Fraudulent responses in online survey research in dermatology: are your participants who you think they are?

Surveys are a commonly used research method in dermatology. The use of online surveys has increased over the past decade, as has the use of social media to recruit potential participants. There is a growing risk of fraudulent or bot responses to online surveys. Such responses threaten data integrity and waste researcher time and funding. We report our experience of conducting an online survey investigating the experiences of adolescents and parents having teleconsultations for paediatric eczema. We experienced a rapid influx of responses within 24 h, of which almost all appeared to be fraudulent. Indicators of fraudulent responses included duplicate free-text responses and clusters of surveys that were started and completed in tandem. Dermatological researchers should be aware of this issue and incorporate a plan to prevent, identify and manage fraudulent responses into the study protocol.

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Publication Details

Journal
Clinical and Experimental Dermatology
Published
2025-11-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/ced/llaf517
Primary Topic
Social Media in Health Education
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Fraudulent responses in online survey research in dermatology: are your participants who you think they are?

Sarah McCusker, Manrup Hunjan, Natalie King, Ashima Lowe et al.
Clinical and Experimental Dermatology
Social Media in Health Education
article

Fraudulent responses in online survey research in dermatology: are your participants who you think they are?

Sarah McCusker, Manrup Hunjan, Natalie King, Ashima Lowe, Lea Šolman, Susannah George, Esther Burden‐Teh, Carolyn Charman, Aoife Daly
article en

Abstract

Surveys are a commonly used research method in dermatology. The use of online surveys has increased over the past decade, as has the use of social media to recruit potential participants. There is a growing risk of fraudulent or bot responses to online surveys. Such responses threaten data integrity and waste researcher time and funding. We report our experience of conducting an online survey investigating the experiences of adolescents and parents having teleconsultations for paediatric eczema. We experienced a rapid influx of responses within 24 h, of which almost all appeared to be fraudulent. Indicators of fraudulent responses included duplicate free-text responses and clusters of surveys that were started and completed in tandem. Dermatological researchers should be aware of this issue and incorporate a plan to prevent, identify and manage fraudulent responses into the study protocol.

Clinical and Experimental DermatologyVol. 51(4)
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (GB), Swansea Bay University Health Board (GB), University of Nottingham (GB), Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GB), Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (GB), Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (GB), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GB), Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GB), Royal Hospital for Children (GB), University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 56%
Social Media in Health Education
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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