Online Data Collection in Auditory Perception and Cognition Research: Recruitment, Testing, Data Quality and Ethical Considerations
Tuomas Eerola, Jamés O. Armitage, Nadine Lavan, Sarah Knight
Abstract
Online studies using recruitment services (such as Prolific or Amazon's MTurk) and online \ntesting platforms (such as Gorilla or PsyToolkit) are becoming increasingly common in \npsychological science. Although auditory disciplines have been slower to adopt these \nmethods, uptake is rapidly increasing in auditory perception and cognition research. Utilising \nonline data collection and recruitment presents several advantages to researchers in terms of \nthe speed of research and the range of target demographics available compared to either \ntraditional lab studies or web-based recruitment via traditional means. Online platforms and \nrecruitment services also present a set of technical and ethical challenges owing to the fact \nthat the people completing experiments are working with their own devices from their homes. \nThis article discusses the potential technical and ethical implications of online studies, \nincluding both recruitment services and online testing platforms, with specific reference to \nauditory perception and cognition research. Rates of remuneration, sampling characteristics, \nanonymity, quality control, and ethics are all discussed with respect to these approaches. We \nalso provide proposals for how researchers can ensure that online research meets present-day \nethical and technical guidelines as well as research transparency standards