Recruiting Research Participants via Traditional Snowball vs Facebook Advertisements and a Website
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
10-1-2020
Abstract
This article describes the use of Facebook, a website targeting nurses, and snowball sampling for recruitment of registered nurse participants in a qualitative study exploring measurement-driven clinical behavior and metric-driven harm. Previous studies suggest that social media can be a successful and cost-effective sampling strategy, increasing the numbers of participants, their diversity, and their representativeness of the population of interest. This study, however, found traditional snowball sampling to be far more effective than advertisements via Facebook and a professional website. Lessons learned are detailed, including cost and technical issues encountered. Suggestions for nurse researchers considering using Facebook for participant recruitment are described. Methodological research that could enhance the empirical-base supporting effective social media recruitment of research participants is offered for consideration by nurse researchers.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Western Journal of Nursing Research
Volume
42
Issue
10
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Chambers, Megan, Katherine Bliss, and Betty Rambur. "Recruiting Research Participants via Traditional Snowball vs Facebook Advertisements and a Website." Western Journal of Nursing Research 42, 10 (2020): 846-851. doi: 10.1177/0193945920904445.