Letter to the Editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. four authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Pellicano, E., Adams, D., Crane, L., Holingue, C., Allen, C., Almendinger, K., Botha, M., Haar, T., Kapp, S. K., & Wheeley, E. (2023). Letter to the Editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research. Autism, 28(3), 786-792. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231174543

Publication date: 22 May 2023 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
10
Publication authors identified as autistic
4 / 10 (40.0%)
  1. Elizabeth Pellicano
  2. Dawn Adams
  3. Laura Crane
  4. Calliope Holingue
  5. Connie Allen
  1. Katherine Almendinger *
  2. Monique Botha *
  3. Tori Haar *
  4. Steven K. Kapp *
  5. Elizabeth Wheeley

Abstract

Researchers are increasingly relying on online methods for data collection, including for qualitative research involving interviews and focus groups. In this letter, we alert autism researchers to a possible threat to data integrity in such studies: “scammer” participants, who may be posing as autistic people and/or parents of autistic children in research studies, presumably for financial gain. Here, we caution qualitative autism researchers to be vigilant of potential scammer participants in their online studies and invite a broader discussion about the implications of such fraudulent acts. Lay abstract Doing research online, via Zoom, Teams, or live chat, is becoming more and more common. It can help researchers to reach more people, including from different parts of the world. It can also make the research more accessible for participants, especially those with different communication preferences. However, online research can have its downsides too. We have recently been involved in three studies in which we had in-depth discussions with autistic people and/or parents of autistic children about various topics. It turns out, though, that some of these participants were not genuine. Instead, we believe they were “scammer participants”: people posing as autistic people or parents of autistic children, possibly to gain money from doing the research. This is a real problem because we need research data that we can trust. In this letter, we encourage autism researchers to be wary of scammer participants in their own research.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 11:54.

Cited references
23
With a DOI
20
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
3
7 / 23 (30.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 23 (13.0%)
References with detected author names
22 / 23 (95.7%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
137
From DOI or external metadata
137
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
96 / 137 (70.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 41 / 137 (29.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
57 / 137 (41.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 57 / 96 (59.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 53 / 126 (42.1%).
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