and ATUS.Sociological methodology · 2025Article
- Revolutionizing Brain Research Using Portable MRI in Field Settings: Public Perspectives on the Ethical and Legal Challenges.Neuroethics · 2025Article
- Integrating sociocultural theories to inform public health response: unique relationships between moral foundations, cultural cognition worldviews, and COVID-19 attitudes and behaviors.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Understanding Membership in Alternative Health Social Media Groups and Its Association with COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Comparing Health Survey Data Cost and Quality Between Amazon's Mechanical Turk and Ipsos' KnowledgePanel: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
- Impact of Perceived Access and Treatment Knowledge on Medication Preferences for Opioid Use Disorder.Substance use & addiction journal · 2024Article
50 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 at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAmazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is frequently used to administer health-related surveys and experiments at a low cost, but little is known about its representativeness with regards to health status and behaviors.
methodsA cross-sectional survey comprised of questions from the nationally-representative 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was administered to 591 MTurk workers and 393 masters in 2016. Health status (asthma, depression, BMI, and general health), health behaviors (influenza vaccination, health insurance, smoking, and physical activity), and demographic characteristics of the two MTurk populations (workers and masters) were compared to each other and, using Poisson regression, to a nationally-representative BRFSS and NHANES samples.
resultsWorkers and master demographics were similar. MTurk users were more likely to be aged under 50 years compared to the national sample (86% vs. 55%) and more likely to complete a college degree than the national sample (50% vs. 26%). Adjusting for covariates, MTurk users were less likely to be vaccinated for influenza, to smoke, to have asthma, to self-report being in excellent or very good health, to exercise, and have health insurance but over twice as likely to screen positive for depression relative to a national sample. Results were fairly consistent among different age groups.
conclusionsMTurk workers are not a generalizable population with regards to health status and behaviors; deviations did not follow a trend. Appropriate health-related uses for MTurk and ways to improve upon the generalizability of MTurk health studies are proposed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.