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Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is one of the most popular crowdsourcing platforms for online research. Although the recent MTurk data quality crisis has raised serious concerns regarding its utility, this issue can be mitigated by including quality control methods. To date, only a few studies have compared the effectiveness of the methods in preserving an experimental effect. To provide empirical guidance on which quality control methods to use for MTurk research, this study compared different methods on their effectiveness in preserving the magnitude effect in delay discounting, a robust finding in the behavioral economics literature. Two groups of MTurkers, whose HIT approval rate (%) was between 95 and 98 and 99 and 100, were recruited in October 2021. They completed a delay discounting task evaluating the magnitude effect and questions from different quality control methods. The results showed that the group with higher HIT approval rates (i.e., 99%--100%) showed a greater magnitude effect and were more likely to pass the quality control methods than those with lower rates. In addition, the majority of the quality control methods were able to preserve the magnitude effect at the expense of sample sizes. The best combinations of quality control methods that optimally maintained the effect were explored with a discussion of their implications. Although improving data quality is imperative, caution should be exercised as the quality control methods may potentially bias the sample in an undesirable manner (e.g., excluding individuals who show steep delay discounting). Keywords MTurk * Data quality * Online research * Delay discounting * Magnitude effect, Introduction The use of online crowdsourcing platforms to collect behavioral data has become popular in social science research in recent decades. These platforms provide evident scientific benefits, including efficiency and [...]

IntroductionWe describe the development and pilot testing of the experimental tobacco and nicotine product marketplace (ETM)-a method for studying tobacco and nicotine product (TNP) choices and use behavior in a standardized way.Aims and methodsThe ETM resembles an online store populated with TNPs. Surveillance activities and data from a US representative survey and consumer reports were used to determine the most popular TNPs for inclusion in the ETM. Standardized information and videos demonstrating how to use the TNPs were provided. To test the feasibility of using the ETM, smokers (n = 119) underwent monitoring of usual brand cigarette smoking and other TNP use (Baseline Phase) followed by access to the ETM (ETM Phase) that included their usual brand cigarettes, e-cigarettes, moist snuff, snus, and nicotine replacement therapy. During the ETM Phase, participants were provided points based on their baseline TNP consumption to exchange for TNPs in the ETM. Participants were advised to exchange points for enough TNPs to last until their next visit and to refrain from using TNPs not obtained in the ETM. A subset of the participants (n = 62) completed a survey on their experience with the ETM.ResultsThe majority of the participants stated they were comfortable with navigating the ETM (97%), it was easy to determine product characteristics (89%), and they were satisfied with the products included in the marketplace (85%).ConclusionsThe ETM was well received by the vast majority of the participants and can be utilized by researchers to investigate a variety of TNP policy and regulatory science research questions.ImplicationsPatterns of TNP use are complex due to greater availability, marketing, and promotion of a diverse array of TNPs. Innovative methods are needed to experimentally study TNP choices and patterns. Through describing the development of the ETM, we provide researchers with a tool that can be readily adapted to studying a variety of phenomena challenging public health.

Introduction: Cigarette smoking accounts for >30% of the socioeconomic gap in life expectancy. Flavored restrictions claim to promote equity; however, no previous studies have compared the effect of cigarette and e-cigarette flavor restrictions among individuals who smoke with lower and higher socioeconomic status (SES). Aims and Methods: In a between-group within-subject design, individuals with lower (n = 155) and higher (n = 125) SES completed hypothetical purchasing trials in the experimental tobacco marketplace (ETM). Conditions were presented in a 2 × 2 factorial design (cigarette flavors restricted or unrestricted and e-cigarette flavors restricted or unrestricted) with increasing cigarette prices across trials. Results: Results show (1) SES differences in cigarette, e-cigarette, and NRT purchases under unrestricted policies, with lower SES showing higher cigarette demand and lower e-cigarette and NRT substitution than higher SES, (2) cigarette restrictions decreased cigarette and increased NRT purchases among lower SES, but no significant changes among higher SES, (3) decreased SES differences in cigarette demand under cigarette restrictions, but persistence under e-cigarette restrictions or their combination, (4) persistence of SES differences in e-cigarette purchases when all restrictions were enforced, and (5) waning of SES differences in NRT purchasing under all restrictions. Conclusions: Flavor restrictions differentially affected individuals based on SES. Within-group comparisons demonstrated restrictions significantly impacted lower SES, but not higher SES. Between-group comparisons showed SES differences in cigarette purchasing decreased under cigarette restrictions, but persisted under e-cigarette-restrictions or their combination. Additionally, SES differences in NRT substitution decreased under flavor restrictions. These findings highlight the utility of the ETM to investigate SES disparities. Implications: With increasing trends of socioeconomic differences in smoking prevalence and cessation rates, smoking-related health disparities are expected to continue to widen. Restricting menthol flavor in cigarettes while enhancing the availability and affordability of NRT have the potential to alleviate SES disparities in tobacco use, therefore, positively impacting health equity. However, this effect may depend on flavor availability in other tobacco products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study sought to determine if episodic future thinking (EFT) can decrease delay discounting (DD) and demand for fast food under simulations of economic scarcity in adults at risk for diabetes (i.e., overweight/obese and with hemoglobin A1c values in, or approaching, the prediabetic range). Across two sessions, participants completed assessments of DD and food demand at baseline and while prompted to: (1) engage in either EFT or control episodic recent thinking, and (2) while reading a brief narrative describing either economic scarcity or neutral income conditions. Results showed that EFT significantly reduced DD, whereas the economic scarcity narrative significantly increased DD; no significant interaction between EFT and scarcity was observed. No significant effect of either EFT or scarcity was observed on food demand. We conclude that EFT decreases DD even when challenged by simulated economic scarcity in adults at risk for diabetes. The absence of a significant interaction between EFT and scarcity suggests that these variables operate independently to influence DD in opposing directions. Effects of EFT and economic scarcity on food demand require further study. The present study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03664726)., Author(s): Jeffrey S. Stein [sup.1] , William H. Craft [sup.1] , Rocco A. Paluch [sup.2] , Kirstin M. Gatchalian [sup.1] , Mark H. Greenawald [sup.3] , Teresa Quattrin [sup.2] , [...]

We examine whether cigarettes serve as substitutes for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among ENDS users and demonstrate methodological extensions of data from a cross‐price purchase task to inform policies and interventions. During a clinical laboratory study, n = 19 exclusive ENDS users and n = 17 dual cigarette/ENDS users completed a cross‐price purchase task with cigarettes available at a fixed price while prices of own‐brand ENDS increased. We estimated cross‐price elasticity using linear models to examine substitutability. We defined five additional outcomes: nonzero cross‐price intensity (purchasing cigarettes if ENDS were free), constant null demand (not purchasing cigarettes at any ENDS price), cross‐product crossover point (first price where participants purchased more cigarettes than ENDS), dual‐demand score (percentage of prices where both products were purchased), and dual‐use break point (minimum relative price to force complete substitution). The cross‐price elasticity results indicated that cigarettes could serve as substitutes for ENDS among ENDS users on average, but this average effect masked substantial heterogeneity in profiles of demand (here, a measure of the drug's reinforcement potential). Policies and regulations that increase ENDS prices appear unlikely to steer most exclusive ENDS users toward cigarette use, as most would not purchase cigarettes at any ENDS price, but they could prompt some dual users to substitute cigarettes completely while others remain dual users. This heterogeneity in consumer responses suggests additional indices of cross‐product demand are useful to characterize the anticipated and unanticipated effects of tobacco price policies more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]