🤖 AI Summary
This study presents the first systematic comparison of river sampling and snowball sampling in online surveys conducted in West Africa. Initial respondents were recruited via Facebook geotargeted advertisements (river sample), and subsequent participants were tracked through their social sharing (snowball sample). The analysis quantifies differences between the two samples in survey completion rates, demographic composition, and response behaviors. Findings indicate that the snowball sample exhibited higher completion rates and significantly greater representation of women and new users, though responses were shorter and completed more quickly. The results highlight snowball sampling’s distinct advantage in enhancing participation among marginalized groups, offering empirical evidence and methodological guidance for designing social media–assisted online surveys.
📝 Abstract
We place geo-targeted advertisements on Facebook to encourage users to fill out an online survey, following a process known as river sampling. We discovered a large number and variety of users also came to our survey through snowball sampling, including shared social media posts and other word-of-mouth referral methods. In this article, we analyze the differences between the respondents from river and snowball sampling. We present evidence that the respondents obtained by snowball sampling are more likely to complete the survey and contain a higher fraction of new users and women than those obtained by river sampling. Additionally, the evidence indicates that users from snowball sampling give shorter responses and take less time on the survey than users from river sampling. We hope these findings provide insight for other researchers who incorporate social media strategies when fielding surveys.