Challenging issues of integrity and identity of participants in non-synchronous online qualitative methods

Jones, Abigail; Caes, Line; Rugg, Tessa; Noel, Melanie; Bateman, Sharon; Jordan, Abbie

doi:10.1016/j.metip.2021.100072

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…However, it stimulated discussion around a limitation of qualitative method: we cannot confirm the identity and experiences of individuals. There is growing evidence of dishonest participation in qualitative studies, especially when using online recruitment and non‐synchronous methods of data collection (Hewitt et al, 2022; Jones et al, 2021; Roehl & Harland, 2022). Safeguarding against this is challenging while maintaining participant privacy; a level of trust must be granted to participants without threatening methodological rigor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative study of the impact on recovery of peer relationships between female inpatients during treatment for anorexia nervosa in the United Kingdom

Lotery,

Bell,

Combe

et al. 2023

Intl J Eating Disorders

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ObjectiveAdmissions to hospitals for people with anorexia nervosa (AN) often last over 2 months, during which significant time is often spent with other patients, but there is little qualitative research on the impact on recovery of the inter‐patient relationships. Our aim was to conduct qualitative interviews with people with a history of inpatient treatment for AN, focusing on the impact of interactions and relationships between patients during hospital admission on recovery, including short‐term and long‐term effects.MethodWe conducted nine semi‐structured, one‐to‐one interviews, specifically exploring the helpful and unhelpful aspects of inter‐patient relationships during inpatient treatment for AN. No type of relationship was either included or excluded. Participants were recruited as volunteers in response to an online advertisement; all who met the eligibility criteria were selected. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsThematic analysis identified five themes: (1) comparison and justification, (2) learnt unhelpful behaviors, (3) dealing with distress, (4) compassion, and (5) role‐modeling. All participants expressed conflicting feelings about their relationships with other patients, but generally described developing more resilience to negative effects as they got closer to recovery. Positive effects, such as compassion, appeared to hold significance long term in participants' recovered lives.DiscussionThe detailed exploration of themes in this study provides a deeper understanding of inter‐patient relationships during inpatient treatment for AN. This could aid clinical decision‐making when choosing appropriate treatment settings for individual patients as well as informing clinical practice in hospital.Public SignificanceThis study closely examines the effect on recovery of relationships with other patients during hospital treatment for AN, a severe eating disorder. Findings might help hospital staff to understand the feelings of those they look after and develop ways to protect patients from the negative effects of peer relationships and enhance the positive ones, to support recovery in hospital.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative study of the impact on recovery of peer relationships between female inpatients during treatment for anorexia nervosa in the United Kingdom

Lotery,

Bell,

Combe

et al. 2023

Intl J Eating Disorders

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“…During an expression-of-interest phase, ask participants to include a brief description of themselves (with a minimum number of characters; Jones et al, 2021).…”

Section: About Our Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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journals.sagepub.com/home/aut Online data collection methods have been gamechanging-especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (Lobe et al, 2020)-allowing large samples to be recruited across geographic limits with relative ease and proliferating more inclusive practices. There is, however, a potentially stark disadvantage to these methods, especially those that offer participant incentives (Jones et al, 2021;Teitcher et al, 2015).We have heard of-and been victims of-fraudulent participation in studies using online, survey-based methods (see Lawlor et al, 2021, for a guiding framework). Online methods are usually asynchronous in nature, providing "scammer" participants 1 with an easy and anonymous way to supplement income at a time of cost-of-living crises.

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confidence: 99%

Letter to the Editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research

Pellicano,

Adams,

Crane

et al. 2023

Autism

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Researchers are increasingly relying on online methods for data collection, including for qualitative research involving interviews and focus groups. In this letter, we alert autism researchers to a possible threat to data integrity in such studies: “scammer” participants, who may be posing as autistic people and/or parents of autistic children in research studies, presumably for financial gain. Here, we caution qualitative autism researchers to be vigilant of potential scammer participants in their online studies and invite a broader discussion about the implications of such fraudulent acts. Lay abstract Doing research online, via Zoom, Teams, or live chat, is becoming more and more common. It can help researchers to reach more people, including from different parts of the world. It can also make the research more accessible for participants, especially those with different communication preferences. However, online research can have its downsides too. We have recently been involved in three studies in which we had in-depth discussions with autistic people and/or parents of autistic children about various topics. It turns out, though, that some of these participants were not genuine. Instead, we believe they were “scammer participants”: people posing as autistic people or parents of autistic children, possibly to gain money from doing the research. This is a real problem because we need research data that we can trust. In this letter, we encourage autism researchers to be wary of scammer participants in their own research.

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“…For example, qualitative data within health psychology may be from hard to reach or underrepresented groups, providing a beneficial and rare opportunity to allow their unique voices to be heard (Chauvette et al, 2019). However, as participants from such groups represent a small but defined pool of potential people, it is innately ethically problematic to assume all raw data can simply be anonymised and then made openly available (Jones et al, 2021;Mannheimer et al, 2019).…”

Section: Summary Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing open science research priorities in health psychology: a research prioritisation Delphi exercise

Norris

Prescott

Noone

et al. 2022

Psychology & Health

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Objective: Research on Open Science practices in Health Psychology is lacking. This meta-research study aimed to identify research question priorities and obtain consensus on the Top 5 prioritised research questions for Open Science in Health Psychology. Methods and measures: An international Delphi consensus study was conducted. Twenty-three experts in Open Science and Health Psychology within the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) suggested research question priorities to create a 'long-list' of items (Phase 1). Forty-three EHPS members rated the importance of these items, ranked their top five and suggested their own additional items (Phase 2). Twenty-four EHPS members received feedback on Phase 2 responses and then re-rated and re-ranked their top five research questions (Phase 3). Results:The top five ranked research question priorities were: 1. 'To what extent are Open Science behaviours currently practised in Health Psychology?' , 2. 'How can we maximise the usefulness of Open Data and Open Code resources?' , 3. 'How can Open Data be increased within Health Psychology?' , 4. 'What interventions are effective for increasing the adoption of Open Science in Health Psychology?' and 5. 'How can we increase free Open Access publishing in Health Psychology?' . Conclusion: Funding and resources should prioritise the research questions identified here.

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Challenging issues of integrity and identity of participants in non-synchronous online qualitative methods

Cited by 27 publications

References 16 publications

Qualitative study of the impact on recovery of peer relationships between female inpatients during treatment for anorexia nervosa in the United Kingdom

Qualitative study of the impact on recovery of peer relationships between female inpatients during treatment for anorexia nervosa in the United Kingdom

Letter to the Editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research

Establishing open science research priorities in health psychology: a research prioritisation Delphi exercise

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