Participant Misrepresentation in Online Focus Groups: Red Flags and Proactive Measures.

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Research Methodology
• Digital Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online research methods.
• Online data collection offers benefits like cost-effectiveness and wider participant reach.
• Existing literature highlights participant misrepresentation in online surveys, but not in online focus groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate participant misrepresentation in online focus-group empirical research.
• To report a concerning case where dishonest behavior impacted data integrity in online focus groups and e-surveys.
• To discuss the implications of such issues for research ethics, funding, and data quality.

Main Methods:

• This study presents a case study of a research project experiencing participant misrepresentation.
• It details the context of the research, initial indicators of the problem, and subsequent investigations.
• The methodology involves analyzing a specific instance of data authenticity concerns in online qualitative and quantitative research.

Main Results:

• Dishonest participant behavior was identified as a significant threat to the integrity and validity of collected data.
• The case study highlights specific red flags and investigative steps taken.
• The findings underscore the vulnerability of online data collection methods to participant misrepresentation.

Conclusions:

• Participant misrepresentation poses a serious risk to the validity of online focus-group and e-survey data.
• Urgent consideration of ethical guidelines and practical safeguards is needed for online research.
• Recommendations are discussed to protect the integrity of future online research endeavors.