Crowdsourcing as a method for collecting data pertaining to the effects of alcohol on perceptions of partner...

Efforts designed to investigate the effects of recent alcohol use on the perception of intimate partner aggression have been stultified by significant financial and logistical barriers that warrant the development of supplemental research methods that may result in more prolific investigation of the phenomenon.

The current study explored the viability of using online crowdsourcing to assess the effects of recent alcohol use on the perception of partner aggression.

Mechanical Turk was used to recruit a convenience sample of 60 males who were asked to provide information on their own use of partner aggression, their most recent episode of alcohol use, and their perception of the behaviors and characters depicted in a written partner aggression vignette. Data were evaluated using five separate hierarchical multiple regression models predicting participant perception.

Analyses revealed that 35% of the sample had used partner aggression in the past year and that 22% of the sample had consumed alcohol in the past day. Nonviolent participants perceived the aggressor and the behavior more negatively than partner violent participants. Some indicators revealed that recent alcohol use was associated with more positive perceptions of partner aggression.

Expected associations among prior partner aggression, recent alcohol use, and perception of partner aggression vignettes were observed. Crowdsourcing may represent a source for data evaluating the effects of recent alcohol use on perceptions of aggression. Methodological refinement will benefit research and, ultimately, clinical prevention and intervention.