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Recruiting participants via social media for sexual and reproductive health research

Jacqueline Coombe , Helen Bittleston , Teralynn Ludwick , Megan Lim , Ethan Cardwell, Linde Stewart , Louise Bourchier , Amelia Wardley , Jane Goller , Cassandra Caddy, Jane Hocking

Abstract

Recruiting participants is a vital component of social research. Finding the right people (and the right number of them) at the right time to participate in your study can make or break its success; it can also challenge research budgets and requires considerable flexibility. Online recruitment strategies are becoming increasingly popular ways to recruit to both qualitative and quantitative studies. In this paper, we detail our experiences of using social media, primarily Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, to recruit participants for our sexual and reproductive health research. Here, we provide a practical guide to using social media to recruit and include examples throughout from our own research. We outline our triumphs and pitfalls in using this recruitment strategy, the challenges we have faced and the lessons we have learnt. In doing so, we hope to provide useful guidance for others wishing to use social media to recruit to their research studies.

SH24123  Accepted 24 May 2025

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