Marshall BDL, Green TC, Elston B, Yedinak JL, Hadland SE, Clark MA. (2018). The effectiveness of internet- and field-based methods to recruit young adults who use prescription opioids nonmedically. Substance Use and Misuse. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.142572
Researchers recruited young adults (18-29) who misuse prescription opioids for a survey about substance use-related experiences to compare cost effectiveness and participants recruited using web- versus field-based recruitment methods. Formative research with the target population informed methods for web- and field-based recruitment. Web-based recruitment utilized banner ads on websites and mobile applications used by the target population, study social media accounts, and advertisements posted to Craigslist. Field-based recruitment utilized respondent driven sampling (i.e. a popular method for recruiting substance using populations involving selecting “seed participants” to refer participants; RDS), advertisements, fliers, and word of mouth. Potential participants (N=340) who contacted researchers and eligible participants (N=230) were more often referred from web-based sources (52% and 63%, respectively), though researchers did not test for significance. Field-recruited participants completed the survey at higher rates (92.9%) compared to web-recruited participants (82.6%), though researchers did not test for significance. Of note, 77 RDS seed participants referred 17 participants. Field-recruited participants were significantly more likely than web-recruited participants to misuse opioids at least daily, have ever been prescribed opioids, have ever sniffed or snorted opioids, and have ever used other illicit drugs. Web-recruited participants were significantly younger and had significantly shorter duration of opioid use than field-recruited participants. Web-based methods cost $7.24 per completed survey, compared to $18.17 per completed survey using field-based methods. Researchers conclude that young adults who misuse prescription opioids require multimethod recruitment strategies and that this population may not be socially connected enough for RDS to be an efficient recruitment strategy.