Online Survey Participants Research Articles

Trust Assessment Skills Among Close Friends in a Ubiquitous Social Media Environment

For ages, individuals have relied on trust assessment skills to evaluate spoken words and accompanying body language social signals (BLSS) in friendships. This interactive process seeks to avoid harmful associations and unreliable information. However, with widespread social media use, assessment of BLSS is difficult, and users commonly report harm from defective estimations of interactions. This study evaluates how individuals adjust their trust assessment skills for close social media friendships, given the importance they place on BLSS in its role as a moderator. The research utilizes PLS-SEM, ANOVA, and cluster analysis to evaluate 247 U.S. online survey participants aged 18 to 67. The study adapts Mayer et al.’s trust model using social learning and cognitive dissonance theories. The independent variables, ability, benevolence, and integrity, strongly predict the dependent trust belief. In line with cognitive dissonance theory, BLSS has a negative and significant moderating effect on ability. BLSS reflects a small effect and widely insignificant moderating relationship with benevolence; analysis shows that a moderating relationship should not apply to benevolence. Counter to the hypothesized direction, BLSS produced a positive moderating effect on integrity, which was insignificant by a narrow margin. The analysis explains the basis for the positive relationship. Lastly, statistical analysis reveals an age-based shift in the relevancy of BLSS; younger users place less importance on BLSS, whereas older users place more importance on BLSS. This position for younger users aligns with their exposure and acclimation to social environments with widespread mobile communication and social media use since childhood.

Strategic approaches: Practical applications of English communication skills in various real-life scenarios

The article presents an in-depth overview of a comprehensive study investigating the practical applications of English communication skills across a wide array of real-life scenarios. This research delves into how individuals employ their English proficiency in various domains such as the workplace, travel, education, social settings, online communication, cultural exchanges, personal development, and job interviews. The study examines a diverse range of situations, including presenting in professional meetings, asking for directions while traveling, participating in classroom discussions, making new friends in social contexts, engaging in online forums, attending language exchange programs, pursuing hobbies that require English, and negotiating job-related matters. Data for the study was meticulously gathered from a broad spectrum of online survey participants, encompassing different demographics to ensure a comprehensive analysis of the multifaceted uses of English communication skills in everyday life. The findings of this research underscore the strategic approaches that individuals employ to communicate effectively in English, thereby highlighting the pivotal role of language proficiency in navigating diverse social, professional, and cultural contexts. Moreover, the study sheds light on the nuanced ways in which English is used to facilitate not only basic communication but also to achieve higher-level interactions and goals. It reveals how proficiency in English can significantly enhance one’s ability to integrate into various environments, from academic settings to international travel and professional arenas. The article concludes by emphasizing the pedagogical implications of these findings for language educators and learners. It suggests avenues for further research and advocates for the development of language learning strategies that are finely tuned to meet real-world communication needs. By doing so, it aims to contribute to more effective teaching methodologies that prepare learners to use English confidently and competently in diverse situations.

The Role Of Hedonic Motivation In Social Commerce Toward Consumer Purchase Intention

This study investigates the influence of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) elements on customer purchase intention within the context of social commerce, with a focus on the moderating role of hedonic motivation (HM). TPB factors, including attitude (ATD), subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC), along with TAM factors - perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) - were examined for their connection to consumer purchase intention (CPI). Hedonic motivation's role as a moderator between TPB, TAM, and purchase intention was explored due to its impact on sensory, creative, and emotional responses of hedonic consumers towards products. The study, involving 500 online survey participants, employed SPSS 26.0 for initial analysis and Smart PLS 3.0 for structural equation modeling. Results supported seven out of ten hypotheses, offering valuable insights into hedonic motivation's regulatory effect on customer purchase intention in the realm of social commerce, contributing to a deeper understanding of this evolving market.

