Foreign Workers Not the Only Problem on MTurk: An Indian Quality Control Study

Surprising Finding: 26% of surveyed Indian Mechanical Turk workers correctly passed U.S.-specific survey questions.

Method & Context:

We surveyed Indian Mechanical Turk respondents. Counter to expectations, a significant number (26%) successfully navigated MTurk's detection mechanisms for foreign workers accessing the platform, while only 3% falsely claimed U.S. residency.

The Solution Revealed:

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Restricting participation to Master Workers significantly improved location accuracy among Indian respondents.

* Removing explicit U.S.-location requirements further enhanced data reliability.

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By implementing these simple adjustments, researchers can boost the quality of responses without drastically increasing costs.

Implications:

This research highlights practical steps for improving MTurk's utility in political science studies by addressing location-specific response issues.