Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk to Collect Nontraditional Participant Samples

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session III
  In Interactive Paper Session: Lifespan Communication Theme Interactive Paper Session

Abstract

A significant challenge that faces scholars who study topics related to communication across the lifespan is recruiting research participants. Traditionally, social scientists have relied on college students for this purpose. However, this raises obvious ecological validity concerns. In this essay, I introduce how communication scholars can recruit nontraditional samples using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

Author

• Joe Downing, Penn State York