Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies.
Internet-based systems for epidemiological studies have advantages over traditional approaches as they can potentially recruit and monitor a wider range of individuals in a relatively inexpensive fashion. We studied the association between communication strategies used for recruitment (offline, onli...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114925 |
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| author | Paolo Bajardi Daniela Paolotti Alessandro Vespignani Ken Eames Sebastian Funk W John Edmunds Clement Turbelin Marion Debin Vittoria Colizza Ronald Smallenburg Carl Koppeschaar Ana O Franco Vitor Faustino AnnaSara Carnahan Moa Rehn Franco Merletti Jeroen Douwes Ridvan Firestone Lorenzo Richiardi |
| author_facet | Paolo Bajardi Daniela Paolotti Alessandro Vespignani Ken Eames Sebastian Funk W John Edmunds Clement Turbelin Marion Debin Vittoria Colizza Ronald Smallenburg Carl Koppeschaar Ana O Franco Vitor Faustino AnnaSara Carnahan Moa Rehn Franco Merletti Jeroen Douwes Ridvan Firestone Lorenzo Richiardi |
| author_sort | Paolo Bajardi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Internet-based systems for epidemiological studies have advantages over traditional approaches as they can potentially recruit and monitor a wider range of individuals in a relatively inexpensive fashion. We studied the association between communication strategies used for recruitment (offline, online, face-to-face) and follow-up participation in nine Internet-based cohorts: the Influenzanet network of platforms for influenza surveillance which includes seven cohorts in seven different European countries, the Italian birth cohort Ninfea and the New Zealand birth cohort ELF. Follow-up participation varied from 43% to 89% depending on the cohort. Although there were heterogeneities among studies, participants who became aware of the study through an online communication campaign compared with those through traditional offline media seemed to have a lower follow-up participation in 8 out of 9 cohorts. There were no clear differences in participation between participants enrolled face-to-face and those enrolled through other offline strategies. An Internet-based campaign for Internet-based epidemiological studies seems to be less effective than an offline one in enrolling volunteers who keep participating in follow-up questionnaires. This suggests that even for Internet-based epidemiological studies an offline enrollment campaign would be helpful in order to achieve a higher participation proportion and limit the cohort attrition. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2fe6b53f3a7f4749b87db9b31bfb082d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-2fe6b53f3a7f4749b87db9b31bfb082d2025-08-20T02:22:39ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01912e11492510.1371/journal.pone.0114925Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies.Paolo BajardiDaniela PaolottiAlessandro VespignaniKen EamesSebastian FunkW John EdmundsClement TurbelinMarion DebinVittoria ColizzaRonald SmallenburgCarl KoppeschaarAna O FrancoVitor FaustinoAnnaSara CarnahanMoa RehnFranco MerlettiJeroen DouwesRidvan FirestoneLorenzo RichiardiInternet-based systems for epidemiological studies have advantages over traditional approaches as they can potentially recruit and monitor a wider range of individuals in a relatively inexpensive fashion. We studied the association between communication strategies used for recruitment (offline, online, face-to-face) and follow-up participation in nine Internet-based cohorts: the Influenzanet network of platforms for influenza surveillance which includes seven cohorts in seven different European countries, the Italian birth cohort Ninfea and the New Zealand birth cohort ELF. Follow-up participation varied from 43% to 89% depending on the cohort. Although there were heterogeneities among studies, participants who became aware of the study through an online communication campaign compared with those through traditional offline media seemed to have a lower follow-up participation in 8 out of 9 cohorts. There were no clear differences in participation between participants enrolled face-to-face and those enrolled through other offline strategies. An Internet-based campaign for Internet-based epidemiological studies seems to be less effective than an offline one in enrolling volunteers who keep participating in follow-up questionnaires. This suggests that even for Internet-based epidemiological studies an offline enrollment campaign would be helpful in order to achieve a higher participation proportion and limit the cohort attrition.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114925 |
| spellingShingle | Paolo Bajardi Daniela Paolotti Alessandro Vespignani Ken Eames Sebastian Funk W John Edmunds Clement Turbelin Marion Debin Vittoria Colizza Ronald Smallenburg Carl Koppeschaar Ana O Franco Vitor Faustino AnnaSara Carnahan Moa Rehn Franco Merletti Jeroen Douwes Ridvan Firestone Lorenzo Richiardi Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. PLoS ONE |
| title | Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. |
| title_full | Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. |
| title_fullStr | Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. |
| title_short | Association between recruitment methods and attrition in Internet-based studies. |
| title_sort | association between recruitment methods and attrition in internet based studies |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114925 |
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