How multifaceted trust influences travel intention amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Tourist trust is a crucial determinant of travel behavior amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a thorough investigation of the multidimensional trust structure and the diverse impacts of each sub-dimension on travel behavior during COVID-19 is currently under-researched. To fill this gap, this study proposed a two-level, five-dimensional trust construct and further examined its impact on risk perception and travel intention. The moderating effect of travel motivation was also examined. Using data from 634 online survey participants in China, we conducted a hierarchical regression analysis and found that interpersonal, government, and enterprise trust are negatively associated with prospective tourists’ risk perception, which in turn increases travel intention. Moreover, high-level travel motivation enhances the negative influence of most multifaceted trust dimensions on risk perception while attenuating the negative influence of risk perception on travel intention. Our results have theoretical and managerial implications.

Perceptions and Impacts of Local Education within the ICT Field

The primary aim of this research is to uncover valuable insights into the awareness, influences, and opinions pertaining to diverse educational approaches within the ICT sector. Specifically, the study seeks to appraise and analyse the disparities, commonalities, advantages, and limitations between the two prominent educational paths prevalent in the field: academic/traditional education and vocational education. A mixed-methods research design was adopted to encompass a triangulation of perspectives. The initial viewpoint is the lead researcher’s which involved scraping 200 ICT professional profiles from LinkedIn, extensive data cleaning and analyses using MaxQDA, and applying Factor Analysis for Mixed Data (FAMD). The second viewpoint entailed the general perspective of ICT students and professionals. The collection of this perspective was through 100 online survey participants. Lastly, the third viewpoint entailed the experience of eight ICT professionals through qualitative interviews. This methodological approach facilitates the acquisition of varied insights and observations in the ICT field, both within local educational contexts and beyond.Whilst each perspective provided insights and observations pertaining to the research aim, common theories emerged which showcased the strengths and benefits of viewpoint triangulation with the adoption of mixed methods. This study makes a significant contribution to the broader comprehension of the role and significance of local education in the realm of ICT. Additionally, it embraces the concept of industrial revolution 4.0 in universities, exploring new trends and ideas while promoting collaborative efforts between students and industries in creating high-quality education.

Testing a decoy donation incentive to improve online survey participation: Evidence from a field experiment.

This study introduces a new randomized field experiment exploring the impact of offering a decoy charity donation incentive together with a monetary reward to increase response rates in an online survey about coronavirus fears. The study used a two-stage approach, starting with a preliminary survey to investigate participant attitudes toward different types of donations. Subsequently, an experiment was conducted wherein a less desirable £2 donation (the decoy) was introduced as an alternative to a £2 Amazon voucher (the target) within the choice set. The study sample consisted of 431 university students. They were split into three groups: a control group with a standard £2 Amazon voucher incentive (216 participants), a decoy group with the target shown first (108 participants), and a decoy group with the decoy shown first (107 participants). We found significantly higher survey completion rates in the decoy than in the control condition (82.3% vs. 74.5%). Notably, an order effect was observed-presenting the target before the decoy led to a higher completion rate (89.8%) compared to presenting the decoy first (74.8%). Importantly, the inclusion of the decoy incentive did not introduce any response bias. This study offers a proof of principle that incorporating a decoy charity donation incentive into the choice set can have a positive impact on survey participation without adversely affecting response behaviour. It demonstrates the potential of such incentives to encourage participants to complete online surveys, even when a small monetary reward is offered.

"I Want It to Look Natural": Development and Validation of the FACE-Q Aesthetics Natural Module.

The concept of "natural" after a facial aesthetic treatment represents an understudied area. We added scales to FACE-Q Aesthetics to provide a means to measure this concept from the patient's perspective. The objective of this study was to develop and validate the FACE-Q Aesthetic Natural module. Concept elicitation interviews with people having minimally invasive treatments were conducted to explore the natural concept and develop scales. Patient and expert input refined scale content. An online sample (ie, Prolific) of people who had a facial aesthetic treatment was analyzed with Rasch measurement theory to examine psychometric properties. A test-retest reliability study was performed, and construct validity was examined. Interviews with 26 people were conducted. Three scales were developed and refined with input from 12 experts, 11 patients, and 184 online survey participants. Data from 1358 online participants provided evidence of scale reliability and validity. Reliability was high with person separation index, Cronbach alpha, and intraclass correlation coefficient values without extremes ≥0.82. Tests of construct validity confirmed that the scales functioned as hypothesized. Higher scores on the Expectations scale were associated with how important it was to have a natural look and movement after treatment. In addition, higher scores on the Natural Appearance and Natural Outcome scales correlated with better scores on other FACE-Q Aesthetics scales, and were associated with the face looking and feeling natural and with overall satisfaction with facial appearance. Many people seeking facial aesthetic treatments want to look natural after treatment. These new FACE-Q Aesthetics scales provide a means to measure the concept of natural from the patient's perspective.

