Citation

Chan C, Holosko MJ. Res. Soc. Work Pract. 2016; 26(4): 441-448.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1049731515594024

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is a process in which a firm parcels out work to a "crowd" and offers payment for anyone within the crowd who completes the task determined by that firm. The Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing Internet marketplace utility enabling individuals and businesses to coordinate the use of human intelligence -- groups of individulas -- to perform tasks that computers are currently unable to do. A growing number of behavioral scientists have begun using the MTurk to facilitate their research and practice, but there is apparently not one academic study in social work reporting the use of crowdsourcing tools. Social work professionals have the responsibility to use research findings to improve practice, policy, and social service delivery. This article aims to (i) provide an overview of MTurk; (ii) review specific uses of MTurk in business, psychology, health care, and education; and (iii) discuss the possible applications of MTurk for social work.

Language: en