Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review
Recruiting participants is a challenge for many health, medical and psychosocial research projects. One tool more frequently being used to improve recruitment is the social networking website Facebook. A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that have used Facebook to recruit participa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2016-05-01
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| Series: | Internet Interventions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782915300166 |
| _version_ | 1819042817227358208 |
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| author | Louise Thornton Philip J. Batterham Daniel B. Fassnacht Frances Kay-Lambkin Alison L. Calear Sally Hunt |
| author_facet | Louise Thornton Philip J. Batterham Daniel B. Fassnacht Frances Kay-Lambkin Alison L. Calear Sally Hunt |
| author_sort | Louise Thornton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recruiting participants is a challenge for many health, medical and psychosocial research projects. One tool more frequently being used to improve recruitment is the social networking website Facebook. A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that have used Facebook to recruit participants of all ages, to any psychosocial, health or medical research. 110 unique studies that used Facebook as a recruitment source were included in the review. The majority of studies used a cross-sectional design (80%) and addressed a physical health or disease issue (57%). Half (49%) of the included studies reported specific details of the Facebook recruitment process. Researchers paid between $1.36 and $110 per completing participants (Mean = $17.48, SD = $23.06). Among studies that examined the representativeness of their sample, the majority concluded (86%) their Facebook-recruited samples were similarly representative of samples recruited via traditional methods. These results indicate that Facebook is an effective and cost-efficient recruitment method. Researchers should consider their target group, advertisement wording, offering incentives and no-cost methods of recruitment when considering Facebook as a recruitment source. It is hoped this review will assist researchers to make decisions regarding the use of Facebook as a recruitment tool in future research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T09:46:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4d1ea1258686487cb00ccb734c289034 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-7829 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T09:46:55Z |
| publishDate | 2016-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Internet Interventions |
| spelling | doaj.art-4d1ea1258686487cb00ccb734c2890342022-12-21T19:08:19ZengElsevierInternet Interventions2214-78292016-05-014P1728110.1016/j.invent.2016.02.001Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic reviewLouise Thornton0Philip J. Batterham1Daniel B. Fassnacht2Frances Kay-Lambkin3Alison L. Calear4Sally Hunt5National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaNational Institute for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, AustraliaResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, AustraliaNational Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaNational Institute for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, AustraliaNational Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaRecruiting participants is a challenge for many health, medical and psychosocial research projects. One tool more frequently being used to improve recruitment is the social networking website Facebook. A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that have used Facebook to recruit participants of all ages, to any psychosocial, health or medical research. 110 unique studies that used Facebook as a recruitment source were included in the review. The majority of studies used a cross-sectional design (80%) and addressed a physical health or disease issue (57%). Half (49%) of the included studies reported specific details of the Facebook recruitment process. Researchers paid between $1.36 and $110 per completing participants (Mean = $17.48, SD = $23.06). Among studies that examined the representativeness of their sample, the majority concluded (86%) their Facebook-recruited samples were similarly representative of samples recruited via traditional methods. These results indicate that Facebook is an effective and cost-efficient recruitment method. Researchers should consider their target group, advertisement wording, offering incentives and no-cost methods of recruitment when considering Facebook as a recruitment source. It is hoped this review will assist researchers to make decisions regarding the use of Facebook as a recruitment tool in future research.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782915300166FacebookRecruitmentOnline recruitmentSystematic review |
| spellingShingle | Louise Thornton Philip J. Batterham Daniel B. Fassnacht Frances Kay-Lambkin Alison L. Calear Sally Hunt Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review Internet Interventions Recruitment Online recruitment Systematic review |
| title | Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review |
| title_full | Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review |
| title_fullStr | Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review |
| title_short | Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review |
| title_sort | recruiting for health medical or psychosocial research using facebook systematic review |
| topic | Facebook Recruitment Online recruitment Systematic review |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782915300166 |
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