It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm
Online surveys are an increasingly common way to collect data from the public, with social media and financial incentives (e.g. gift cards) commonly used to increase participation rates. Anonymity, ease of response, and the potential to reach diverse demographics have also contributed to the popular...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2025-06-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Quality |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003208.full |
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| _version_ | 1849307187583647744 |
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| author | Karen Okrainec Isabelle Caven Zhenxiao Yang |
| author_facet | Karen Okrainec Isabelle Caven Zhenxiao Yang |
| author_sort | Karen Okrainec |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Online surveys are an increasingly common way to collect data from the public, with social media and financial incentives (e.g. gift cards) commonly used to increase participation rates. Anonymity, ease of response, and the potential to reach diverse demographics have also contributed to the popularity of online surveys. Health services research benefits from the increased accessibility that online survey-based data collection provides; however, fraudulent responses are of concern. The following article describes our team’s experience with a national survey of Canadian healthcare providers being overrun with fraudulent responses and approach to ensure the validity of our survey data. We provide recommendations for research teams on how best to design their surveys, work with their institutions to implement safeguards within survey platforms, and screen completed responses. We also describe fraudulent open-text responses that we believe to have been produced with the help of artificial intelligence and are sounding the alarm for other researchers to be aware of this potential threat to data integrity. Informed by the learnings shared, researchers and research institutions can be better equipped to prevent and screen fraudulent responses to continue successfully engage the public in online research. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1686465a42804f95bb0297efec85b36d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-6641 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Quality |
| spelling | doaj-art-1686465a42804f95bb0297efec85b36d2025-08-20T03:54:51ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Quality2399-66412025-06-0114210.1136/bmjoq-2024-003208It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect stormKaren Okrainec0Isabelle Caven1Zhenxiao Yang2University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaUniversity Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaUniversity Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaOnline surveys are an increasingly common way to collect data from the public, with social media and financial incentives (e.g. gift cards) commonly used to increase participation rates. Anonymity, ease of response, and the potential to reach diverse demographics have also contributed to the popularity of online surveys. Health services research benefits from the increased accessibility that online survey-based data collection provides; however, fraudulent responses are of concern. The following article describes our team’s experience with a national survey of Canadian healthcare providers being overrun with fraudulent responses and approach to ensure the validity of our survey data. We provide recommendations for research teams on how best to design their surveys, work with their institutions to implement safeguards within survey platforms, and screen completed responses. We also describe fraudulent open-text responses that we believe to have been produced with the help of artificial intelligence and are sounding the alarm for other researchers to be aware of this potential threat to data integrity. Informed by the learnings shared, researchers and research institutions can be better equipped to prevent and screen fraudulent responses to continue successfully engage the public in online research.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003208.full |
| spellingShingle | Karen Okrainec Isabelle Caven Zhenxiao Yang It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm BMJ Open Quality |
| title | It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| title_full | It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| title_fullStr | It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| title_full_unstemmed | It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| title_short | It’s raining bots: how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| title_sort | it s raining bots how easier access to internet surveys has created the perfect storm |
| url | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003208.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT karenokrainec itsrainingbotshoweasieraccesstointernetsurveyshascreatedtheperfectstorm AT isabellecaven itsrainingbotshoweasieraccesstointernetsurveyshascreatedtheperfectstorm AT zhenxiaoyang itsrainingbotshoweasieraccesstointernetsurveyshascreatedtheperfectstorm |