Clinical and Economic Burden Among Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Using a Novel Real-World Patient-Centered Database

Introduction Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in adults, with an estimated 18,740 new cases of CLL in 2023. This study describes current treatment patterns, healthcare resource use (HCRU) and patient voice in patients with CLL in the US using a novel patient-centered database. Methods A retrospective study using data from the Inspire Integrated Analytical Database (IIAD), which links Inspire patient voice with electronic health records (EHR) and medical and pharmacy claims through HIPAA-compliant tokenization. Patients worldwide with various conditions join Inspire's online health community and contribute their experience through online posts and survey participation (see Figure 1). Medical and pharmacy claims in IIAD range from 2013 to present, with EHR data ranging from 2010 to present. Inspire members were included in the study if they resided in the US and had at least two diagnoses for CLL (ICD-10 codes C91.10, C91.11 or C91.12) on at least two distinct dates that were between 30 and 60 days of each other. The first observed CLL diagnosis date was considered the index date. Patients with an index date on or before 6/30/2022 were included in the analysis. Baseline patient characteristics and HCRU were evaluated. CLL treatment was identified from medical and pharmacy claims. Online posts which CLL patients have viewed at least once were evaluated. Post topics are defined as named entities recognized by Inspire's Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine from all of the discussion posts written by any Inspire members. Descriptive statistics were reported. Results A total of 331 CLL patients were identified in the online community with linked claims and EHR data. Median follow-up time was 59 months from index date. The median age at diagnosis was 73 and 49% of patients were female. Patients were geographically represented across the US. 63% had ≥100 claims from a median of 25 care sites across 33 providers. During follow-up a median of 3 hospitalizations per patient were observed. 5% of patients experienced a Richter's transformation and 22% developed a secondary malignancy (lung, gastrointestinal or skin cancer) after their index CLL date. 104 patients (31%) of the cohort had available data for CLL treatment. Median time to first CLL treatment was 11.7 months (range: 1 day - 86.8 months). Ibrutinib was the most common medication (n = 43), followed by venetoclax (n = 30) and rituximab (n = 20). The 5 most common topics viewed by patients on the Inspire community website included: skin, side-effect, muscle, biopsy, and infection. Prior to starting therapy, searches on the Inspire platform included terms such as “imbruvica,” “calquence,” and “living with CLL.” Searches after CLL treatment revealed that patients broadened search terms to include other cancer types such as “pelvic cancer,” “liver metastasis” and “melanoma.” Conclusions This report utilized a unique dataset that integrates patient voice with EHR and claims data to describe clinical characteristics, and treatment patterns of CLL patients drawn from the patient-centered Inspire digital health community. The online population had a median age of 73 at diagnosis, consistent with the average age of CLL diagnosis (70 yrs.). Patients in our cohort initiated treatment approximately 1 year after CLL diagnosis. Online activities on the Inspire platform demonstrated that CLL patients are engaged in searching and reading discussion posts concerning the impact of side effects and treatments on quality of life, and emphasized emerging concerns about the potential impact of secondary malignancies. Future real-world studies need to integrate patient voice to fully understand the consequences of a cancer diagnosis.

Incorporating co-design principles and social media strategies to enhance cross-sectional online survey participation: The Birth Experience Study.

