Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T01:56:43.471Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wired but not WEIRD: The promise of the Internet in reaching more diverse samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2010

Samuel D. Gosling
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. samg@mail.utexas.eduwww.samgosling.comcjosandy@mail.utexas.eduwww.carsonsandy.com
Carson J. Sandy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. samg@mail.utexas.eduwww.samgosling.comcjosandy@mail.utexas.eduwww.carsonsandy.com
Oliver P. John
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. o_johnx5@berkeley.eduhttp://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~johnlab/
Jeff Potter
Affiliation:
Atof Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139. research@outofservice.comhttp://research.outofservice.com/

Abstract

Can the Internet reach beyond the U. S. college samples predominant in social science research? A sample of 564,502 participants completed a personality questionnaire online. We found that 19% were not from advanced economies; 20% were from non-Western societies; 35% of the Western-society sample were not from the United States; and 66% of the U. S. sample were not in the 18–22 (college) age group.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Göritz, A. S. (2010) Using lotteries, loyalty points, and other incentives to increase participant response and completion. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 219–33. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., eds. (2010) Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Gosling, S. D., Vazire, S., Srivastava, S. & John, O. P. (2004) Should we trust Web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptions about Internet questionnaires. American Psychologist 59:93104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. A. (2010) Web-based self-report personality scales. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 149–66. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. A. & Gosling, S. D. (2010) How to use this book. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 18. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Krantz, J. H. & Williams, J. H. (2010) Using graphics, photographs, and dynamic media. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 4561. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Reips, U.-D. & Krantz, J. H. (2010) Conducting true experiments on the Web. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 193216. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Reis, H. T. & Gosling, S. D. (2010) Social psychological methods outside the laboratory. In: Handbook of social psychology, vol. 1, 5th edition, ed. Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T. & Lindzey, G., pp. 82114. Wiley.Google Scholar
Schroeders, U., Wilhelm, O. & Schipolowski, S. (2010) Internet-based ability testing. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 131–48. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Srivastava, S., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D. & Potter, J. (2003) Development of personality in early and middle adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent change? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84:1041–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuten, T. L. (2010) Conducting online surveys. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 179–92. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Vazire, S. (2010) Online collection of informant reports. In: Advanced methods for behavioral research on the Internet, ed. Gosling, S. D. & Johnson, J. A., pp. 167–78. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
WEO Groups and Aggregates Information. (2009) IMF advanced economies list. (October 2009). Retrieved January 17, 2009, from World Economic Outlook, Database, available at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/02/weodata/groups.htm#ae.Google Scholar