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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review
Internet Interventions , Vol.4(Part 1), pp.72-81
2016
PMCID: PMC6096238
PMID: 30135792
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title
- Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review
- Authors
- Louise Thornton (Author) - UNSW SydneyPhilip J. Batterham (Author) - Australian National UniversityDaniel B. Fassnacht (Author) - Australian National UniversityFrances Kay-Lambkin (Corresponding Author) - University of Newcastle AustraliaAlison L. Calear (Author) - Australian National UniversitySally Hunt (Author) - University of Newcastle Australia
- Publication details
- Internet Interventions , Vol.4(Part 1), pp.72-81
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.invent.2016.02.001
- ISSN
- 2214-7829
- PMID
- 30135792; PMC6096238
- Copyright note
- © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by–nc–nd/4.0/)
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99727713002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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