Recruiting Asian Americans for Online Studies: Methodological Systematic Review.

Background: Engaging Asian American participants in research studies helps to understand their health needs and health disparities better. However, recruiting Asian Americans for online studies remains challenging.

Objective: This study aims to synthesize strategies for recruiting Asian Americans to research studies that collected data online and to further explore the characteristics of the recruited participants.

Methods: A systematic review method was used. Data were searched in the PubMed, CINAHL, and OVID databases using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and title search strategies. A narrative synthesis was conducted to summarize strategies for recruiting Asian Americans to online research studies. An independent Student t test (2-tailed and unpaired) was performed to compare the characteristics of recruited Asian Americans, using SPSS 29.0 software. The study was reported in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 checklist.

Results: After data extraction, 18 studies were included in this review. Results showed that strategies for recruiting Asian Americans to research studies that collected data online included both online and offline methods. Online recruitment methods included online survey market services, social media groups, online advertisements, and email lists. Offline recruitment methods included churches, community organizations, local clinics, health care centers, American Cancer Society local chapters, and cancer registries. Among the online and offline recruitment methods, social media groups and community recruitment were the most frequently used, respectively. The most commonly used online study platform was self-designed project websites. Participants engaged in the online studies tended to be in their middle adulthood and have a high level of education beyond high school. Compared with those recruited offline, participants recruited online tended to be younger and more highly educated.

Conclusions: This study suggests that researchers may use mixed recruitment methods, combining both online and offline approaches, to recruit Asian Americans to online studies. When selecting the recruitment venue, researchers should consider project budget, data security, data quality, and credibility. They should also be aware of the distinct characteristics of participants recruited online versus offline.