To use co-design principles to design a nationwide maternity experiences survey and to distribute the survey through social media. A co-designed, cross sectional, and national online survey. Using co-design principles from study design and throughout the research process a cross-sectional, online, national survey of Australian women's experiences of maternity care was designed. Four validated survey instruments were included in the survey design. An extensive social media strategy was utilized, which included paid advertising, resulting in 8804 surveys for analysis and 54,896 comments responding to open text questions. The inclusion of co-design principles contributed to a well-designed survey and consumer involvement in distribution and support of the online survey. The social media distribution strategy contributed to high participation rates with overall low marketing costs. Maternity services should be designed to provide woman-centered, individualized care. This survey was co-designed with maternity users and maternity organizations to explore women's recent experiences of maternity care in Australia. The outcomes of this study will highlight the factors that contribute to positive and negative experiences in maternity services. As a co-designed study, there was consumer engagement from the design of the study, throughout the research process.

Using Visual Patient to Show Vital Sign Predictions, a Computer-Based Mixed Quantitative and Qualitative Simulation Study.

Machine learning can analyze vast amounts of data and make predictions for events in the future. Our group created machine learning models for vital sign predictions. To transport the information of these predictions without numbers and numerical values and make them easily usable for human caregivers, we aimed to integrate them into the Philips Visual-Patient-avatar, an avatar-based visualization of patient monitoring. We conducted a computer-based simulation study with 70 participants in 3 European university hospitals. We validated the vital sign prediction visualizations by testing their identification by anesthesiologists and intensivists. Each prediction visualization consisted of a condition (e.g., low blood pressure) and an urgency (a visual indication of the timespan in which the condition is expected to occur). To obtain qualitative user feedback, we also conducted standardized interviews and derived statements that participants later rated in an online survey. The mixed logistic regression model showed 77.9% (95% CI 73.2-82.0%) correct identification of prediction visualizations (i.e., condition and urgency both correctly identified) and 93.8% (95% CI 93.7-93.8%) for conditions only (i.e., without considering urgencies). A total of 49 out of 70 participants completed the online survey. The online survey participants agreed that the prediction visualizations were fun to use (32/49, 65.3%), and that they could imagine working with them in the future (30/49, 61.2%). They also agreed that identifying the urgencies was difficult (32/49, 65.3%). This study found that care providers correctly identified >90% of the conditions (i.e., without considering urgencies). The accuracy of identification decreased when considering urgencies in addition to conditions. Therefore, in future development of the technology, we will focus on either only displaying conditions (without urgencies) or improving the visualizations of urgency to enhance usability for human users.

Exploring survey methods for measuring consumption quantities of cannabis flower and concentrate products

ABSTRACTBackground: Researchers need accurate measurements of cannabis consumption quantities to assess risks and benefits. Survey methods for measuring cannabis flower and concentrate quantities remain underdeveloped.Objective: We examined “grams” and “hits” units for measuring flower and concentrate quantities, and calculating milligrams of THC (mgTHC).Methods: Online survey participants (n = 2,381) reported preferred unit (hits or grams), past-week hits and grams for each product, and product %THC. Quantile regression compared mgTHC between unit-preference subgroups. Hits-based mgTHC calculations assumed a universal grams-per-hit ratio (GPHR). To examine individualized GPHRs, we tested a “two-item approach,” which divided total grams by total hits, and “one-item approach,” which divided 0.5 grams by responses to the question: “How many total hits would it take you to finish 1/2 g of your [product] by [administration method]?”Results: Participants were primarily daily consumers (77%), 50% female sex, mean age 39.0 (SD 16.4), 85% White, 49% employed full-time. Compared to those who preferred the hits unit, those who preferred the grams unit reported consuming more hits and grams, higher %THC products, and consequently, larger median mgTHC (flower-hits mgTHC: 32 vs. 91 (95%CI: 52–67); flower-grams mgTHC: 27 vs. 113 (95%CI: 73–95); concentrate-hits mgTHC: 29 vs. 59 (95%CI: 15–43); concentrate-grams mgTHC: 61 vs. 129 (95%CI: 43–94)). “Two-item” and “one-item” approach GPHRs were similar and frequently 50% larger or smaller than the universal GPHR.Conclusion: Allowing respondents to choose “hits” or “grams” when reporting cannabis quantities does not compromise mgTHC estimates. A low-burden, one-item approach yields individualized “hit sizes” that may improve mgTHC estimates.

