The Importance of Assessing Clinical Phenomena in Mechanical Turk Research
The Importance of Assessing Clinical Phenomena in Mechanical Turk Research
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DOI：
10.1037/pas0000217
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发表时间：
2016-06-01
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Timpano, Kiara R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Arditte, Kimberly A.;Cek, Demet;Timpano, Kiara R.
亚马逊的机械土耳其人(MTurk)网站提供了一个数据收集平台，可以快速、廉价地访问各种样品。许多报告称赞MTurk通过流行病学样本捕获了高质量的数据，该样本比传统的面对面便利样本(例如本科生受试者池)更能代表美国人口。这一好处，再加上数据收集的简便性和低成本，导致使用MTurk研究跨广泛心理学学科的现象的研究显著增加。现在已经有多份报告研究了MTurk样本的人口统计特征。然而，一个关键的差距仍然存在，因为人们对MTurk参与者临床症状的个体差异知之甚少。本文讨论了评估MTurk样本中临床现象的重要性，并通过对大样本(N=1,098)MTurk参与者的实证调查支持了其断言。结果显示，MTurk参与者对临床症状的认可程度远远高于传统的非临床样本。这一区别在抑郁和社交焦虑症状方面最为显著，其认可水平与临床诊断为情绪和焦虑症状的人相当。参与者的生理焦虑、囤积和进食病理症状都在亚临床范围内。总体而言，超过有效临床临界值的人数是估计12个月患病率的3至19倍。根据目前的发现，有人认为MTurk参与者在有意义的方面与普通人群不同，研究人员在提到这个样本时应该考虑到这一点，因为它真正具有代表性。
Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) website provides a data collection platform with quick and inexpensive access to diverse samples. Numerous reports have lauded MTurk as capturing high-quality data with an epidemiological sample that is more representative of the U.S. population than traditional in-person convenience samples (e.g., undergraduate subject pools). This benefit, in combination with the ease and low-cost of data collection, has led to a remarkable increase in studies using MTurk to investigate phenomena across a wide range of psychological disciplines. Multiple reports have now examined the demographic characteristics of MTurk samples. One key gap remains, however, in that relatively little is known about individual differences in clinical symptoms among MTurk participants. This paper discusses the importance of assessing clinical phenomena in MTurk samples and supports its assertions through an empirical investigation of a large sample (N = 1,098) of MTurk participants. Results revealed that MTurk participants endorse clinical symptoms to a substantially greater degree than traditional nonclinical samples. This distinction was most striking for depression and social anxiety symptoms, which were endorsed at levels comparable with individuals with clinically diagnosed mood and anxiety symptoms. Participants' symptoms of physiological anxiety, hoarding, and eating pathology fell within the subclinical range. Overall, the number of individuals exceeding validated clinical cutoffs was between 3 and 19 times the estimated 12-month prevalence rates. Based on the current findings, it is argued that MTurk participants differ from the general population in meaningful ways, and researchers should consider this when referring to this sample as truly representative.