Social Media as a Recruitment Strategy with Transgender-Identified Individuals: Using an Ethical Lens to Direct...

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Digital Health

Background:

• Traditional recruitment methods face limitations in accessing hidden and vulnerable populations, such as transgender individuals.
• Social media platforms offer a potential avenue for reaching these underrepresented groups.
• Limited regulatory guidance exists for utilizing social media in research recruitment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present recruitment recommendations based on a study utilizing Facebook for participant acquisition.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using social media for recruiting a diverse transgender sample.
• To address the need for ethical guidelines in social media-based research recruitment.

Main Methods:

• Facebook was employed as the sole recruitment platform for identifying and enrolling transgender-identified participants.
• An initial survey was deployed, followed by a second distribution after encountering bot penetration.
• Data collection focused on generating a diverse and representative sample of the target population.

Main Results:

• Computer bots infiltrated the initial survey, highlighting a challenge in social media recruitment.
• A subsequent survey distribution successfully collected data from a diverse sample of transgender individuals.
• Facebook proved effective in accessing a population typically difficult to reach through conventional means.

Conclusions:

• Social media platforms like Facebook offer a viable and ethically sound alternative for recruiting transgender participants.
• Researchers must prioritize privacy and transparency when designing social media recruitment strategies.
• Careful planning and adaptation are necessary to mitigate challenges such as bot interference in online recruitment.