Testing the decoy effect to improve online survey participation: Evidence from a field experiment

As low participation and retention in online survey participation decrease confidence in its results, traditional research has focused on ways to optimize the survey structure and design. So far, no study has tested the decoy effect (i.e. offering an inferior decoy option to increase the attractiveness of the target option) to increase survey participation. In a field experiment with 203 students, we tested the effectiveness of adding a decoy questionnaire to the choice set to improve online survey participation. The decoy questionnaire featured open-ended instead of close-ended questions and delayed remuneration (1 week vs. 4 weeks). We found that the presence of the decoy questionnaire increased the probability of the target questionnaire being completed from 32.7 % to 55.9 %. Furthermore, while the decoy did not affect response behavior or cause non-response bias, a significant order effect was observed. When the target questionnaire was presented before the decoy, the participation was 82.7 % in comparison to 28.0 % when the decoy was presented first. This study is the first to test the decoy effect in the context of aiming to improve survey participation. These findings offer a ‘proof of principle’ that decoys have the potential to increase participation without negatively influencing question response behavior.

Extending Gender- and Sex-Based Analyses in Cannabis Research: Findings from an Online Sample of Gender Diverse Young Adult Consumers.

Background: Gender and sex can influence cannabis behaviors and consequences (Cannabis Use Disorder [CUD]). Research typically examines sex and gender independently. Gender analyses often exclude transgender and gender diverse (TGD) populations. The objectives of this study were to (a) replicate less frequent cannabis use among TGD young adults compared to cisgender counterparts (b) compare severity of CUD, and (c) examine the role of sex on cannabis outcomes. Method: Online survey participants between 18 and 34 (N=1213) from the United States who reported past-week cannabis consumption provided information on cannabis practices and CUD from February to April 2022. Bivariate analyses explored gender differences across frequency (daily frequency across routes of administration [ROAs]; daily use of 2+ ROAs, use throughout the day) and CUD. Adjusted regression models provided model-estimated marginal probabilities and means to examine differences across four gender-by-sex categories (cisgender men: n=385; cisgender women: n=681; male-at-birth TGD: n=26; female-at-birth TGD: n=121). Benjamini-Hochberg adjustments (10% false discovery rate) were applied. Results: Among past-week consumers, female-at-birth TGD participants demonstrated lower probability of daily flower smoking compared to cisgender men (0.54 vs. 0.67). Cisgender men reported greater probability of daily concentrate vaping (0.55) compared to cisgender women (0.45) and female-at-birth TGD participants (0.27); they were also more likely to report daily use of 2+ ROAs (cisgender men: 0.51 vs. cisgender women: 0.39 and female at-birth TGD: 0.27). TGD participants reported greater CUD severity compared to cisgender counterparts, t(1096)=-3.69, p=0.002. Model-estimated means found lower severity among cisgender women compared to cisgender men and female-at-birth TGD participants. Stratified regression models support positive associations between daily cannabis use and CUD in both TGD in cisgender groups. Among cisgender participants, greater severity was predicted by male sex, younger age, and younger age of onset. Conclusions: The present study replicates and extends a prior finding that among past-week cannabis consumers, TGD young adults report less frequent use than cisgender counterparts. Despite this, TGD participants demonstrated greater severity of CUD. While analyses were limited by the small sample of male-at-birth TGD participants, the article highlights the importance of expanding sex- and gender-focused analyses. Future work is expanding efforts to target hard-to-reach consumers.

