ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2022
Representativeness of autistic samples in studies recruiting through social media.
Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed.
- Feasibility Study of a Novel App-Based Anxiety Intervention for Autistic People.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Trial
- Addressing Common Problems in Autism Research: Cohort Development and Sample Description for a Participatory, Real-World, Longitudinal Study of Outcomes in Autistic Adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- English-Language Autism Terminology Preferences of Autistic People and their Parents in the United States: Clustering Illuminates Diverse Views.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Relative Impact of Family Processes and Child and Systemic Factors on Behavioral and Academic Outcomes for Autistic Children in Mainstream Education.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Understanding Autistic Adults' Psychological Experiences of Anxiety Problems: A Qualitative Interview Study.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Participatory Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Introspective Predictive Processing Inventory: A Self-Report Measure for Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- How Australia's social media minimum age law may reshape research recruitment for adolescents under 16.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2026Review
- Evaluation of a Visual Cognitive Style in Autism: A Cluster Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Measuring autistic burnout: A psychometric validation of the AASPIRE Autistic Burnout Measure in autistic adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Development and psychometric validation of a novel, self-report visual processing questionnaire (ViPro-SR) for neurodivergent adults.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Proof-of-Concept of Online-Only Enrollment for Collecting Longitudinal Patient-Reported Outcomes in Young Individuals With Congenital Heart Disease.CJC pediatric and congenital heart disease · 2025Article
- Empathy and Autism: Establishing the Structure and Different Manifestations of Empathy in Autistic Individuals Using the Perth Empathy Scale.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- 'I did not think they could help me': Autistic adults' reasons for not seeking public healthcare when they last experienced suicidality.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Mental Health Problems Among UK Undergraduates: A Comparison Study of Autistic and Non-autistic Students.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Using Psychoacoustic Tasks and Multidimensional Questionnaires to Characterize Auditory Hyperreactivity in Autistic Young People.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Experiences of an Autism Diagnosis in Adulthood: The Role of Grassroots Epistemology in Clinical Settings.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Lifetime stressor exposure is related to suicidality in autistic adults: A multinational study.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Review
- Unmet need for autism-aware care for gynaecological, menstrual and sexual wellbeing.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Autistic People's Perspectives on Functioning Labels and Associated Reasons, and Community Connectedness.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Survey-based research with recruitment through online channels is a convenient way to obtain large samples and has recently been increasingly used in autism research. However, sampling from online channels may be associated with a high risk of sampling bias causing findings not to be generalizable to the autism population. Here we examined autism studies that have sampled on social media for markers of sampling bias. Most samples showed one or more indicators of sampling bias, in the form of reversed sex ratio, higher employment rates, higher education level, lower fraction of individuals with intellectual disability, and later age of diagnosis than would be expected when comparing with for example population study results from published research. Findings from many of the included studies are therefore difficult to generalize to the broader autism population. Suggestions for how research strategies may be adapted to address some of the problems are discussed. LAY SUMMARY: Online surveys offer a convenient way to recruit large numbers of participants for autism research. However, the resulting samples may not fully reflect the autism population. Here we investigated the samples of 36 autism studies that recruited participants online and found that the demographic composition tended to deviate from what has been reported about the autism population in previous research. The results may thus not be generalizable to autism in general.
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Registered trials
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.