Challenges of Internet Recruitment: A Case Study
Author Information
Author(s): Malcolm Koo, Harvey Skinner, Im Eun-Ok, Lara Wang, Shuo Alghamdi, Abdullah
Primary Institution: University of Toronto
Hypothesis
How effective are Internet strategies for recruiting teenagers for a smoking-cessation website evaluation?
Conclusion
The recruitment rate was disappointingly low, indicating that Internet technologies were not effective for soliciting young subjects for research.
Supporting Evidence
- Only 0.24% of participants from the first study completed the questionnaire.
- 14 participants were recruited in the second study, with 9 from friend referrals.
- Low response rates were attributed to spam filters and the perception of recruitment emails as spam.
Takeaway
The study tried to get teenagers to participate in a survey about quitting smoking using the Internet, but very few actually joined.
Methodology
Two studies were conducted: one used email invitations to a youth health website, and the other posted invitations on discussion boards and forums.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the anonymity of participants and the inability to verify their age.
Limitations
Low participation rates and challenges in verifying participant attributes like age.
Participant Demographics
Participants were teenagers aged 12 to 24 from Canada.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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