The state of web-based research: A survey and call for inclusion in curricula

Abstract

The first papers that reported on conducting psychological research on the web were presented at the Society for Computers in Psychology conference 20 years ago, in 1996. Since that time, there has been an explosive increase in the number of studies that use the web for data collection. As such, it seems a good time, 20 years on, to examine the health and adoption of sound practices of research on the web. The number of studies conducted online has increased dramatically. Overall, it seems that the web can be a method for conducting valid psychological studies. However, it is less clear that students and researchers are aware of the nature of web research. While many studies are well conducted, there is also a certain laxness appearing regarding the design and conduct of online studies. This laxness appears both anecdotally to the authors as managers of large sites for posting links to online studies, and in a survey of current researchers. One of the deficiencies discovered is that there is no coherent approach to educating researchers as to the unique features of web research.