The pay is $125 per child. This is not a very scientific way to conduct research.
The Marietta Times reports:
Additional children are needed for a study that has been in the works for about three years and aims to determine what effects, if any, air pollution has on a child’s development.
Erin Haynes, an environmental health researcher with the University of Cincinnati, is heading up the Communities Actively Researching Exposure Study (CARES). She said 100 7, 8 and 9-year-olds from Washington, Wood and Guernsey counties are needed. To be eligible, children must have resided in those counties since birth.
“Over 300 have gone through the study and our target goal is 400,” she said. “We hope to wrap up recruitment by the end of this summer, so if parents are interested, now is the time.”
Haynes added that the study is being done because many community members have asked what impact air pollution has on children. Marietta is included in the study because it has reportedly high levels of air pollution, while Cambridge is included because it has reportedly low levels of air pollution.
A $2.6 million federal grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was awarded for the study. Families will receive $125 for each child who participates…
Self-selected groups are notorious for yielding specious results. Those most likely to participate in this survey will be those most eager for money, i.e., the financially challenged, who consistently fall on the low end of many metrics. Poor nutrition, poor health care, etc.
Is the $125 contingent on giving the right answers to “self reported” questions?