A Convenient Solution: Using MTurk To Sample From Hard-To-Reach Populations

Abstract

We agree with Landers and Behrend's (2015) proposition that Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) may provide great opportunities for organizational research samples. However, some groups are characteristically difficult to recruit because they are stigmatized or socially disenfranchised (Birman, 2005; Miller, Forte, Wilson, & Greene, 2006; Sullivan & Cain, 2004; see Campbell, Adams, & Patterson, 2008, for a review). These groups may include individuals who have not previously been the focus of much organizational research, such as those of low socioeconomic status; individuals with disabilities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individuals; or victims of workplace harassment. As Landers and Behrend (2015) point out, there is an overrepresentation of research using “Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic” participants. It is important to extend research beyond these samples to examine workplace phenomena that are specific to special populations. We contribute to this argument by noting the particular usefulness that MTurk can provide for sampling from hard-to-reach populations, which we characterize as groups that are in the numerical minority in terms of nationwide representation. To clarify, we focus our discussion on populations that are traditionally hard to reach in the context of contemporary organizational research within the United States.

Hope and health‐related quality of life among chronically ill uninsured/underinsured adults

“…Research on MTurk indicates that MTurkers are more demographically diverse than some traditional samples (i.e., internet samples and college students) and that the data obtained is reliable (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, ; Casler, Bickel, & Hackett, ). Furthermore, MTurk can be used to access populations that are not traditionally represented in research because of the difficulty in accessing them (Smith, Sabat, Martinez, Weaver, & Xu, ). For example, Turkers (i.e., MTurk participants) are less likely to have health insurance than a nationally representative sample (Walters, Christakis, & Wright, ).…”

“…Furthermore, MTurk can be used to access populations that are not traditionally represented in research because of the difficulty in accessing them (Smith, Sabat, Martinez, Weaver, & Xu, 2015). For example, Turkers (i.e., MTurk participants) are less likely to have health insurance than a nationally representative sample (Walters, Christakis, & Wright, 2018).…”

Positive Parenting and Parental Conflict: Contributions to Resilient Coparenting During Divorce

“…Participants were compensated using the Qualtrics Panels workforce system, which was the equivalent of $4 for the presurvey and $2 for the postsurvey. These types of online marketplace services are growing in their use by extension professionals (Dworkin, Brar, Hessel, & Rudi, 2016a) and social science researchers, especially to recruit for hard-to-reach samples (Smith, Sabat, Martinez, Weaver, & Xu, 2015), and few differences have been found between traditionally recruited samples and online samples (Clifford & Jerit, 2014;Dworkin, Hessel, Gliske, & Rudi, 2016b). Participants for the original study were invited to complete a postsurvey 3 months later; however, only data from the initial survey was used for the present study.…”

Examining Attitudes, Norms, and Control Toward Safety Behaviors as Mediators in the Leadership-Safety Motivation Relationship

“…Mturk provides access to employees that work across multiple organizations, which would otherwise be costly and time-consuming (Smith, Sabat, Martinez, Weaver, & Xu, 2015). employed in an occupation where safety is of concern to participate in the study (see Appendix A).…”