An Exploratory Study on the Burden of Caregivers of Adult Burn Survivors

This study aimed to examine the caregiver burden in families who took care of adult burn survivors and to explore various risk factors to impact family caregiver burden.Data were collected from November 2021 to February 2022 through an online survey and study participants were 92 caregivers of adult burn survivors aged 19 years or over. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and hierarchical multiple regressions were used for data analyses.Study participants showed medium levels of psychosocial characteristics including depressive symptoms, psychological wellbeing post-traumatic changes, and social support along with family caregiver burden. Hierarchical multiple regression results showed that sex (B=-0.34, P<0.05), marital status (B=0.38, P<0.05), depressive symptoms (B=0.53, P<0.001), and social support (B=-0.21, P<0.05) were the major factors to impact family caregiver burden. In other words, being female, being married, having high depressive symptoms, or having low social support contributed to increasing the level of caregiver burden.Based on the study findings, we discussed practical intervention measures for reducing the burden of family caregivers of burn survivors.

Cross-segment validation of customer support for AI-based service robots at luxury, fine-dining, casual, and quick-service restaurants

PurposeWith the trend of adopting and studying artificial intelligence (AI) service robots at restaurants, the authors’ understanding of how customers perceive robots differently across restaurant segments remains limited. Therefore, building upon expectancy theory, this study aims to propose a trust-based mechanism to explain customers’ support for AI-based service robots.Design/methodology/approachFor cross-segment validation, data were collected from online survey participants under the scenarios of experiencing AI service robots in luxury (n = 428), fine-dining (n = 420), casual (n = 409) and quick-service (n = 410) restaurant scenarios.FindingsIn all four segments, trust in technology increased willingness to accept AI service robots, which was then positively related to customers’ support for AI-based service robots. Meanwhile, customers’ AI performance expectancy mediated the relationship between trust in technology and willingness to accept AI service robots. On the other hand, at luxury, fine-dining and casual restaurants, males perceived a stronger positive relationship between trust in technology and AI performance expectancy. No generational differences were found in the four restaurant segments between trust in technology and AI performance expectancy.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts in hospitality research to examine cross-segment validation of customers’ responses to AI-based service robots in the luxury, fine-dining, casual and quick-service restaurant segments.

Using Social Influence Strategies to Improve Rates of Online Mental Health Survey Participation: Results from Two Experiments.

Online surveys are routinely used in mental health screening and treatment follow-up assessment, though they can yield low response rates. We tested the effects of social psychology-informed influence strategies for increasing rates of participation in an online mental health screening survey (Experiment 1) and a treatment follow-up survey (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 (N = 45,569), embedding one or any combination of three motivational appeals (personal gain, community gain, and inclusivity) in screening survey invitation and reminder emails unexpectedly led to lower rates of survey participation compared to when the appeals were not included (overall participation rate = 12.02%, ORs = 0.75 to 0.97, ps < .001). In Experiment 2 (N = 873), a video of a TikTok influencer encouraging survey participation embedded in treatment follow-up survey invitation and reminder emails did not significantly affect survey completion compared to a humorous gif unrelated to survey participation (overall participation rate = 47.88%, OR = 1.18, p = .200). Moderator analyses revealed that the video led to higher rates of participation than the gif among White participants (OR = 1.39, p = .031) and non-Hispanic participants (OR = 1.35, p = .029) only, whereas the video led to lower rates of participation than the gif among students who did not disclose their race (OR = 0.31, p = .010). Results suggested that efforts to improve online survey participation should be balanced with possible downsides (e.g., added email length) and should be evaluated for differential performance among population subgroups prior to widespread implementation.

Mississippi Small Farm Product Amounts, Seasonality, and Proximity to K-12 Public Schools.

The study's purpose was to determine small farm product amounts and seasonality and examine spatial relationships between small farms and K-12 public schools in Mississippi. Online survey participation invitations were sent via email to farmers and school food service directors from October 2021 to January 2022. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and proximities between farms (n = 29) and schools (n = 122) determined using spatial analysis. Median yearly amounts for both fresh fruits and vegetables ranged from 1-50 to 201-500 pounds while other product amounts ranged from 1-50 to >1000 pounds. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and other product seasonality ranged from 1 to 6 months, 1 to 12 months, and 3 to 12 months, respectively. In total, 8 out of 12 fresh fruits, 24 out of 25 fresh vegetables, and all other products were harvested during the academic school year. Fifty percent of the schools were within a 20-mile radius of at least one small farm, while 98% were within a 50-mile radius. While many product amounts were small (1-50 pounds), most were harvested during the school year and in close proximity to at least one school. Contracting directly with farmers may be more attractive to school food authorities given current supply chain disruptions and decreasing product availability for school meal programs.

