Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30135748›Full record

ArticleInternet interventions2017

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.

John A Cunningham, Alexandra Godinho, Vladyslav Kushnir

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Internet interventions, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

John A CunninghamCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto M5S 2S1, Canada.
Alexandra GodinhoCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto M5S 2S1, Canada.
Vladyslav KushnirCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto M5S 2S1, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo 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.

methodsParticipants 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).

resultsA 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 (

conclusionsDespite 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.

Indexed as

Amazon Mechanical TurkData collectionInternetOnline webResearch methods

Identifiers

PMID30135748
PMCPMC6084901

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.