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Crowdsourcing in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: A Systematic Review with Reporting Recommendations
Dillan F Villavisanis1, Jessica D Blum1, Liana Cheung1
1From the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
|February 2, 2023
Summary
Crowdsourcing in plastic surgery offers a low-cost way to gather public perception data. This review highlights variability in methods, suggesting opportunities for improved best practices in crowdsourced research.
Area of Science:
- Plastic and reconstructive surgery
- Human perception studies
- Online data collection methods
Background:
- Crowdsourcing, utilizing online platforms for layperson data collection, is increasingly used in plastic and reconstructive surgery to assess aesthetic and functional outcomes.
- This systematic review aims to identify best practices by evaluating crowdsourcing studies based on topic, participant demographics, and effect size.
Approach:
- A systematic search strategy was developed with a librarian and plastic surgeon.
- Two independent reviewers utilized Covidence for article screening, full-text evaluation, and data extraction.
- The search yielded 168 studies, with 45 ultimately included for analysis.
Key Points:
- Craniofacial and aesthetic surgery dominate crowdsourcing research topics.
- Typical participants are US-based, female, 25-35 years old, college-educated, with incomes of $20,000-$50,000.
- Studies commonly assess aesthetic perceptions, cost ~$350, run for 9 days, and include ~60 survey items and ~40 images.
Conclusions:
- Crowdsourcing provides a novel, cost-effective method for high-volume data acquisition in plastic surgery.
- Significant variability exists in subject numbers, compensation, and methodology, indicating a need for standardization and quality improvement.
