Using Facebook as a Subject Recruitment Tool for Survey-Experimental Research

Samuels, David J.; Zucco, Cesar

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2101458

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Using Facebook as a Subject Recruitment Tool for Survey-Experimental Research

20 Pages Posted: 5 Jul 2012 Last revised: 4 Jul 2014

See all articles by David J. Samuels

David J. Samuels

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Department of Political Science

Cesar Zucco

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE)

Date Written: August 2013

Abstract

We consider the use of Facebook to recruit participants for online survey-experimental studies of public opinion. Based on two such studies we recently conducted, we discuss sample composition, attention to the task, and the possibility of rewarding participants through a lottery. We show that Facebook can be a cost-effective tool for rapidly recruiting large samples of participants anywhere in the world. These characteristics make it be particularly useful for recruitment of samples from elusive populations and in non-US settings – situations in which MTurk can be of little help.

Keywords: survey-experiments, online, Facebook

JEL Classification: C99

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Samuels, David J. and Zucco, Cesar, Using Facebook as a Subject Recruitment Tool for Survey-Experimental Research (August 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2101458 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2101458