128
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Commentary

Participant Fraud in Virtual Qualitative Substance Use Research: Recommendations and Considerations for Detection and Prevention Based on a Case Study

, , , , &

References

  • Amri, M., Angelakis, C., & Logan, D. (2021). Utilizing asynchronous email interviews for health research: Overview of benefits and drawbacks. BMC Research Notes, 14(1), 148. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05547-2
  • Ballard, A. M., Cardwell, T., & Young, A. M. (2019). Fraud detection protocol for web-based research among men who have sex with men: Development and descriptive evaluation. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 5(1), e12344. https://doi.org/10.2196/12344
  • Bybee, S., Cloyes, K., Baucom, B., Supiano, K., Mooney, K., & Ellington, L. (2022). Bots and nots: Safeguarding online survey research with underrepresented and diverse populations. Psychology and Sexuality, 13(4), 901–911. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.1936617
  • Chandler, J. J., & Paolacci, G. (2017). Lie for a dime: When most prescreening responses are honest but most study participants are impostors. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(5), 500–508. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617698203
  • Devine, E. G., Waters, M. E., Putnam, M., Surprise, C., O’Malley, K., Richambault, C., Fishman, R. L., Knapp, C. M., Patterson, E. H., Sarid-Segal, O., Streeter, C., Colanari, L., & Ciraulo, D. A. (2013). Concealment and fabrication by experienced research subjects. Clinical Trials (London, England), 10(6), 935–948. https://doi.org/10.1177/1740774513492917
  • Dewitt, J., Capistrant, B., Kohli, N., Rosser, B. R. S., Mitteldorf, D., Merengwa, E., & West, W. (2018). Addressing participant validity in a small internet health survey (the restore study): Protocol and recommendations for survey response validation. JMIR Research Protocols, 7(4), e96. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.7655
  • Fernandez Lynch, H., Joffe, S., Thirumurthy, H., Xie, D., & Largent, E. A. (2019). Association between financial incentives and participant deception about study eligibility. JAMA Network Open, 2(1), e187355. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.7355
  • Flicker, S. (2004). “Ask me no secrets, i’ll tell you no lies:" What happens when a respondent’s story makes no sense. The Qualitative Report, 9(3), 528–537. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2004.1922
  • Glazer, J. V., MacDonnell, K., Frederick, C., Ingersoll, K., & Ritterband, L. M. (2021). Liar! Liar! Identifying eligibility fraud by applicants in digital health research. Internet Interventions, 25, 100401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100401
  • Godinho, A., Schell, C., & Cunningham, J. A. (2020). Out damn bot, out: Recruiting real people into substance use studies on the internet. Substance Abuse, 41(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2019.1691131
  • Gupta, S. (2017). Ethical issues in designing internet-based research: Recommendations for good practice. Journal of Research Practice, 13(2), 1–14.
  • Heffner, J. L., Watson, N. L., Dahne, J., Croghan, I., Kelly, M. M., McClure, J. B., Bars, M., Thrul, J., & Meier, E. (2021). Recognizing and preventing participant deception in online nicotine and tobacco research studies: Suggested tactics and a call to action. Nicotine & Tobacco Research: Official Journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 23(10), 1810–1812. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntab077
  • Hoeflich, C. C., Wang, A., Otufowora, A., Cottler, L. B., & Striley, C. W. (2022). Virtual recruitment and participant engagement for substance use research during a pandemic. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 35(4), 252–258. https://doi.org/10.1097/yco.0000000000000794
  • Inan, O. T., Tenaerts, P., Prindiville, S. A., Reynolds, H. R., Dizon, D. S., Cooper-Arnold, K., Turakhia, M., Pletcher, M. J., Preston, K. L., Krumholz, H. M., Marlin, B. M., Mandl, K. D., Klasnja, P., Spring, B., Iturriaga, E., Campo, R., Desvigne-Nickens, P., Rosenberg, Y., Steinhubl, S. R., & Califf, R. M. (2020). Digitizing clinical trials. Npj Digital Medicine, 3(1), 101. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0302-y
  • Irani, E. (2018). The use of videoconferencing for qualitative interviewing: Opportunities, challenges, and considerations. Clinical Nursing Research, 28(1), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1054773818803170
  • Jones, A., Caes, L., Rugg, T., Noel, M., Bateman, S., & Jordan, A. (2021). Challenging issues of integrity and identity of participants in non-synchronous online qualitative methods. Methods in Psychology, 5, 100072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metip.2021.100072
