C02 - [IN-PERSON/RECORDED] Evaluating the Use of Third Party Sites in Online Research

This session will be offered in-person and recorded for on-demand access by in-person SBER23 registrants, and PRIMR23/SBER23 Virtual Meeting registrants.

The use of online services to recruit subjects for online research has increased dramatically over the past decade (long gone are the days when mTurk was the only commonly used site). As the number of companies offering researchers access to subjects has grown, so too have the issues of providing oversight. Many of these companies argue they are not engaged in research at all and that, consequently, their activities are not subject to review by IRBs or HRPPs, or even the researchers paying for their services. They claim that by creating an account, their subjects have provided consent to participate in any and all future research. However, other sites do consider themselves to be engaged in research or readily accept that oversight of their activities is part of the ethical conduct of research. HRPPs need to devise plans for how to work with these sites and evaluate their appropriateness for all categories of research.