Rationale and Study Checklist for Ethical Rejection of Participants on Crowdsourcing Research Platforms

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Research Methodology
• Ethics in Research

Background:

• Online crowdsourcing platforms are widely used for participant recruitment in research.
• These platforms provide rapid access to large sample sizes.
• Concerns exist regarding the quality of data obtained through crowdsourcing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the ethical dilemmas arising from data quality control measures on crowdsourcing platforms.
• To propose a balanced approach that protects participant agency and ensures research validity.
• To offer practical guidance for researchers and institutional review boards (IRBs).

Main Methods:

• The study presents a perspective from an associate professor and two IRB directors.
• It discusses the competing interests of participants/workers and researchers.
• A checklist of steps is proposed to support worker agency and reduce unfair consequences.

Main Results:

• Existing methods for ensuring data quality often involve rejecting participant work or payment.
• These methods can create ethical challenges and negatively impact participants.
• The proposed checklist aims to mitigate these issues while enabling researchers to identify low-quality data.

Conclusions:

• A collaborative discussion among academics and IRBs is encouraged to address these complex issues.
• Implementing the proposed checklist can enhance fairness for online research participants.
• Balancing data quality with ethical participant treatment is crucial for the integrity of crowdsourced research.