Highlights
- •Experimental pain research may be especially susceptible to sampling bias.
- •Fear of pain was associated with perceived likelihood of participation.
- •Sensation-seeking was associated with participation in experimental pain research.
- •Sampling bias can threaten the validity and generalizability of pain research.
Abstract
Experimental pain research frequently relies on the recruitment of volunteers. However,
because experimental pain research often involves unpleasant and painful sensations,
it may be especially susceptible to sampling bias. That is, volunteers in experimental
pain research might differ from nonvolunteers on several relevant variables that could
affect the generalizability and external validity of the research. We conducted 2
studies to investigate potential sampling bias in experimental pain research. In study
1 we assessed participants' (N = 275; age = 17–30 years) perceived likelihood of participating
in pain research. Pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, illness and injury sensitivity,
depression, anxiety, sensation-seeking, gender identity, body appreciation, and social
desirability were also assessed as potential predictors of the likelihood to participate.
In study 2, participants (N = 87; Age = 18–31 years) could sign up for 2 nearly identical
studies, with only one involving painful sensations. Thirty-six participants signed
up for the pain study and 51 participants signed up for the no-pain study. Study 1
showed that lower levels of fear of pain, higher levels of sensation-seeking, and
older age predicted the perceived likelihood of participating in pain research. Study
2 showed significantly higher levels of sensation-seeking in participants who signed
up for the pain study compared with those who signed up for the no-pain study. The
implications of these findings for future research, as well as the clinical conclusions
on the basis of experimental pain research, are discussed.
Perspective
Intention to participate in experimental pain research was associated with less fear
of pain, higher sensation-seeking, and older age. Actual participation in experimental
pain research was associated with higher sensation-seeking. This potential sampling
bias in studies involving painful stimuli could limit external validity and generalizability
of pain research.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 05, 2018
Accepted:
February 22,
2018
Received in revised form:
February 8,
2018
Received:
July 28,
2017
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: K.K. is a doctoral researcher of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) Vlaanderen, Flanders, Belgium (grant ID 1111015N). Further, the contribution of J.M.A. was supported by Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Grant 446-15-011.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Supplementary data accompanying this article are available online at www.jpain.org and www.sciencedirect.com.
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© 2018 by the American Pain Society
