Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook

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Purpose - The aim of this paper is to present a sampling method using virtual networks to study "hard-to-reach" populations. In the ambit of social research, the use of new technologies is still questioned because the selection bias is an obstacle to carry on scientific research on the Int...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Baltar, Fabiola, Brunet Icart, Ignasi
Formato: Artículo publishedVersion
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2012
Materias:
Redes Sociales
Encuestas por Muestreo
Métodos de Investigación Social
Inmigrantes
Emprendedores
Acceso en línea:http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/
http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/1/baltar-brunet-2012.pdf
Aporte de:
Aportado por : Nulan - Fac.Cs.Económicas (UNMdP) de Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP) .
id I29-R1351875
record_format dspace
spelling I29-R13518752018-12-14T16:19:52Z Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook Baltar, Fabiola Brunet Icart, Ignasi Purpose - The aim of this paper is to present a sampling method using virtual networks to study "hard-to-reach" populations. In the ambit of social research, the use of new technologies is still questioned because the selection bias is an obstacle to carry on scientific research on the Internet. In this regard, the authors' hypothesis is that the use of social networking sites (Web 2.0) can be effective for the study of "hard-to-reach" populations. The main advantages of this technique are that it can expand the geographical scope and facilitates the identification of individuals with barriers to access. Therefore, the use of virtual networks in non-probabilistic samples can increase the sample size and its representativeness. Design/methodology/approach - To test this hypothesis, a virtual method was designed using Facebook to identify Argentinean immigrant entrepreneurs in Spain (214 cases). A characteristic of this population is that some individuals are administratively invisible in national statistics because they have double nationality (non-EU and EU). The use of virtual sampling was combined with an online questionnaire as a complementary tool for Web 2.0 research in behavioural sciences. Findings - The number of cases detected by Facebook and the virtual response rate is higher than traditional snowball technique. The explanation is that people increase their level of confidence because the researcher shows his personal information (Facebook's profile) and also participates in their groups of interest (Facebook's groups). Moreover, the online questionnaires administration allows the quality of the information to be controlled and avoids duplication of cases. Originality/value - The present article is the first that uses Facebook as an instrument to study immigrants. Therefore its adoption represents a great challenge in the social research field because there are many barriers of access and search. It also proposes a novel mix of traditional methodologies updated with the use of new virtual possibilities of studying hard to reach populations, especially in areas of social research where the contributions of these methods are less developed. Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2012 http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/ application/pdf eng http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/1/baltar-brunet-2012.pdf Internet Research, 22(1), 57-74. ISSN 1066-2243 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1108/10662241211199960 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Fil: Baltar, Fabiola. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina. Fil: Brunet Icart, Ignasi. Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales; España. Redes Sociales Encuestas por Muestreo Métodos de Investigación Social Inmigrantes Emprendedores info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
institution Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP)
institution_str I-29
repository_str R-135
collection Nulan - Fac.Cs.Económicas (UNMdP)
language Inglés
orig_language_str_mv eng
topic Redes Sociales
Encuestas por Muestreo
Métodos de Investigación Social
Inmigrantes
Emprendedores
spellingShingle Redes Sociales
Encuestas por Muestreo
Métodos de Investigación Social
Inmigrantes
Emprendedores
Baltar, Fabiola
Brunet Icart, Ignasi
Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
description Purpose - The aim of this paper is to present a sampling method using virtual networks to study "hard-to-reach" populations. In the ambit of social research, the use of new technologies is still questioned because the selection bias is an obstacle to carry on scientific research on the Internet. In this regard, the authors' hypothesis is that the use of social networking sites (Web 2.0) can be effective for the study of "hard-to-reach" populations. The main advantages of this technique are that it can expand the geographical scope and facilitates the identification of individuals with barriers to access. Therefore, the use of virtual networks in non-probabilistic samples can increase the sample size and its representativeness. Design/methodology/approach - To test this hypothesis, a virtual method was designed using Facebook to identify Argentinean immigrant entrepreneurs in Spain (214 cases). A characteristic of this population is that some individuals are administratively invisible in national statistics because they have double nationality (non-EU and EU). The use of virtual sampling was combined with an online questionnaire as a complementary tool for Web 2.0 research in behavioural sciences. Findings - The number of cases detected by Facebook and the virtual response rate is higher than traditional snowball technique. The explanation is that people increase their level of confidence because the researcher shows his personal information (Facebook's profile) and also participates in their groups of interest (Facebook's groups). Moreover, the online questionnaires administration allows the quality of the information to be controlled and avoids duplication of cases. Originality/value - The present article is the first that uses Facebook as an instrument to study immigrants. Therefore its adoption represents a great challenge in the social research field because there are many barriers of access and search. It also proposes a novel mix of traditional methodologies updated with the use of new virtual possibilities of studying hard to reach populations, especially in areas of social research where the contributions of these methods are less developed.
format Artículo
Artículo
publishedVersion
author Baltar, Fabiola
Brunet Icart, Ignasi
author_facet Baltar, Fabiola
Brunet Icart, Ignasi
author_sort Baltar, Fabiola
title Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
title_short Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
title_full Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
title_fullStr Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
title_full_unstemmed Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook
title_sort social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using facebook
publisher Emerald Group Publishing Limited
publishDate 2012
url http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/
http://nulan.mdp.edu.ar/1875/1/baltar-brunet-2012.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT baltarfabiola socialresearch20virtualsnowballsamplingmethodusingfacebook
AT bruneticartignasi socialresearch20virtualsnowballsamplingmethodusingfacebook
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