Liar! Liar! Identifying eligibility fraud by applicants in digital health research.

ABSTRACT: Online studies enable researchers to recruit large, diverse samples, but the nature of these studies provides an opportunity for applicants to misrepresent themselves to increase the likelihood of meeting eligibility criteria for a trial, particularly those that provide financial incentives. This study describes rates of fraudulent applications to an online intervention trial of an Internet intervention for insomnia among older adults (ages ≥55). Applicants were recruited using traditional (e.g., flyers, health providers), online (e.g., Craigslist, Internet searches), and social media (e.g., Facebook) recruitment methods. Applicants first submitted an interest form that included identifying information (name, date of birth, address). This data was then queried against a national database (

SUBMITTER: Glazer JV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8164029 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature