Impostor Syndrome: Fraudulent Participants in Qualitative Research Can Skew Results

2025/01/01 by Leah Z. Rand, Sarah McGraw, Junyi Wang +2
Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Meta-analysis and systematic reviews #Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies

paper · doi:10.1017/jme.2025.10123

openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We report on an experience with impostor research participants, people who misrepresent themselves, and identify characteristics that can be used by investigators to screen out such participants. We compare the responses of impostor and valid participants, showing that impostors meaningfully change qualitative study findings with implications for policy interventions or follow-on research informed by the study. It is important for investigators to be alert to the potential for impostor participants and plan their research accordingly.

Related

• Imposter Participants? Towards a Reflexive Epistemology of ‘Suspected Participants’
• Editorial Perspective: A call for action on imposter participants in child and adolescent mental health research
• Beyond the challenge to research integrity: imposter participation in incentivised qualitative research and its impact on community engagement
• Participant carelessness and fraud: Consequences for clinical research and potential solutions.
• I have been scammed in my qualitative research