Data integrity in an online world: Demonstration of multimodal bot screening tools and considerations for preserving data integrity in two online social and behavioral research studies with marginalized populations.
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Internet-based studies are widely used in social and behavioral health research, yet bots and fraud from "survey farming" bring significant threats to data integrity. For research centering marginalized communities, data integrity is an ethical imperative, as fraudulent data at a minimum poses a threat to scientific integrity, and worse could even promulgate false, negative stereotypes about the population of interest. Using data from two online surveys of sexual and gender minority populations (young men who have sex with men and transgender women of color), we (a) demonstrate the use of online survey techniques to identify and mitigate internet-based fraud, (b) differentiate techniques for and identify two different types of "survey farming" (i.e., bots and false responders), and (c) demonstrate the consequences of those distinct types of fraud on sample characteristics and statistical inferences, if fraud goes unaddressed. We provide practical recommendations for internet-based studies in psychological, social, and behavioral health research to ensure data integrity and discuss implications for future research testing data integrity techniques. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Source: Psychological Methods
DOI: 10.1037/met0000696
Institution: Brown University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: Brown University, National Institutes of Health, Center for AIDS Research, University of Washington, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Awards: G1276500078, Developing Internet-Delivered, Mindfulness-based Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk and Promote Mental and Sexual Health among Young Adult MSM, Addressing alcohol misuse in HIV prevention and care: The Brown University Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH), A Gender-Affirming Stigma Intervention to Improve Substance Misuse and HIV Risk among Transgender Women, G8549008097, A Theory-Driven Modification of a Motivational Interviewing Intervention Targeting Alcohol Misuse Among Hispanic Americans, Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), Brown University Community and Clinical Research Training Program
OpenAlex ID: W4402360308