The New Fruit Fly for Applied Psychological Research

Landers and Behrend (2015) present yet another attempt to limit reviewer and editor reliance on surface characteristics when evaluating the generalizability of study results (see also Campbell, 1986; Dipboye & Flanagan, 1979; Greenberg, 1987; Highhouse, 2009; Highhouse & Gillespie, 2009). Most of the earlier treatments of sample generalizability, however, have focused on the use of college students in (mostly) laboratory studies. Many industrial–organizational (I-O) scholars have experienced the hostility with which studies using students as participants receives. For instance, Jen Gillespie and I observed, “Reviewers and editors commonly assert that students should not be used to study workplace phenomena as though such a declaration requires no further explanation” (Highhouse & Gillespie, 2009, p. 247). The difference this time, however, is that Landers and Behrend (2015) are reacting to dismissals of research using Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers to make inferences about behavior in organizations. Landers and Behrend (2015) make the important point that any research population is likely to be atypical on some dimensions and that all samples are samples of convenience (see also Oakes, 1972). We agree. Furthermore, we make two observations about MTurk: (a) We believe that it should be met with less resistance than student samples have historically faced, and (b) we suggest that it provides a unique opportunity to bring back randomized experimentation in I-O psychology.