Facebook as a Recruitment Tool
In this article from the Journal
of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the researcher examines whether
Facebook can be used as an effective recruitment tool for nutrition research. Participant recruitment for research
studies typically involves a considerable use of time and resources, so the aim
of this study was to evaluate social media’s ability to recruit low-income
women for an online nutrition education program. The method of recruitment was an ad on Facebook, and out of
the total of 465 people who clicked on the ad, 81 took a survey determining
their eligibility for the program, and 62 were classified as eligible. The researcher goes on to discuss the
ability of a Facebook ad to capture the target audience and the recruitment
costs involved and concludes that the study participants recruited by the ad
were “representative of low-income Pennsylvanians with respect to food
security, eating competence, and demographic characteristics”. One limitation of this type of recruitment
is that it’s self-report and may have attracted participants due to some trait or
interest they all have in common, reducing the randomness of the sample. Despite this fact, it seems that
Facebook and other social media sites may be useful for recruiting participants
for both nutrition research and interventions.
-Ashley
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