Experimenting On Mechanical Turk 46
itwbennett writes "In a recent article, Dr. Markus Jakobsson, a Principal Scientist at PARC, offers some tips on effectively running human-subject research studies on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. '...[B]enefits [include] very low experiment costs, quick turn-around rates, and relatively simple approvals from human subjects boards. But you have to be careful to avoid bias and error.' says Dr. Jakobsson. For example, in many situations subjects may be biased just from knowing that they are participating in a study, or by knowing the goals of a study. To avoid this bias, you need to 'convey a different task to your subject than what you are observing — essentially deceive them — to see how they react when faced with the situation of interest. Consider a study of user reactions to phishing sites. You may, for example, say that you are studying the common reaction to online e-commerce sites, and ask them to rate how helpful various sites are, with a free-text input field where they can add other observations. You first show them three or four legitimate websites, asking them to rate and describe them; then you show them a phishing site and do the same. Will they tell you that this is a site run by fraudsters? If they do, they noticed signs of fraud without you prompting them.'" The author also gives tips on avoiding cheaters, and determining how much to pay and when.
I'm still waiting... (Score:3, Funny)
you may want to scrub. (Score:2, Funny)
i make my mechanical Turk have sex with my mechanical JD.
Re:Man... (Score:5, Funny)
They better be married then!
Re:Man... (Score:4, Funny)
Math and the brain, it's amazing how they meet.
(Brain is walking past dark alley)
Math: Pssst!! Hey, you!
Brain: Huh? Wh-- me?
Math: Yeah - you! You wanna try some good shit? I got some seriously advanced Number Theory, here. You totally have to try this shit!
Brain: Nah, thanks anyway, man, but I'm not into that hard shit.
Math: You sure?! This shit's fucking amazing, man. Real pure, man, grade A. Some of this shit will blow your fucking mind!
Brain: Nah it's cool, thank--
Math: That's cool, that's cool, man. It's not for everybody...how 'bout some primo Euclidean Geometry? You ain't never calculated the sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle until you've demonstrated the Pythagorean Theorem. This shit's a trip!
Brain: Hey, yeah, I'd be down for some of that...
Math: Excellent! Now don't worry about nothin' - the first book is on me... friend. (puts his arm around Brain)
Brain: Hey, man, you're all right, y'know...
Re:Man... (Score:3, Funny)
When I was a stupid kid I worked at McDonalds : /
But i did walk two miles there and back everyday after school! Bought a huge trampoline with the first paycheck :) Then later a rusted pile of metal i mistook for a car... oh the memories.
What's a Mechanical Turk? (Score:3, Funny)
Is it something like an Electric Monk?