Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30135792›Full record

ReviewInternet interventions2016

Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review.

Louise Thornton, Philip J Batterham, Daniel B Fassnacht, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Alison L Calear, Sally Hunt

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Internet interventions, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 170 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
170citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

170 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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110 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Louise ThorntonNational Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Philip J BatterhamNational Institute for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Daniel B FassnachtResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Frances Kay-LambkinNational Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Alison L CalearNational Institute for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Sally HuntNational Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

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.

Indexed as

FacebookOnline recruitmentRecruitmentSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID30135792
PMCPMC6096238

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.