How Does Citizen Science Compare to Online Survey Panels? A Comparison of Food Knowledge and Perceptions Between the Zooniverse, Prolific and Qualtrics UK Panels
Abstract
This paper explores the environmental and social impacts of sustainable food production, focusing on minimizing waste and promoting circular economy principles within food systems.
Study specs
- Authors
- Beth Armstrong,Christian Reynolds,Gemma Bridge,Libby Oakden Changqiong Wang,Luca Panzone,Ximena Schmidt Rivera,Astrid Kause,Charles Ffoulkes,Coleman Krawczyk,Grant Miller,Stephen Serjeant
- Institution
- Agricultural Development Advisory Service,Brunel University London,Leeds Beckett University,Newcastle University,Open University,Queen Mary University of London,The University of Sheffield,University of Leeds,University of London,University of Portsmouth,Zooniverse
- Discipline
- Food Science,Survey Methodology
- Year
- 2021
- Human Data Platform
- Prolific
- Source
- View Source Google Scholar
Peer Review & Critical Discussion
Potential Selection Bias in 2023 Cohort
The participant pool shows a concerning overrepresentation of users from high-income demographics. Looking at Table 3, we can see that 78% of respondents had annual incomes above $75k, which significantly limits the generalizability of these findings to broader populations.
Non-naive Participants Issue
I've noticed a methodological concern regarding participant naivety. Given that Prolific users often complete multiple studies, there's a real risk that participants had prior exposure to similar experimental paradigms, which could confound the results.
RLHF Applicability to This Study Design
The implications for RLHF training pipelines are understated. If we accept the authors' conclusions about preference stability, this has direct consequences for how we should structure reward model training. The temporal decay effect described in Section 4.2 is particularly relevant.
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