Participant misrepresentation in online focus groups: Red flags and proactive measures

Abstract

Covid-19 public health measures prompted a significant increase in online research. This approach has several benefits over face-to-face data-collection methods, including lower cost and wider geographical reach of participants. Yet when the online data-collection instrument is a survey, there are also well-documented drawbacks of participant misrepresentation and related data-authenticity issues. However, the scholarly literature has not looked at participant misrepresentation in online focus-group empirical research. This case study communicates a concerning situation that arose during our research project: dishonest participant behavior threatened the integrity and validity of our data collected through online focus-group sessions as well as e-surveys. We describe the study context, initial red flags alerting us to the issue, subsequent investigations, and implications for research ethics, funding, and data quality. We conclude with a discussion of potential steps to safeguard future online focus-group research against similar issues.

RAS ID

62567

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2024

Volume

46

Issue

1

PubMed ID

38240399

School

School of Nursing and Midwifery / School of Medical and Health Sciences

Copyright

free_to_read

Publisher

Wiley

Comments

Andrew, L., Gizzarelli, E., Estai, M., & Wallace, R. (2024). Participant misrepresentation in online focus groups: Red flags and proactive measures. Ethics & Human Research, 46(1), 37-42. https://doi.org/10.1002/eahr.500198

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1002/eahr.500198