Practice makes perfect: Commentary on Burnette et al. (2021)

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Eating disorder measures often overlook underrepresented identities, leading to scarce normative data.
• Transgender adults are a key underrepresented group in eating disorder research.
• Existing research has limitations in providing representative data for diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate recommendations for online data collection using Amazon's MTurk for research on eating disorders.
• To address concerns regarding the validity and applicability of proposed methods for studying transgender adults.
• To advocate for evidence-based strategies in research with marginalized communities.

Main Methods:

• Critical analysis of existing literature and methodologies for online research.
• Examination of assumptions underlying recommendations for mitigating invalid responses in surveys.
• Review of the limitations of self-report and online data collection in psychological research.

Main Results:

• Recommendations for MTurk research lack empirical validation.
• Proposed strategies may inadvertently exclude the target population (transgender adults).
• Concerns exist regarding the assumptions and generalizability of the recommendations.

Conclusions:

• Strategies to mitigate inattentive/invalid responding require rigorous validation before implementation.
• Research practices must avoid the historical exclusion of underrepresented groups.
• Future research should prioritize inclusive and validated methodologies for diverse populations in eating disorder studies.