Data Collection via Online Platforms: Challenges and Recommendations for Future Research

Online platforms such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) are increasingly used by researchers to collect survey and experimental data. Yet, such platforms often represent a tumultuous terrain for both researchers and reviewers. Researchers have to navigate the complexities of obtaining representative samples from online participant cohorts, ensuring data quality, ethically incentivizing participant engagement, and maintaining transparency. Reviewers, on the other hand, have to navigate the complexities of evaluating the efficacy of such data collection and execution efforts in answering important research questions. In order to provide clarity to these issues, this article provides researchers and reviewers with a series of recommendations for effectively executing and evaluating data collection via online platforms, respectively.     

Trajectories of public psycho-behavioural responses relating to influenza A(H7N9) over the winter of 2014-15 in Hong Kong

Objective: To explore trajectories of public psycho-behavioural responses over one influenza A(H7N9) epidemic wave, and examine the interplays among social norm influence, disease worry and protective behaviours.

Methods: Participants were 464 adults who completed the baseline and at least two follow-up assessments on their H7N9-related Perceived Susceptibility, Perceived Severity, Perceived Efficacy, Worry, Social Norms influence and Protective Behaviours in a five-phase longitudinal survey over one H7N9 epidemic wave. Latent growth modelling (LGM) identified trajectories of these psycho-behavioural responses while multi-process LGM examined the inter-relationships among trajectories of Social Norms influence, Worry and Protective Behaviours.

Results: Trajectories of Perceived Susceptibility, Worry, Social Norms and Protective Behaviours increased initially but declined as the epidemic decayed, while Perceived Severity increased linearly and Perceived Efficacy remained stable across the epidemic. Change in Social Norms influence was significantly associated with change in Worry (β?=?0.65) which was significantly associated with change in Protective Behaviours (β?=?0.62).

Conclusion: The public’s threat appraisal but not efficacy appraisal may have been well-informed by epidemic-related information. Social Norms may be important contributors of public emotional response to an epidemic. Communication via social networks during an epidemic could be important for regulating public emotional response and guiding their behavioural change.     

Talking Politics,Performing Masculinities: Stories of Hong Kong Men Before and After the Umbrella Movement

Sex Roles - The present paper addresses the under-explored issue of the role of politics in the construction of masculinity, focusing specifically on political Confucianism and men’s doing of...     

Theological Reflection on the Ecological Problem in Relation to the Accra Confession: An East Asian Perspective

Compared with the declarations related to ecological concerns produced by other ecclesial bodies, the Accra Confession is not a latecomer.² But in view of the increasingly severe situation the world is now facing (for example, the nuclear threat, from Chernobyl to Three Mile Island and, recently, Fukushima), it seems that the “prophetic” voice from the Christian church always comes too late. Be that as it may, every Christian should share the common mission of being a peacemaker with all of God's creation, despite the groaning of the earth in face of all sorts of threat and injustice. In this paper, I first review the Accra Confession in relation to ecological concerns. Then, as it seems to me that the interfaith perspective has received less attention, I develop a theological reflection based on my East Asian cultural resources in order to make a contribution to the global problem from a regional stance. Finally I provide some practical suggestions.