<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<records>
<record>
<language>eng</language>
<publisher>Science and Education Publishing</publisher>
<journalTitle>American Journal of Nursing Research</journalTitle>
<eissn>2378-5586</eissn>
<publicationDate>2017-11-10</publicationDate>
<volume>5</volume>
<issue>6</issue>
<startPage>200</startPage>
<endPage>201</endPage>
<doi>10.12691/ajnr-5-6-1</doi>
<publisherRecordId>AJNR2017561</publisherRecordId>
<documentType>article</documentType>
<title language="eng">An Approach to Using Social Media as a Research Platform</title>
<authors>
<author>
<name>Claire Bethel</name>
<email>clairebethel@gmail.com</email>
<affiliationId>1</affiliationId>
</author>
</authors>
<affiliationsList>
<affiliationName affiliationId="1">Clinical Education, Banner Health, Phoenix, Arizona, USA</affiliationName>

</affiliationsList>
<abstract language="eng">AIM: To examine the use of the social and technology features of Facebook to recruit research participants from a closed-group. BACKGROUND: Limited research in healthcare focuses on the use of Facebook despite the many opportunities that exist. METHODS: The experience of gaining access to and recruiting participants from a closed-Facebook group using two different types of posts to advertise the study. DISCUSSION: The paper focuses on the lead author's experience of recruiting participants from a closed-group on Facebook and her experience of using two different types of posts to advertise the study. A personal post with a picture of the lead author receiving a grant to conduct the research resulted in 32% of the completed survey responses in 24 hours. CONCLUSION: Using a closed-group on Facebook was an inexpensive and successful method to survey many respondents with a shared identity from all over the United States in a short period of time. Future researchers choosing to utilize social media as a research platform should share their methods to better understand how social media can be leveraged in nursing research.</abstract>
<fullTextUrl format="pdf">http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajnr/5/6/1/ajnr-5-6-1.pdf</fullTextUrl>
<keywords language="eng"><keyword>Facebook</keyword>
<keyword>social media</keyword>
<keyword>research methods</keyword>
<keyword>survey</keyword>
<keyword>travel nurse</keyword>
<keyword>nursing research</keyword>
<keyword>onboarding</keyword>
<keyword>orientation</keyword>
<keyword>recruitment</keyword>
</keywords>
</record>
</records>
