Online, anonymous data collection is common and increasingly available to researchers studying eating disorders (ED), particularly since the development of online crowdsourcing platforms. Crowdsourcing for participant recruitment may also be one effective strategy to address ED research disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to: (a) develop a rigorous method for assessing self-reported athropometrics; (b) determine if individuals with EDs self-select into MTurk studies assessing eating behaviors; and (c) characterize ED-related psychopathology in an MTurk sample. We recruited 400 US adults to complete an MTurk study assessing ED features. Results did not indicate the presence of a self-selection bias among individuals with EDs; however, 40% of the sample met criteria for a current ED diagnosis, with all diagnoses represented except ARFID, and 18.1% reported currently being in ED treatment. The sample was characterized by higher scores on measures of ED psychopathology compared to extant non-clinical norms. Approximately 66% of the overall sample and 73% of participants with EDs indicated that they have participated in more MTurk studies since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Finally, we identified an alternative approach to assessing self-reported height and weight that appears to reduce error, which we strongly recommend researchers conducting online surveys use. Our findings suggest that individuals with EDs appear to be overrepresented on MTurk and highlight the utility of crowdsourcing using MTurk as an ED data collection alternative during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

在线匿名数据收集很普遍，并且越来越多地用于研究饮食失调（ED）的研究人员，特别是自开发在线众包平台以来。众包招募参与者也可能是解决因COVID-19大流行引起的ED研究中断的一种有效策略。我们旨在：（a）开发一种严格的方法来评估自我报告的人体测量学；（b）确定患​​有ED的个体是否自行选择MTurk研究来评估饮食行为；（c）在MTurk样本中表征与ED相关的精神病理学。我们招募了400名美国成年人来完成一项评估ED功能的MTurk研究。结果没有表明在ED患者中存在自我选择偏见。但是，有40％的样本符合当前ED诊断的标准，目前正在接受ED治疗。与现有的非临床规范相比，该样本的特点是在ED精神病理学测量上得分更高。大约66％的总样本和73％的ED参与者表示，自COVID-19大流行开始以来，他们参与了更多的MTurk研究。最后，我们确定了一种替代方法来评估自我报告的身高和体重，从而减少了误差，我们强烈建议研究人员进行在线调查。我们的研究结果表明，患有ED的人在MTurk上的人数过多，并突显了在COVID-19大流行期间和之后，使用MTurk作为ED数据收集替代品的众包实用程序。