An Exploration of Mechanical Turk as a Feasible Recruitment Platform for Cancer Survivors

Objective: The recruitment of cancer survivors for participation in psychosocial studies can be challenging. Recruitment can be slow and costly, sample sizes are often small, and retention rates are low. These challenges are particularly pronounced in recruiting young adult cancer survivors (e.g. ≤ 40 years of age). One possible solution to this problem is to assess the feasibility and reliability of using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online marketplace, as a survey research recruitment tool for cancer survivors. No known research to date has assessed the utility of MTurk as a recruitment tool for cancer populations. The present study seeks to address this gap in research by assessing the feasibility and validity of MTurk as a recruitment platform for cancer survivors in general and for young adult cancer survivors in particular. An additional goal is to assess cancer survivors general psychiatric symptoms and use of formal psychosocial support and the degree to which the need for such support is linked to their experience of having cancer. Methods: During a 3-week period, a U.S. sample of cancer survivors (n = 166 total, n = 146 who fully completed the survey), defined as persons with cancer or a history of cancer (of any type), were recruited on MTurk to complete a series of questionnaires relating to cancer and general psychosocial functioning. The first survey assessed the presence of U.S. cancer survivors on MTurk and to determine the extent to which cancer survivors could be recruited quickly and at low cost compared to traditional recruitment methods and whether their responses were valid and reliable. One week after completing the first survey, participants were re-contacted through email to complete a second survey. Results: 166 participants consented to our first survey and 146 of those 166 participants fully completed the survey. Two participants provided insufficient cancer type (i.e. No cancer) Running Head: Mechanical Turk for Recruiting Cancer Survivors 3 and 1 participant reported residency outside of the U.S. We additionally assessed the reliability and validity of participant reporting on sociodemographic and cancer type items across both surveys and found 9 participants provided inconsistent information. We examined whether participants may have fabricated responses by using the MMPI-2 F(p) scale and found 23 participants scored high on this measure of malingering. These participants were excluded from analyses resulting in a final Survey 1 sample of 111 participants. When assessing reliability and validity of participant reporting, we found for the majority of participants (88.75%), geographic and cancer type reporting was honest and consistent across both surveys. Participants on MTurk had low non-response error in fully completing the first and second surveys (87.96%; 89.89%) and total scores of questionnaires (AAQ-II, PHQ-9, & BEAQ) administered across both surveys were highly correlated (r = .83; r = .78 ; r = .85) suggesting adequate test-retest reliability. Our findings indicated there is a particularly strong presence of younger cancer survivors (Median age = 38 years). Breast, cervical, melanoma, ovarian, skin cancer, and lung cancer were the most commonly represented cancers within our sample. Additionally, we assessed feasibility of collecting data longitudinally and found 61.00% of participants (n = 89) responded to a second survey sent out one week after the first survey. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that MTurk can be used with relative success as a survey research recruitment tool for cancer survivors, particularly for one-time surveys. Data was collected quickly (< 1month), at a relatively low-cost (< $2.00/participant), and across a broad geographic range within the U.S. Cancer survivor respondents were younger on average than the national norm, suggesting that MTurk might represent a particularly viable Running Head: Mechanical Turk for Recruiting Cancer Survivors 4 recruitment strategy for young adult cancer populations (≤ 40 years old).