  • Kramer, J., Rubin, A., Coster, W., Helmuth, E., Hermos, J., Rosenbloom, D., Moed, R., Dooley, M., Kao, Y.-C., Liljenquist, K., Brief, D., Enggasser, J., Keane, T., Roy, M., & Lachowicz, M. (2014). Strategies to address participant misrepresentation for eligibility in web-based research. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 23(1), 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1415
  • Lago, R. R., Peter, E., & Bógus, C. M. (2017). Harm reduction and tensions in trust and distrust in a mental health service: A qualitative approach. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 12(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-017-0098-1
  • Lawlor, J., Thomas, C., Guhin, A. T., Kenyon, K., Lerner, M. D., Drahota, A., & UCAS Consortium. (2021). Suspicious and fraudulent online survey participation: Introducing the REAL framework. Methodological Innovations, 14(3), 205979912110504. https://doi.org/10.1177/20597991211050467
  • Leitch, W. (2004). Group thinker. New York Magazine. https://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/features/9299/
  • Murdoch-Gibson. (2022). Here for the incentive: Recognizing and rooting out fake respondents. Qualitative Research Consultants Associaion Views.
  • Nesher Shoshan, H., & Wehrt, W. (2022). Understanding “zoom fatigue”: A mixed-method approach. Applied Psychology, 71(3), 827–852. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12360
  • Newman, P. A., Guta, A., & Black, T. (2021). Ethical considerations for qualitative research methods during the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergency situations: Navigating the virtual field. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 160940692110478. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211047823
  • Pellicano, E., Adams, D., Crane, L., Hollingue, C., Allen, C., Almendinger, K., Botha, M., Haar, T., Kapp, S. K., & Wheeley, E. (2023). Letter to the editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 28(3), 786–792. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231174543
  • Percy, W. H., Kostere, K., & Kostere, S. (2015). Generic qualitative research in psychology. The Qualitative Report, 20(2), 76–85. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2097
  • Pratt-Chapman, M., Moses, J., & Arem, H. (2021). Strategies for the identification and prevention of survey fraud: Data analysis of a web-based survey. JMIR Cancer, 7(3), e30730. https://doi.org/10.2196/30730
  • Ridge, D., Bullock, L., Causer, H., Fisher, T., Hider, S., Kingstone, T., Gray, L., Riley, R., Smyth, N., Silverwood, V., Spiers, J., & Southam, J. (2023). Imposter participants’ in online qualitative research, a new and increasing threat to data integrity? Health Expectations: An International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy, 26(3), 941–944. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13724
  • Roehl, J. M., & Harland, D. J. (2022). Imposter participants: Overcoming methodological challenges related to balancing participant privacy with data quality when using online recruitment and data collection. The Qualitative Report, 27(11), 2469–2485. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5475
  • Schlegel, E. C., Tate, J. A., Pickler, R. H., & Smith, L. H. (2021). Practical strategies for qualitative inquiry in a virtual world. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(10), 4035–4044. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15000
  • Simpson, K. A., & Bluthenthal, R. N. (2020). Qualitative approaches to the study of substance and behavioral addictions. In S. Sussman (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of substance and behavioral addictions (pp. 106–118). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108632591.013
  • Smirnoff, M., Wilets, I., Ragin, D. F., Adams, R., Holohan, J., Rhodes, R., Winkel, G., Ricci, E. M., Clesca, C., & Richardson, L. D. (2018). A paradigm for understanding trust and mistrust in medical research: The Community VOICES study. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 9(1), 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/23294515.2018.1432718
  • Sugiura, L., Wiles, R., & Pope, C. (2016). Ethical challenges in online research: Public/private perceptions. Research Ethics, 13(3-4), 184–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016116650720
  • Teitcher, J. E. F., Bockting, W. O., Bauermeister, J. A., Hoefer, C. J., Miner, M. H., & Klitzman, R. L. (2015). Detecting, preventing, and responding to “fraudsters” in internet research: Ethics and tradeoffs. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics: A Journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 43(1), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlme.12200
  • Wright, M., Matheson, J., Watson, T. M., Sproule, B., Foll, B. L., & Brands, B. (2023). Gender influences on cannabis use among treatment-seeking adults: a qualitative study, Drugs: Education. Prevention and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2023.2248356

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.