| dc.description.abstract | This research project has three goals: (1) to present an overview on the use of
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) as a data collection tool in alcohol-related research,
and discuss the potential impacts of important MTurk-specific methodological decisions;
(2) to extend our understanding of peer influence on alcohol use among college students
utilizing a social network analysis (SNA) approach; and (3) to establish best practices for
operationalizing perceived peer alcohol use within SNA research.
The variety of uses for MTurk to facilitate alcohol-related investigations will be
discussed. Alcohol researchers interested in collecting data using MTurk are encouraged
to pay particular attention to methodological best-practices detailed in this report.
To explore the influence of peer drinking on personal behavior, the author will
describe results from a comparison of two distinct assessment strategies for measuring
perceptions of peer drinking: (1) perceptions of the “typical” student’s drinking
behaviors, versus (2) egocentric social network measures, in which respondent’s report
on perceptions of the drinking behaviors of personally identified peers. Overall,
egocentric network measures explained markedly greater levels of variability in peer
influence on personal alcohol consumption, compared to global typical student
measures. Proximal peers have a greater influence on personal alcohol consumption than
“typical students” at the same institution.
Finally, the author will report on whether using different strategies for measuring
referent/peer alcohol use (i.e., single-item or two-item approaches versus multiple item
assessments) within alcohol-related SNA research impacts study results. Commonly, SNA research employs single-item or two-item assessments (i.e., quantity, frequency, or
quantity/frequency) to measure individuals’ perceptions of peer drinking. Findings
suggest utilizing a minimum of three items (i.e., frequency, quantity, and frequency of
heavy drinking) is necessary to provide adequate insights into alcohol consumption
patterns of respondents.
Future research would benefit from utilizing an egocentric network approach to
examine the complex, interpersonal nature of alcohol use among college students. Future
investigations utilizing an egocentric network approach may fail to capture valuable
insights if using simple quantity/frequency assessments of nominated peers’ alcohol use.
Moreover, this can enhance the effectiveness of programming efforts aimed at reducing
heavy drinking among college students within social contexts. | en |
