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Barbara Jancewicz. 2025.

Participant recruitment through social media advertising: the case of Facebook

 

CMR Working Papers 138/196 | pages: 23

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31545.94564

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Abstract

The article discusses the possibilities and limitations of using Facebook advertisements for participant recruitment in social research. The study aims to analyse this recruitment method in terms of its effectiveness, costs, and potential systematic errors. The text presents methodological challenges, particularly issues of sample representativeness and coverage errors, which may affect the quality and reliability of the obtained data. The article also provides practical guidelines for researchers planning to use Facebook advertisements for participant recruitment, analysing various ad targeting options and their impact on the resulting sample. The text discusses the advantages of this recruitment method, such as the ability to quickly reach large and hard-to-reach groups of respondents, as well as its limitations, including problems with sample representativeness and potential ethical issues. The article concludes that recruitment through Facebook advertisements has significant potential, especially in studies of hard-to-reach groups but requires awareness of its limitations and the development of ethical and methodological standards for its application.
 

Keywords

participant recruitment, sample representativeness, coverage error, non-random errors, hard-to-reach groups, social media, recruitment through advertising