Determinants of behavioral intention to use big data analytics (BDA) on the information and communication technologies (ICT) SMEs in Jordan

Big Data Analytics (BDA) provides an important resource for businesses seeking to enhance their performance and gain a competitive advantage, although not all organizations are adopting BDA techniques, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan have been slow in this regard, despite being key players in any healthy economy, and the fact that BDA adoption can be facilitated by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The purpose of this study is to investigate the drivers of behavioral intention among managerial-level employees in Jordanian ICT SMEs to adopt BDA through a quantitative correlational research approach. The TAM questionnaire was used to gather data from 271 online survey participants in Jordan using Google Forms. The target group included management level staff working in small and medium-sized ICT firms (SMEs). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the research instrument's reliability and validity, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the study's hypotheses. The findings revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived “privacy and security” significantly influenced managerial-level employees' behavioral intention to use BDA in their organizations. The research findings also supported the application of TAM, and the results of the investigation indicated that managerial-level employees would be willing to use BDA techniques providing they were perceived to be useful, user-effortless, and posed little concern about privacy and security. Overall, the current study's results demonstrate that the suggested model had good predictive power, 51% of the variance in behavioral intention, and was therefore capable of predicting managers' intentions to use BDA.

Toloka platform as a source of online survey participants: an experience of assessing data quality

The article presents the experience of using Yandex Toloka crowdsourcing platform to recruit respondents for an online survey. Analyzing methodological publications on a similar foreign platform Amazon Mechanical Turk we put forward hypotheses about the data quality obtained via Toloka in comparison with the results collected using other convenience sample types –online panels and recruitment of respondents through social networks. Additionally, only based on the Toloka data, we assessed the indicator of respondent’s attentiveness. The main conclusion is that Toloka allows to recruit respondents quickly and at low cost, and the results are comparable in terms of quality to those obtained by other methods. In particular, respondents from Toloka almost always complete the survey, fill out questionnaires faster than other types of respondents, but less often than participants of the online panel have a tendency to “straightline” (i.e., give the same answers in a tabular question), just as often as social media respondents give answers to the open-ended question (but less frequently than online panel participants), although their responses are shorter. Only 36% of the respondents passed the attention check question, attentive participants had a longer questionnaire complete time and were less likely to be straightliners. The increase of reward did not increase the proportion of attentive respondents, but decreased the questionnaire filling out speed, increased the number of answers to the open question, and reduced the proportion of straightliners.

Entertaining Commodities or Living Beings? Public Perception of Animal Welfare at Local Festivals in South Korea

Many festivals use animals in the name of continuing traditions and religious acts of historical and cultural relevance, as well as for tourist entertainment; however, the welfare of these animals has been overlooked in favor of maintaining cultural identity or making economic profits. The criticism of animal-based festivals has been growing along with the increased public awareness of animal rights. However, this change in public perception has not yet been translated into actual government policies in Korea. This study addresses the unethical practices and challenges regarding animal welfare at festivals from the perspective of visitors to understand the public perception of the need for institutional and regulatory interventions to improve the treatment of animals at festivals. An online survey (N = 1000) is conducted to examine the public perception of animals and animal welfare at festivals and how strongly online survey participants support organizer- and state-level actions to protect the welfare of festival animals. Logistic regression analyses identify gender, pet ownership, pro-animal attitude, visiting experience, sensitivity to criticism regarding animal issues, and perception of animal welfare at festivals as significant predictors of online survey participants’ support for actions ensuring the welfare of animals used in festivals. Our findings also suggest that people sympathize with the need to enhance animal welfare but have low levels of sensitivity to the maltreatment of animals at festivals, indicating the existence of cognitive dissonance. Establishing guidelines and regulations for improving animal welfare can help festivals use animals in a more sustainable way and make visitors rethink and re-establish human–animal relationships.