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Surveys
One of the most common social science applications of MTurk is as subject recruitment for survey (experimental) research. While common, the integration of MTurk and a survey questionnaire presents a number of challenges, which this tutorial aims to address.
There are (at least) three different ways to write questionnaires in MTurk: natively in the MTurk application, in an off-site tool linked from an MTurk HIT, or in an off-site tool as an ExternalQuestion HIT.
One can write questionnaires natively in MTurk using either the proprietary QuestionForm markup or as standard XHTML.
A much more common approach, and certainly the easiest of the three methods, is simply to write a basic HIT in HTML that includes a link to the off-site survey and a single text form field for the worker to submit a completion code that they retrieve from the end of the survey.
The HTML can be setup using the "Survey Link" project example or by simply creating an HTML <form> block such as the following:
<h3>Study title</h3>
<p>Description of study</p>
<p>Survey link: <a href="http://www.linktomysurvey.com" target="_blank">http://www.linktomysurvey.com</a></p>
<p>Provide the survey code here: <input id="code" name="code" size="10" type="text" /></p>The link redirects the worker to the survey in a new window or tab. When they've completed the survey, the survey tool should provide a code that they can copy and paste into the form field.
The link and code method is easiest to setup, but invites problems with workers entering fake codes, workers completing the survey but not entering the code (and thus not getting paid), and other human error possibilities. By contrast, the ExternalQuestion method provides a seamless link between the MTurk interface and an off-site tool. Instead of showing the worker an HTML page with a link, configuring an ExternalQuestion actually shows the worker the survey directly inside an <iframe> in the MTurk interface. This eliminates the need for the requester to create codes and for workers to copy them. But, it requires a somewhat sophisticated survey tool (e.g., Qualtrics) that can handle redirecting the worker back to the ExternalQuestion submit URL for their assignment.
Below are some tips for using different online survey tools with MTurk.
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