title: Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk website to measure accuracy of body size estimation and body dissatisfaction.
abstract: This study investigated Amazon.com's website Mechanical Turk (MTurk) as a research tool for measuring body size estimation and dissatisfaction. 160 U.S. participants completed the BIAS-BD figural drawing scale and demographic questions posted on the MTurk website. The BIAS-BD consists of 17 drawings of various male and female body sizes based on anthropometric data corresponding to a range of 60% below to 140% above the average U.S. adult. Respondents selected a drawing that best reflected their current size and ideal size. Results revealed that respondents overestimated their body size by 6% and desired an ideal size 9.2% smaller than their perceived size. Findings are compared with three previous studies using the BIAS-BD scale. A general correspondence in findings between the four studies was found. We conclude that the MTurk can serve as a viable method for collecting data on the perceptual and attitudinal aspects of body image quickly and inexpensively.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA. rick.gardner@ucdenver.edu
authors: Rick M
authors: RM
authors: Gardner
authors: Dana L
authors: DL
authors: Brown
authors: Russell
authors: R
authors: Boice
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D057215:Body Dysmorphic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012984:Software; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult