Participant Dropout as a Function of Survey Length in Internet-Mediated University Studies: Implications for Study Design and Voluntary Participation in Psychological Research
Participant Dropout as a Function of Survey Length in Internet-Mediated University Studies: Implications for Study Design and Voluntary Participation in Psychological Research
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DOI：
10.1089/cyber.2009.0445
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发表时间：
2010-12-01
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Hoerger, Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hoerger, Michael
与传统的基于实验室的研究相比，基于互联网的研究在有效和负担得起允许招募大样本参与者进行心理学研究方面提供了实质性的优势。近年来，核心的技术、伦理和方法问题得到了解决，但参与者退出这一重要问题却出人意料地鲜有人关注。具体地说，基于网络的心理学研究通常需要本科生完成冗长而耗时的在线人格问卷，但到目前为止，还没有已知的发表的研究仔细研究了参与者在试图完成这些研究期间辍学的自然过程。这项调查考察了1,963名本科生的辍学情况，这些本科生完成了六项基于网络的调查研究中的一项，这些研究相对具有代表性的是在大学环境中进行的调查。结果表明，10%的参与者几乎可以立即退出这些研究，每100个调查项目中还会有2%的人退出研究。对于单独的项目调查人员，这些发现对研究设计考虑因素有影响，例如进行先验功率分析。本研究结果还对理解和改进自愿参与涉及人类受试者的研究具有更广泛的伦理影响。尽管如此，这些结论的概括性可能仅限于涉及类似设计或调查内容的研究。
Internet-mediated research has offered substantial advantages over traditional laboratory-based research in terms of efficiently and affordably allowing for the recruitment of large samples of participants for psychology studies. Core technical, ethical, and methodological issues have been addressed in recent years, but the important issue of participant dropout has received surprisingly little attention. Specifically, web-based psychology studies often involve undergraduates completing lengthy and time-consuming batteries of online personality questionnaires, but no known published studies to date have closely examined the natural course of participant dropout during attempted completion of these studies. The present investigation examined participant dropout among 1,963 undergraduates completing one of six web-based survey studies relatively representative of those conducted in university settings. Results indicated that 10% of participants could be expected to drop out of these studies nearly instantaneously, with an additional 2% dropping out per 100 survey items included in the study. For individual project investigators, these findings hold ramifications for study design considerations, such as conducting a priori power analyses. The present results also have broader ethical implications for understanding and improving voluntary participation in research involving human subjects. Nonetheless, the generalizability of these conclusions may be limited to studies involving similar design or survey content.