Fall 2024 MDI Workshop: Web-based Studies with Human Subjects

Web-based crowdsource platforms — including Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific Academic — have revolutionized human subjects research in the social and behavioral sciences. Because participant recruitment is nearly instantaneous, studies that might require weeks or months to complete in-person can be finished in a matter of minutes online. However, this paradigm also presents unique challenges, particularly when it comes to response quality, data privacy, and the potential exploitation of crowdworkers. In this workshop, attendees will learn how to responsibly design and manage high-quality online studies involving human participants. We will also cover practical techniques for implementing effective online surveys and experiments, using widely-employed tools such as Qualtrics and JsPsych. Workshop attendees will deploy their own pilot studies on the Prolific platform.