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From Doubt to Confidence: How We Overcame Fraudulent Survey Submissions from Bots and Other Survey Takers of a Web-based Survey
Jeffrey J Hardesty;
Elizabeth Crespi;
Joshua K Sinamo;
Qinghua Nian;
Alison B Breland;
Tom Eissenberg;
Ryan David Kennedy;
Joanna E Cohen
ABSTRACT
In 2019, we launched a web-based longitudinal survey of people who frequently use e-cigarettes, called the Vaping and Patterns of E-cigarette Use Research (VAPER) Study. The initial attempt to collect survey data failed due to fraudulent survey submissions, likely submitted by survey bots and other survey takers. Many lessons were learned, effective risk mitigation strategies were identified and implemented, and, ultimately, we completed 5 waves of data collection with reasonable confidence in the integrity of the data. This paper aims to share our experiences with challenges and mitigation strategies with researchers building and utilizing their own web-based samples, particularly samples that target lower prevalence populations.
Citation
Please cite as:
Hardesty JJ, Crespi E, Sinamo JK, Nian Q, Breland AB, Eissenberg T, Kennedy RD, Cohen JE
From Doubt to Confidence—Overcoming Fraudulent Submissions by Bots and Other Takers of a Web-Based Survey