Striking a Balance: Mitigating Fraud While Ensuring Equity in Online Qualitative Research Recruitment.

ABSTRACT: After the COVID-19 pandemic, online recruitment became a critical component of qualitative research in health care fields. However, fraudulent participants targeting research incentives have become more prevalent in health studies, raising significant issues for research ethics, data integrity, and the inclusion of diverse patient voices. While qualitative health research aims to listen to and amplify patients' and communities' voices, such fraud can severely impact research quality and foster mistrust toward participants. This issue is particularly critical in qualitative studies, where careful communication, engagement, and mutual trust between researchers and participants are hallmarks of the research process, especially when working with populations considered marginalized. Behaviors t

SUBMITTER: Cho E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12423605 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature