Social media as a recruitment platform for a nationwide online survey of COVID-19 knowledge, beliefs, and practices in the United States: methodology and feasibility analysis
Social media as a recruitment platform for a nationwide online survey of COVID-19 knowledge, beliefs, and practices in the United States: methodology and feasibility analysis
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DOI：
10.1186/s12874-020-01011-0
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发表时间：
2020-05-13
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
DiClemente, Ralph J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ali, Shahmir H.;Foreman, Joshua;DiClemente, Ralph J.
背景新冠肺炎疫情已演变为现代史上影响最大的卫生危机之一，迫使研究人员探索创新方法，及时高效地收集公共卫生数据。已经探索了社交媒体平台作为其他环境中的研究招募工具；然而，它们在传染病流行期间收集具有代表性的调查数据的可行性仍未得到探索。本研究有两个目的：1)描述在全国范围内招募居住在美国(美国)的成年人样本的方法参与新冠肺炎知识、信念和实践调查；2)概述与招聘相关的初步调查结果、使用社交媒体作为招聘平台的挑战以及应对这些挑战的策略。方法根据以往文献的证据和验证量表，开发了一份基于网络的原始调查问卷。Facebook的广告活动被用来传播Qualtrics在2020年3月20日至30日期间进行的一项在线调查的链接。在招聘的第六天和第十天，分别制作了两个仅限男性和少数族裔的补充广告，以解决广告覆盖范围和反应趋势中发现的不成比例的以女性和白人为导向的性别和族裔倾斜问题。结果总共记录了6602个参与者的回复，其中包括来自美国50个州、哥伦比亚特区和波多黎各的代表。这些广告累计达到236,017人，导致9609次点击(4.07%)。广告的总成本为906美元，因此每次点击的成本为0.09美元，每次完整回复(已完成的调查)的成本为0.18美元。男性专用广告的实施将男性受访者的累积百分比从大约20%提高到40%。结论社交媒体广告活动是在短时间内收集大规模、全国性的新冠肺炎数据的有效策略。尽管完成调查的男性比例低于没有完成调查的男性，但增加男性反应和增强代表性的干预措施是成功的。这些发现可以为未来利用社交媒体招募快速收集与快速演变的健康危机(如新冠肺炎)相关的调查数据的研究提供信息。
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into one of the most impactful health crises in modern history, compelling researchers to explore innovative ways to efficiently collect public health data in a timely manner. Social media platforms have been explored as a research recruitment tool in other settings; however, their feasibility for collecting representative survey data during infectious disease epidemics remain unexplored. Objectives This study has two aims 1) describe the methodology used to recruit a nationwide sample of adults residing in the United States (U.S.) to participate in a survey on COVID-19 knowledge, beliefs, and practices, and 2) outline the preliminary findings related to recruitment, challenges using social media as a recruitment platform, and strategies used to address these challenges. Methods An original web-based survey informed by evidence from past literature and validated scales was developed. A Facebook advertisement campaign was used to disseminate the link to an online Qualtrics survey between March 20-30, 2020. Two supplementary male-only and racial minority- targeted advertisements were created on the sixth and tenth day of recruitment, respectively, to address issues of disproportionate female- and White-oriented gender- and ethnic-skewing observed in the advertisement's reach and response trends. Results In total, 6602 participant responses were recorded with representation from all U.S. 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The advertisements cumulatively reached 236,017 individuals and resulted in 9609 clicks (4.07% reach). Total cost of the advertisement was $906, resulting in costs of $0.09 per click and $0.18 per full response (completed surveys). Implementation of the male-only advertisement improved the cumulative percentage of male respondents from approximately 20 to 40%. Conclusions The social media advertisement campaign was an effective and efficient strategy to collect large scale, nationwide data on COVID-19 within a short time period. Although the proportion of men who completed the survey was lower than those who didn't, interventions to increase male responses and enhance representativeness were successful. These findings can inform future research on the use of social media recruitment for the rapid collection of survey data related to rapidly evolving health crises, such as COVID-19.